When app is removed from the play store, is it removed from everyone's phone that downloaded it?

In general the answer is no - however Google do have the capability of remotely removing apps (i.e. Malware)  from everyone's device as required, and if they do so they will provide you with a notification.

This was explained by Rich Cannings, Android Security Lead in an Android Developers blog post, back in 2010:-

  ... In cases where users may have installed a malicious application that poses a threat, we’ve also developed technologies and processes to remotely remove an installed application from devices. If an application is removed in this way, users will receive a notification on their phone.

  Recently, we became aware of two free applications built by a security researcher for research purposes ... [a]fter the researcher voluntarily removed these applications from Android Market, we decided, per the Android Market Terms of Service, to exercise our remote application removal feature on the remaining installed copies to complete the cleanup.

  ... a dangerous application could be removed from active circulation in a rapid and scalable manner to prevent further exposure to users. While we hope to not have to use it, we know that we have the capability to take swift action on behalf of users’ safety when needed. ...

This was then used to remove 60 malicious  applications back in 2011

  On Tuesday evening, the Android team was made aware of a number of malicious applications published to Android Market. Within minutes of becoming aware, we identified and removed the malicious applications. ... But given the nature of the exploits, the attacker(s) could access other data, which is why we’ve taken a number of steps to protect those who downloaded a malicious application:

  We removed the malicious applications from Android Market, suspended the associated developer accounts, and contacted law enforcement about the attack.
  We are remotely removing the malicious applications from affected devices. This remote application removal feature is one of many security controls the Android team can use to help protect users from malicious applications. ...


Two Photo icons on Moto G following Lollipop upgrade

You need to disable and remove Google+, then reinstall it from the app store, I did this to mine this morning and now its fine.


Can't connect to Walmart in-store WiFi with LTE ZTE Maven Z812

This appears to be an interesting but known issue with 2.4Ghz only capable phones. Here is an article that explains the issue and why it is happening. If that doesn't work or you don't trust the url, just do a quick search on Android Central Forums for "why does my phone disable wi-fi connections" and it should be the top result there.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/ask-question/865480-why-does-my-phone-disable-wi-fi-connections.html

I recommend going to your Wi-Fi settings, possibly advanced settings, and disable smart network switching. It might be "Switch to mobile data" or something else like that. Once you have that disabled forget the SSID and then try to connect again and see if it works for you. Hope that helps!


Ia there any way to lock just a single app on my S6?

Yes try downloading app lock pro from playstore.


How to force the phone to connect to the internet?

Finally found a way to connect to internet on my Xperia Mini Pro android mobile.

Go to
     Settings ==> Wireless & network settings ==> Mobile networks ==> Network Mode
Its going to open another window with title as Preferred network mode.

Now try to Select WCDMA only option. Wait for 10 sec. We can see the network is getting reset and try to find the 3G signal.
Now open the same pop up again and select GSM(Edge or 2G) connection. Now again networking related stuff gets reset again.

This is how I force my mobile to connect to internet.


Where does the Play Store store the apps I am currently downloading?

The Playstore app usually uses /data/local to temporarily store .apk files while downloading, then installs them from there, and finally removes the temporary download-file (which then went to /data/app). The /data/local directory should be readable by all processes (so no root needed to list its contents), as it is used as a kind of "temporary directory" for a lot of things (you might think of it as a "misnamed" /tmp directory).

This directory should be "cleaned up" on reboot1, so your issue might rather be a broken .apk in /data/app. A new install should solve this anyway. I further recommend using AppMonster Pro -- yes, the Pro version: on each install/update it grabs the .apk file of the installed/updated app and stores away a copy. So in cases like this, you could simply grab a previous version and install it over.

Just for completeness: There seem to be more such "temporary directories" on Android devices. Investigating a dump from a stock 2.2 Motorola Milestone 2, I e.g. also found /data/download. Different devices might use other directories additionally. But that should not affect your Playstore question.

1 I can only base this on one of my devices (Motorola Milestone 2, stock Android 2.2), where I extracted a Nandroid backup stored on my PC. There the init.rc file (which is called during the boot process) a.o. contains the following:

mkdir /data/local 0771 mot_tcmd shell
mkdir /data/local/tmp 0771 mot_tcmd shell
mkdir /data/local/12m 0771 mot_tcmd shell
mkdir /data/local/12m/batch 0771 mot_tcmd shell

Easy to see: the /data/local directory is created during the boot, which suggests it being empty at this point. Same is valid btw. for /data/download


You will naturally need root to replace a system font. Because without root, you cannot write to the partitions where the fonts are stored and loaded from.

So, in order to answer your question - No, it is not possible.

That said, we do hear that Android Q will have support for font changes. If the feature makes its way to the final Q builds, you will be able to do font modifications when it hits your device in the coming months.


Since Nougat, Power saver causes streaming to shut off.

I found that if you remove the particular app like Pandora or iHeartRadio from the optimization list then the music will keep playing. My best guess is that when the app is moved from optimized to not optimized the battery optimization will not suspend it's processes in the background.

To do this go to Settings->Power->Battery optimization

From the drop down menu at the top select all Apps

Find the app you want and tap on it. From the menu that appears select Don't optimize and tap done.


On Android version 5.1.1 (Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge)
One way to do it is go to Phone (like you would make a call) then click on the More in top right of the screen and choose Settings then Call Settings > Call rejection > Auto reject list and select the "Unknown" option.

Hope this saves you some time.


Installing google play services from APKmirror by command line

The answer is:

This is apk app format
I can install by just renaming the download from .apkm to .apk.

Thanks to Robert for pointing this out!


How to boot in download mode with a Zonda a450

Okey. As described in the specs, the device has a Spreadtrum chipset (SC7731). There is no boot mode on SPD devices.

To flash a ROM, you need a file in the .pac format and use a flasher (ResearchDownload).

You MUST install SPD drivers, otherwise the device won't be detected by the computer.

