Can `Phone Calls` application permission allow developer to read my contact book?

Not quite: this permission allows the app to read the IMEI of your phone, your phone number, your network operator, and to know whether you are making a call. It does also let the holder of the permission know the number at the other end of the call, but not any of the contact data associated with that number. These uses are described in the developer documentation for TelephonyManager.

A good use for this might be to disable some ongoing process while you're in a call, or show an indicator, or to help you report your device as stolen. A bad use for this would be for invasive ads to track your identity across different apps, in order to push targeted advertising at you; or to record your phone number and those you call, to make nuisance calls to you afterwards, maybe claiming to be from your network operator.

Reading your contacts is controlled by the permission called read your contacts.


CM12 + Titanium = How to recover Contact data?

Here's how you can (try to) restore your contacts manually.  (NOTE: I'm assuming a little bit of Linux knowledge.  I've tried to cover the things that are hard to look up, but little else.)

First, enable USB debugging mode, and plug your phone into your computer. Then,

Find the folder that contains your backups. By default, I think this is something like /sdcard/TitaniumBackup. If you used a custom location (e.g., to store backups on an external SD card), then it should be easy to find.
There should be a gzipped tarball with a name similar to com.android.providers.contacts-<date>.tar.gz. Copy it to your computer with adb pull.
Untar the file you just pulled. There should now be a folder called data. Descend into data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases/. There you will find contacts2.db and profile.db. Use adb push to upload these to your phone. (Note: You will probably have to push them to a location that does not require root access.)

(For the next steps, you may want to reboot into recovery mode, to make sure that your phone is not using your contacts database.  You can do this easily using adb reboot recovery.)

Start a shell with adb again, and escalate to root using su. cd to /data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases/. Rename contacts2.db to contacts2.db.cm and profile.db to profile.db.cm.
Copy the files you pushed to /data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases/, so that they replace the ones you just renamed.
Make sure your new files have the same permissions as the old ones. Check the permissions of contacts2.db.cm and profile.db.cm with ls -l, and change the perms of your files with chown. Check the SELinux labels with ls -Z, and change them if needed with chcon <full label> <file>.
Reboot and see if it worked.

I hope this method works for you. I must admit, that when I tried it, CyanogenMod immediately reverted my changes (such that contacts2.db matched the original contacts2.db.cm). If this method does not work, and you really want to use CyanogenMod, then you can still recover the data from contacts2.db and try to add all of your contacts by hand.

Install sqlite3.
Run sqlite3 contacts2.db.
Your phone numbers are in the table named phone_lookup, and display names can be retrieved from the table named raw_contacts. You can see (at least some of) your contacts by running

select raw_contacts.display_name, phone_lookup.normalized_number from raw_contacts
    inner join phone_lookup on raw_contacts._id = phone_lookup.raw_contact_id;


link2sd is largely an abandoned app, it hasn't been updated to deal with changes in MM and looks like it never will be. I still use it all the time though and will continue to, for the purpose of merging duplicate system apps.

I have also used a second partition with the app on my older devices in the past, I have had a lot of stability issues with the apps using the sdcard partition so I'll recommend not using it -- instead, do as I do and merge duplicate apps, and convert other apps that'll fit in your system partition to a system app. there's a couple things to watch out for:
1. never ever merge Google Play "Services" it causes major problems.
2. link2sd doesn't check if there's enough free space, so keep an eye on that yourself.
3. some roms (I think odexed) will clear the app's data when merging/converting, so if there's essential data on an app you're going to work with, back it up with titanium backup, then covert, then restore "data only"

if you still intend to create a second partition, it'd be best to use Aparted
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sylkat.AParted

and the "second partition" must be created as the first partition, the actual second partition created to be your general storage use, otherwise link2sd won't detect them properly

edit:
wowowow I call the app abandoned after like a year of no updates, then only a few hours later it gets updated, and promises another update with "comprehensive support for MM and N" just my luck lol


Can I limit Kindle purchases to only 1 device on my account?

I am assuming that you are talking about Kindle Fire which runs (heavily modified) Android OS.

All purchases made on a Kindle are linked to whatever Amazon account you are signed in with, not the actual device.  If you wish for your purchases to be separated, you will need to have a different Amazon account for your second Kindle Fire.

Now the problem is that there is no way to share purchases between accounts. As far as I know, you cannot add a second Amazon account to the Kindle (like you can with multiple Google accounts on plain Android.)


Since Android 4.2 when public key authentication was added to ADB, up to latest release 10, there are only two possible locations for adb_keys on stock Android:

  On the device, vendors public keys are installed at build time in /adb_keys. User-installed keys are stored in /data/misc/adb/adb_keys.

So is the case with Android 7.1.1:

static const char *key_paths[] = {
    "/adb_keys",
    "/data/misc/adb/adb_keys",
    NULL
};

First one is only found on userdebug/eng ROMs. Also on debuggable builds, you can set ro.adb.secure to 0 to "allow adbd to connect without authentication". However "user builds filter out PRODUCT_ADB_KEYS, so no /adb_keys will be included". (Source)

So the RSA public keys added to /data/misc/adb/adb_keys should work. Make sure proper ownership (system:shell), mode (0640) and SELinux label (u:object_r:adb_keys_file:s0) are set on the file and restart adbd after adding key(s). Also check correct line endings (use dos2unix) after adding key(s) and make sure the right private key pair is available to adb server on PC. Path is ~/.android/ on Linux and %userprofile%\.android\ on Windows, or add the key filename/directory to ADB_VENDOR_KEYS environment variable.

RELATED:

Why “adb root” does nothing?


Unable to install Google Play Services to save Clash of Clans village

Part 1 of your question can be answered in the bottom half of the following link. Requires Google+

https://gamesupport.supercell.net/hc/en-us/articles/421682-Can-I-transfer-my-village-to-a-new-device-

Part 2 of your question can be accomplished by flash the proper GApps package to your device. Goto XDA forum and do a search for your device and GApps package for version of Android that you are using


Try to perform a soft reset by holding the power and volume down button until the screen goes blank. If it has a removable battery, take it out and then put it back in. If neither of the above work, google soft reset lenovo tab (model)


Google Play says "You don't have any devices"

Try following (Worked in my case)

Remove Google account from settings
Clear data of play-store and Google services framework
Restart phone Now access play store again.


Titanium Backup: Describe error: There is a problem parsing the package

There is one issue not mentioned online. When you disable Google Play Store - you need to untick some setting under security. You need to tick Unknown sources and UN-TICK Verify apps - while Play Store is still installed and actively running.

At least this solved parsing issue for me without the need to do backups again. Somehow google has managed to block Titanium backup ...


Android keeps disconnecting wifi when the signal is weak/poor

Check the Wifi advanced settings. There you should find an entry named "Adaptive Connectivity".
Disable this entry.


Marshamallow SDcards is Adoptable as an internal storage

Android has had limited support for removable storage in one form or another since the beginning. With Marshmallow, the new Adoptable storage feature lets you turn your removable SD card option into a more or less permanent (and no longer removable) part of the device.

The whole thing is simple, really, and most of the confusion surrounding Adoptable storage is easy to clear up. There are a few things to keep in mind so you understand how it works and what it's doing.

If you want to read more, visit Android  Central


How to disable android applications from running back ground automatically

No, there's no setting to fully close an application when you press the home. It depends on how the program is built. Some stay running, some stay in memory but are inactive (not eating CPU but wasting memory in case you restart the program), and some just close as desired. Additionally, there are plenty of Samsung or carrier applications that run in the background full time and don't have an onscreen program to open or close.

There are several applications on the Google Play Marketplace that will automatically close all applications for you either on a schedule or on demand, but that's as close as it gets unfortunately.

Perhaps there are more technical answers that involve custom ROM's, but that's not applicable within the confines of a SU question/answer.


How to restore SMS from sms.vmsg backup?

I was able to open my backup with this VMG Converter app. The app requires to buy an unlock code if you want to restore more than 200 messages from the backup, so I didn't use it in the end, but it could have been an option if no other backup was available.


Hello Tyler the Android device manager works if you had previously set it up before hand, as well as Samsung's find my mobile.

When you use the device manager, are you able to see it on the map? Can you click ring to see if it responds? If so then you should be able to reset your lockscreen. After you reset the lockscreen password, the device should change its lockscreen from a pin to a black transparent bar to input your newly made password. Also make sure that the right device is selected when doing this.

If the lockscreen doesn't change try turning off the device for a few seconds then power on. Make sure the device has Internet connection as well. If none of the so solutions work, your only option would be to hard reset the device.


"Android OS" is continuously downloading something in the background, how can I stop that?

I've found the culprit! I went to Settings > Call > Internet call settings and deleted the SIP account I had once created and forgot. The phone kept reaching the SIP server (probably to check for incoming calls).

I had to install a packet sniffer on the phone (tPacketCapture) to see where the requests where going and realize I had configured a SIP account.


If you want to turn on the Out Loud using automation app, do this:

Target: Activity
Package: com.hillman.out_loud
Class: com.hillman.out_loud.activity.OnActivity

Leave the rest entries untouched.
If you want to turn off the Out Loud, do this:

Target: Activity
Package: com.hillman.out_loud
Class: com.hillman.out_loud.activity.OffActivity

If you want to toggle the state, do this:

Target: Activity
Package: com.hillman.out_loud
Class: com.hillman.out_loud.activity.ToggleOnOffActivity

Check your notification panel/bar to see the changes. If toggled to On state, Loud Out would create a notification (low priority), else the notification would be missing.


Use a player like 3D VR Player to play the video..

There are many such VR Player apps in Play Store (search for it). All you need to do is download the right one you need.


Ambient light sensor is a hardware to measure the level of ambient light. Samsung Galaxy J7 does not have it for sure. Then J7 cannot automatic adjust the screen brightness, regarding to the ambient light level by default.

