As you said your phone is unrooted, which has two implications.

You can't, without altering the phone thoroughly check whether it was tampered with.
It makes it harder to tamper with the device.

So what you're asking for is not possible without possibly destroying evidence of tampering. If you're afraid what they might have done to it I suggest two options: either do a factory reset or buy a new phone.

Even if you could look for evidence of tampering be aware that you can never be sure. Checksums and modification dates can be faked.

If I was you I'd ditch that phone. I could never feel safe knowing that someone I don't know access to it for two days.

Prevention is another thing though. If you want to make sure that this doesn't happen again watch out for these things:

Screen lock. Use at least a complicated pattern lock makes an attacker harder to access your data. Even better set a pass phrase.
Root This gives complete control to anyone who has physical access to your device. Plant fake call logs? Done! Fake Text messages? Done! Install undetectable surveillance software? Done! You get the idea. Superuser (the de facto standard app for managing root access) has an option to require a passcode as a prerequisite to granting root. Use it.
Disable USB debugging While it's not too dangerous in itself if coupled with root it can provide access to the entire contents of your device even if you have a screen lock.
Encryption If your device is running android 3.0 or later you have acces to full device encryption. Use it.
Backup apps Apps like Titanium Backup can backup sensitive data to your sdcard. Even if you did all of the above, all an attacker would have to do is take out your sdcard an voila! Full access to everything! Make sure that your backups are encrypted with the strongest possible encryption.


I have three batteries used in succession and all new. The problem is the same. I supect apps are in use when not needed

Please check is there any application having more number of services. Setting-> Application -> Running.

If there is more number of services it will eat your battery.

The main thing is your display will drain your battery. So that the android OS recommend that the following

http://www.wikihow.com/Save-Battery-Power-on-an-Android

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2367542,00.asp


Does Android use a VPN in background when connecting to Exchange?

Android doesn't do that (nor do iOS and others).

IMHO it's not smart to automatically try to do such a thing. It's just a coincidence that your credentials are the same for both those very different things.

Exchange credentials and VPN credentials should really be not the same to begin with (for obvious security reasons).


Does charging a phone with another phone's charger affect it in any way?

Generally speaking the wrong charger to the wrong phone can cause damage.

However in your case, I do not believe that there is much to worry about.  The article below is a gizmodo article that explains in pretty good detail.

http://gizmodo.com/can-i-use-the-same-charger-for-multiple-devices-510829339

Basically the whole using the "wrong charger" was an issue back before the micro-usb standard.  Now that there is an international standard for the micro-usb, the voltage is limited to 5V.

    This used to be a much bigger issue on account of the wide variety of proprietary charging units and pin connectors that came with each device. Thankfully, the advent of USB changed all that and has provided an easy, standardized platform for charging devices. All USB cords carry the same 5V, regardless of if it's got a 30-pin head or a microUSB plug, whether it's first-party or third. That means DC chargers are now brand agnostic; if the volts, amps, and connectors are compatible, an Apple wall wart can charge an HTC just as easily as a Samsung. That if, though, is where people run into trouble.

In terms of the current, there can be issues that arise in the amounts of amperes that are flowing through  Take for instance the iPAD can charge off of 2.1 amp.  If the charge to it is only say 1 amp, then it won't charge as quickly.

    Because they have consistent, standardized voltage, USB chargers need another means of putting more power (in terms of watts) into larger gadgets faster. To do so, the system will increase the current (measured in amps). Most USB cables designed exclusively for charging (as opposed to data transfer) limit the current to between 1 and 1.5 amps, although new iPad chargers can deliver 2.1amps, and a standard USB port on your laptop only puts out .5 amps. This is why a 1 amp charger isn't effective on a 2.1 amp iPad. The device consumes power at the same rate that it's added.

Gizmodo also discusses things such as chips in the battery that monitors the charge (why you can plug your phone in at night and go to bed).

    Smart chargers are those that utilize a small CMOS chip to monitor and manage the state of charge (SoC) and state of health (SoH) of similarly-equipped batteries. This is a de facto feature on most every modern secondary battery on the market, and it's ubiquitous among Li-ion systems. This feature allows the batteries to be left unattended when charging without the fear of having them overheat and explode, and while maintaining 100-percent capacity over long periods via a trickle charge.

The author of the Gizmodo article, ANDREW TARANTOLA, does not think that you should use a different phone charger and that you should use the specific device's charger with the specific device.

    Once you're sure that your device's needs line up with your charger's output, all that's left is ensuring your USB cords are equipped with the proper pin connector. The micro-USB to USB cord that came with your last phone works just as well with your new one and can plug into any suitable USB power brick, so why do you have multiples of it—each with its own brick?

    Instead, just stash a single spare brick in your bag, bring only the cords you need, and stagger your device charging so that one is always plugged into a port on your computer.

    Tl;dr? While you can use the same charger for multiple devices, you probably shouldn't. Not unless you want to ruin your gear, or wait a lifetime for it to recharge.

So if you do not want to take the risk or what not, then you can use the correct charger (specific charger for specific phone).

I'm currently using a motorola backflip usb cable with the iPhone wall charger to charge my Samsung Galaxy S4 Active.  I have not noticed any issues at all.


How can I diagnose what is using my 3g connection in small packets

To diagnose the issue you could try a third-party network monitoring tool - Network Connections

  Powerful tool that displays and monitors (tracks) all inbound and
  outbound connection from and to your Android device.

Other features bundles in the app:

  Monitors all internet connections from and to your Android device
  Displays notification when hidden apps are connecting to remote servers
  Displays detailed IP information for each connection - IP address, reverse resolving (PTR), AS number, Abuse RBL data, administrative
  information, etc.
  Gets detailed info about each app that connects to remote servers and network connections used by it - permissions granted to each
  captured package and all IP addresses used by it.


How can I get the IMEI on Lollipop and upper with ADB?

My final solution for that was to create an Android application that subtracts the IMEI because some version also had the same problem.

Therefore, I make a request with the common way adb shell service call iphonesubinfo 1 else I run the sentences that install the android application The plugin, subtract the IMEI then uninstall it


In ADB shell issue the following command:

dumpsys package packages

This gives you all the information about installed packages, including the version number. You can then play around with grep utility to narrow down the results to only the lines you need:

dumpsys package packages | grep -E 'Package \[|versionName'

The above returns something similar to this:

Package [com.android.voicedialer] (41cb1a08):
versionName=4.4.2-323cb6b305
Package [com.android.defcontainer] (41cb4750):
versionName=4.4.2-323cb6b305
Package [ru.ok.android] (41cb7200):
versionName=3.7.5
Package [org.koxx.pure_calendar] (41cb9818):
versionName=3.3.3
Package [com.android.phone] (41df4fe8):
versionName=4.4.2-323cb6b305
Package [com.gsamlabs.xposed.mods.enablebatterystatspermission] (41cbc008):
versionName=1.2
...


How to root my next book premium 8 tablet

Follow the guidelines from xda forum
have a look at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1374742


Some trojan/viruses do those kind of things, once they got the superuser privilege on your device they will auto install applications from playstore without any intervention from you, try to scan it with Malware bytes or Dr Web Antivirus to check if you are infected. I so far encountered 2 phones behaving same as what you described and found out it is infected. By the way those two phones are never rooted and all applications installed on it all came from google playstore.


How To Quickly Turn Off Audio On Nexus 6P (Android 7.1.1)?

Setting short notification sound should be the fastest way. You can also consider flashing a custom ROM based on stock android 7.1.1 which enables you to mute ringing by pressing volume button. And a lot more.

Video review of AICP ROM

Setting up root and custom recovery on Nexus 6P

AICP ROM 7.1.1 for Nexus 6P (officially maintained with daily builds)


The same shared memory feature is still present in Android, and it works on built-in shared libraries such as OpenGL ES, but it's not used for third-party libraries like you're asking about. Each app that uses a third-party library has to include the library in its APK file. These then aren't shared libraries (in the .so sense): they're just duplicate files which might happen to contain the same code. (Usually they won't contain the same code because different apps will have been built against different versions of the library.)

This avoids possible incompatibilities or security problems caused by updating libraries from different apps. Shared library incompatibilities are a huge problem in GNU/Linux systems. Distributions put a lot of effort into preventing them by testing different combinations of applications and libraries, but they still go wrong sometimes. In Android, where nobody is responsible for making sure that different apps work together, that kind of shared library system would result in apps often breaking when a shared library is updated. Security problems might come about in a system that used shared libraries in this way, because an app might update a shared library to a "newer version" that's actually hacked to leak information or control the app. The libraries would have to be treated as separate packages, signed by the author, just like apps are, and then there would have to be a complex process for handling version updates.


If I encrypt my phone will I still be able to load custom ROMs?

Encryption is done on the /data partition (where all app-data is stored).
However, /sdcard is sometimes encrypted too (if the sdcard is actually internal memory of the phone i.e. not removable).

If the sdcard is also encrypted,then you will be unable to flash ROM's from within Recovery (recovery can't read encrypted sdcard).


Moto devices with a stock ROM have a facility to replace the recovery with the stock image, TWRP handles this but you have to reboot into recovery once before starting the phone normally. Flash TWRP with fastboot and boot into it, allow changes (or first, say No, then do a backup!) then within TWRP do a Reboot -> Recovery, this will "set" the recovery so it will not be replaced.

fastboot boot twrp.img (replace twrp.img with the actual filename for your TWRP image)

TWRP should load. Do not allow changes and perform a full backup (keep this safe so you can restore to known good point if needed at some time). Once this is done, go to Home - Reboot - Bootloader

Flash TWRP with fastboot flash recovery twrp.img and then reboot into the bootloader with fastboot reboot-bootloader and start Recovery, TWRP should start.

In TWRP, allow changes and go to Reboot and select Recovery, the device should reboot and TWRP will start again. Select the option to allow changes, go to Reboot and select Recovery, this will "set" TWRP as the static recovery image.

You can now Reboot - System and the phone should start with TWRP left in place.


Can I use Secure Folder without a Samsung Account?

I don't think there is a way to use Samsung's Secure Folder without logging in to Samsung. I don't know why Samsung requires that you log in to a Samsung account to use Secure Folder, as that seems to increase the potential attack surface.