As there is no download mode, just swicth off and plug the device by holding volume down or up.


How can I successfully run this script on a emulated terminal on Android?

You must install busybox on your device. And you need a kernel with loopdevice support. I use a 2.6.35.7 Kernel and I can run Debian. You may have a ARMv6 CPU Then Ubuntu doesn't work.


Are all Android phones good for accessibility?

This may be the best resource for answering your question: http://eyes-free.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/documentation/android_access/phones.html


An alternative approach that might be easier for your mom: In Settings→Accessibility, there is an option to make the phone's power button end the call (here labeled "power button ends call"). That might be easier for her than remembering to tap the on-screen button.
Google's support site has an an article on the feature but it doesn't really say anything more.


Why won't my USB headset work OTG with my Honor 6x?

The lack of answer suggests this probably isn't worth pursuing, it probably depends upon phone, headset, and operating system. Another way this works out is with my LG G3 phone, Logitech A-0374A USB headset, and Android 6, with OTG cable: I get media sound through the headphone, but on phone calls neither the headphone nor the microphone is recognised, the phone's speaker and mic are used instead. I've looked at a couple of other places where this is discussed, with no resolution.


Why is Google Play Books incompatible with my Nexus 5?

Google Play Books comes pre-installed on Nexus 5, at least here in the Netherlends. If you do not have it nor can install it via Play Store I would guess that it is a country/operator restriction.


How to collect the data from another app before it goes to the UI?

The data once received by an app is protected by the Android sandboxing system that restricts/protects each app. Hence unless your device is rooted the received data (and the app does not provide a public interface to access the data) is inaccessible to any other app (hence also to any automation app).

The only chance to get some data would be on the transmission level by intercepting the connection between app and server. However nowadays this connections usually is a HTTPS connection which means that the app would no accept the presented server certificate of the man-in-the-middle proxy as apps only allow the default system certificates as root certificates. Here again rooting would be the only option to add a custom certificate to your device to make the weather app accept the custom server certificate.


The OP originally wrote this in the question, so I'm posting it as an answer so the question stops showing up as "unanswered":

I dealt with this for a year or so, as it wasn't super significant, it just bugged me. I use an Xperia Z5, where Sony has their own messaging app clone, which I disabled soon after buying the phone. I used hangouts before finally switching to Android Messages, where I experienced this notification bug. To fix the problem, I simply enabled the built-in Xperia messaging app, and found a sneaky unread message: an undownloaded mms image sent to me a year ago. I deleted the message and the notification bubble went away. I went back to the Android Messages app and the notification bubble didn't come back.
For those who have a pure android experience and use the default messaging app, I suggest switching to another sms app. If upon choosing said app as your default sms app, said app shows you the same ghost notification bubble, then you have a ghost message that didn't show up in the Android Messages app for some reason or other. I hope this helps a brave googler somewhere.
tl;dr
Temporarily switch to another SMS app. You may have a ghost message that isn't showing up in the app you normally use. Delete the ghost message and switch back.


As elderathis said, the Xoom is a pure android device, as for the Desire S, I believe that CyanogenMod is available for that device. It is "pure android", plus some additional tweaks after.


Is the Android default calendar open source?

All Android git repos are here https://android.googlesource.com and the Calendar one is here: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/apps/Calendar keep in mind that this is the stock AOSP calendar, not the Google Calendar however they function the same. Here is another open source calendar: https://github.com/Etar-Group/Etar-Calendar that is probably closer to Google's implementation rather than the AOSP one.


How to watch chrome history of my friend, who is logged in from my gmail id?

Congratulations! You are a spy now! what you can do? goto google.com & click on search bar & you'll see search history Or just tap on the google search bar on your phone & you'll see last searches.

To get the full activity history click here: https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity


Same phone shows different locations using Life360 vs Google Maps

Before giving the old phone away, did she wipe it? Otherwise, if she is still logged-in to that phone via Google, it's gonna think she has two phones and will show the location of both.


File "has unexpected contents" error when sideloading Android 5.0

The app's file has been modified in some way, changed or removed. Look up your build number in settings and search for it on Google. Hopefully you'll find a zip with .img files in it. If you've got the correct img files, reflash system.img and you're able to flash the ota.


No difference. Ultimately both set sys.powerctl property to reboot,<reason> (1, 2). init then handles the property to proceed a proper shutdown or reboot (3). reason string optionally describes why the device was rebooted (see persist.sys.boot.reason property after reboot).
When executing adb shell reboot you make adb run shell: /system/bin/sh which then executes /system/bin/reboot binary. You can also set the system property manually:
~$ adb shell setprop reboot,just_testing


After every reboot apps can't use the network

argh. the UX of this thing sucks.
basically i always clicked on the "allow" because that's the only button in the figure. but if one clicks on the notification dialog, outside of the "allow" button then the corresponding settings page is opened where one can enable the use of Network for all the apps. this is what i ended up doing.  (another bad usability pattern: settings page is unfindable in any other way)


Can I use my Android device as remote control for my SmartTV?

There are multiple possibilities to remote-control your Samsung TV with your Android device. For one, there are a bunch of Samsung TV remote control apps giving you a wide range of choices.

A second variant would involve FHEM on your PC (this is a home automation software, and there's a module available for Samsung TVs – I use this, so I can vouch for it) and, optionally, the andFHEM Android app. This way you cannot only use your Android device, but any device with a web browser to remote control the TV – and even integrate it with some other (home) automation stuff. For example, using tasker you could have your TV turned off (or mute it) whenever you receive a call on your Android device – or turn it on as soon as your device connects to your local WiFi. Much more is possible, of course :)


No more badge notifications on Google Pixel?

This is a because Pixel (and also Nexus) devices do not support app badges. More specifically the launcher does not. It is the launcher that must support them rather than the app itself. Your Galaxy S4 supported this because Samsung built support for them into their launcher.

You could install a new launcher (Nova launcher supports them via an additional app, and Action Launcher has recently added them).