However there are apps (search in Play Store) that can make use of built-in camera to measure ambient light and enable automatic screen brightness adjustment.


Something is secretly eating up my Acer Iconia A500 internal memory and I need help finding it

Here are some key points to this problem. Though not all of them applied in this case, I will still include all of them -- as in another case they might prove helpful:

A good starting point to check is apps -> manage apps in Androids system menu, which lists all apps+data and can be sorted by size, to identify the "biggest consumers". While here, you can "delete" too-big caches (per app)
some directories in the file system cannot be investigated without having root privileges, so the preferred du -k|sort -n (to find the biggest files) would e.g. skip directories below /data
still, having a terminal emulator available (Android Terminal Emulator would be a good candidate), at least a df -h could show where free space goes toward zero (see screenshot below). In case the -h parameter ("human readable") is not understood on your system, you might try to replace it by -m ("megabytes"), -k ("kilobytes"), or omit it completely.
The article Debugging Android core dumps describes "core dumps" under Android are called "Tombstones", and stored globally as /data/tombstones/tombstone_nn, with "nn" simply being a counter. As many crashes were reported, this might be a place "filling up" (see below). But only 2.5MB could be located here in this case.
According to Android Forensics by Andrew Hoog, it might be worth diving into /data/local: The “/data/local” directory is important as it allows shell (the user account nonrooted phones run adbd as) read/write access. When an app is installed, it is first copied to “/data/local.” Which means, even on non-rooted devices one should be able to dig in here.
SD Maid - System cleaning tool might find some more orphans -- but without root access, this apps capabilities are limited.
If the "big egg" cannot be found and removed, one can either start to uninstall some apps, cleaning "big data" from others (see first step), or, as a last resort, there always remains the factory-reset which should clean up everything -- but be aware: all your downloaded apps and all your data (on internal storage only, of course -- SD card will not be affected) will get removed as well when you do this.
if still unable to solve the issue, a last resort is a factory reset. But before doing that it would be good to be prepared for the next time, so one last chance are a few steps immediately before the factory reset:

backup as much data/apps as you need and can
switch to airplane mode -- the market must not know what we are doing now
one by one, uninstall your apps (for system apps which cannot be uninstalled: uninstall their updates, clear cache and data). After each uninstall, check your free space for unexpected "big jumps". If such a "jump" happens: Note the app uninstalled at this place -- it has to be a/the evil one. Continue if it still doesn't make up for the missing space
when finished with the last one, go to the "point of no return", pull the plug, do the factory reset. It's over now ;(
after the reboot, re-configure your "virgin device" with your original market account data (you remember them hopefully?). As we made sure the market stood uninformed of our actions from step 2 on, you should now be able to re-sync your apps and some data. The apps for sure, the data only provided you synced them with the market before step 2.
keep an eye on the "evil app(s)", if you detected any at step 3. You may want to remove these (now or later).

The following screenshot shows the output of df -h on a Motorola Droid 2. As you can see, there are 2 mount points on internal storage which could be candidates for "getting filled": /data (the most likely -- and got the hit in this case) plus /cache. The command was executed without root privileges:

Tombstones: The folder's location is /data/tombstones. Permissions of the /data directory are drwxrwxr-x, the tombstones subdirectory has drwxr-xr-x -- so they are accessible also on non-rooted devices. Using a terminal emulator (see above), you can cd /data/tombstones and do a ls -l to see whether there are any tombstones, and what size they occupy. Unfortunately, all tombstones are owned by system, and permissions are set to rwx------ -- so if that's your troublemaker: you cannot remove them without root :( Have a good backup (huh? how, without root?), and probably a factory-reset will be your last resort...


Is my phone's GPS limited by US regulations?

No it's not.

Commercial GPS receivers (like the one in your phone) only work below 18 km and below 515 m/sec. The rationale behind this is that this way they can't be used in ballistic missiles (yes, I'm serious.)

In order to circumvent this you'd need to flash a different firmware to your GPS chip, if you didn't do this you're safe. No current android device ships with munitions grade GPS receiver.


Widgets of installed apps do not appear in list

This can (and certainly will) happen when installing apps on SDCard. Normally, the system should prevent this (or rather the dev, by defining the "install-location" accordingly in the app's Manifest).

So if the apps were installed on SDCard, go to Settings→Apps, scroll to the apps' entries, open them (one by one), and move the app to internal storage. If the widgets do not appear right away after that, they should do so at least after a reboot.


Update.zip signing- different sha for the same file

Answered here as i wrote in the comment. The second hash is a SHA1 of the 3 lines in the manifest file.
I can obtain the second hash by running:
echo 'Name: system/lib/libcustom_jni.so\r\nSHA1-Digest: +PhV5XphkQTNTyM2TSRTeiaDlCA=\r\n\r' | sha1sum | cut -d\  -f1 | xxd -p -r | base64
7ooFhqk1oYWF5pmVuSAhF2pFVNw=

The echo command adds the final \n so it must be removed from the command to not be duplicated.
Edit for posteriority:
The update.zip is then signed by SignApk using the -w argument, which makes it generate a ZIP comment, without which the installation fails.
The comment consists of signed by SignApk string followed by a signature block. Code at Android SignApk source
This was the last piece of the puzzle that allowed me to create a custom update.zip for my Prestigio tablet.


How to boot Android with flight mode (airplane mode) activated

An indirect possibility would be using tasker, which has the capability of performing actions "on device start" (amongst many others). So you could setup a profile that says: "on device start" → "set airplane mode on". Other automation apps like llama might have the same capability.

Note however that the action can of course only be executed as soon as the app (Tasker/ Llama) is started, so there might be a delay in which airplane mode is turned off (and a network connection available). If you need to safely rule that out: take out the SIM card, and delete the AP config for your WiFi. That way the device would still boot with airplane mode disabled – but had no chance to connect anywhere. Third option would be booting it while inside a Faraday cage (or a lead box) …


Settings | Accessibility | Power button ends call

  During a call, pressing Power ends call instead of turning off screen.


You can also assign your custom application to Search+key:

[ Source: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=26105269&postcount=3 ]

Must be using either nova or apex launcher
Long press on home screen and select shortcuts
Select activities (for whichever launcher you are using nova or apex)
Scroll down and select settings
Scroll down and select Quick Launch (the first one) and it should create the shortcut icon on your desktop


If Wi-Fi connection drops internet, can device failover to network connection?

In the Wi-Fi settings, there's a feature called "Smart Network Switch" which is described as:

  If Smart network swich is on, your device will be connected to a mobile network automatically when the Wi-Fi connection is unstable.

So I had this off, which I assume is by default on my phone. Turning it on I assume resolves the issue.


How can I override the Device Administrator security policy so that I can disable the lock screen?

If you buy the TouchDown app (30 day free trial available), the lock code will not be on the phone, but on the app. That's ever so much better.


How do I disconnect Bluetooth headset while in call

Depending on your phone (please update your question with your specific model), the call screen does have an option to turn off Bluetooth. That will turn off Bluetooth Audio Routing for just that current call (and conference calls made while that one is active/on hold).

I've only used CyanogenMod; CM6 & CM7 both have this option on the call screen. If your phone's UI has been customized by the vendor, it may have been removed.


How to change screen orientation of my samsung froyo device

Normally you just tilt the device.  On my Samsung Galaxy S, you should also have rotation enabled (pull down the notification bar, it's the far right icon).


Did you try pulling the notification bar down? You should see "Transferring media files via USB", or "Charging via USB, tape for other USB option"
And if after doing all this the problem remains, download Samsung USB drivers from Samsung website.

.
Screenshots from my Galaxy J5 (click images for larger variants)


How to move audio files from internal storage to external SD card permanently?

Basically just get a sd card reader and a usb cable and copy it to your computer then unplug it then delete the file on computer then copy it onto the sd card then put it on then you are done then i stop typing then


More than 50 android devices on same username/password

Google Play won't let you do this. You can only have a few devices attached to each account at a time. This is to stop people abusing the facility of using paid content from any device on their account.

If the app is an open-source one, or it's under your control, you should distribute it to all your devices through a different mechanism (e.g. a custom app list on F-droid). Otherwise, you should contact the developer of the app and ask to make a volume licensing deal. Unless they're already dealing with enterprise customers, they won't be prepared for this situation, but I think most app developers will be willing to help you out for a reasonable bulk price.


Is there any way (as a user) to force all notifications to be expandable?

Provided that the notification itself has an expanded mode in the first place, Xposed framework + "All Notifications Expanded" module had done the trick for me back in KitKat, expanding every expandable item. Haven't tested it on Lollipop and above. Also, installing Xposed always involves some hassle and risk.

Click to enlarge


Are there any Jabber (XMPP) apps out there that support jabber conferencing?

I'm using Gibberbot. It is worth taking a look at. Free software, multi-protocol. Active developer community.  Definitely still in beta but that doesn't mean it won't do what you need.


Is it possible to use two dictionaries at the same time in swype?

you can long-press on the letter Q to quickly change language on Swype


How to remove the time and date from the default lock screen wallpaper of Samsung Galaxy S II?

In ICS you can go to Menu → Settings → Display and uncheck Clock and Weather.


Someone is sending FB messages that appear to come from my android! HOW?

Just do a system format she might have installed things onto your
  phone, make sure to back up things you need. reset your phone by:
  1. powering it down.
   2. Hold the power button + Home button + Volume down button (Together and hold until you see  light).
   3. Use the volume keys to move up and down and the power button to select options.
   4. Locate wipe data/factory reset (use volume keys to go to it and use power button to select it).
   5. you will see a confirmation to confirm the factory reset use the volume keys to go to yes and press the power button to select it.
   6. wait for it to complete then select reboot system now.
   7. done.
   8.  (also change your facebook password just to be safe).


Is there an App or Widget that can replace my Screen On and Off Button on my Moto Droid?