Does android keep a log of when it starts?

I think you have caught yourself out, in short, nothing you can do!
Have a look at this source that explains why, specifically in this section:
System Partition and Safe Mode

The system partition contains Android's kernel as well as the
operating system libraries, application runtime, application
framework, and applications. This partition is set to read-only. When
a user boots the device into Safe Mode, only core Android applications
are available. This ensures that the user can boot their phone into an
environment that is free of third-party software.

Keywords is free of third-party software
Edit:
When Android boots up, it keeps a cache of the logcat, in a temporary buffer that is reserved found in /dev/log. That buffer gets recycled when it hits the threshold, obviously, the bigger the threshold, the slower Android gets with the continual spamming into the logcat buffer hence kept to minimum - iirc, its around 64K:
#define DEFAULT_LOG_ROTATE_SIZE_KBYTES 16
#define DEFAULT_MAX_ROTATED_LOGS 4

Source: system/core/logcat/logcat.cpp
Do not ask how many lines that can be, as to each and to every app, its different. Not alone that, the logcat disappears upon reboot!


Can I change the level for "Connect your charger"?

CM6/Magic here; my phone complains at 15%. If you're shutting down at 18, something is wrong with your battery calibration.

Use your favorite recovery to wipe the battery stats, get a full charge, and then use the phone until the battery runs out.

Your battery life will appear to be worse, but it's really that the number is more accurate.


Will an Android phone still use data when cellular data is switched off?

If that is turned off is there a possibility for the system to still use mobile data?

Absolutely not. That setting turns off the data completely as soon as you use it.

Sometimes it takes 2-3 seconds to turn the data off completely(the LTE/H+ sign to disappear because of network issues), else the data is always switched off immediately.


Run PHP MySQL web application on Android

There are few apps on play store

Following are the two i have tried and works as expected

KickWeb Server
Server for PHP


How to prevent specific apps from using mobile data?

Android itself does not provide such a tool,
but you can use firewalls that require root,

If your device is not rooted, so no problem, there are some applications that use some trick that can prevent apps from being connected to internet, such as NoRoot Firewall.

  The Trick of NoRoot Firewall is that it opens a Fake VPN connection
  for making the phone to send all the packets to the Application then you
  can define for the application which one to allow and which one to
  deny.
  So it does not require root access.

If your device is rooted you can use Droid Wall  and it will do what you want.

you can download it from Google Play Store.

Note:I'm using NoRoot Firewall on My Xperia S and Xperia Z1 for a long time, even my Xperia S is rooted but i still use this application for blocking apps from being accessed to Internet.


How can one add attachments from Google Drive in Gmail android app?

You could open Drive-App, select the file you want to send, long-press on it and choose "Send".
There you can choose gmail and it automatically creates a new mail with the file attached.


Slide down status bar to quick access screen and you will see a blue icon in the top right side. press on it and click add guest.


Reply to messages in K-9 mail without going through the menu

You need to have the latest K-9 version (4.4x).
However, it is not yet available for all devices / countries.
I installed K-9 on my Galaxy S4, and it installed 4.2x, which is not the latest.

See this XDA thread; there's a download link to the 4.4x APK,
which you can install manually.
The newer version uses an actionbar which has a reply button.


You won't find it there.

Where you will find it by doing this:

Open the play store.
Tap the Hamburger-three lines thing to open the side menu, and tap redeem.
Put in your Redeem Code
Enjoy your new google play credit!


How to root and flash a android Galaxy Ace s5830t?

According to this old XDA post it's the same as the S5830. I'm not really sure though, you need to investigate this on your own if have doubt. Note also, that your S5830 is a legacy device and only really runs Android 2.3 well.

So you could either follow CyanogenMod's installation instructions for the S5830 or search the S5830 section on XDA here.

Note: If you want to replace the stock firmware, you don't have to root it in the first place; it's not needed to be able to flash it. You'll have root with the modded firmware, then.


deleted drafts remain in conversation chain

Only way I found around it is to find the conversation in the normal gmail web interface, scroll all the way to the bottom where it says "n deleted messages in this conversation. View messages or delete forever." where n is a number and press "delete forever". Certainly not a satisfying solution.


How do change my email back to from my son's email to mine on Google payment like Google store

To change back to your payment method, open play store open the menu on the top left, press on the email address, and it should give you the option to switch.
(That's if you added your account to your phone. If you didn't, follow the steps below and you'll see a way to add yours )

If you want to fully remove your son's account from your phone, go to phone settings>accounts>Google>[his email address]>three dots menu>remove account.


I would suggest logging out of both and signing into your personal account first. Then the work account. This should then default to the first account you signed up with...

-edit (sorry for being so stupid)-
Try another twitter client such as twiddle (free) or talon (Paid). These may have the feature your looking for...

I can't comment as I don't have enough rep yet.


Android system takes too much data usage

Android System data usage

When you use tether your Smartphone and your PC the I assume that those data will be accumulated in the "Android System" entry - or did you encounter a separate entry in the Android network usage list?

On your PC you should check if the tethered network connection is marked as cellular / metered connection network connection (Windows).

Background data user

You can restrict the background data usage for ever app separately. Therefore you can spare the apps where you want/need background data.


How to mount system.img on android (or linux)?

Found a solution! Guess what problem was?! My file was read-only, which i set up in windows. That's problem with "permission denied". For some reason android cannot change this, I had to use windows or symbian os to unmark read-only property. Xplore doesn't show permissions option for any files except if they are on some ext partition. Root Explorer shows, and that's how I first noticed my problem, accidentally. I've seen all other files had different permissions in detailed view in root explorer. I tried changing permissions to 0777 using root explorer or total commander, and although they say it set it up, it didn't. This can't be done on fat32 partition. Of course when I changed it using windows, it showed same permissions as other files. I remember i set this file to read-only a month ago, to avoid accidental modification!

Later I experienced additional problem with mount, that is when i use -o loop only, it says 'device or resource busy'. But when I found where are my loop devices by searching for 'loop' using xplore, I found there are files loop0 to loop7 in '/dev/block/'. So when I used -o loop=/dev/block/loop0 it again said the same problem message. But when I used -o loop=/dev/block/loop1 it finally mounted. I didn't have to use '-w' option to make it writable! Just skipped any letter.

And forgot to say, we can mount it to any folder, but that folder has to exist! So I made folder njz or nijaz or sistem in root of my device using xplore (set in settings superuser + mount writable, so it can make these things) and mounted there. Note that that folder dissappears after reset.

Also umount worked for unmounting.
umount /njz/.

Also that's what caused my original firmware to not work. It always bootlooped. Just because file is read-only. This is huge problem in linux. Need to contact linux, xplore, total commander, root explorer developers. Spflashtool was used to flash files, but problem was in file property!!!


Install SSH Server or other terminal viewer for HTC X one

QuickSSHd works on rooted and non-rooted phones. There are some limitations on non-rooted phones (running on port 2222 instead of 22, etc.), but other than this, I have yet to see any problem with it on any device (tested from 1.6 through 2.1 to 4.1). Costs approx. US$1.5


You most likely bricked it. If you have a custom recovery installed, (Hopefully you do) you can unbrick your phone by booting up into it and reinstalling the stock software. Can I ask what recovery (if any) you have?

If you have TWRP you can navigate to: Wipe > Advanced Wipe then wipe cache, dalvik cache, data, system. Then navigate to: install/flash then navigate to where your ROM is and flash it.


How to prevent Chrome from restoring last session?

This was possible in earlier versions but from Chrome version 51 onwards, it is not possible as it designed to open in last session instead of home page

I couldn't find any workaround for rooted devices on net

Source


How to lower battery consumption on a S6 edge

There are a bunch of things you can do, but keep in mind that the mythical method of doubling your battery life doesn't exist. You may get another hour or two before you need to recharge.

Greenify (I am in no way affiliated)- An app that, like some other task killers, stops background tasks, but greenify is different. It uses the native force stop function to stop apps that you don't want to keep running. It runs better with root, but isn't necessary.
Turn off WiFi scanning- did they forget to mention wifi never turns off? Depending on your Android version, this option is either within the wifi advanced settings, or inside of the location services (marshmallow and on). You will find an option that says wifi scanning. Turn it off, along with wifi on while asleep if you are it. Wifi use is usually one of the larger drains of the battery.
Use your phone less. We are so hypnotized by there things, and it can't hurt to try and stay off Pokemon go on the bus when you could be watching the scenery or just listening to music.


Alternative contacts app, faster than Google's with 2000 contacts?

I will recommend Dialer One. I am 99% sure it can show contacts without pictures. It has lots of customization options, t9 search in contacts in slew of different languages. I have 900+ contacts and is really fast, I hope it works that way for 2000 contacts. Be sure to fiddle with the options after giving it a try.


I used the same drivers that I installed for my Samsung Galaxy S (Vibrant).

64 bit drivers
32 bit drivers


Is your Android phone killing apps from the background? Check for background activity manage, battery optimizer or a similar option in your device settings and disable it for your VPN app.


Phantom notifications of Galaxy Note driving me nuts

Mine was the Yahoo app. It was driving me mad. Nothing in the status bar, just a two-tone ding-ding. All the notification boxes in the app were unticked but it was still dinging.

Go to the app, - Options - Account settings - Notification Settings - Choose sound. If you touch the "Yahoo! Default" I bet you hear the two-tone ding. Select "No sound". I haven't heard it since it did that. If that doesn't fix it, the app is coming off the phone. Yahoo need to get real. That is not OK.


How can I enable the internet on other apps other than the web browser?

You normally can login in your browser i.e: http://1.1.1.1 (or any local address)  and put your credentials, user and password.

If are valid, your mobile its accepted to use the network for all apps, until you disconnect.

Otherwise you can set a proxy for some apps, as social apps or browsers.


How to recover data from corrupt SD Card formatted as Internal?