Chris Lacy (the developer of Action Launcher) has some useful insight into why he resisted adding them for as long as he did:

  Unlike iOS, Android does not have a system wide API to fetch unread badge counts for all apps. In short, unread badges are only ever going to work so well on Android. For example, unread badges can be reliably fetched for SMS messages, but there remains no bulletproof way to fetch the number of unread Hangouts, Allo or Facebook Messenger messages.


Webpage objects extend beyond visibility

It isn’t browser’s fault, the video container has hardcoded width of 560px, that’s about 1960px on Nexus’s screen, which itself has width of 1440px. That’s webmaster’s fault, as it’s possible to make the container smaller on smaller screen.

As the browser simply does its job, there aren’t many solutions, but here’s what I can suggest:

rotate the screen (in landscape mode you have 2560px, that should be enough);
set “Request desktop site” in Chrome’s menu. Again, the website won’t be much more usable in portrait mode, but you’ll be able to see the whole video;
watch it fullscreen.


can i install windows phone 7 on HTC desire?

Nope you can't. Android phones are a bit "blocked" for other OSes to be run and installed on the device... By the way the first approach for this can be found at HD2 ToolBox and Hot Bootloader, which may help developers to build boot some other OSes on top of Android.

Different from the Windows Mobile era, that for example my HTC Touch Pro2 can run Android(fully featured) and Ubuntu(with some restrictions), not to mention al those OSes that have been ported to the HTC Leo(HD2).


Galaxy Mini can't connect to the Internet over Wi-Fi

This sounds more like inconsistent wifi settings.

Since your phone shows its connected, try to visit your router's web interface through the phone to see if its connected properly. (note that please use stock browser and no proxies for now) If this doesn't work, most likely its the problem with wrong password or security mode like WEP/WPA.

If the above works, then I suspect you to have a DNS problem. A rooted phone can let you custom-set the DNS on your phone. Try to set it to Google's DNS.
Just to confirm if its a DNS problem, try entering an IP address of a website rather than the domain name.


You can use App2SD for this. Keep in mind that not all apps can be moved to the SD card this way, also part of them will always remain in the internal storage. This does not require rooting.

You don't actually need the app but you can also do this via the application section of the settings menu. App2SD offers a nicer interface and hides those applications you cannot move to the card, though.

One alternative is Link2SD. This application is able to move all apps completely to the card. The downside is that it is more difficult to set up as it requires root and a separate partition on the SD card.


Yes, you can check the SHA1 or MD5 checksum.

You didn't specify which ROM you are downloading. Let's have a look at the Nexus stock ROMs:

https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#mantaray

There is a download link and a version number and checksums listed like that:

Version: 4.2.2 (JDQ39)
Link: https://dl.google.com/dl/android/aosp/mantaray-jdq39-factory-d79f489e.tgz
MD5: b7a1162fb4e617143306ef6c4ca6c040
SHA1: d79f489e1001d183b31d8a407b47cd5b8e9505cd

To verify a checksum you can do it via command line:

$ md5sum mantaray-jdq39-factory-d79f489e.tgz
b7a1162fb4e617143306ef6c4ca6c040

Or:

$ openssl sha1 mantaray-jdq39-factory-d79f489e.tgz
SHA1(mantaray-jdq39-factory-d79f489e.tgz)= d79f489e1001d183b31d8a407b47cd5b8e9505cd

If it matches with the one stated at the google page, you can assume the file is not corrupted or modified.

Note: Linux, MacOS, Windows

The terminal commands only work out of the box in MacOS or Linux. To verify checksums in Windows there is a tool by Microsoft called Checksum Integrity Verifier.


How to 'root' (or gain root access to) a Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 with Android 2.1-update1?

Taken from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=811457

This hack (http://c-skills.blogspot.com/2010/07/android-trickery.html) is almost universal. I've compiled and tested a version for X10 mini.

Download: exploid_x10mini.zip

Download and extract the archive.

You will need ADB from Android SDK and USB drivers for X10 mini (part of Sony Ericsson PC Companion).

Enable USB debugging on the phone in Settings>Applications>Development and connect the phone to PC via USB.

Add the Power Control widget to your active widgets on the phone, so you can quickly turn off and on the wi-fi function.

From the command line (on windows it's cmd.exe):

cd c:\exploid_x10mini (or another folder where you've extracted the files from exploid_x10mini.zip)
adb push Superuser.apk /sdcard/Superuser.apk
adb push su /sdcard/su
adb push exploid /sqlite_stmt_journals/exploid
adb push busybox /sqlite_stmt_journals/busybox
adb shell
cd sqlite_stmt_journals
chmod 755 exploid
chmod 755 busybox

Immediately after the next command, you will need to disable and enable the wi-fi using the power widget on the phone:

./exploid

Then run:

rootshell and enter password rootnow

Prompt will change to # - now we have root. Enter the following to make it permanent:

./busybox cp /sdcard/Superuser.apk /system/app/
./busybox cp /sdcard/su /system/bin/
./busybox cp busybox /system/bin/
chmod 4755 /system/bin/su
rm /system/bin/rootshell
exit - out of rootshell
exit - out of adb shell

Verification:

When you run the abd shell again and issue su command, the Superuser.apk will run on the phone and will ask whether to allow the root permissions...


Why google play services restore its used space after I clear all data?

Play Services builds its working cache. So, it doesn't essentially need to download anything to become bigger. It starts up, builds its temporary and cached files and you arrive at that size. That said, connecting to the internet can make it more bigger as some content will be downloaded too.


How to add a language on a Galaxy S7 Edge without root?

Even though your device is locked, you can add languages that comes with TouchWiz UI. I am not sure for input language or total language change from English to your choice you are asking but I think this article on Samsung Galaxy S7 & S7 Edge tips will help you. There, you need to scroll till the bottom.