I ended up using this free app: http://code.google.com/p/lockenabler/ and with smart bar I was able to set the camera button as a shortcut. My cam button now turns off the screen on a long press.


New cable modem giving Android Phone time outs on sites

Since other devices are working fine, and your phone works okay on other networks, it's likely a specific compatibility issue between your phone and your home wifi network.

First, find out exactly which cable modem you have.  Some Arris Cable Modems like this SBG6580 support dual band WiFi, which means they can broadcast at 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz.  If you have one of those, try using one or the other frequency to see if your phone is having problems with one of them.

It may also help to find out what kind of wireless router or modem they're using at work.  For example, if they're both using Wireless-N and broadcasting on a 5GHz frequency, then the frequency isn't the problem.  In that case, it could be a problem with the specific modem you have - getting it replaced might help.


How do I detect if I have a Super AMOLED or LCD Screen on my Nexus S?

Look at something black (e.g. an image of only black) on your phone, and shut off the lights.  If you've got an AMOLED screen, it should be pure black (virtually no light emanating).  With an LCD it will be significantly brighter/greyish.


How can I enable the Wifi Hotspot capability on my Moto Droid 1 without using Adhoc?

This atrticle and others around the same time suggest that the hardware in the Droid is only capable of supporting ad-hoc mode.


How do I switch from Chrome Browser to Chrome Beta (FOR GOOD)?

As root, you have full access to your phone's System partition, hence you'll be able to completely uninstall Chrome. Here, I'll describe two procedures for doing so.

Via a Terminal Emulator
By using an app known as a Terminal Emulator, you can manually remove Chrome and any leftovers lying in the Data partition. Firstly, you'll want to issue:
su

to gain root privileges. Next, execute:
mount /system
mount -o remount,rw /system

to remount the System partition as readable and writeable. Then, issue:
temp="$(pm path com.android.chrome)"
temp="$(temp#p*:}"

in order to retrieve the path of the Chrome app, and store it into a variable called temp. Finally, do:
rm -rf $temp
rm -rf /data/data/com.android.chrome

in which the first line will remove the actual app, and the second will clean up its data. The full script follows:
su
mount /system
mount -o remount,rw /system
temp="$(pm path com.android.chrome)"
temp="${temp#p*:}"
rm -rf $temp
rm -rf /data/data/com.android.chrome

Via Titanium Backup
If you don't like to type too much, your alternative is to download an app called Titanium Backup. Even if its main purpose is to... backup, it is also capable of uninstalling system apps, providing that you grant it root permissions when asked.
Firstly, launch it and grant it the abovementioned privileges. Next, tap the central tab (Backup/Restore), and then find the app you wish to remove. Once you find it, tap its tile and select Uninstall.

That's it. Remember that it's generally recommended to wipe both the Cache partition and the Dalvik Cache after uninstalling a system app. Otherwise, you may incur into really funky side-effects.


Fixed this issue by changing SIMs in slots, former secondary is now primary.

SG J510 apparently can not disconnect roaming and search for home network on SIM2 slot.

Real answer still appreciated.


How to measure memory (RAM) bandwidth in Android?

I got the information here
One option to check RAM usage is to enable Developer Options.

So, just follow the steps and get your thing done. Just go to Settings > About Phone and tap the Build Number repeatedly until the notification pops up and says “you’re just 1 click away to become the developer,” or if it pops up “you’re now a developer,” this means you have successfully done the first step.
Now, go back to Settings where you’ll find a new option “Developer Options.” If you’re using an older version of Android, then you may see “Process Stats” option that will tell you the average and maximum RAM usage. This option also shows the list of currently running processes.
But, if you’re like me, running Android Oreo (or maybe Nougat), then you may not find the Process Stats option. This may be available as “Running Services” under the Developer Options.
Clicking a particular app will open a new window just as we saw in the first method in older versions of Android. Here, you’ll be able to check which app is eating how much RAM.

Also, the same site suggest a third party app. I didn't test it, but it seems to be good according to the reviewers...
However, if you are looking for strictly benchmark, these are some options:

AnTuTu Benchmark: Contains CPU, RAM, GPU and IO performance
Geekbench: This one is also multi-core aware
3DMark - The Gamer's Benchmark: Focus on device comparison of gaming performance
Neocore: Graphics performance benchmark (measures FPS, for old versions of Android only)

I'm not completely sure how acurate these apps are, since it is pretty hard to be sure. I would look into the user's comments to choose the best one (I've found other apps also, but checking the comments made me believe they were fake benchmarks).
I hope it helps you...


WiFi Direct can be used on all Android devices. Android 4.0 and higher comes with this feature pre-installed.

If your device runs an older version of Android, you can find many apps in the Google Playstore to enable direct file sharing service over WiFi. Go for SuperBeam, Fast File Transfer, WiFi File Transfer, etc.


When tethering, is there a way to turn off the phone's own data usage?

Try Android Firewall from the Play Store. You could create a "White list" that starts off with denying all network activity for all apps, to which you'd then allow just your tethering to go through.

Then, when you want everything to go through again, just disable the firewall...Or better yet create another white list that you can switch to.


After an Update of K-9 Mail I tried again to find it and succeeded (don't know whether this worked in a version prior to the new one).

This is how you search in K-9 Mail inside a message: In the respective message

select any text;
in the upcoming menu (copy, past, select all), select the document with a magnifying glass on it;
now the text you selected is used for an in-message search;
edit the search box and enter your search string.


How can I change the resolution of Iriun 4K Webcam?

Upgrading Iriun 4K Webcam from 2.5.7 to 2.5.8 on Windows fixed the issue:


Run voice commands like "Play", "Pause", "Next" on Spotify with Tasker and AutoVoice?

You should try using AutoInput, a plugin for Tasker available in the market, which doesn't require root.

You can then create a profile and set AutoVoice for every command, then set AutoInput (plugin section) with the X and Y coordinates of the button you want to press. Find the coordinates of the button by enabling the feature in Developer Options.

N.B. Make sure you're in the app you want when running the task.

Hope it helped!


How to fix an andriod tablet which is frozen on the startup menu

You should be able to access the default recovery on your Android tablet and do a factory reset. To do so turn off the tablet and then while holding the Power button press Volume Down and hold for about 10 seconds. If this doesn't work try Volime Up or both. You should be now in the recovery and you can navigate with Volume Up/Down and confirm with Power button. If this doesn't work then your device may need a bit more attention.


How can I automatically freeze and thaw an app on demand?

I know you can freeze and thaw an app using Titanium Backup Pro, which I have. But that would require manually going in to TiBu and doing the freeze/thaw commands each time.

You're wrong about that part. Try this:

look for a free place on your homescreen
long-press there
select to add a widget
scroll to Titanium Backup
select the item to (un)freeze an app
select the app

This gives you a toggle-widget to freeze/unfreeze the selected app.


Insufficient Storage on changing default install location

By default I think apps are only installable to phone storage. The developer has to specifically allow the app to be installed to external storage (SD card or emulated SD card storage).
The ADB shell command you have used is only designed for use during development (see http://developer.android.com/tools/help/adb.html). It may be that despite issuing this command the system is still trying to install to internal memory.


Disable auto-screen-on feature in Moto G Play

This feature is called Moto Display and is very similar to AOSP's ambient display.
Assuming it is in the same place as the Moto G 2015 and Moto X Pure devices, open the Moto app, go to Feature Settings (the 3 stars in the upper right corner) and then select Display and turn the slider off.
If that doesn't work, try turning off "Quick Capture" in camera settings.


How can I see the browsing history and bookmarks in the stock browser?

On my Samsung Fascinate I click on this button next to the address bar:

And it takes me to this screen, which also has a History tab (top-right):

The functionality shown above is also available to me on CyanogenMod 7, leading me to think that it's a feature of the stock browser (i.e. not added by Samsung).


Blame electrostatic charge for the fault.

The touchscreen in modern phones and tablets is capacitive. When you put your finger on it, your finger and part of the screen forms a capcitor, which allows the touchscreen to determine its position and size by examining its physical indications.

When there is unwanted electrostatic charge, either from another charge source like a metal furniture, or from a badly grounded charger, it can mess up the detection of capacitor of the screen, making it into thinking you're tapping every where. This is the cause for the strange behavior you see.

The solution is to keep your phone away from electrostatic charge, or release it if you happen to see the misbehavior. Releasing charge can be as simple as touching something metal and well-grounded, or touch your phone while you are well-grounded.


Undo "marked as spam" on Facebook Messenger

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by 'marked as spam' since I can't see this option in either the Facebook app or the Facebook Messenger app. I'm assuming you mean you turned off notifications for her messages since you mention you want to get them back. I'll explain how to turn them back on.

Facebook Messenger

Open up the conversation with person
Press the 'i' in the circle in the top right

Click on Notications and set to 'On'.

Facebook App

Go to your messages and open up the conversation with the person.
Click on the gear icon in the top right

In the Settings tab make sure 'Alerts On' is selected.


TRACK IMEI (website)

  TRACK IMEI is here to help you locate your lost mobile. If you have lost your mobile and remember the 14/15 digit IMEI number of your mobile which is a unique number for every mobile then you can register you mobile with us, if any of our dealers across the world will come across that mobile having that IMEI number we will contact you on the details provided by you while registering with us.

  If you have already registered with us the details then you can search for your mobile by entering the IMEI number in the below search for IMEI number field.

Track IMEI (useful before you lost the device)

  Have you ever had your phone lost or stolen, and then had it reset or had the battery die? Traditional tracking software will not be able to help you because it requires the phone to be on and your account attached. This is where Track IMEI comes in.

  Track IMEI is a mobile phone tracking system that stores your phone’s past and current location in a secure database which you and only you have access to. This means that if a criminal resets your phone, you will be able to track it the entire way until it was reset. Most of the time this is at the persons house, and you are then able to let the police know.