Unfortunately, using an SD card as internal (adopted) memory is very hard on the card itself. TBH, I am surprised you got 2 years out of it. Most 3rd Gen Moto devices are lucky to get a year or maybe 18 months and we have seen cards fail in as few as 30 days. The way adopted storage works puts incredible amounts of stress on the card itself with constant read and write operations, even Moto staff on their official support forums recommends NOT using adopted storage if at all possible. SD cards like many types of flash storage have a finite number of write cycles, they will fail, the question is when.

What can you? Reboot and see if it shows up again, then copy it off immediately and replace the card as soon as possible.

Other options are pretty limited and the adoptable-storage tag may give you some options, but in general once adoptable storage gets messed up the data is not recoverable due to the encryption used by Android.

Otherwise, there isn't much UNLESS the phone is already rooted and you are pretty handy with Linux. If it isn't already rooted, then it doesn't matter because of the rooting process requires wiping the device. If you are rooted you need to access the *.key file in /data/misc/vold and you can mount the volume as shown here and attempt normal data recovery in Linux.

BTW, Android has tools to mitigate these situations by maintaining backups in online storage... for example, tools like Google Photo will automatically backup pictures and videos to your Google account for free. What is the old saying? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.


HTC has dropped upgrade support for the Wildfire S. If you want to have Jelly Bean you have to :

 1. Unlock the bootloader

This is done by going to the htcdev website and select your device on the dropdown to the  right. All the procedure is described on the site, but be warned that by doing this, you void your device's garranty. (though it can be relocked, but a relocked device is easily identified by a "** RELOCKED **" mention on the bootloader).

 2. Root your device

A user on xda-developers forum has developed a "One click root" program. You can download it on the original thread, run it and follow the instructions.

 3. Install a custom rom

There are many different CyanogenMod 10.1 rom (the Wildfire S community seems pretty fragmented to me...), but one I recommend is the one by the Owl Project. Simply download the zip file, put it in the root of your sdcard. Power off your device, power it on while holding the volume down button, choose install zip from sdcard and pick the downloaded zip file. If you are not satisfied, you can choose another one from the Wildfire S development section

BUT ! Be warned that all of these procedure may or may not harm your device and nobody could be held responsible for this. (though if you follow the instructions, there is a very minimal chance of bricking your device)


First you need to have RSD Lite installed. Do a Google search and look for either 4.9 or above. Then you need to go to Motorola's site and install the drivers needed. Find an SBF file that will work for you, likely it will need to be a 2.2 file. Best thing to do is keep trying until you find one that works. Boot your phone in bootloader mode (volume up button) and if you get a message about a low battery you will need to find a way to charge up the phone. Go to the XDA developers forum and search for McGyver battery fix. (you can also find sbf files there) If RSD lite recognizes your phone flash the sbf file and let it do it's thing. More detailed instructions can be found on XDA as well, but that is the jist of what you need to do.


How can I prevent Telegram from notifying me about contacts that recently joinedTelegram

You can stop these by going to Settings > Notifications and Sounds > Contact joined Telegram. Turn that option off and you won't get notifications about new contacts joining.

-Quora answer


Jelly bean phone won't let me get to the APN setting

I agree that it was a little misleading / not-leading to anywhere. With the following steps Jelly Bean (v4.1.2) let me go set a new APN with Samsung Galaxy S 4G Relay:

Settings --> may need to press More settings --> Mobile Networks --> Access Point Names
Press the "button that leads to setting page" (sorry I don't know how to call this button. On my device it's one of the three main hardware buttons where the others are "Back", "Home"). There you'll see New APN and Reset Default.


My S4 Mini won't (even try to) send text messages

I know this seems trivial but try turning on and off your flight mode on your phone. it worked for me. I had been fiddling around with my sim card and then had the same problem as you. anyways hope that helps


Is it possible to migrate an SD card formatted as adopted storage to a new phone without reformatting?

Though you did not (yet) confirm both devices are rooted, this solution might be of interest for those where they are:

Following up to our adoptable-storage tag-wiki, you will find a link to How to decrypt adopted storage? Based on that, the following approach seems feasible:

From the original device, extract the encryption key file located in /data/misc/vold
Copy this file to the new device

There's a missing step, though: As the file has no fixed name, I assume this must be stored in some settings database. So that database entry must be found and added to the new device. On the other hand, the name might as well be derived from the label of the SD card it belongs to.

So basically, this answer might be incomplete – but the approach worth a try. If someone can provide the missing step, please do so in the comments and I'll integrate it here (with credits given, of course).


How can I repeat each song in a playlist n times?

You may have found this answer or another one by now but a simple way to achieve this (as long as you don't want to use the shuffle function) is to manually create a playlist and add each song multiple times.

Example (.m3u playlist in same directory as music):

#EXTM3U
a.mp3
a.mp3
a.mp3
a.mp3
b.mp3
b.mp3
b.mp3
b.mp3
c.mp3
c.mp3
c.mp3
c.mp3


Moved apps to SD. SD was full, Apps are vanished now, but phone storage stays clogged. What should I do?

Sometimes the OS misinterprets files inside of the sdcard. However, it is possible that the applications failed to move. I would suggest trying to try reading the contents of the sdcard from another device (another phone or computer). Then try seeing if the applications are in there. If they are, chances are the sdcard isn't mounting properly. I would suggest backing up the sdcard and then formatting then restoring the files. After doing this try inserting the sdcard into your phone again and see if your applications load.


How to set a non-default system sound in Pixel 4 Clock?

After a recent Google Clock update from the Play store the system notification tones are available again. The change list mentions 'bug fixes' without specifics.

The 'Sounds' app is still not accessible from the Clock app, but this is good enough for my purposes.


Android's screen is rotated by 90 degrees

If you're just looking to turn it back to what it was, use the command adb shell wm size reset.


Found the reason. this happens on the apps, that are not supported to my country, for unknown reason I have no idea. I've installed them manually from their site, by downloading APK.


Is there a widget that shows free/busy status of one of my Google Calendar calendars?

Launcher Pro has a nice calendar widget that I use for this purpose.  It can switch back and forth between a month view of the calendar to an agenda view.  I have my own calendar and two other Google calendars hooked in which show up as appointments on my agenda.


Will skipping Play Store updates cause problems?

Android applications are used to perform a task or a  group of tasks. App updates are additional features that are added to the current version of that app. An application has several states while running on mobile such as start, stop, resume, terminate etc.

Play Store is one of the secured source for downloading and installing android applications. A developer in play store will release two types of app(not for every apps).

Stable :
This version runs stable on most devices and may not have any app close or similar issues.
Beta :
Releases updates under development stages and not upto stable. User need to join beta program from play store.

So, if you have installed an app from play store, then you can run that app without updating for long time, because that is stable. The only thing you've missing will be updated features.  For example, Google phone app(say version 23). It had added new design few months ago, but if you're running version 22, you can use as long as you can. And you'll only miss new design, dark theme like that. And, if you're installing version 29, after skipping 23,24,.. , you'll get features of that versions, after updating to version 29. It's because android apps are developed  incremental basis( as Firelord mentioned below).

Also, there are some apps which requires strict updates. Example, WhatsApp. WhatsApp will check the current version of app and prohibits app usage until app update. This occurs because WhatsApp may stop support specific version after few months(may be yearly, you're redirected to  play store while opening WhatsApp).

System apps may get auto updated during OTA/ security updates released by manufacturer.

If you're installing an app from play store today, you're installing today's latest stable version.


Get the first time Android device launched or used

Simply go to the handset service menu and check the total call timer. Simple and easy.


Factory reset Samsung Galaxy S3 without screen

You could use recovery mode and guess the controls from resources available online or you could use adb if u had developer options enabled and type:

adb shell
--wipe_data

EDIT: I read the comments on your question and it looks like if u wanted to reset it you can go into recovery (Home+VolumeUp+Power) and then press volume down twice and then press power and then press volume down 6 times and then press power again.


Can I use a radio firmware for GB (2.3.6) for my SGS1 (GT-I9000) if I have ICS installed?

You do not want to do that.

From my understanding, flashing an older radio than the one you currently have installed is a sure fire way to brick your phone.

Besides, the latest radios are always better. And so long as you are sticking with ICS, it is a very good idea to use the latest radio.

Like ce4 said, flash the radio recommended by whoever is making your ROM-
And NEVER flash the same radio twice.


"This app won't run without Google Play Services which are missing from your phone" on Samsung Galaxy S2

You can do this the easy way by just (re)installing your Google Apps. Download the right GApps package from CyanogenMod / XDA / Goo.im and flash it in recovery.

OR you can also use the APKs linked on the site in your comment. This method is not recommended and may dump your phone into a bootloop!

You probably want to download this one. Install it by connecting your phone to PC (make sure USB debugging is enabled and that you have ADB installed on your PC) and typing these commands in a terminal:

adb push <path to downloaded APK> /sdcard/GmsCore.apk
adb shell
$ su
# mount -o rw,remount /system
# cp /sdcard/GmsCore.apk /system/app/GmsCore.apk
# chmod 0644 /system/app/GmsCore.apk
# rm /sdcard/GmsCore.apk
# mount -o ro,remount /system
# exit
$ exit

Then reboot your phone.


How do you extract an App's data from a full backup made through "adb backup"?

How to extract ab files
There is an open source project under the Apache 2.0 license,  written by Nikolay Elenkov that will allow you to extract the .ab in to a tar file.
Usage:
java -jar abe.jar unpack <backup.ab> <backup.tar> <password>

Background
Just for reference of others, here is some background on the .ab file format.
The Android Backup (*.ab) file is a compressed TAR file. It is compressed using the DEFLATE algorithm. On top of that, there can be AES encryption used. This is determined when you create the backup, if you enter a password then the backup is encrypted, otherwise; there is no encryption, it is only compressed.
The HEADER of the file is a little different than a normal DEFLATE archive. It contains information about the backup and looks like the following:
ANDROID BACKUP
1
1
none

The first line is the "Magic" line. The next line is the version of the Android Backup file format. The next line is a boolean (true or false, 1 or 0) indicating if the file is compressed. The last line is the type of encryption. This example is not using any encryption. If there was a password, the line would read "AES-256". After that is the encryption cipher. If no password, then the DEFLATE "archive" starts.
It is compressed using the Java Deflater. Which, from a developers perspective,  causes issues if you want to use anything besides Java to extract it. I haven't been able to find anything that can deflate it using the same algorithm, even though all that I have found (for like C#) are supposed to follow the "SPEC".
If you are not sure how to really use that (which is beyond the scope of this answer) Droid Explorer since v0.8.8.7 (available here) allows you to do exactly this, and more, right from Explorer. You can read more about the features on my blog (yes, i know, shameless plug. I do that when it fits the question)


It appears that Android is "Mostly POSIX-compliant" and that it is available through the Android NDK. Which can be found here.