This can happen when the contact isn't one you originally typed into your phone, but it instead was synced using an app, such as from an Exchange address list. In this case, you need to either create a copy of the contact on your phone, and edit the copy, or go to the source that the contact was synced from and edit it there.


Just tested and ServeStream can open .pls files to play online radio (looks like DeadBeeF Player and Stream Furious can as well.. When you click on the .pls link it should be an option to open with after it is installed.

Opening a web-linked .pls:

Then ServeStream opens the .pls file:


How can I cancel an ongoing OTA update download?

Disabling Motorola OTA should do the job. Just go to the Apps section in your Android preferences and find the Motorola OTA entry under the 'All' tab. Disable it from there and you shouldn't get any more update prompts.

(Click image to enlarge)


Well, turned out that the battery was the problem. I invested 10€ for a new one and since one week no trouble at all.

Still thanks everybody!


How do I check if the bootloader is unlocked on the LG Volt 2?

Boot into the bootloader should look something like this.  In the bottom left it should say if it's locked.
If not you can type in an elevated command promt the command fastboot oem device-info that will also let you know


How do I get dictionary suggestions while typing?

if you're willing to switch keyboards, you have several incredible options.

SwiftKey has (by far) the best word prediction so far, and tracks how much it improves your typing speed, which is around 30% for most people.
FlexT9 has some great features (including traceType, like Swype), and pretty good word prediction, but not quite up to par with SwiftKey.
TouchPal is supposed to be the next revolution in keyboards. It combines the first two strategies (word prediction and traceType) for incredibly fast input. As of now, it does not support traceType, only word prediction. But look for the update soon ;)

These are my favorites, the first two are paid and the last is free, but you might be able to find free or trial versions of the other two. Let us know if there's anything else we can clear up for you!


Opera mini v12 automatic clear cache history & cookies

Maybe you try two avenues:

Dolphin Browser (Which does prompt for to clear cache, etc on exit), there's the Mini version, this version as linked to the Play Store, and the HD version.
History Eraser - this clears all the history of SMS, Calls, Browser history etc in one swell foop.


Sadly there's no way to do that presently. There's a very old question here that tried achieving it in Android 2.2. You can try setting up Tasker to do it for you. Android doesn't have anything built in for this as far I know.


How to get a split apk from a device via adb?

For a split APK you need all APK files present on your device if you are lucky. If the device you want to install the app on is too different it may happen that the APK files on your device do not match and you are missing a required APK file, e.g. if the source and the target device have a different architecture.
Usually a split APK consists of (can be more):

a base APK
one APK containing the native libraries for the current platform (if the app uses native libraries)
one APK for the preferences / config UI
one APK for the translation / localization texts, images,...

For installing a such a bunch of APK files as one app see this question.


Since this is getting inactive for so long and no one seems to know the solution. Then I guess I'll bring my phone to where I bought it and face the consequences of my actions HAHA! If they can't fix it, then no one can. LOL

Cheers, guise!


I'm guessing you've got a 8gb phone (out of the box you get available 5.5gb).
Out of this 5.5gb it is partitioned into 1.5gb( / root ) and 4gb (internal storage sdcard0 )
/ Root storage is where apps you install is stored.
Internal storage is where appdata and gamedata is stored
You can also keep your files here.
Third location is sdcard1 or external sdcard

You can learn more about it here


How can I move apps to SD on non-adopted Marshmallow storage?

Marshmallow internal storage can be better used with a mixed-format SD card as I also explain in my blog here:

http://blog.sam.liddicott.com/2016/02/android-6-semi-adopted-storage.html

First, you need adb working.

Have SD card inserted and formatted as portable.
Eject your SD card from the Storage & USB menu
Use "adb shell" to list your adoptable storage:

like this

$ adb shell sm list-disks adoptable

disk:179_64

disk:179_64 is my SD card that can be made adoptable, I want 75% as external SD:

$ adb shell sm partition disk:179_64 mixed 75

Note: Your card may be listed with a comma instead of an underscore, e.g. disk:179,64 in which case, that is what you type:

$ adb shell sm partition disk:179,64 mixed 75

This will erase the entire SD card, giving 75% as portable storage and the rest as adopted internal storage.
Reboot your phone.
From Storage & USB menu, select the SD card (internal) and choose Migrate Data (so that apps, where possible, are installed there).
From the Storage & USB rename the adopted storage to have some name like Adopted otherwise if it has the same name as the external storage partition, the USB MTP view may only show the internal

Now you have adopted storage that can accept apps which allow "move to SD", and also an SD card where you can store Plex movies, google play music, photos, etc.

Thanks to @fernio who tipped me to post here.


Problem solved.

I'm still not certain what the problem was, but my best guess is that the battery was completely dead. Anyway, I got a new battery, which completely solved the problem.


Drag'n'drop event moving gone in Calendar... again

On contrary to initial believes, it was (is) FakeStandby that is causing these problems!
This app is designed to FakeStandby mode, by turning off screen, but not causing actual standby mode. This causes that all other apps are not notified about phone being in standby and continue working in background (below FakeStandby).
To achieve this, FakeStandby must be able to control all apps (at least that's what its author claims). And in order to do so, it adds itself to the "Accessibility" section of the configuration:

And... that's all. Having FakeStandby Service turned off causes Google Calendar application to lose / disable / turn off event's drag'n'drop functionality. Why? Unfortunately, I have no idea.
The simplest workaround -- for having Google Calendar's full functionality and not being forced to uninstall FakeStandby -- is to kill this app after each use. Long-press on its icon > App Info > Force Stop does the magic. Until next run of FakeStandby, Google Calendar will have full functionality.
Since this is a system service, killing it with Force Stop will also automatically reset its setting in Accessibility > Downloaded Services to Off. When you run FakeStandby next time and attempt to activate it (by pressing its button on the right side of the screen) you will see a message:

If this is too annoying for you or impractical, because you're using FakeStandby too often then I think there is no other option rather than a split decision:

find some FakeStandby replacement or
stop using drag'n'drop functionality in Google Calendar.