  Current features:
  Track past and current location of phone at a time interval set by you
  Change the time interval from our easy to use online interface located at www.trackimei.ca
  View your current and past location on a map in the application

  How to Use:
  1. Install the app on any supported Android powered smart phone.
  2. Create an account directly on the phone.
  3. Once created, log into your newly created account right on your device.
  4. Go under settings and turn on background update and select the tracking interval you want

  That is it! You can now log in at www.trackimie.ca with the same login info to view your device history.


I bought an Android ringtone at Google Play Store on my PC. How do I transfer it to my phone and select it as my ringtone?

Follow this -

Menu > Settings > Sound > Phone ringtone > Sound picker > Music library > Select tone

Remember, this is the general way to pick a tone in Xperia (Sony) phones. Terminology may be different in other devices.


Certainly not. It's safe
All that you are doing in this step is to

Check if your device is recognized in fastboot mode by fastboot devices

Replace the boot image by the patched boot image on your computer by
fastboot flash boot xxx.img.

fastboot reboot will boot you into OS where you can verify root as next step recommends.

This the normal way of rooting using patched images and will not affect your installed apps. See Magisk official documentation


HTC Thunderbolt: Why do I have serious text messaging and battery problems?

Regarding the battery, there's an LTE toggle on the market which might help. You can find a blog post about it here. This is a major culprit, and from what I've seen there's no native way to disable LTE as you can WiMAX on Sprint's phones (I don't own an Thunderbolt, I've just been reading about them so I'm not sure how accurate this is). That being said, battery life has been a pretty common complaint with the Thunderbolt thus far.

For text messages you could try a new SMS client and see if it helps. Handcent seems to be the popular choice (I'm a fan of it), but there's also some others like ChompSMS or Go SMS. It may be an issue you'd need to bring up with Verizon, though, if the problem persists across SMS clients.


Android phone, recover photos or messages after factory reset, is it possible?

Yes, you need root access for files other than pictures !
The particular method that doesn't require root access is only supported from Android 5.0.1+ ( i think )
You need to download
Disk Digger ( photo recovery ) - rootless
Disk Digger ( All file types, needs root )
I personally use Disk Digger Pro from Defiant Tech'
Google Store Link for Developer Defiant Technologies
Anyway i hope this helped.
Also,
• The Photo recovery doesn't need root access because it uses a new inbuilt photo recovery feature in Android 5.0.1+ devices
• The root access method will do an entire sector by sector scan on the internal storage, for the selected file types ... Several are supported.


What about unknown or hidden folders in android after connecting with PC?

These appear to be hidden folders in your external storage.

  Android is based on Linux, and that fact shows itself in how it
  handles files and folders. To keep it short, Linux/Unix, and therefore
  Android, hides any file that starts with a dot ., which has become
  a common convention to hide certain things that users wouldn’t
  normally need to care about, like app config/settings, databases etc.

You wouldn't normally view these files on your Android device, sd card even though these directories are present. As such you could use suitable file explorers such ES explorer, Astro manager etc to unhide these directories.

Unlike Unix/Linux systems, Windows doesn't hide files/folders that start with a . (dot prefix), and thus are visible when the sd card is mounted on a Windows system.


How to restore the active applications widget in home screen?

Sounds to me like you deleted a widget.  Long-press on a home screen, choose Widgets from the popup menu, and see if there's one matching your description.


How do I force the ICS browser to finish syncing bookmarks?

Well, for the moment I'm not coming up with any solution, so I've up and bought ChromeMarks. I went for the pay version because I REALLY wanted to manipulate the bookmarks on the device. If you just need to see them on the device, then the free version (ChromeMarks Lite) does a fine job.

I have no idea what the real problem was, but it was worth $1.99 to me to have it solved immediately (especially since the Browser's built-in bookmarks can't be viewed in any kind of list mode - just the icon view).


You can do a simple factory data reset. That's a good enough bet.

Additionally, even if you don't reset it manually, it'll likely be reset by the repair shop.


Application in Market that Open click returns you back to the market

Sounds like ASUS has installed stubs as system apps.  You'd need root to remove them or unlink them from the Market.


Add apps to default Guest account on Lollipop

Adding a restricted user seems to be, what you are looking for.

This should work in Lollipop tablets.

After creating such an account you can select which of your installed apps are usable by that account.

Sadly that feature does not seem to exist on Lollipop smartphones though.

There is a workaround though that may also suit your needs.


How can I tell if someone has been going through my private data?

Simple, you put a password on it. Or.. Or next time you want to take it in for repair. Use Titanium backup. Backup all the apps and data. Store it to the sd card. Wipe phone completely, take out sd card, send it in for repairs. And no changing the time wont do much.


Restarting after installing Cyanogenmod, it is just going around

This has happened to me also. Do a full wipe and flash the ROM again. It takes around 5-10 mins for first boot.


Is it possible to install the unofficial Froyo on a Samsung I5800XXJG3 android phone?

I can confirm that It is possible with the I5800XXJPF update with the 4 (out of 5) separate files and the Odin multi downloader tool.

here are the instructions of how to update 2.1 Eclair to 2.2 Froyo.


Install loop Android 4.4.2 Galaxy Core II

Already fixed it. I downloaded an Android 4.4 ROM for my phone(SM-G355HN) and flashed it with Odin while my phone was is download mode.


My phone's screen died but it still works. How can I get the text messages from it?

AndroidLost is an app that might fit your need. Though the aim of the app is different and can do much more, the abilty of the app to read sms and send it to email is an interesting
solution to your problem.

Read its FAQ and Getting Started sections - you need not even touch your phone as long as it is connected to Internet for installing this app.


Yes you can, to get this working just click on the button on left upper side of window and click on you email, now you'll get option to add another account.

*P.S on the image it shows "Personal" you just click on "Google" since it's Google account


SMS App with DIFFERENT conversation list style for unreplied threads.

You might want to take a look at GO SMS Pro. Unread messages have a NEW indicator at the top right corner of a conversation. Also, the contact name is usually bold (see screenshot below). You can also select other themes which may have different indicators.

Caveat: There is no way to filter by UNREAD conversations. So, you still have to scroll through them. But the indicator should help a bit.


CM12 Samsung Galaxy Note 3: Unable to encrypt

I came across the same issue. It has to do with permissions. You should set SELinux to permissive before starting the encryption. To do that, access shell via adb shell or terminal emulator and type the following;

su
setenforce 0

Now if you go to about section, it will show SELinux as permissive instead of Enforcing. Now go to security -> encrypt and follow along the wizard. It will work.


Recover wiped NANdroid backup - is it possible?

The possibilities for this will definitely vary depending upon the phone model as Android phones differ in hardware and what is affected when the phone is wiped/formatted/overwritten. If the phone is rooted, and/or if a new ROM was flashed to the phone, that will make things yet more uncertain. If it is a Samsung, older model Motorola or older model HTC, there might be a chance of recovery. It is less likely with LGs due to hardware. The only way to try and recover the pre-existing data is to have a tool to be able to image the phone's entire memory and then scan it. Cellebrite offers a tool that can do such imaging but it's quite expensive so you'd be better off contacting a data recovery company with strong mobile device capabilities. Many offer free evaluations so you can hear back if they think it's recoverable and how much it would cost before anything else.

Bottom line is that yes, from the little information here I can say there is a chance it's possible, but from your description it may be slim. That's as far as I can guess without actually having it looked at by one of our engineers.

It sounds like a tough situation so good luck!


How can an Android user know which Project Mainline modules their device supports?

You can run /system/bin/pm get-moduleinfo --installed to list all installed modules with their package name and package label. Running /system/bin/pm get-moduleinfo --all lists all available modules (possibly some that are not installed) currently known for that Android release


In low light(or in very bright light) scenario, 'Zero shutter lag' feature won't work  because the camera module and the software together will do some heavy work to capture picture really good. Try taking picture in good lighting condition(during daytime) to test Zero shutter lag functionality.

In some phones, Continuous focus makes use of accelerometer sensor to detect the movement of the phones to refocus the camera. This may not work when there is very slight movement. You can also check this during good lightning conditions


Can I extract the Stock HTC firmware (Sense) from an M8 and flash it in another rooted M8?

Hey I had the same problem I tried everything. Then I did this - I downloaded ruu file for my m8 and it works like a charm now . You just have to run the ruu file on windows while your phone is connected. Beware finding the right ruu files takes time. And also it requires you to be on the correct mid and Cid that came with your phone (or the developer Cid number 11111111)


my samsung galaxy s2 wont charge what do i do?

You can verify if your charger is faulty or not by installing Ampere app. If it not showing any in flow of mA after connecting, that means your charger is faulty. For the other way, you need to get your phone repaired.


Well the answer seems to be to use Weather Underground's iCal subscription.  It shows up and it gives you more complete weather info.  Only downside- it doesn't automatically pick up your location, it's hardcoded to a specific location.


Is there a way I could sync my Facbook galleries with my Android Gallery?

Photosync is set as "ON" by default IMO. Anyways read this


I'm trying to download Blue Kik, but it keeps giving me the 'App not installed' message

In my case, I get this message if there is not enough storage space on the device, so I would check that and try to free up space by deleting old files or unused apps.


Dialog boxes only work when tablet is tipped! DDouble letterss?

I'd suggest a full wipe, maybe it's a glitch. Otherwise it sounds like a hardware problem. By the way, I have understood that it's a bad idea to use a Nandroid backup from another device since some device-specific information could be moved as well.


Does putting an unlocked phone on a no-contract plan lock the phone in any way?

No one locks your phone when you haven't purchased it from them with a contract - your S5 will stay unlocked when you use it with Ting or anyone else.

Of course, different carriers do need different APN settings etc. which will overwrite the existing ones in the phone - but this should normally happen automatically when you insert the new SIM. If not, then you might need to search for the carrier settings and do this manually (trivial to do anyway).