According to Wikipedia for what its worth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POSIX


How to avoid roaming question on dual-sim calls?

In my Android 4.2.1, I have to set Settings → SIM Management → Roaming → Show roaming reminder → Never.

Alternatively, use adb to disable the notification for a particular SIM.

Setup ADB in PC, enable USB debugging in device, connect the device into PC, launch a shell on latter and follow these instructions:

To enable data roaming for default SIM, enter:

adb shell settings put global data_roaming 1

Changes would take effect immediately. For SIM2, change the key to data_roaming_2.

If you want to know the details about this command, enter adb shell settings. You would easily come to know what the aforesaid command would do.


Receiving an EACCESS Permission denied error when copying files to ExtSDCard

It's a Galaxy Tab, which just received an update OTA to 4.4.2 a couple weeks ago.

There you have the reason: Kitkat introduced restrictions concerning access to the SD-Card. While apps still can read from the card, only system apps are permitted to write to it (with the exception of app-specific directories in /sdcard/Android/data).

For non-rooted devices, there's no solution or work-around available (except waiting for the Lollipop update to lift these restrictions a little). There are, however, several solutions for rooted devices, some of them can be found in this list. If you're interested in those (maybe you've meanwhile rooted your device, or rooting became an option for you), watch out for apps like Kitkat external SD card patch or SDFix.


AFAIK, true instant sync (as in first para of your question) , isn't possible using Dropbox, for reasons mentioned in answer here. If Dropbox itself doesn't permit, you can't force it through either apps you tried (I tried and have the pro version of both these apps).

My need was to have a real time sync across Android and PC (Linux and Windows). The only app I could find was from standard notes. The Android app on Play Store is marked beta but don't let that discourage you. It works perfectly well on Android, Linux and Windows for real time sync.

Only thing left is Dropbox sync - if you go in for pro version of standard notes, you can install an extension, that provides daily updates to Dropbox, and obviously isn't real time. But then your files are synced across platform in real time, so updation in Dropbox may not really matter, unless you have other reasons. I haven't tried this extension because I stopped using Dropbox.

As far as real time sync goes this ticks all the boxes except via Dropbox. You don't need to go in for extended (pro) version, if you decide to cut off Dropbox or use either of the apps you tried for periodic sync.


Disable Bluetooth discoverability in Redmi 6 / MIUI 11

Found the "[Tools] MIUI Bluetooth Discovery App" thread in Mi Community. It lead me to Bluetooth Visibility Fix app which seems to be working as expected under MIUI 11 / Readmi 6 phone.
There's some work when start using it:

It is a  system service that needs special permissions to auto-start,
It didn't work ("restarted" itself to "Visible to all") for first 2-3 times then it suddenly started to work.

But after some time it does seems to be resolving the issue in question and turning off Bluetooth discoverability permanently.
In case the Bluetooth Visibility Fix app is not working for you itself, the "[Tools] MIUI Bluetooth Discovery App" article also mentions some user-contributed app, available as direct .apk file download under above link. Consider it as an alternative.


What is the difference between NB and WB entries in mixer_gains.xml?

The abbreviations here stand for narrowband (nb) and wideband (wb).

You can see the list of supported media formats, including the supports audio codecs here:
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/media/media-formats

For example, the quite common AMR-NB codec.


How to root the Droid Maxx with 4.4.4 KitKat

There are plenty of rooting apps avialble for rooting kitkat mobiles.. The apps like Framaroot, King Root, VRoot and so on.. for more information check this out..


Why do I need to use "Android File Transfer" to transfer files from my mac?

I think it's because Mac does not have all the required drivers. It's like you can't connect your iPhone to a Windows computer properly without iTunes.


You need to either restore a TWRP backup, flash a custom ROM and Gapps, or use fastboot to flash a current factory image.

Moto factory firmware images are unzipped and flashed with fastboot, they cannot be flashed with TWRP. The best source for instructions and firmware images is XDA, do not use the ones on Moto's website, they are older images and will likely fail with a "Preflash Validation Error" due to being older than what is already installed in the device.

XDA - Moto G 2015 - Factory Firmware Images
XDA - Moto G 2015 - How to flash factory firmware images with fastboot

Be sure you have the correct image and version for your device. Flashing an incorrect image can cause the device to be completely non-functional (bricked), and flashing an incorrect or old version will fail.

Be aware that Moto has recently released several security updates and patches for this device, especially outside North America, and some of the firmware images are not available yet.

Flashing a custom ROM and Gapps is nothing more than copying the ZIP and gapps to your device, flash them with TWRP, and reboot. ROMs can be found at number of sources.

Of course, the best way would be to restore a TWRP backup of the system partition, if you have one. If not, one of the above methods is necessary.


How to remove the android OS version from the DHCP request?

It's hard-coded in Java DhcpClient:

...
    private String getVendorId() {
        if (testOverrideVendorId != null) return testOverrideVendorId;
        return "android-dhcp-" + Build.VERSION.RELEASE;
    }
...

So the only way is to rebuild your ROM with modified source code. Or use a different DHCP client from command-line. For reference: Connecting to WiFi via ADB Shell.


How can I execute a Tasker reboot command only 1 time?

If I understood the question correctly, you want to connect the device to a power source which triggers Tasker to reboot the device (for initialization). But when the device reboots itself Tasker finds that the power source is connected so it repeats the task again. Your goal is to make Tasker reboot only once while power source remains connected. If the source is to be removed and re-inserted again, then Tasker should do the reboot again only for once.

Based on this understanding, I proposed the following solution:

The solution is very trivial. I'm using two profiles in Tasker, namely:

Not power USB
Power USB

These two profiles, as obvious, will be triggered by connecting/disconnecting the power source to the Android device. I'm using a file's content as a condition here to restrict boot-loop.

Note: For this answer, I chose my power source as USB only.

Instructions:

Regarding the file content:

Create an empty file in your default storage. (I created a file named sdcard.txt in /sdcard. The location of this file is /sdcard/sdcard.txt.)
Open this file in a text editor in Android and add 0 in it. (I used 920 Text Editor).
Note that there is no logical reasoning in using 0 only. It will be used in a conditional statement only. You're at liberty to try an another number.

Regarding Profiles and Tasks in Tasker app:

Launch Tasker.
Under Profiles tab create a Profile by tapping + → State → Power → Power.
Under Source choose USB.
Check Invert -- this will make Not power USB profile.
Press Back key/button once and select New Task.
Add a name for your task (persistent) or leave it blank (deleting profile will delete it as well).
Under Tasks tab tap + → File → Write File.
Under File field mention the location of your text file. In this case, it is /sdcard/sdcard.txt.
Write 0 under Text field.
Uncheck Append  and Add Newline. -- we want to replace the content, so no appending should be done.
Tap Back key/button twice to save this task.
In order to create Power USB profile, repeat step 2,3,5 and 6, respectively.
Under Tasks tab tap + → File → Read File.
Repeat step 8.
Under To Var type %True -- You can change %True to any other name. Make sure that you capitalize at least one letter of your variable to make it non-local. See this to know more.
Repeat step 11, 7 and 8.
Type 1 under Text field.
Repeat step 10.
Tap + corresponding to If. Add %True and 0 in fields respectively. It should look like %True ~ 0.
Repeat step 11.
Under Tasks tab tap + → Code → Run Shell.
Type reboot under Command. (My device is rooted, so I provided root permissions to this step to avoid any hassle.) As a soft-reboot option, you can use killall zygote instead of reboot.
Check Use Root if your device is rooted.
Leave Store Output In and Store Errors In blank.
Repeat step 19 and 20.
Go to Profiles and enable both profiles. To save yourself from unnecessary trouble, disable any other power related profile other than the ones mentioned above.
Tasker must be Enabled. You can check this by tapping Menu key/button once and amongst the options, Disable tasker would be visible. Also, if this app is running and you happen to minimize it, then as a default setting you would see its icon in the Status bar with the profile mentioned there (if activated).

We're good to go.

Go to Home Screen of your device.
Connect power source (we used USB only here).
Your device will reboot. Do not disconnect power source to verify that boot-loop vanished.
When the device comes back to Home Screen after reboot, you can see that Power USB profile is activated in tasker yet there is no boot-loop, not to mention that your initialization is also done. :)
Disconnect power source and the profile will switch to No power USB.
Connect power source again and device will reboot again for once.

Status: Objective Completed. Done!


Convert Internal Storage to Phone Storage

I'm not saying this for sure ! But as far as i had checked the partitioning topics and also in my own experience i'd dived into actions about that .

i do not recommend you delete a partition completely , Because first of all it may cause an error so you can safely reduce it's size to very low & keeping that tiny space for the system presentations and checks (android checks much much things that we can't even guess those are counted as an important thing for the system to run) .
I'm not a pro at all Just hoped to be usefull :)


Atrocious battery life with Cyanogenmod 11 on Galaxy S4 mini

These are the settings I use on my phone, which have helped with the power consumption.

Under Performance

-> Processor

CPU governer: ONDEMAND

-> Profile

Power save

General Settings page

-> Location Services: off

-> Bluetooth off

-> Mobile Data (3g): off

There are also some apps that may be helpful, one of which (I've only heard of it not actually used) is called SnapDragon Battery Guru.

If you can't find the performance settings turn on developer options (instructions here)


Why aren't some launchers compatible with some devices?

The launcher can't modify device audio input itself.

There always is a possibility for something to not work even when it's marked as compatible (like HTC Explorer with Snapchat). It should work but it doesn't.


File deleting problems after Android v4.4.2 upgrade?

Pretty normal. With Android 4.4, Google decided apps shall no longer have write access on the external SDCard – unless they are system apps (or have root privileges). They call that "security" (while others call it "crippling", and doubt "security" being the real reason behind – rather suspecting "cloudy interests").