I am pretty sure that this is some kind of bug in FakeStandby itself, not in Google Calendar. As I have two other apps listed in Accessibility > Downloaded Services (namely: Nova Launcher and Kaspersky Safe Kids). Both apps has their setting set to Off by default (because ability to observe screen and control other apps is used in them only in a rare, specific scenarios).
But, I have just managed to test that setting it to On for any of these two does not cause described problems with Google Calendar. So this got to be "something" in between FakeStandby and Oreo (I have no ability to test this issue in other versions of Android system).


VNC viewer shows only black screen, but sends events to droidVNC

I think the problem is with droid VNC server. I have faced the same issue recently and the project seems to be abandoned (app last updated on June 11, 2012).

Then I tried different options under Settings->Display Access Method. The default option is auto-detect. I changed it to Framebuffer. Restarted the server and I could see the display on my viewer software. You should try all options till it works.

Tested on my ancient phone GT-S5360 running Android 2.3.5 (Better options available for recent android versions but they don't work on 2.3.5. So, I needed to find a solution by any means)


Samsung Galaxy Ace - Disconnects from some networks

I think I can guess what is happening. When I first started using free hotspots I was connecting with no problem and often they will have a logon screen to insert the locale password.  Some places however like hotels seem to give free access for a limited time or for first use without logging in and then later they will expect you to register. When I have returned to these places a second time I find that the phone finds the network and claims to be connected but every use returns a network error or appears to connect and get cut off. In fact I am getting rerouted to their logon page, only it seems to often only open in background in gingerbread so you don't know it is happening. After fiddling around you can sometimes get the logon page to show and then register. Often I can only do this by attempting a google search. Google somehow seems to know to route via the logon pages whereas other apps play ignorant.


Unexpected random shutdowns in Galaxy S2

Automatic shut off can mean any of these;

too many running applications running in the background. (Start your your phone in CLOCKWORLD and select to clear CACHE)
refrain from charging your phone while playing games and running so many applications as this may speed up the aging of your battery.
maybe its time you replace your battery if the above doesnt seem to work.


Are they both on the same carrier? If so, it could simply be a bad cellular connection or just a bad network. A different voice app shouldn't fix that, if it is happening on two different phones.

You could try communicating with people using a messaging app, such as calling on Messenger, or if you don't want to do that try a different messaging app that can call such as Viber, WhatsApp, or Signal (which uses E2E encryption, by the way). They are all available in the communication section of Google Play. I would link them, but I just joined the site and don't have enough reputation.

If you want to be able to call real numbers, without the recipient having to download an app, you should be able to try Hangouts Dialer. Hangouts Dialer calls real numbers using the Google Voice telephony system, so you can call your friends through a phone number provided by Google. It should provide decent sound quality, as long as you have a fair network connection.

If you have any more questions, please comment and let me know. I hope this helped!


How to delete my @gmail account from GMail client while leaving on Email client?

You can disable Gmail app. Another option is to turn off syncing email in Gmail: Settings → Accounts & Sync → Google → choose your Google account → uncheck Gmail.


Probably your best shot at this point is to flash a factory image. Complete instructions are at the top of that page, but the general gist is:

Download and extract the factory image (you'll probably want the latest one - MRA58K)
Boot your device into fastboot mode (in TWRP go to reboot -> bootloader, or run adb reboot bootloader)
Run the flash-all script (make sure that fastboot from the SDK is in your PATH - set PATH=<path-to-fastboot-folder>;%PATH% in windows, and export PATH=<path-to-fastboot-folder>:$PATH in OSX/Linux)
Your device should work again! You'll have to flash TWRP again, though.


How is it possible that an app stores its data even though I clear the cache and uninstall?

It's possible that the game progress is saved in the cloud, if you are using Google Play Games.

The Google help page says you can clear this progress / data, but note that it will clear for ALL games:

  If you want to delete your saved data from all games that use Cloud
  Save, visit the Google Settings app and select  Menu > Clear app data.
  This will clear all your data from all accounts.

  Depending on your device, your Menu icon may look different.


I believe this is a "feature" of the new Jelly Bean camera. You probably won't be able to change it without resorting to using another camera app (like Camera Zoom FX) or installing a custom ROM.


Yes, it's possible. Some devices even have an official (branded) adaptor for doing this, such as the Asus Transformer TF-101. As you surmise, though, if the tablet doesn't support it, external convertors are quite unwieldy and typically need their own power supply, as they typically have to buffer a whole frame at a time in order to work.

Newer data projectors support HDMI or even MHL input, which allows you to use any tablet or phone with micro-HDMI or MHL output, with the appropriate cable.

Using either method, the presentations don't have to be of what is on your screen. Android 4.1 and up provide a way for apps to send different visuals to the external display from the built-in screen, so (for example) presentation apps can show your slide on the big screen and notes and controls on the tablet itself.


No idea, not using twitter on my phone (@Matthew read's idea has merit)
Open skype, hit menu, Settings, uncheck notifications you don't want to see.


sdcard appears empty for sshdroid, samba fileshare etc, but not for total commander

Just three words: 'supersu namespace separation'. I use SuperSU as root access management tool on my device, which has an option for "namespace separation". I missed the point that this option must be disabled for my firmware.

Open SuperSU application (if you don't have it, then the solution is not applicable to you)
Go to Preferences tab
Scroll down to 'Namespace separation' option and uncheck it
Reboot the device.

This solved the issue on my device.


Android AVD not displaying appropriate scale

I don't launch from the command line, but this question came up while I was trying to solve a similar problem.

I eventually solved it by replacing the hw.lcd.density value in the .android/avd/<avd_name>.avd/config.ini file with the value from this answer nearest to the value in the skin's hardware.ini file (in my case that's at <android-studio-location>/plugins/android/lib/device-art-resources/<skin-name>/hardware.ini).