As for the IMEI check done by Ting, that is because in some cases phones may be banned from the network they're using (reported as lost, having an unpaid balance etc.) and in that case the IMEI gets blacklisted, which 3rd party resellers can't do anything about.


Syncing Outlook Calendar Events to Google Calendar

Not sure, as an alternative:
An alternative to the google calendar outlook calendar sync issue is as follows:

Ensure that you export all outlook calendar into google calendar once only (ensure that you use your google calendar not the phone calendar for all appointments or change them so that they are)
Use google calendar to create and update all events
To then use outlook: export from google calendar and then import this calendar into a NEW outlook calendar
Rename the new calendar in Outlook to today's date (deleting or hiding other outlook calendars)
Repeat steps 3 and 4 on a regular basis , deleting the out of date ones from outlook

Regards

Chris UK


birthday duplicates after removing google account and adding it again

Meanwhile, the only thing that helped was a softreset.i wanted to do it fast. And after the new HTC Update i switched to some Custom Roms anyway.


Dual booting android x86 with LineagOS x86 on external hard drive

To start it would help if you could provide some logs with adb. The x86 firmware to get a dump of whats going on just simply throw the command adb logcatfrom an elevated command prompt. Making it simpler to read though it should be a dump and pretty straight forward you can try to add -v (verbose) long looking like: abd logcat -v long

hopefully the adbd daemon has started since thats part of the init job.

However, if it has not and cannot get a logcat then you can try to skip part of the boot process to get thing farther along within the boot process by stopping the zygote by:

From the x86 developers website:

  Stop zygote to run automatically:

  Go within the the vendor/whatever_device_oem/eeepc/init.rc, change following lines:

service zygote /system/bin/app_process -Xzygote /system/bin --zygote --start-system-server
socket zygote stream 666
onrestart write /sys/android_power/request_state wake
onrestart write /sys/power/state on

  to:

service zygote /system/bin/app_process -Xzygote /system/bin --zygote --start-system-server
socket zygote stream 666
onrestart write /sys/android_power/request_state wake
onrestart write /sys/power/state on
disabled
oneshot

At this point hopfully stopping the zygote will get things communicating once the davlik starts going since that is what gets things in the virtual machine going.

Try to pull logs through the above mentioned logcat command.

When you want to start zygote manually after you get or if it fails then throw the command from an adb shell start zygote or if unable to get an adb shell you could just try from a terminal emulator start zygote if that fails then stop and revert the changes to the vendor/whatever_device_oem/eeepc/init.rc from the booted is is, or within the iso, or before re-compilation.

Hopefully by this point you can post a dump output so we can get to the nitty gritty of what is going on.

Though it sounds like a boot order issue from the primary bootloader to the secondary bootloader and so on. It could also be any of the other pertinent paths needed to boot.

With that, after going through your long detailed steps that you have tried for debugging. Leading to my long detailed winded answer to state logs are key to debugging. Of the top off my head I say that it is most likely a path issue that can be corrected using the set command from a linux based system or linux like system command prompt or emulator. (Key by the way when saving a brick from grub-recovery).

Throw the set command to see what the system recognizes and see as the way to the chosen path.

See what's shown and compared to what's needed such as set root, cmdpath, kernel, boot, grub, vmlinux or aboot, and many more things required for boot but not the same let device and OEM, OS version, or variants.

The syntax is:

set {envvar=value}

Simplified:

Set option = (Value)/the/chosen/path

To delete/remove an environmental variable just us unset instead of the set command.

GN'U technical manual explains what's appears to be your asked issue:

https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub/html_node/set.html#set

  GRUB’s normal start-up procedure involves setting the ‘prefix’ environment variable to a
  value set in the core image by grub-install, setting the ‘root’ variable to match, loading
  the ‘normal’ module from the prefix, and running the ‘normal’ command (see Section 16.3.51
  [normal], page 77). This command is responsible for reading ‘/boot/grub/grub.cfg’, run-
  ning the menu, and doing all the useful things GRUB is supposed to do

Start your debugging solutions with the set command to get the proper boot variables in order. If you have to delete a variable that's been set then use the unset command.

If not that than we need logs to find out what's going on with the boot process.


xiaomi redmi note 4: unable to acquire unlockinng bootloader permission

It is a known fact that ISP's are allocated a bunch IP addresses which are then dynamically distributed among the public so every-time you connect to the internet it is possible you allocated a different ip address and sometimes it might be the same (TRY whatismyip on your browser to see your ip address) so try the procedure using mobile data if it still doesn't work i would like to suggest you an unofficial method mentioned in xda and i request you to go through the entire thread


How to stop a specific whatsapp chat from using mobile data?

It is a good requirement but unfortunately Whatsapp didn't have such a settings.

If you want to avoid getting notifications, you can Mute the group.

But here, your requirement is different.

So, First understand how the blocking works.

It works by the way we are blocking any access to the particular host from our phone. That means, no request, no response.
Here, whatsapp use same host for all messages, you can't block it.

If whatsapp use different host for different chat , there is no problem. But here it is not the case.

So, either you can block entire whatsapp or you can't block anything at all


How to resolve the issue " Unfortunately app has been stopped"

Is your phone rooted? If yes then maybe you would have disabled some of the services of that app using some sort of app. If yes then enable those services back and you will not get the error. I also faced the same issue once and this solved the problem.

Another thing you can do if the above method doesn't work. If the app is a system app then uninstall updates of that app from settings. Update it again(if you need). That's it. Let me know if I helped you or not.


How to view the files from /root/data folder?

Short answer
You cannot do that without having your device rooted, as the file permissions won't allow you to list contents there. You will be able to change into /data/data, but you will not see a single thing there.
Longer explanation
While one might be able to access /data/data without root (i.e. change into that directory), permissions are set to forbid listing its contents:
shell@android:/ $ ls /data/data
opendir failed, Permission denied
1|shell@android:/ $ cd /data/data
shell@android:/data/data $
shell@android:/data/data $ ls -l /data
opendir failed, Permission denied

This is what happens on a device without root (output created just now on my Cat Stargate 2 running Android 4.1.1). Repeating the same on my HTC Wildfire running CM9 (Android 4.0.4) and having root access enabled looks a little different, and should give us the wanted details (output cut to the necessary stuff):
adb shell
root@android:/ # ls -l /data
drwxrwx--x system   system            2013-02-27 02:01 data

As it is clearly shown, /data/data is owned by the user system group system, with this user and group being the only having full read/write/execute access. Everybody else only has execute permission, enabling all processes to change into that directory. This is necessary for the apps to access their data: They know their package names, and such an app named com.foo.bar can directly jump to /data/data/com.foo.bar which it owns and has full access to.


How to share the file names of all the files in a folder in Android?

Install Termux
Grant Storage permission
Do:

~$ find /sdcard/Music/ -type f >/sdcard/list_of_files.txt

Replace Music directory with whatever you want.


A fully featured floating video player which can be minimized to an icon?

Try the app Float Tube Video Player or Floating Video Player or GPlayer or FVPlayer-floating video player or any other similar app from Play Store.

(All I did was a simple Google search)


How do I sort whatsapp media files according to sender

By copying the photos to your computer you can sort it by different exif details like camera taken, date, location etc. So try cleaning and organizing by that. you can copy back the needed photos to your mobile later. Hope it helps.

But as far as I know, there'sno such option.


Can I use ODIN to just back up my phone's data?

No, Odin is just for flashing.  The Dump command doesn't seem to work, at least not as of Odin3 v1.85; see Can I make a full backup of my phone with Odin and without root?


What Launcher app lets me put the most on one screen?

Not a launcher app itself, but MultIcon (review link) lets you cram multiple icons into a teeny tiny space. Also available via cyrket.

Now, that unconfigured screnshot is the extreme example -- but the density ranges from 4 incons in the space of 1 on down. It's pretty handy -- plus it comes with its own shortcuts widgets to a few things. Can't have icons for normal folders, however. Bummer.


Would a full back up (from recovery) preserve all data including installed apps?

If you are talking about a Nandroid backup: Yes, it would. It creates images from the devices file systems -- so all that's stored there gets copied to those image files. You can then even extract single items using e.g. Titanium Backup.


Why do some Android apps need access to my SD card and fine location?

Depending on your phone / software, there should be an option somehwere in the camera app, something about geotagging or storing location data (being the same thing).
(Just open the camera app, click menu and scroll through the settings)

As far as app permissions are concerned:
Does your app really need your location?
Most likely not. Maps, navigation, GPS tools, geocaching tools, foursquare and pretty much any app that is designed to and downloaded because of their handling of location data all need the fine location (well, to be fair, foursquare doesn't as long as you don't use it as a substitute for google places).
Just ask yourself: Does the new version of Angry Birds really need to know where I am? Nah. From then on it's just one of two things:
Either you ignore the permissions since your really like that app, or you stick by your principles and don't download the app.

However, to be safe, simply disable GPS when you're not really using it anyway (for navigation or something), once GPS is disabled, apps won't get your fine location, only your estimated location based on last know location or wifi triangulation or whatever is used to get your estimated location via wifi.


Installing rsync on Android to transfer files from Android to OSX

First on Android each app has an own user-id/account, hence u0_a312is the user of the app that runs the ssh server. Regular Linux user accounts like myuser don't exist on Android.
Based on the path /storage/6632-6330/ I would assume that you are trying to access the external sd-card.
On a non-rooted device write access to ext-sd is not possible on Android using standard Linux/Unix file programs (this is only possible via Android Java API). Only if the ssh/ftp server + rsync was specially adopted to use this API it can work.
On Android 10/11 the situation is even getting worse because of the new "Scoped storage" system. Not sure if it is still possible to get full access to all files on the external ad-card.


This is correct
There is no way currently to lock individual messages to prevent them from being deleted according to WhatsApp Support.
You can, however, select several messages to be exported:

Click on Options > Settings > Chat History > Send chat history.

You will then be able to send your chat history via email or through some other application.