While apps still can store their own data in their own dedicated directories (i.e. <sdcard>/Android/<package_name>/), the entire concept of a "shared media storage", where you can use any app of your choice to organize your own media and documents, has been abandoned. So (without root access) it's e.g. no longer possible

for a media player to download covers into the music folder
for a media player to (re-)write ID3 tags im .mp3 files it did not create itself
to edit a document created with another app or copied from your PC

All this can only be done when you stored those files in the cloud, as with most cloud apps all cloud-stored data is available to all apps you give access to your cloud account (the same way they had access to the SDCard before 4.4).


SD Internal make my Motorola X Play 3rd generation reboot and unmount sdcard

It is not uncommon for this to occur if the write speed capabilities of the SD card are not sufficient, we have seen many examples of this with the Moto X Pure/Style and Moto G 2015 on XDA where a U1 card does not have fast enough sustained write speeds, and replacing it with a U3 rated card works beautifully. I am not personally familiar with your Moto X Play, but it is very similar to the G series hardware-wise.

This could also be an few other issues, like a poor connection to the cards contacts. Sometimes placing a couple layers of scotch tape on the back of the card can increase tension enough to keep the card in contact with the tension contacts in the microSD slot.

This could also be a fake or counterfeit card, you can use SD Insight to check it.

Not to count out it could just be a defective microSD card, or defective hardware, but you would have to eliminate and try the other issues above before moving to this conclusion.


Can you change the colour of the LED light on the Samsung Galaxy S3?

There is powerful and full-customizable GO SMS PRO which lets you set any LED color for sms incoming notifications based on sender. Also, it is a mighty alternative for stock sms app and has many useful functions and customizations.

After you installed it, run and tap menu, then Settings, and go to Advanced -> Individual Settings and add any contact to set individual notification (including LED options) for it.


I'm really not sure what you're asking. Do you mean that you wish to uninstall several Google apps to only have  a few apps by Google on your phone?

Are you rooted? If you have root access, what you can do is use ROM Toolbox Pro to remove system apps (Google apps) from your phone without needing to flash a different ROM for this ability.

Please let me know if this answers your question or if I misunderstood your question.

Rooting a device: This can be accomplished using several different methods. There are several one-click root apps like KingRoot, Framaroot or TowelRoot.

Convert System Apps -> User Apps

You can use an app called /system/app mover. This is an easier method.


my lgl16c "lucky" is stuck optimizing apps after I changed the runtime

The Lucky does not have enough internal memory to use the Art runtime. You can remove the battery if it is stuck, and it should come to the conclusion that it has insufficient memory for the switch, and revert to Dalvik. Had the same issue last night. It will revert you to the default wallpaper as well, but other than that, it will be fine.


Windows claims that my device has malfunctioned?

Okay, so really late reply, but I thought I might as well update. Apparently my phone has a faulty USB port and I don't have any way to fix it. Using Kingoroot, I managed to root my phone then promptly changed it to SuperSU. I then used System App Remover (Root) to get rid of those bloatware apps I hated so much. Finally, using Flashify, I flashed TWRP.

Searching XDA I did find a ROM for it, but it is a bit outdated. However, it still works, and it is what I am using right now until I can get around developing my own, when and if that may be.

Thank you guys for your support and ideas anyways!! <3


Paid app on computer (via google play store) but installed on phone as 'unknown sources' (not via the play store)

Answering this myself.
I downloaded the respective PRO versions. I guess these versions have access to the "play store receipts" and so both apps booted the Pro versions properly.


Does CyanogenMod Xperia Z3 Dual support LTE on any SIMs?

Always try to look at the specs directly from the manufacturer.  Sony says LTE is supported on some variants of the device.  CyanogenMod doesn't really have anything to do with it, since the radio code is not usually open-source and is not bundled with CM.

GSM Arena is another good place to get device specs.


Voice command slow with large contact list?

I have a similarly sized contact list and I've found that the Voice Dialer is both slow to load and slow to find responses on my Moto Droid (on 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2).  I stopped using the Voice Dialer and started using Voice Search (aka. Voice Actions) by saying "Call Jane Smith mobile."  I've found Voice Search to open quickly and to find contacts quickly. Both of those apps came preloaded on my phone and are from Google.

While I don't know the architecture of either app it would make sense to me that the Voice Dialer would be affected by the size of the Contact list more directly than the Voice Search app.


UDP usually uses dynamical port numbers on client side, therefore just replaying will not work.

Note: The following bases on the assumption that the audio stream is transmitted using a common standardized protocol and is not encrypted or otherwise protected like it is on streaming apps like Spotify, Dezzer, ...

Instead you need to extract the UDP data stream from the created packet dump (usually in pcap file format). See for example this question.

Then you need a streaming server software that allows to stream the data you have extracted. The server can run on a PC that can be accessed via network from your Android phone or on the Android device itself. I assume that the client software on your Android device allows to specify the audio streaming server.


Go to Settings -> Accessibility -> Vibration and switch it off


Is there a way to find the IMEI on a Pixel with a completely damaged screen?

Yes you can find IMEI of your damaged Pixel Device or any Android device if you have or had your google account logged in .

Check Google My Devices
or alternatively logon to Google Find my devices @ https://www.google.com/android/find

on your device list click the ( i ) information icon, you can see your device IMEI.

Hope this helps.


How can I install Google Apps on Cyanogenmod for the Samsung Galaxy S2 (i9100)?

Okay, I add another answer because the protocol I am attaching differs from what I posted above. This worked for me, I cannot tell if this will work for you; please don't point your finger on me ;) This is meant for all who have a CM CM12.1 Nightly build  2016-01-19 or later installed - including Cyanogenmod's recovery which IS NOT ABLE to install Zip Files. The Procedure also reorganizes your Partition structure.

== Resizing Partitions, Installing TWRP 3.0.2-0, CyanogenMod 13 nightly and OpenGApps Pico on Samsung's Galaxy S2 i9100 using Windows 10. Phone has CM12.1 nightly build 2016-01-19 or later, but no busybox. ==

CAUTION: Following these instructions may brick your device. All steps are performed at your own risk. This protocol was successfully tested on two independent i9100 devices. Initially both devices had CyanogenMod 12.1 with CyanogenMod's "stock" recovery installed (which lacks the busybox). Build > 2016-01-19. This protocoll will install CyanogenMod 13, OpenGApps and TWRP 3.0.2-0 recovery. This recovery should persist even after updating CyanogenMod to the next nightly build (not tested yet, would be nice if soeone could feedback on this!).

NOTE: All steps were performed on a Windows 10 PC. You may encounter different events using an other OS.

PREPARATIONS:

Read this first before executing ;)
Backup all your personal data.
Eject your extra SD-card from your phone.
Get the latest CyanogenMod Nightly Build: http://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=i9100 -> store the zip on your extra SD-card you just ejected
Get OpenGApps pico: http://opengapps.org/ Make sure that the build date matches the CyanogenMod nightly build date. Store the zip on the SD-card you just ejected.
Get HeimdallSuite_v1.4.0.zip: http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3713767&d=1460278689 -> Extract it to a local folder (from now on called c:\localFolder)
Get Samsung_Galaxy_S2_Pit-Files_Collection_All-In-One_2015-05-04.rar - http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3293884&d=1430622849 -> store it in c:\localFolder
Extract yor desired system storage layout from the jujst downloaded pit collection archive. I strongly recommend to pick a file from the "I9100_512MB_Preload" subfolder, because those most likely won't cause trouble with CyanogenMod installation. I decided for the following configuration: I9100_2.0GB_Sys-08GB_Data-512MB_Preload.pit --> store this file in c:\localFolder. This file will be called myPit.pit from now on.
Get SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones.zip: http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3713769&d=1460278744 -> double click to install. When you don't install this, you might won't be able to establish a connection between your phone and your PC.
Get MSVC++ 2012 Redistributable x86, vcredist_x86.exe (Heimdall won't open with x64 installed): https://www.microsoft.com/de-de/download/details.aspx?id=30679 -> double click to install. If you don't install this, you most probably will get a dll not found exception when launching Heimdall.
Get latest TWRP recovery: https://dl.twrp.me/i9100/ -> store the img in c:\localFolder. This file will be called as myRecovery.img from now on.

PROTOCOL:

Connect your device (and unlock it, if locked).
Open windows device manager (enter "device manager" in start). In the device manager, ensure that hidden devices will be shown ("View" menu).
Navigate to "Modem" -> "Samsung Modem". Right click -> "Uninstall".
Enter "change device installation settings" in start end select not to auto install drivers at all. This is necessary to prevent Windows 10 using any cached drivers for the setup.
Disconnect your device.
Reboot your system into advanced startup settings menue: Click the Start menu and select "Settings" -> Click "Update and Security" -> Click on "Recovery" -> Click "Restart now" under "Advanced Startup". When after the system reboot the boot menu appears, click "Troubleshoot" -> Click "Advanced options" -> Click "Startup Settings" -> Click on "Restart" -> On the "Startup Settings" screen press 7 or F7 to disable driver signature enforcement. (taken from: http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/38289/~/windows-10%3A-disable-signed-driver-enforcement)
Turn off your phone. Bring it into download mode by holding "Volume Down" + "Home" + "Power" at the same time. A warning screen will appear. Acknowledge with "Volume Up".
Connect your device to your PC. The device is now in download mode.
Open explorer and change to c:\localFolder\Heimdall Suite\Drivers and open zadig.exe
In the "Options" menu tick "List All Devices"
Select "Gadget Serial" from the drop down menu.
Select "WinUSB v6.1.x.x.x" from the value picker and click "Install Driver". The installation should be confirmed with a success dialog.
Close zadig.exe
Bring your phone in the donwload mode again: Disconnect in from power. Reconnect it. Bring it into download mode by holding "Volume Down" + "Home" + "Power" at the same time. A warning screen will appear. Acknowledge with "Volume Up".
Open c:\localFolder\Heimdall\Heimdall Suite\heimdall-frontend.exe
Open the "Utilities" tab.
Click the "Detect" button in the "Detect Device" panel. Make sure the status message says "Device detected"
In the "Download Pit" panel click the "Save As" button. Enter a name like "backup". This is a backup file of your current phone partitioning. Because you are going to change its size, you will not use this file later on. However, this step is necessary to make the phone communicate with your PC, I don't know why...
Then klick the "Download" button in the same panel. If everything was set up correctly, no errors will appear in the status log. Please check.
Bring your phone in the donwload mode again. Disconnect in from power. Reconnect it. Bring it into download mode by holding "Volume Down" + "Home" + "Power" at the same time. A warning screen will appear. Acknowledge with "Volume Up". Yes, this is necessary.
Open the "Flash" tab.
In the "PIT" panel click the "Browse" button and select your myPit.pit (which you extracted from the pit files collection) and tick the "Repartition" checkbox.
In the "Partitions(Files)" panel click the "Add" button.
In the "Partition Details" panel at the "Partition Name" dropdown menu select "Recovery". Ensure that the "Partition ID" field reads "7". Click the "Browse" button in the "File" panel next to it and select myRecovery.img
In the "Sessions" panel, make sure that neither the "No Reboot" nor the "Resume (...)" checkboxes are ticked.
Now click the "RECOVERY" entry in the "Partitions(Files)" panel so that it is highlighted blue.
Click "Start". Hopefully the recovery will be flashed now. You will see progress when the status bar changes. Also check the output for errors. If just nothing will happen, check again if the the "No Reboot" nor the "Resume (...)" checkboxes are unchecked and/or retry.
Bring your phone in the recovery (!) mode. Disconnect it from power. Reconnect it. Bring it into recovery mode by holding "Volume Up" (!) + "Home" + "Power" at the same time.  The TWRP Recovery screen will appear.
Navigate to "Wipe" -> "Advanced Wipe". A list of available partitions will appear. (It is important to reformat at least "SDCard" (/emmc) so that it will be recognized by CyanogenMod later (otherwise it will most likely be marked as defect).) Check "Cache", tap "Repair Or Change File System" -> "Change File System" -> "EXT4" -> Swipe. This will force reformatting the partition.
Repeat this step with all other available partitions (some of them like "Android Secure" or "Dalvik" won't work. WARNING: when you still have your extra SD-card inserted, you may see two "SDCard" entries in that list. One of them is your extra SD-card. If you format it, your personal data (as well as the cyanogenmod-nightly and OpenGApps zip files) on it will be lost. At this step, I assume you have no extra SD-card inserted...
Finally, just to be sure that all necessary partitions are clean, navigate to "Home" -> "Wipe" -> "Swipe To Factory Reset".
Navigate to "Home" -> "Reboot" -> "Power Off" to tun off your device.
Insert your extra SD-card with the OpenGApps and CyanogenMod nightly build zip files on it.
Bring your phone again in the recovery mode: Disconnect it from power. Reconnect it. Bring it into recovery mode by holding "Volume Up" (!) + "Home" + "Power" at the same time.  The TWRP Recovery screen will appear.
Navigate to "Install" -> "Select Storage" and pick you extra SD-card. Select your CyanogenMod nightly build zip file and swipe to install.
Repeat this step with your OpenGApps zip file.
Navgiate to "Home" -> "Reboot" -> "Power Off".
Turn on your device and let CyanogenMod complete its work. This may take a while (about 10mins).
In CyanogenMod enable development options. Go to "Settings" -> "About This Phone" -> hit "Build Number" seven times.
Protect your recovery from being overwritten: "Settings" -> "Developer Options" -> disable "Update CM Recovery"
Restore your personal data. That should be it.


Old phone to track my bike in case of theft

One possible solution would be to use avast! Anti-Theft which allows you to text 1234 LOCATE to your phone in order to locate it, replacing 1234 with your avast! PIN number.


Why to get Mobile Broadcast notices in OxygenOS 3.x abroad?

Android 6 feature in some regions. I have not get them in default Android 7 anymore.


How to answer phone calls in another phone via Bluetooth?

According to the answer to this Stack Overflow question: you can't. (It is possible for land lines though.)

Or you can forward your calls from one phone to the other, either by changing the settings in your phone or downloading an app that does it all for you.

The alternative solution that comes closest to what you're after is to install mysms mirror, which is an app that tells you when your other phone receives a call or text message, and lets you call back.  See their blog.

Google Voice might also work for you. It's mentioned in the answer to this question: Answer my phone on my Tablet?


If you have used the LG phone system encryption tool for protecting your content , then it can only be unlocked from the same device.


Create a playlist of Offline videos in YouTube

I suggest you download tubemate app. This downloads youtube videos to your device. Then,  you can easily make Playlist from downloaded videos.


start app on startup and click coordinate

Use an automation app, most of them has built-in support for starting various types of tethering, so it may not be necessary to automate the actual button press. But if that's the only option, it can probably also be automated with any of the following apps:

Automate
(free)
Automagic (paid)
Tasker
(paid) +
AutoInput
(7-day trial)


Full Disk Encryption on Google Pixel XL vs Google Nexus 6P

The Pixels use file encryption instead of full disk encryption. Only FDE requires preboot authentication. File based will decrypt based on hardware secrets to boot the OS and background services. Once you enter you pin/code/etc, it unlocks your user based files.


How to fix /system/bin/sdcard process draining battery?

The problem was due to a folder on the internal phone memory containing several thousands of files, and causing the process /system/bin/scard to never end scanning the file system.

To find the exact directory causing the problem, I used the application 'Storage Analyser', which froze on the directory filmorago/.Log/uncaught.

Deleting the folder using the application ES Explorer took several hours due to the amount of files, and fixed the problem.


htc wildfire s after update to 2.3.5 - cannot install any app

I had the same problem, tried cleaning cache and data with no result.

So I went in settings > applications > manage apps > all, picked the download manager and "uninstalled the updates". It told me the app would reset to factory settings, and when I started the phone again, it was running marketplace 3.4.4 and I managed to update and install apps normally after that.

Disclaimer: I only tried that because I planed to do a factory reset if I broke everything. I don't guarantee the results.


Listing partitions names and mount points

Type in mount to a terminal emulator, root not required.

Lists all mount points active, note: mine is very long due to many bind mounts.

Imgur: http://imgur.com/a/dzqq6

Or alternatively

Type grep /etc/recovery.fstab


Take a look at the various ways to get around this issue as explained in the official docs.
Here're some excerpt:

One solution, not at all easy, is to take the external storage device out of the Android device, write to it elsewhere, and put it back. This is a great pain, and works only if you have access to the device and are a bit of a techie.
There's a more difficult solution that grants permanent write access in place, which I will explain here. But be warned — this is not a normal activity for end users, and without being careful you could brick your device.

The latter solution requires root access and modifying /system/etc/permissions/platform.xml to include <group gid="media_rw" /> permission in the relevant sections as shown below:
<permission name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
    <group gid="sdcard_r" />
    <group gid="media_rw" />
</permission>

<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
    <group gid="sdcard_r" />
    <group gid="sdcard_rw" />
    <group gid="media_rw"/>
</permission>

<permission name="android.permission.ACCESS_ALL_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
    <group gid="sdcard_r" />
    <group gid="sdcard_rw" />
    <group gid="sdcard_all" />
    <group gid="media_rw" />
</permission>

Also note that your changes to the above file will most likely be lost when you do an OTA (Over-The-Air) update.


Flashing Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (Verizon branded)

You are trying to root/flash a custom ROM to a Verizon GT2 but I see GT2 3100 in the code. You are not using the correct ODIN files. I'm no expert but I know the Verizon Tab is different from the WiFi Tab. Luckily you didn't lock it up.


You can track your phone using his IMEI, usually found in the box of the phone itself, try to use this website
and insert there your IMEI


Why don't I have a "users" setting? How to enable?

Wow, after a year of searching I finally have my own answer.

I don't know why, but my unit would never update from 4.2.2.  Any time I tried checking for an update, I would just get a "failed" message.

I found these instructions for manually updating to 4.4 (KitKat) and that worked as well as introduced the previously-missing Users menu!


Dolphin Mini blog post documents how to download the PDF file.

  Q2: How to download PDF files?

  A2: 1) long press the link of PDF files, choose the “save link” option
  in context menu. 2) click “download” option at the bottom of the page
  after you click the link.


"Re-lock all apps after screen is locked" message; tablet always getting locked every few seconds

If you do have AppLock or CM Security check the settings and see if Settings is locked. Every time I opened Settings I got the same message. Turning it off stopped it. I think it's an extra precaution by the developers but I can't find any documentation on it.


Is there anything I can do to similarly access my smartphone?

No you cannot do the same thing with any browser on your Android phone.


Is there a way to pay for apps with paypal?

With the recent legal bickering between eBay and Google, I'd say that the Android Market starting to accept PayPal (owned by eBay) is highly unlikely any time soon:
 http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0528/EBay-sues-Google-over-stolen-secrets-poached-employees

There are other alternative markets like SlideMe that I believe do offer PayPal.


I've also had the problem of a notification alert every 5 seconds. I think I solved the problem by doing the following.

Make a recording in a quiet place and make sure there is no sound recorded. (only 1 sec needed.
Save the recording as "No Sound" or what you want.
Locate the recording in "File", "Audio"
On the 3 dots select to set it as "Notification"
On the main menu settings select this as your "Notification sound"
Go to your other application ("What's app", "SMS", "eMail", etc.) and change the notification sound from "Default sound" to your required tune.

You will still receive the message but it won't make a sound.
Hope this makes sense and will help solve the annoying notification.


While looking around my Android filesystem, I found that it did, in fact have a /etc/init.d/ directory. After peeking around in there, I found /etc/init.d/20userinit with the following lines:

if [ -e /data/local/userinit.sh ];
then
    log -p -i -t userinit "Executing /data/local/userinit.sh";
    busybux chmod +x /data/local/userinit.sh;
    logwrapper /system/bin/sh /data/local/userinit.sh;
    setprop cm.userinit.active 1;
fi;

This being, of course, exactly what I needed, I wrote the following script on my computer then pushed it to my device:

#!/system/bin/sh

dropbear -s -g

(pushed to device via scp userinit.sh phone:/data/local/userinit.sh, mind you :] )

Rebooted the device, then ran ps | grep "[d]ropbear", and sure enough, it's running. Coolness!