In my case, I'm emulating a Samsung Galaxy S6, and the Samsung provided skin has an hw.lcd.density of 200, but the dimensions they provide are 1440x2560 and the provided background images are small, so they make the screen fit into a much smaller space (474x839), so the config.ini file has a hw.lcd.density value of 640. Decreasing it to 213 and restarting the emulator fixes the problem (but I guess it doesn't quite accurately emulate the screen appearance. I don't know whether it's better than just using a different screen resolution value).


I own an OG Droid and a Droid Bionic and both phones eventually had similar audio jack problems.

On one phone I found the issue to be a wad of dust crammed in the jack which I had to fish out with a [enter your choice of small pointy tool].

It could be a result of the internal contact points being pushed back from repeated tension. This would weaken the contact with the audio cable. In your particular case I don't think this is true however.

Other things you can try:

Pull the audio cable in and out several times wiggling it and testing it. (Ideally you'd want to test it with something that plays audio continuously so you don't have to keep hitting play)
Getting a different and potentially better quality audio cable to test with.
You can also try resetting to factory default which may help if the problem is software related. (As long as you have a google account synced with your phone, all your apps will be automatically re-downloaded)
If all else fails, take it back to the phone manufacturer or your phone service provider. They should be able to fix it for a reasonable price.
There is the option of trying to fix it yourself but that isn't recommended if you are uncomfortable working with small/delicate electronics, not to mention voiding your warranty.


Can't enable "Developer options" on Redmi devices

It is not a big secret that the Xiaomi uses MIUI which is a heavily modified Android OS.

Just searching the net quickly gets you the result that on MIUI you have to tap the field MIUI Version 7 times.

Anyway you could have found out that yourself by just tapping all available fields 7 times...


Download issues with Android Marketplace: "Download unsuccessful"

Try going to Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications -> All and clearing the data for the Market (you may need to Force Close it first), then reboot your phone. This has fixed a similar issue for me before.

I think the PowerAMP issue is unrelated, their server is probably down temporarily.


How to prevent data extraction from rooted phone via adb?

The adb can connect to an android device only if "USB debugging" is enabled in Settings->Applications->Development. If this setting is disabled and a password lock is set for unlocking the device, there should be no worries.

Also there are many apps such 'Lookout' which provide the ability to remotely wipe data from a phone if it gets stolen.


SD CARD- I just bought for my galaxy phone

This is quite normal, especially if you've recently inserted the MicroSD card into your Android device. What you can do is go into Settings >> Storage and change your default location for installed applications and files.

Did you migrate your files?

So, I'd assume that the files on your phone is what's taking up your storage. What you can do is install something like ES File Explorer. It has something like an SD Card Analyst built in and lets you copy all of the files from your phone to your SD card (or vice versa). I don't know, but I'd image since you got an SD card, you haven't yet configured all of your files on it. I'll update my answer with more advice, provided you update your question or make a comment asking for further help. Good luck!


Push Notifications not working over WiFi on Google Devices

It looks like GCM Push Notifications don't work with IPv6. I disabled IPv6 entirely in my router and now everything is fine. Though IPv6 was enabled for the past two years and I didn't have any kind of issue. Let's hope a Play Services update fixes it.


Can't find settings for restricted profiles

I presume that you have root and got a terminal emulator installed. These are the steps you need to do:

Su
pm get-max-users
setprop fw.max_users 8

Now the users section should be visible, if it isn't make a user account like this:

pm create-user user_name

Hope my answer helped.


How to create a service without any /system/etc/init.d directory

I found the solution here :
How to Enable Init.d Support on most Android

That's worked for me


How can I avoid applications from sucking my battery and bypassing my lock-screen?

The issue here appears to be Viber.  Reading the permissions on the app, it has the ability to:

disable your screen lock
prevent device from sleeping
modify system settings
close other apps
draw over other apps

First step, remove Viber.

If you absolutely must continue using Viber, check the app to see if any of these options are able to be turned off in the settings of the app.  If you can't find any settings that fix your issues, there are some more complicated options.

BEWARE THAT THINGS BEYOND THIS POINT CAN BREAK APP FUNCTIONALITY AND POSSIBLY BRICK YOUR DEVICE!

Something like an AppOpps launcher should let you get into the app permissions menu. Some of these things may be adjustable via the AppOpps menu, but that menu wasn't intended to be exposed and I believe has been disabled on newer Android releases.

Alternatively, if you're willing to void your (possibly already expired given the age of your device) warranty, risk bricking your phone, and don't mind wiping your data, you can try installing a custom ROM such as CyanogenMod that lets you control permissions more granularly, similar to AppOpps, but built into the operating system.


I was able to see which app had an open port using standard linux knowledge.

Install terminal emulator or do an adb shell and execute the following:

shell@android:/ $ cat /proc/net/tcp
 sl  local_address rem_address   st tx_queue rx_queue tr tm->when retrnsmt   uid  timeout inode
  0: 0100007F:1C23 00000000:0000 0A 00000000:00000000 00:00000000 00000000  1001        0 2111 1 e22cc000 300 0 0 2 -1

The important stuff above is:

0100007F:1C23 listen IP-address:port in hex notation, here 127.0.0.1:7203
00000000:0000 remote address empty (listening)
1001 uid of the app

You can map the uid list to apps via
How can I find app name by UID?


"System Update Available" after already sideloaded Oreo

As far as I can see it'll be a new build update, but simply prefaced with the android Oreo blurb.

I had exactly the same thing... And after updating compared the previous sideloaded build to the new one (even though it had been the sept 2017 security updates originally sideloaded) and the build number had bumped up.


You have set a custom VPN, encrypted your phone or something else that requires a lock screen on your phone. To disable that you will need to decrypt, remove your VPN's to get only a swipe lockscreen back.

On Android Lollipop, Google has added the swipe-up before you can enter your pattern. I don't know why the did that, but they found that usefull.