Allow instant boot after phone with empty battery is connected to power

tl:dr Mobile devices unlike laptops are not designed to run off the charger, without a battery (there are exceptions of some devices, way back).  A fully discharged battery is as good as no battery, so connecting to charger will not power up the device. Unless the battery is charged to a minimum level, it cannot be used to power the device

A battery is said to be discharged when it reaches 3V level ( also called deep discharge) . At this voltage 95% of the energy is spent , hence the mobile is designed to power down before it reaches this level
Battery charging has different stages with corresponding voltage levels as shown in figure below. The current fed from charger in the initial stages is very low (trickle charging , represented by 0.1 C, where is the Charging rate- see figure). It is only after the battery is charged above 3V, it can function. This accounts for the time it takes to charge to 5% and be able to power up the device (Not sure of the exact voltage level)

Additional factors that come in play for not permitting battery to operate before 5% :

There is a safety margin that is built in , since deep discharge followed by full charge (3.9 V)
would cause undue stress and is not recommended
Powering up a mobile from switched off state requires significant power (you would typically see at least 1 to 2% drop). If the battery voltage falls to below 3V due to this load, your battery would again shut down
Increasing charging rate (to reach level required for battery to operate) is a physical hazard, as the battery may explode

To sum it up, Li Ion or Li PO batteries have a bunch of physical security needs to be met. This combined with battery longevity and performance considerations, safeguards need to be in place - shutting down at low battery % , allowing the battery to reach required voltage levels is a part of the big picture. Understandably, given the mobile device penetration , nobody would like to cut corners (despite that one hears batteries exploding, recently in news)


Does buying thousands of apps (but not installing them) cause bloat in Android?

No, they are not installed on the device... Your device doesn't even "know" you purchased the app. It has absolutely no effect on your device at all and your purchase history is stored on Google servers, not your device itself.

Your device has nothing to do with the "purchasing" of the application if you don't actually install it. You don't even need a phone to buy a free app, you can just go on any computer, log in with your Google credentials, and go to the Play Store and have the free app added to your Google account.


Google Play Store download stops to a certain percentage on large programs

I would suggest getting APK files from your favorite APK website for the apps in question. Also, try updating Google Play from the Google Play store, NOT Apkmirror.
Not to mention the obvious stuff such as force restarting google play services, or restarting your phone.
You could also just give it a while. My phone does something similar where it will get stuck at 100% and will take a while to go to installing. Good Luck!


Galaxy S7 Causing Emails in Desktop Outlook to Appear Read

This is happening because your phone is setup to use POP3 and the POP server is marking emails read after downloading them on your Galaxy S7 Android. You can set up Exchange on your phone to have an exact copy of the mailbox on each device or you need to manually mark the emails as unread which is not a very practical thing to do.


I had the same problem using psiphon and hotspot shield VPN, after rooting my device I tried using psiphin and it worked.


Can Google Voice Search be configured to confirm name before calling?

Have you tried 3rd-party solutions?  Call Confirm app on the Market seems to do exactly what you need.  I just installed it and can confirm that it works in conjunction with other apps (Voice Search, Google Voice, etc.)


It's definitely rooted..
So it's better to completely wipe the phone..

But as you need your data, you can try and run it in safe mode.

As soon as you boot your phone , press down the volume down button, keep holding until you reach the lock screen. then press the safe mode button on bottom left..

http://www.tested.com/tech/android/3071-how-to-use-androids-safe-mode-to-save-a-phone-from-boot-loops/

In case you are flashing the best rom for Galaxy s2 is the Pound rom(Unsung Hero) or Cyanogenmod(popular)..


Why Android x86 9.0 boots in command line and not in GUI?

According to the answer here from Stack Overflow:

Temporary fix: append nomodeset xforcevesa at the end of the line containing kernel during boot time at the GRUB menu. During boot press E to edit. While on the line containing kernel press E again, append nomodeset xforcevesa at the end, press enter, then press B to boot.
Permanent fix: read the answer here.


does every menu item in an app have an intent?

the AndroidManifest.xml inside the APK [the APK is just a compressed folder that you can open with WinRAR] contains a list of the available intents.


How do I re-install the system app "Google Talk"?

The Google Talk application is a key part of the Android Market authentication. If you are not signed in to Google Talk, you cannot use the android market. This is one of the reasons there needs to be more "Warnings" with apps like Root Uninstaller. They allow you to remove vital apps from the device, and don't tell you what damage it could do.

You have a couple options:

You will need to find the apk for your device, or that works for your device. There are some devices that use a different version of the application, Then use a tool like Root Explorer for example, to put the apk file back in /system/apps
Restore from a Nandroid / Titanium backup (if you did the backup before hand)
(re)Flash a ROM on your device, which could put the device in the "factory state" if you are not flashing the same ROM that you already have on the device.

I also seen this in the applications description and it may actually make a backup of any app that you freeze or uninstall. check and see if you can restore with the application.

If you CANN'T freeze/defrost, try to enable USB Debugging (HOME/Settings/Application/Development/USB Debugging)
If you CANN'T restore backup app, try to "find apps on SD card" then long-press the app and select "install as system app".
This application uses SDCARD to store data


Intents in a grid instead of a list on Android 4.4 KitKat

So you want something like this:

AppChooser (source: Google Play; click for larger variant)

Freely configurable, including the possibility to...

switch between list and grid
hide apps you never use, but still having them available quickly with a single tap
sort alphabetically or by last-used

Then take a look at AppChooser Pro, available for a single buck. There's also a free version on Play if you want to test it first. I went immediately for the payed version a couple of months ago, and never regretted the decision. Still you might wish to pick the free version first, as I didn't test it on 4.4 (I'm still on 4.0 on my phone).


For sure! Hopefully there are professional ROM cookers at XDA-Developers that cook ROMs without any kind of bloatware. Here are some articles that I recommend you to check before flashing a new ROM:

Unlocking The Bootloader
Updating Firmware/Flashing ROMs
Optional: A Beginners Guide To Modding And Tweaking The Arc

After you done all that you are good to go flashing a clean ROM, my suggestions are:

[DEVELOPMENT] - CM7.0.3 - Free xperia project


Copy all sdcard contents to larger sdcard

The least tricky way is:

take your 2GB card out of the device, put it into a card reader, and attach that to your computer
copy all contents from the card to an empty directory on your computer
safely remove the card reader, replace the 2GB card by the newer, bigger one, and attach that to the computer
copy the contents of the directory from step 2. to the new card
safely remove that card again, and place it into your Android device

When in doubt about the hidden stuff, use Linux for the copy process. You can even boot it from a LiveCD. From a terminal command, use cp -R /path/to/source/* /path/to/target. On the other hand, if using Windows and you can see the files/directories starting with a dot (watch out e.g. for the .android_secure directory), they should be copied along fine.
See also:

How do I switch my Android device's SD card without causing problems?
Changing SD Card Just a Simple Copy & Paste
App2sd - Changing the SD Card
How to upgrade / swap SD card without losing data and installed apps?


How would you change the default Android boot animation?

Looks like this was a corrupt zip problem.. from linux zip tool you must be using the -0 switch to 'store'.


Android device not mounting (neither USB nor Blutooth)

I ended up having to transfer my files to a temporary directory on Google Drive and download it from Google Chrome to my Desktop and then make use of them from there. Anyways, a couple of days later my Windows 7 OS (Sony VAIO) completely crashed (gray screen). I forced the laptop off with the off switch and after returning to it after a walk and turining it on, it said, No Operating System found

So it is possible that the mounting was not working because the computer hard-drive was about to crash.


USB and MHL share the same pins on the connector. Once the phone is in MHL mode, there is no USB capability. So, currently you can't use MHL and USB simultaneously.


How to identify the latest version of brut map

It looks like the author tries to keep the version of his app in sync with the version of the actual Google Maps app.  As of this writing, the official Google Maps app is version 6.1.0 which was released on January 10th 2012.  It usually takes the developer several days to adapt the changes.  The thread you linked seems to be active, so the newest version will most likely be posted there when it's ready.


4g icon always showing on my S6 (But my cellular network is not 4g)

Some countries/carriers, e.g. AT&T and T-Mobile call (DC-)HSPA+ "4G" (while HSPA+ is commonly referred to as "3.5G"), while they call real 4G "4G LTE" or simply "LTE". Using phones or such carrier origin with a HSPA+-capable SIM will display "4G".


Is there a way to back up Amazon Market via Titanium Backup without 2Gb backup file size?

Amazon app store downloads APK files to a folder that Titanium Backup considers external app data. You can regularly clean out this folder or choose one of the following:

Create a label, and add Amazon Appstore to it. Now go into settings and under Backup external app data choose.
"Enable for apps outside of choosen label" now pick the label that you added Amazon too.
Inside TB's settings under Backup external app data choose "Enable if it's smaller than choosen size" and enter a value that you're comfortable with.


HTC Desire crashed, deleted all SMS/MMS. Can I recover?

I don't hold out much hope that the .db file was not overwritten, but I recommend mounting the phone storage to a PC (preferably Linux as Mac will write immediately and Windows might also) to attempt recovery.  I don't know what tool to use offhand but search results look promising http://www.google.com/q=linux+file+recovery


Where did the galaxy live wallpaper go in ICS?

You can try to switch your current live wallpapers with the Gingerbread pack the Nexus S came with. This will need your device to be rooted though.

As seen on this topic on xda-developers, you can use Root Explorer (or any other application that can get into the android filesystem, like Root Browser Lite) to switch your with livewallpaper.apk file located on system/app with this one, which contains the stock Gingerbread live wallpapers from the Nexus S, and possibly the one you're looking for.

--

Also, there's some really similar live wallpapers available on the Market, including one called Galaxy Core 3D LiveWallpaper, which looks almost like the one you're looking for.


Is there a PDF/eBook Reader like the "Google Playbook"  Tablet?