Why different pictures are loading on boot, and images disappearing, then reappearing on its own?

I don't understand how there can be 2 folders with the same name

Android is based on Linux and Linux is a case sensitive OS (in fact the filesystem it uses) unlike Windows. So Pictures and PICTURES are different directories and they can coexist without any problem.

Some directories are created by Android itself on (first) boot and any app with permission android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE can create a folder in internal SD card.

  When I open either of these folders, it leads to the exact same folder

One can be a symbolic link or bind mount to other. See here for details. However I can't be sure unless I investigate that particular case myself.

  it will just load an "older" pictures folder w/ different picture count

Why their contents keep on changing, you have pointed out the root cause yourself:

  so I manually ran the media scanner...

It seems to be a problem related to Media Storage database. Some file explorers and gallery apps depend on a files database (MediaStore) built by Media Storage app (/data/data/com.android.providers.media/databases/external.db) as the process android.process.media is invoked by some app. If this database isn't updated as the files change, file explorer will show outdated / incomplete contents.
In order to force its updation, delete this file and run some media scanner app from Play Store (restarting phone may not update whole database though MediaScannerReceiver broadcast receiver is launched on boot). Non-root users can delete this file by clearing data of Media Storage app. But be cautious. It'll also clear internal.db which will make ringtones etc. unavailable.

Please note that the internal SD card we see is emulated from /data/media/ using sdcardfs (or FUSE in older versions of Android). Actual contents of internal memory can be seen directly from /data/media/ (root required).


You could use encryption on the entire drive. This can be done with certain apps like EDS (which creates an encrypted container on the device, which requires a password to be opened -- but after that the file system is mounted transparently for all apps to access; these containers are TrueCrypt compatible). Some of these Apps (like e.g. Cryptonite or LUKS Manager) require the device to be rooted.

However, if those encryption does not work on the device filesystem itself (but uses containers), I'm not sure how an app will work with it if it expects files at hard-coded places. You can try and find out, as most of the encryption apps offer free trial versions.


text messages beginning with '!' trigger automated responses?

That appears to be your carrier's delivery report code. Many (but not necessarily all) carriers implement it in some form or another, but the exact method can vary pretty widely. It's briefly mentioned on the SMS Wikipedia article.

I don't recall exactly when the network sends the delivery report, but I'm fairly positive that it wouldn't be originating from the phone, and therefore wouldn't count against any SMS limit it may have. The device may respond to the provider when it receives the message (though it may not since the carrier may send the report at some other point in the process), but the actual SMS you get back should be originating from the network's SMS gateway, I believe. The phone's OS (or SIM) may have some bearing on whether or not it "honors" the request, but I'm not sure.

I found a (probably incomplete) list of some of the various carrier codes here:

UK
T Mobile: *0#
O2: *0#
Orange: RCT followed by a space
Virgin: *0#

US
T-Mobile: *noti#

Germany
T-Mobile: *T#
Vodafone D2: *N#
O2: *N#
e-plus: *N#

Sweden
Telia: *KV#
Comviq: KV#
Telenor: ##

Brasil
Claro: *N#

Switzerland
SWISSCOM: *N#

Turkey
TURKCELL: *N#

Poland
PlusGSM (Polkomtel): XYZ

Croatia
T-Mobile: *r*

Portugal
Vodafone: *NOT#

Hungary
T-Mobile: *A#

India
Voodafone: *NOT#

Qatar
Qtel: *N#

Belgium
Proximus: *R*
Base: *N#

Greece
Vodafone: *#
Wind: *0#

Serbia
MTS: *!#
Telenor: *!#

Romania
Orange: *NM#

Israel
Orange: *NM#


How to downgrade from kitkat to jelly bean?

If you took a backup of your ROM before updating, then you can restore the backup. Alternatively, if your phone is rooted then you can download a stock Jelly Bean ROM from somewhere like XDA and flash it.


Google changed the USB protocol for Marshmallow to always default to charge.

The reason for this change because they brought back the ability to make external storage (SD card) become internal storage. Creating a new storage type called "Adoptable Storage".

Originally google removed the ability to swap storages because they viewed it as a huge security vulnerability.

Adoptable storage

In order to achieve your end goal it looks like you might have to compile marshmallow from source. Find the MtpService.java and then with updateDisabledStateLocked() change mMtpDisabled to false.

MtpService.java


Any software to block all calls and all SMSes allowing only 3G internet?

Wouldn't it be easier to just change the contract on the SIM card to a data-only contract and let the phone company do all the blocking for you? It would also save you paying for services you're not using.


Try using VLC, it plays most videos other players cannot and has a good interface. However, if this still doesn't work, try using Video Converter, Compressor and select the file then change it to an MP4 (I know it's already MP4, but this may fix any issues).

VLC: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.videolan.vlc&hl=en

Video Converter, Compressor: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xvideostudio.videocompress


Why am I getting an 'Invalid Server Certificate' error when retrieving email even though I have the 'Verify Certificate' setting disabled?

This seems like an issue that has been reported to the android development team. I am not sure if it is specific to the droid x, but even the work item relates to the droid x. If that is the case, I don't know if that is technically an android issue, but a MotoBLUR issue, as the Droid X runs the MotoBLUR version of android.

Also, Yes, that is what "Never use secure password" means.


Can I dismiss an upcoming alarm on standard Samsung S7?

You can try Recurring task reminder FREE

It has more recurring reminder, filter & customization options than other apps in play store.


How to navigate to top/bottom of page in mobile firefox

You should add an add-on to help accomplish what you asked. Top and Bottom scroll buttons adds buttons to scroll to the top or bottom of a page.

  This extension adds two beautiful buttons at the corner of each page for fast scrolling to the top or the bottom of the page.

  The buttons are customisable. You can change its size, transparency, position and the way they are scrolling.
  You can also set the buttons to auto hide so you'll see them only when you want.

Disclaimer: I am just a user of the addon, not related to its developer.


Can an Android text message set off an alarm?

Android Anti-Theft Security and AndroidLost both provide these functions, along with many other security apps available for Android. There is also an app called SMS Alarm Pager which sounds like exactly what you need, but I cannot tell as the description is in another language :/


Sounds like NFC terminology to me.  Presumably either NFC is malfunctioning or you've been in the vicinity of NFC tags that are of a type your phone doesn't recognize.

Looks like ID badges and probably some credit cards and so on could trigger this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-989630.html


how to change the lock screen clock style?

If you have a rooted phone which I assume you do since you're on CM6, see this post detailing how to change the font of the clock on the lock screen.

Basically you need to replace Clocktopia.ttf in the /system/fonts folder with your desired TTF font (remember to rename new font as Clocktopia.ttf) and reset permissions to be similar to the old file.

If you're willing to use WidgetLocker, there's the freeware Make Your Clock Widget Beta - that will, as the name suggests, allow a user to customise and create a clock widget as per your taste. You can then use this custom created widget in conjunction with WidgetLocker.


What are the implications of doing fastboot erase modemst1?

I ended up taking the risk after all other "fix GPS" methods failed and I can report that it was successful and to my knowledge had no side effects, like the ones reported with other devices.


Not enough rep to comment... but I had this exact issue on my stock Nexus 7 and the only solution that worked was a factory reset.

I also have a Nexus 4 running Chroma and haven't seen issues with either the Jan or March build.  If nothing else works, you might try a full wipe and installing the ROM / kernel again.


Where Can I Get The Latest GApps (Google services framework)?

The most frequently used site for downloading Google's proprietary bits is Goo.im (formerly goo-inside.me).
However it can be a little confusing as it list all version so I recommend you check out this Rootzwiki page as it list the recommended versions as well as the changelogs.


Why Google Play services upload nonstop 1MB/s everytime the device is connected to wi-fi?

I think you are infected  with a malware that spy on your phone and upload to a comand and control server almost everything from your phone like: pictures, sms, whatsapp conversatin, facebook converstion, viber conversation etc, and to not affect your mobile data plan it starts the comunication with the server whenever you are connected to a wifi network...
Im not a pro on android but I've done it before and I already know what happens behind, how it works and how it affects your phone.
Do a backup but dont backup apps and after it try a factory reset.
Install the list of apps u had from Play store again
(Its better to backup only pictures/videos and contacts and nothing more)
I hope it helps u.


Is it possible to wipe data from ADB without turning on USB debugging?

To my knowledge if you do not have USB debugging ADB is not running and any tools that rely on ADB will fail to work.


Switch ROMs, still seamlessly use Apps and its data

The pro version of Titanium Backup supports batch restore without user interaction. It's worth it.


Lost most data on SD card after moving it to another Android device

Yes, probably the SD card was formatted.
Try to plug your SD Card to a PC with an adapter and browse the folders to see if files are still there. I suggest you to configure Windows to show hidden files; it can be done from Folder Options.

If nothing shows up, they were deleted from the SD. By the way,
if they have not been overwritten yet, it's pretty easy to recover them.
Just use a data recover software such as Recuva

If you want to try with Recuva follow those steps after downloading and installing it from the official website.

From the Recuva wizard window, select All Files then Next>

Select "In a specific location", then Browse, then select your SD Card from the list (usually F:)

Check the "Enable Deep Scan" box then click on Start

The process may take a long time, depending on the PC's characteristics and the R/W speed of the SD card.
At the end of the process, you will be able to view and eventually recover files previously deleted from the SD Card.

edit: I suggest you to try both scanning modes as, in some cases, normal scan mode finds some files that are not detected in deep scan mode and vice versa


LineageOS : upgrade nightly to unofficial, switching keys not working

so, today it worked fine! Here is what I did:

# changing to unofficial, unsigned builds:
adb root # This requires an userdebug/eng build and ADB root access to be enabled
adb shell stop
adb push migration.sh /data/local/tmp/migration.sh
adb shell chmod +x /data/local/tmp/migration.sh
adb shell sh /data/local/tmp/migration.sh unofficial
adb reboot recovery
# Now install the official LineageOS install zip

Then I modified migration.sh replacing the release_keys with my own ones and switched back to official.