Hope my answer helps!


how to fix framaroot :exploit work but installation of super su and su binary fail

Try to root with aragorn. If you have installed supersu from the playstore delete it completely. And don't forget to turn on USB debugging and allow unknown sources.

Edit:

Here is a rooting method for cherry:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2286251


While android-studio was already running I tried to run "android.bat" at below location by right clicking and choosing run as administrator which ran SDK manager and download worked for me.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-studio\sdk\tools\android.bat


Unfortunately Google Play Services stopped

If your Google Play Services Has Stopped. You can short out your problem by following this steps:

Restart your device
Wi-Fi and Mobile data - Ensure that there is proper internet connection on your device.
Clear Google Play Services cache and data
Remove Google Services Framework cache and data
Update Google Play Services
Factory data reset


How can I view timestamps in my chrome browser history (on android)?

Perhaps, if you go to your activity, you will be able to see this information. You can use the filter and choose chrome so that only your browser history is visible for convenience.


Does CPU and RAM affect MTP file transfer speed android?

The number one factor in transfer speed is the actual R/W speed of the phone's internal NAND chip.


Try clearing/formatting Cache partition from recovery and than flash a factory image.

If it doesn't work, flash a custom recovery and than format the Cache partition and try rebooting your Nexus 7.


I get "unfortunately exchange services has stopped" a few days after setting up exchange email

I think I've found the problem. The user has over 19 thousand emails in his inbox. Moving emails from the inbox to sub folders was all that was needed to fix it.


Firmware upgrade encountered error when going into Recovery Mode

It's a known issue on Samsung phones. When an update is interrupted or fails for whatever reason, the phone will not boot in either normal or recovery mode, and will present the "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue..." error.

The solution is to start the phone in Download mode (usually by holding the Volume Down button while powering it on from turned off state,) and then try re-flashing the update.  If you are having trouble with Samsung's Kies software, you may want to try Odin or Heimdall utilities.

It's not necessary to flash the full ROM to get rid of the error, you can flash a modem firmware of a custom/stock Recovery instead. Just make sure whatever you are planning to flash is designed for your specific device model.  As long as the last flashing attempt completes successfully, your phone should no longer show the above error, and allow you to proceed with voiding your warranty ;)


Can you install MIUI themes from different sites?

If it's a MIUI theme it will be compatible, but I highly recommend you to use the Themes app that comes built-in your MIUI ROM.


Izzy's comments lead me to correct path, so I have managed to root the device. If somebody else having the same problem (auto-root programs don't work but you can access device using adb root), here is complete how-to to root your phone manually:

Install Superuser from ClockworkMod on Google Play directly to your phone
Prepare adb as root and make /system writeable: adb kill-server, adb root, adb remount (you might need to kill adb.exe in task manager if it hangs)
Pull the just downloaded apk to your computer: adb pull /data/app/com.koushikdutta.superuser-1.apk (note: it may have different name in the future)
On your PC: open the apk using zip (for example rename extension to .zip or use WinRar)
Copy from zip system\bin\su to your working directory
Push it to your phone: adb push su /system/xbin/su
Be sure that owner is root: adb shell chown root:root /system/xbin/su
Set SUID and SGID bits on the binary: adb shell chmod 06755 /system/xbin/su
Reboot phone: adb reboot
Try su from adb: adb shell, su; prompt should change from $ to #
Try su from phone: install terminal and use command su or use Root Checker Basic from the store
If su from adb works but does not work from phone, repeat whole process from 1 but download different Superuser application from market (for example ChainsDD's version didn't work for me)


Can I install Android 4.2.1 AOKP IceColdJelly ROM on my HTC One X by AT&T?

No you can't flash an international ROM on your device.
Because your phone's configuration is different than international version.
Details are given below:

Chipset: Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon (AT&T)-----  Nvidia Tegra 3 (International)
CPU:    Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait (AT&T)-----   Quad-core 1.5 GHz (International)
GPU:    Adreno 225 (AT&T)---------               ULP GeForce (International)

if you flash this , it may brick your phone.

See this


Android 5 disable install button of apk files on nexus 4

I have used lux lite application, this application set display brighness for reading in night mode. my problem solved when i unistall this app.


I finally found one: Nine.

I continue to be astonished that so many mail clients on android are handling user mail data in this way.


That's the usual behaviour since they changed the export feature some time ago. When you tap an image from the gallery, it opens full-screen but not in editing mode right away. In this view, click the share icon on the action bar (the three circles connected by two lines) and choose "Share as __" for whichever format you want to export as.

After a brief pause, it'll give you a share menu listing apps you can share with, and the top item on this menu is "Save to device", with an icon of an SD card. Instead of launching another app to share with, this will just save/export a file in your chosen format.


Apps unavailable after upgrade to Gingerbread

I deleted all the apps that couldn't be found. Then you can just install them again, like onik suggested.  Apps that you purchased are linked to your account, so the market keeps track of them, even after deleting them. Purchases that you delete will be organized in the Not Installed section of your My Apps list.


Your Nexus 10 should be able to upgrade to the newest Android 4.4 Kitkat any day now. It has a new option to record the screen, but you need to be/know someone who has basic knowledge about the Android SDK: http://developer.android.com/about/versions/kitkat.html#44-screen-recording

Since you did not accept an answer yet, hope this info still helps and I'm not necromancing your thread. ;)


Is there a shell command to open Ethernet settings?

The way to launch the Ethernet Activity of the Settings, is to issue:

am start -n com.android.settings/.Settings\$EthernetSettingsActivity

in a terminal.

By the way, the method to obtain an unrefined list of all the activities in an app, is to extract such data directly from the AndroidManifest.xml. Luckily, we can accomplish this with the following terminal commands:

path=$(pm path com.android.settings)
path=${path#p*:}
aapt d xmltree $path AndroidManifest.xml | grep Settings\$. > /sdcard/SettingsActivities.txt

Now, the first line assigns to the variable path the path where to find the Settings apk. This is useful if you need to include this snippet in a script, and you want to make it portable for various Android flavors.