There are several apps you might check (ordered best recommendation first):

Moon+ Reader Pro is the best ebook reader I know. Support for the important formats (txt, html, epub, pdf, umd, fb2, chm, zip -- pdf only in the pro, said to be the fastest PDF renderer on Android), plenty libraries pre-configured to download books from (you can add your own sources), great support, and more. Just no DRM (yet; as Adobe didn't answer to the developers requests). My clear recommendation for this one.
Aldiko Book Reader supports epub, PDF, DRM -- and also can access online sources
Mantano Reader supports epub & PDF, available in several versions, supports DRM
GO Book supports epub, txt, umd, pdf and fb2 (DRM/catalogs support: unknown to me)

There are some more on the Playstore, but not all are recommendable (and some may have escaped my notice).


DRM stands for "Digital Rights Management", and mainly is used with sold eBooks/PDFs and the like (and also for sold music files plus maybe even videos). Those keys are to identify your ID as to prove if you have permission to access those documents. If you never bought any of those "crippled" documents, chances are you don't have to bother.


Can USB Debugging and Developer Options be used to spy on me?

Developer options and Bug Reports are tools that an android developer can use to test and debug ther app and get access to system logs and some other functions.

Here is a link to the Android documentation on development options:
https://developer.android.com/studio/debug/dev-options.html


Phone isn't rooted after installing SuperSU

It seems like HTC Desire 500 has a "system write protection", so you may need to flash a custom (modified) kernel to prevent the system from protecting itself from modification.

Check this post on XDA forum.


Share virtual machine between Genymotion and Android AVD Manager?

Genymotion and the Android emulator for Android SDK can not interoperate because the used virtualization system is totally different:
Android Emulator from SDK uses an QEMU 2 based emulator for running the emulator images.
Genymotion uses VirtualBox emulator as the underlying virtualization system. As VirtualBox only supports x86 emulation for example ARMv7/ARMv8 based emulator do not exist for Genymotion.
Effectively this means that the emulated devices are slightly different. For example they are different regarding the emulated devices (e.g. graphics chip) and the used file formats.
As different devices require different drivers converting an emulator image from one system to another is also not that easy.


How to access a video file that an app is hiding

Most likely you can see it only from within that app: the file will be stored in the app's "private" directory where only itself has access to (unless you use "root powers"). See my answer here for details.

Even assumed you'd manage to extract the file (e.g. using root powers) and transfer it to your laptop, you most likely won't be able to watch it: those applications normally use DRM (see these questions for details), and their media files are encrypted.

Without knowing the identity of "this app", it's hard (or rather impossible) to say anything more specific.


After the latest update, the Samsung messaging app provides an option to disable Google Talk messages. Exactly what I was looking for.


How to prevent notification showing up when an event in my calendar is occurring?

Their is a notification program in android already if you are on Android 4.4+

4.4+ ... Hold on the notification and go to app info, Then deselect show notifications

5.0+... Hold on the notification and select hide notifications from this app or notifications like this !

Then manually turn the apps back on again !

The notification manager is in different sections of the settings for each device.. Some it is under display and others it's under privacy (sms reasons)


Li Ion battery discharge is not strictly linear, (unlike a capacitor ). This ensures available power is utilised till the end of battery charge

But it is fairly linear, more so at lower loads as can be seen from this figure, where C-rate or charge rate is the discharge/ charge rate

Assuming your app is not a heavy power hog, it is reasonable to extraploate discharge. But, since the discharge isn't strictly linear, it would give better results if

Battery drop interval is more , say 5 to 10% and not 1% as proposed
Battery drop is not measured below 30% of battery ( to avoid greying into non linear portion of curve)
Measuring at 1% drop inherently introduces rounding off errors- if your phone has two digit accuracy, anything between 75.90 to 75.99 would show 76% . In the worst case, the error could be doubled (it won't fall to 75% till it goes below 75.90). Which means a 20% error, and that can be reduced to 2% over a 10% drop
Avoid measuring when the battery is fully charged to reduce errors. Measure at about 85% for the first reading and around 50% (or higher ) for second reading after tweaking your app


How do I tell whether my phone is roaming?

OP's intention
 of asking was to know how to identify the mobile is in roaming

It is indicated by R (indicating Roaming) , next to the signal strength icon, which was indeed the case


Shortcut to mark all SMS text messages read?

ChompSMS has a "mark all as read" option


I just had the same problem. Just delete your app data and download them again.


Save file as PDF using Microsoft Word's app

Instead of clicking Save As, click Print. Then, in the top there's a dropdown from where it's possible to select Save As PDF.

Then click in the yellow circle with the download icon and the text PDF and select where you want the file to be saved. That's it.


Add fonts to Hancom office, Samsung Galaxy Note Pro

Font directory is /storage/emulated/0/.Hnc/HOffice9/Shared/Fonts.
To add additional user fonts, put the fonts in this folder.


whatsapp is not initializing and not connecting

Ensure that you have a fast and reliable internet connection.

If that doesn't solve the problem, try clearing App Data
Settings->Apps->WhatsApp Messenger->Clear Data

Hope it helps


How to view the android service menu (secret menu)?

As the How has already been explained, you might want to have the What as well:

There are several lists on the internet (just google for "secret codes") with many of those codes. Not all of them work on all phones (some are device or manufacturer specific), but many are common to all Android devices (and some times even to all smartphones). I won't list all of them here, but a few more important to be known include...

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────┐
| Code                                             | Description           |
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────┤
| *#0011#                                          | GSM Infos             |
| *#0228#                                          | Battery Infos         |
| **05*<PUK>*<new PIN>*<new PIN for confirmation># | Unlock PIN            |
| *#*#0588#*#*                                     | Test Proximity sensor |
| *#06#                                            | Show IMEI             |
| *#*#1234#*#*                                     | Firmware Info         |
| *135#                                            | Show your phone number|
| *#*#197328640#*#*                                | Service Menu          |
| *#*#7378423#*#* (*#*#SERVICE#*#*)                | Service Menu          |
| *#*#2432546#*#* (*#*#CHECKIN#*#*)                | Check for OTA Updates |
| *2767*3855#                                      | Factory Format        |
| #31#<phoneNumber>                                | anonymous call        |
| *#*#3264#*#*                                     | RAM Test              |
| *#*#4636#*#* (*#*#INFO#*#*)                      | System Infos          |
| *#*#7594#*#*                                     | Customize PowerButton |
| *#*#7780#*#*                                     | Factory Reset         |
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────┘

Use at your own risk -- some options might prove dangerous (e.g. the factory format) -- especially if you don't know what they are supposed to mean, think twice or better avoid the option.


Trouble on the instalation of the Cyanogen?

Pay attention to this particular part of the log:

This package is for device: C2105, C2014, C2105, C2104, taoshan
this device is .

The reason why this happens is that CyanogenMod ZIPs have the option to check the device it's being flashed on before it continues, so it won't get accidentally flashed on the wrong device.

If you look inside your ZIP and view the file META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script, you'll see something like this:

assert(getprop("ro.product.device") == "C2105" ||
       getprop("ro.build.product") == "C2014" ||
       ...
       abort("This package is for device: C2105, C2014, C2105, C2104, taoshan; this device is " + getprop("ro.product.device") + "."););

Now I find it weird that your recovery does not report the correct device model (this device is .). Your recovery might not have been built correctly.

Anyway, if you remove the entire assert( line up to );, the ZIP should flash just fine. Although if I were you, I'd take a bit more caution, since there is a possibility that the model info reporting isn't the only thing wrong with your recovery.


How do I set up my HTC HD2 to dual boot Windows Mobile and Android?

Here's a quickly googled howto/link collection: http://www.htchd2forum.com/android-on-the-hd2/how-to-install-android . Can't really help more without a more specific problem/question.


How can I disable album art on my lock screen?

Google Play Music, since version 8.7, has a setting to enable/disable album arts on the lock screen.

Open Google Play Music, then open Settings.
In the Play back section, disable "Show album art on lock screen".

The album art will now be shown next to the music buttons instead of taking over the whole screen when it is locked.

Note: Tested on versions 8.8 and 8.18.

Source: Google Play Music v8.7 adds option to disable album art on the lock screen


How can I monitor my phone usage between two top up

I couldn't find such a feature shipping with Android itself -- but: Yes, there is. Or rather: there are. Plenty. It would become a long list. Watch out on the Playstore for DroidStats or Call Meter 3G -- both apps allow you to specify the "payment day" (DroidStats is probably easier to use, while Call Meter can cover more complex scenarios).

There are also others like e.g. PhoneUsage, and more (you can follow the related apps for more suggestions).


Is there a media player that sorts WMA in track order?

There is a known bug that disallows sorting of WMA files by track number.

You could try using MediaMonkey or something like MP3Tag on your PC to rename the file as
%track_number% - %Artist% - %Title%.wma or something similar, so it sorts by name.

Also try Meridian Player - you can create a PlayQ (kinda like a playlist and then sort that by Track, I believe.

And be sure to take a look @ Mort Player too.


How can I root my 4.4.2 Razr Maxx HD Verizon

Successfully used the Hydrogen Peroxide method as outlined at this link.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/droid-razr-hd/general/root-droid-razr-hd-xt926-183-46-15-t3062040

Had to reflash stock firmware a priori though. Others had success without flashing, only factory reset prior to attempt.

Newest Kingroot or KingoRoot would be worth trying 1st.


How can I forward texts to my  tablet and reply back?

If you're in the USA, use Google Voice - it allows a user to make voice calls while on WiFi and also allows sending / receiving SMS.

Also look at Tablet Talk for your SMS needs at least. In early development, there's also Phone Link

If you're working on your tablet, I believe the simplest solution for voice calls is to have a bluetooth handsfree paired with your phone so you can make and receive calls.