How can I get the history list of times I started using an application?

The Android system stores statistics on this, which on most devices can be accessed via a hidden menu:

Open your dialer
Type *#*#4636#*#*
A menu will open. The 3rd entry should read "Usage stats" (or something similar). Tap this.

You should see a list of your apps, which tells for each app how often it was started, and how long it ran. Using the drop-down box on top, the list can be sorted by usage time, usage count, or app name.

Remark: AFAIK this list will be reset when you restart your device.

Edit: In case your device provides no dialer (thanks @ce4 for pointing out my lapsus), it will require some searching to find the appropriate menu, but it's doable. Some launchers (e.g. Apex Launcher) provide the possibility to create shortcuts to "activities" (rawly: screens provided by apps). Long-tap a free space on your homescreen, then select "shortcuts", then "activities". Now scroll through the quite long list to find it. On my LG Optimus 4X the activity is called "Test" and has a "Gear" icon (same as the "Settings" app has in this menu), so that's the first place to look for: scroll to "Settings", open the drop-down, look for "Test".


Though I wouldn't usually recommend device specific websites but since i'm not a One XL user I cannot verify its authenticity.
Next time when you ask questions about custom roms please mention whether you are already rooted, locked or unlocked bootloader(htcdev.com only unlocks your bootloader without giving you s-off). Try this to just get an idea of one of the methods to install a rom.

http://onexroot.com/one-x-roms/how-to-install-custom-rom-on-rooted-att-htc-one-xxl/

goomanager is a service used by developers to upload their roms into one location and users can check for available newer versions of existing roms. Follow the regular clockworkmod / twrp procedures to flash your rom.

You can always copy roms that you downloaded with your computer onto your phone.


Samsung Galaxy Tab 7" 2gb Android upgrade is it posable

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/P1c_Info

get some cyanogenmod running on it. Follow the link above

The latest stable version is linked below.

http://download.cyanogenmod.org/?type=stable&device=p1c


How can I get back access to the media interface drivers?

Try to identify the location of the driver on the system ie, windows/system32 then uninstall the software and the driver from device manager. Once you have done that return to system32 or where ever its located and delete it. Reboot your system and try installing the old drivers.


How do I import a user CA for the Email app properly?

Ah well. It appears that the Stock Email app doesn't do SNI. This means that in the initial connection to the server it was presented with another certificate it should discard (but didn't). It seems to me that this is a feature request for the Email app, as other apps do implement SNI.

Changing the Apache SSL configuration to use SNI with an initial certificate signed with the "Gert van Dijk CA" still didn't solve it. Logcat then showed:

I/Exchange(12307): IOException while sending request: Cannot verify hostname: mail.mydomain.tld

Setting mail.mydomain.tld as initial certificate solved it. I consider this an ugly work around until this has been fixed in the Email app.


Gain (remote) control of Samsung Galaxy S3 with broken display

I faced the same situation and solved it: I got another i9300 and used the touchscreen of the good one to install whatever needed -  I rooted the broken phone, installed kodi to use it as a media player and connected the phone to my TV screen via hdmi. I also installed a ssh server and now have everything my raspberry pi has but have a more powerful device. Th second i9300 is not needed any more and will be given to my cousin :-)


"Invalid Input" error when trying to set a service center number

I faced the same issue and finally found that the issue was SIM.
Changed my SIM by contacting service provider and it worked fine with me :)


Kaiten Mail lets you send emails in these formats:

Plain text (images and formatting will be removed)
HTML (images and formatting are preserved)
Automatic (plain text unless replying to an HTML message)

I'm not sure about the the width though. I haven't seen any setting where I can set it to 80 (or any other value).

By the way, I sync my GMail and Yahoo mail with Kaiten.


The S4 does have this option. Open the SMS app (Messaging) and go to Settings (using the drawer button on the bottom left of your phone). Within Settings, scroll down to notification settings and check the "notifications" box and the "preview message" box.

Note that to see the notification option in Settings you must access settings from the main screen of the Messaging app, not from within a conversation within Messaging. This is one of those apps that has different menus for "settings" depending on which screen you're currently viewing.


removing the frequently contacted list after new update in April 2017

On a Galaxy S4 when you’re looking at the “Frequently Contacted” list, press the menu key (below the touch screen on the left) and select “Remove from Favorites” from the flyout menu. Check the check boxes on the ones you would like to remove from that list and then tap “Done”.


Unlocking boot loader **doesn't** wipe data. How is it a security threat?

Using twrp decrypt password one can easily write a simple brute force script to guess your password. And as I can see it, there isn't any limit on how many times this command can be executed, so depending on the strength of your password, your device will be unlocked one day or the other.

Having debugging turned off doesn't make any difference in TWRP


What can happen when you flash a bootlocked device?

Yes, with root it is typically possible to edit/remove/replace the image that is restored by the bootloader and thus prevent the ROM/recovery restoration.  Whether that is done with a custom ROM or not isn't actually relevant.  I've done something similar (editing the script that verifies/installs the recovery) on my Dell Streak with stock firmware; check out this answer.

Of course, it's always possible for the bootloader to refuse to boot the phone after you do this, though I don't know offhand of any that are that strict.


After OTA update all my data are in shell folder

Using adb shell and mv command I was able to move all data to correct directory. After that, to be sure I did an restart and everything seems to be working correctly.


Why I can't see all images in the gallery?

This very much depends on how you upload the images to the device. In order for the gallery app to pick them up, they must be added to the "media library", which is the job of the media-scanner. So that one needs to run after you've uploaded the image(s).

There are quite a few events triggering the media scanner to do its job – but e.g. uploading a file via FTP, or copying it with a file manager do not belong to that category. Things you can do to trigger it include:

rebooting the device (media-scanner always runs at BOOT_COMPLETED)
unmount and mount your SD card (it also runs whenever a new medium is attached)
trigger a media scan via the the command line
use a media scanner trigger app to trigger a scan manually

Pick your choice depending on how often you need to do that. If it happens once a year, a reboot probably is the easiest approach. If you need it daily, one of those apps will be the better solution ;)


Why would Doze feature need motion detection?

It is based off of the assumption that the device is not being used at that time, so it will enter Doze Mode.  How do you know that Doze is not being activated?  Clearly while in your pocket, if you are walking/running or moving around, the device will detect motion and not enter Doze Mode.  That's how they chose to have it operate.

Here's an explanation of it taken from here.

  Doze mode is different in that the entire device is taking a nap, not just the least-recently used apps (such is the case with App Standby). Doze mode is activated when the device is not plugged in, when the screen is locked, and when no motion has been detected for some time. These assumptions imply that the user has put down the device and walked away. So, when they come back and pick their phone up off the counter, it should not have dropped to 30% battery. It should, essentially, be in the exact state it was in when they placed it on the counter. Right?


Samsung Galaxy S problem :WiFi doesn't reconnect with SSID broadcast disabled

This is because Android by default (manufactures could of added something ) connect using only the SSID, not the BSSID.

See this issue : http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=1041

This app here might help: https://market.android.com/details?id=jp.sourceforge.soopy.hidden.ssid.enabler&feature=search_result

This is the design to connect by SSID instead of BSSID for mesh networks, this becomes helpful.

Also if your router and phone support WPS button, try that.


Do all Android phones have a GPS receiver?

The current Android Compatibility Definition Document says:

7.3.3. GPS
Device implementations SHOULD include a GPS receiver. If a device implementation does include a GPS receiver, it SHOULD include some form of "assisted GPS" technique to minimize GPS lock-on time.

So "SHOULD" does not mean "MUST". [Edited because I messed things up. Apps that require GPS show up in the market regardless of whether the device supports it or not.]


Sending a group the same message and get individual replies

Whatsapp broadcast list may help you, i'm not %100 percent sure but it says "you should use broadcast lists to message multiple people at once." and as long as it is not group the others dont see the individual replies (i think)


How to stop Whatsapp messages coming in lock screen

After the update.. the location of the lockscreen notification settings changed..
MIUI 10: It is located in Lockscreen > Advanced settings
MIUI 11: It's located in Settings > Notifications
If you're still stuck.. search for "notifications" from the search bar in the settings..
Hope it helps..


Gestures setting on LG G3 running Android Marshmallow

The features are still there, LG only moved the settings to other place.

From a post by jtrvk on XDA Forum,

  The gesture settings regarding calls have been moved to main phone
    Settings - Call - scroll down to Gesture

  For smart screen gesture, that setting is now listed under Display


Can not install/download APPS via Play Store to my Tablet ....how can i fix this?

I had to re-authenticate on my tablet, too. I assume Google is trying to detect fake accounts used to push fake-apps into the top apps list.

May be in your case there is a conflict between the cached data and the actual store data.

You can try to clear the app cache of "Google Play-Store services" app and the Google Play-Store app.

Additionally you should check your Google account in "Settings" -> "Accounts". Manually perform a synchronization.


How to make Android Amoled screen to display colours for hardware testing, through commands?

You can achieve this by writing to the framebuffer directly using dd There's no standard procedure or tool, because the details of what you need to write depend on the framebuffer format in your platform; i.e. it's different for every model of device.

dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/graphics/fb0

will get you a random colour in every pixel of your framebuffer. (If the framebuffer isn't at /dev/graphics/fb0 on your device, you'll need to change the command accordingly.) To get a solid colour of your choice or a pattern, you'll need to find out what the framebuffer format is and think about it a bit.

An alternative way to do it is to set up the framebuffer with another application (e.g. a normal Android app that displays a full-screen colour), and then save the framebuffer to a file. This post explains the details of how to do it. The post is written for desktop Linux machines, but it works exactly the same way in Android, which uses the Linux kernel.


Can you use USB OTG and charge at the same time?

I've found that that feature depends on the kernel. So wether your phone can charge and use OTG depends on the kernel on your phone. If it doesn't support it out of the box, you can try to find and flash a custom kernel with that functionality. The OTG cable also plays an important factor.

However, similar question was asked about the Nexus 7, which doesn't have support, it is highly likely that your Pixel 2 also doesn't support it.

This should answer your question and give you more insights of how and why.