How do I view root ( / ) with Termux if termux-setup-storage doesn't help?

termux-setup-storage only grants android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE that lets the app access internal SD card i.e. /sdcard.

Android's init creates rootfs / with permissions 0:0 (uid:gid) and 0755 (mode). So the root directory should be accessible to any non-root user.
However SELinux plays its role restricting unauthorized access to rootfs. You can view such policy denials by:

dmesg | grep 'avc: denied'

* Most probably SELinux will deny this command too if run from non-root app

To view all SEPolicy rules, sesearch tool from setools-android can be used.

To set SELinux permissive:

echo 0 >/sys/fs/selinux/enforce
# or
setenforce 0

Or add an exception to SELinux policy:

supolicy --live 'allow untrusted_app rootfs dir { read open }'

* supolicy tool is provided by rooting solutions e.g. Magisk, SuperSu

This policy allows reading rootfs but still you may get errors because reading attributes of files/directories under rootfs isn't permitted by policy.

Also both solutions need root privileges and are nonpersistent i.e. need to be set after reboot.

So if you are running a non-rooted production build of Android (with enforcing SELinux), you won't be able to read rootfs /.


I emailed  HTC  and this was there response in case anyone is interested.

"I understand you have a question about Live Wallpapers for your Android device. I would be more than happy to assist you with this device feature inquiry. You mention that you would like to know whether a developer would have access to the area where you choose the wallpaper or scene for the Home screen of your phone? This question would be difficult to answer since this might require "rooting" or unlocking the boot loader of your phone possibly."

so as vague as it is,  it seems like  they are system files used for HTC  live wallpaper previews.  I guess a scaled thumbnail is as good as it gets.


How to geotag photos uploaded to google photos

You can geotag the photos from google photos web site.
Follow the below steps to geotag your google photos.

Go to photos.google.com
Select the photos that you want to geotag
Click the options menu and select Edit Location
Type the location and choose the appropriate one from the dropdown
Done. The photos are geotagged now


I have used a GB of data in less than 24 hours, how is this possible

All sorts of background processes and applications will use cell data bandwidth.  If you've installed some new apps recently, which given your phone is only a week old seems likely, check to see if some of them are doing anything in the background.

If you list your apps, perhaps we could shed some light on which ones might be data hogs.


Auto-delete certain file extensions on my phone?

I wrote an app that removes it, called "Trashes".

It can be found on XDA.


Why does Play Store on Android Wear claim ten updates when there are only two?

Not a coincidence. The Wear OS 2.x device's Play Store shows the pending updates both on the Wear device and the phone. This is because Wear OS 2.x allows standalone wear apps, and they can be installed/updated independently from the phone apps.
Thus, if the notification says "X new updates, Y updates total are pending", it means there are X independent Wear apps to update, but a total of Y apps both on Wear device and phone to update. Updating all from the Wear device will only affect the independent Wear apps, so the user still needs to use the phone's Play Store to update the apps on the phone.
From Android Developers - Package and distribute Wear apps

Distribution to Wear 2.0 watches
On devices running Wear 2.0, when a user installs a phone app that has an associated watch app (either an embedded APK or an APK uploaded via the Play Console), the user gets a watch notification about the available watch app. Tapping the notification opens the watch Play Store, giving the user the option to install the watch app.
Additionally:

[...]
When you upload a watch APK via the Play Console, you can update your Wear APK independently from the phone APK, and users receive updates via the watch Play Store.
[...]

(Emphasis mine)

Previously on Wear OS 1.x (and before, i.e. Android Wear), wear apps are embedded in the phone apps. To update the wear apps, the user has to update the phone apps first, then the Play Store will install the embedded wear apps from the phone to the Wear device.
Also from the same article,

Distribution to Wear 1.x and 2.0 watches
The standard distribution model for Wear 1.x was embedding a watch app inside a phone app. [...]. When a user installs your phone app, if you have a compatible Wear app in the Play Store, it will automatically be installed on Wear 1.0 watches.

Additional note: Ticwatch S2 runs on Wear OS 2.2.


How to silence all but one application? (no calls, messages, notifications and similar interruptions)

If you don't want to use any 3rd-party apps, then you have to learn programming and make your own.

In my opinion, the best way to do this is using AutomateIt.
Its normal features include "Set volume" actions and if you register an account, then you could download one Pro codec, like the "Multiple(OR)" event that, could also be used when more than one app are opened.

All types of volume can be changed when a certain event happens.


Short answer: yes, it's for all Google Maps links.

The long answer is that Android's intent mechanism (which is the way Android decides what app to start) can use different parts of the URL to match the app. The app can register itself with Android to handle:

a particular URI scheme, such as market://
a particular domain, such as youtube.com
paths within the domain matching a particular filter, such as /users/*

Apps can also filter on other things not relevant to clicking a link, such as different actions (e.g. share) or different MIME types. One app can have more than one filter, and one filter can match any combination of the above things. For example, a YouTube app might have one filter that matches when all these conditions are met:

the scheme is http:// or https://
the domain is youtube.com
the path matches watch?v=*

and another that matches when all these conditions are met:

the scheme is http:// or https://
the domain is youtu.be (the domain for short URLs)

In this case, there are two different defaults to set: the first time you click a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJRFaR71HfY it will set the default for that kind of link. Then, if you later click a http://youtu.be/DJRFaR71HfY, it'll ask a second time, because that counts as a different kind of link.

In the case of Google Maps, there are several different kinds of link it can handle (as well as other intent filters not relevant to links):-

geo://*
latitude://*
http://maps.google.tld/ or https://maps.google.tld/ (with nothing after the /), for every TLD that Google has (google.com, google.fr, etc.)
http://maps.google.tld/maps* or https://maps.google.tld/maps*
http://mapy.google.pl/ or https://mapy.google.pl/ ("mapy" being Polish for "maps")
http://mapy.google.pl/maps* or https://mapy.googl.pl/maps*
http://local.google.com/ or https://local.google.com/
http://local.google.com/maps* or https://local.google.com/maps*
http://m.google.com/latitude or https://m.google.com/latitude
http://www.google.com/latitude or https://www.google.com/latitude
http://m.google.com/u/m/* or https://m.google.com/u/m/*

Each one of those lines counts as a different kind of link, so Android will ask again. In addition, all but the first of those have two separate entries: one for opening or browsing a link in the usual way, and another for scanning an NFC tag (or receiving by Android Beam) a matching link. Again, those two things count as different links for the purposes of setting defaults.

To get this information from the Google Maps app, I used the app PackageExplorer. The information it gives you takes some knowledge to interpret: you may find the Android intent API guide for developers useful.


If you have a ROM you are simply updating with a newer version of that ROM, you will need to re-install the custom kernel though. It's usually not recommended to flash one ROM over another different one without wiping. I have not had any experience with my phones being bricked; however, it can cause your ROM & the apps/settings within your new ROM to crash or not act as intended. Dirty flashing is usually only done with updates from the same custom ROM.

best practice is usually to do a clean install, which would mean wiping data, cache, and system data. This would mean losing all of your personal data, and may also include internal memory depending on device. I would go to your devices' dedicated forum for more details on properly wiping and installing these things, though.

To answer your other question, you do not need to install a Stock ROM each time before flashing a new custom ROM.


Android-x86 stuck at black screen and a static underscore _

I found disabling 3D acceleration and setting the graphic controller to VBoxVGA solves the issue.


Protecting you handset from FROST attacks?

Looks like my answer was on that page all along:

  15) Flash the frost.img file from our download section to the phone: 'fastboot flash recovery frost.img'. For this command to work, the bootloader must be unlocked.

So, to other semi-paranoid android users out there, know that protecting against cold boot attacks is as simple as locking the bootloader (if you haven't already). You can do so via fastboot.


If you backup it to Google drive it will include all the media


How to Clean Sticky Residue on My Smartphone?

Former N4 owner here.

I sanded off all those stuff with a fine sandpaper, which made the sides slick. Also, the white version of the back cover assembly doesn't come with this faux-skin material, so I bought one and swap it in (just 2 screws away) when I feel like it.


my phone's display is damaged and i need to transfer all the data from the phone but it has a screen lock, what can be done?

Get a USB on-the-go cable, connect a mouse to it and use it to unlock your device..


FRP and OEM locks bricked my Samsung phone after root

Base on my research you can fix the OEM lock by flashing Samsung stock signed firmware using Odin or Samsung tool pro. To remove the frp you need to create a modded boot where the USB debugging is on. You can make one in assayyed kitchen you just need your stock boot, you can get stock boot at the firmware files, let's assume you flash the modded boot. You will boot to your phone but the frp locks is still there what you need to do is connect your phone to your PC then open Samsung tool pro find your phone model there then remove frp using adb.

P.S. Factory data reset your phone after flashing modded boot (optional)


Is it possible to disable roaming entirely, not just networking during roaming?

Just go to flight mode or remove the SIM card when you are on roaming.


How to tell if phone's ROM is original or tampered?

TheBro21's comment applies only if it's a KNOX enabled device.  For most Android devices, when you boot into downloading mode it will read a few lines in "SYSTEM STATUS: custom" or "Custom Binary Download YES (and the number of time here, if it hasn't be reset with triangle away)". If in bootloader mode it says Unlock state: true, it might be that the ROM is custom, but then again it may have been done by a stock flash.

You can also go into the settings and about and look at the system status, ROM, kernel, or base-band and if it has a weird name, google it, it's probably a custom ROM or kernel, if not, it probably isn't or close enough you'd never notice.

If you really are concerned and want a fresh device on official firmware, google how to flash your device with Odin, than download the latest stock firmware.


Can I automatically log in to open WiFi that requires web login/password?

The best you can do is set it up to auto-connect to the network and then manually open a browser when you're in range.  Save the username and password in the browser.  That gets it down to 2 clicks (er... touches).  Make sure Remember Passwords is on the the browser's settings.

There are some apps that claim to do what you want but I've never used them.  Here is a list.