Line 2 sanitizes the path variable, by removing the "package:" prefix set by pm path, thus making it usable for the third line.

Line 3 does the real job: it dumps the AndroidManifest.xml of the app indicated in the path variable. It also filters the output, in order to consider only the lines which contain "Settings$", and then outputs the result, saving it to a file with an arbitrary name (here SettingsActivities.txt), for further examination.


enabling usb debugging when device is off

For device recovery purposes use original stock ROM images. Flashing of original ROM does not require unlocked bootloader.

The bootloader being locked means that it would only allow flashing of vendor signed images. And by definition the original images are vendor signed.


Storage space and memory: mobile phone architecture versus PC architecture

In this respect, there is no difference between regular PC and Android.

The terminologies, however, is slightly confusing.

System memory refers to the storage space that is used by system files, and Device memory refers to all storage space. Device memory does not refer to RAM. Your device's RAM can be seen in Settings -> More -> Application Manager.

  is there a single memory chip acting as both a storage medium for files when the device is turned off as well as random access memory for the running operating system executables and apps in execution?

Sort of. Most Android device uses a System-on-chip (SOC). What is included in a SOC varies depending on the particular chip and device, but a typical SOC may have CPU, RAM, GPU, wireless, and possibly storage manufactured in a single chip. In regular PC, these are usually separate components, SOC is used in mobile devices to save space wasted due to separate component packaging, but internally there is still a delineation between the components.

  Where can I see the amount of space available on my SIM card?

AFAIK, you can't. Android have very limited support for SIM card facility. It uses the SIM card only for Telephony functions and importing existing contacts there into the device's address book.


Boot Loop On Reboot After Successful Root (With KingoRoot & KingRoot)

I fixed the problem by following this YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWuH7Km6GSQ


Using Android to PC over Wifi apps while device is hotspot

You need an intermediate wifi AP to which both android and your laptop connect. The integrated wifi hotspot functionality won't work as it does only forward the internet connection and hides the rest (it adds a new 192.168.42/24 subnet and does NAT internally).

Technically speaking, of course, there's a way to do it. But it requires root and you would need to setup the network by hand (iptables, ip tools required) and make sure that the app does bind to the wifi hotspot standard gateway IP 192.168.42.129 and that there are no firewall rules to block it.


I imported my Android contacts to Google contacts, and now they are all duplicated

Check if you're contacts are duplicated by logging on to google on a browser...

If they are duplicated there then that means the back up screwed up...

If they are not duplicated there, then, delete all your contacts on your phone then back up from google again.

Hope I helped,

Sid


How to logout from Skype to relogin under other name?

Click on the avatar button on the top right of the app. Once you click there click on the option menu (three vertical dots) and click on sign out.
It works pretty much the same for every single Skype UI (iOS and Windows client).


WhatsApp encrypted database needs same phone number to be decrypted.

Back up your chats on your old phone.
    Go to WhatsApp > Menu Button > Settings > Chat settings > Back up chats.
Transfer your External microSD card to your new phone if your WhatsApp/Database folder is located in your external microSD card.
    Please see below if your WhatsApp folder is located in your device's internal memory.
Install WhatsApp on your new phone.
You must have the same phone number in WhatsApp that you had when you backed up your chats.
Click Restore when prompted to restore your message history.

Note: You cannot restore chat history from any other phone type to Android, or from Android to another phone type.

Related discussion: I'm getting a new Android. How do I move my chat history over?


WhatsApp (at-least the version 2.16.207 on Android version: 4.2.2 - JellyBean) doesn't seem to support audio files with WAV extension, I tried sending an mp3 and it seems to  work fine

However I found that WhatsApp with a same version on Andriod 6.0.1 (Marshmallow) has no problems in sending WAV files

In any case you can always use a WhatsApp File Sender as mentioned in this answer.


Samsung S3Mini - Charge/Discharge problems

I've got an s3 mini too. The issue in my case was that the USB port had a slack joint. I sent it to my warranty service and they changed the jack. Now I can charge again. And also attach your     charger because you'll get a new one


TLDR: use a SIM with a different number (no matter if Vodafone or a different service).

We see a symptom (no net), but we have to find out the cause first, to solve the problem. So let's think step by step, what the problem could be.

Faulty phone?
No, your other phone (the SII) doesn't work either (using the same SIM).*
Faulty SIM?
No, you have already tried a new SIM.
Faulty cellular tower?
No, you have already tried an other tower (by changing location).
Faulty Vodafone?
Likely, because I'm sure they have net, and you're sure that they have to give you net (data limit hadn't been reached), plus we've found out in the previous questions that it isn't about the net is stuck between you and them. The only problem here is that you have already asked them, so they should have investigated the issue. But I'm sure they will take a next - more in-depth - look, since all the other possibilites are crossed out now.

I advise you to call Vodafone again, tell them that your phone is ok, your SIM is ok, the local tower is ok, your data subscription is ok, and then there is nothing left to do: they have to accept the fact that there is something wrong with their service. Until that, use a SIM with a different number, I'm sure it'll work in your current phone.

* To be 100% that your phone is ok, try a different SIM with a different number. I think the new number can still be Vodafone, because only your current account is affected (your current number), not the whole infrastructure. However, if you don't want to experiment (and your phone is unlocked), you can immediately get a SIM from an other company, as Firelord suggested in a comment below. (So that you are safe, even if the whole Vodafone system is damaged.)


You already figured it out: when you write an Android app, you can do operations which requires permissions. The complete list is the link you have given : http://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission.html. Most of the permissions listed are very explicit for developpers, but for the user, some can sound mysterious.

To take your example, the READ_PHONE_STATE permission is mostly used to have access to the phone ID. It allows developpers to know how many users (phones) they have. But this permissions also let us know if you are receiving a call or not to react in consequence (if it is a music application: reduce the volume), and things like that.

But, for 2 different Android apps, you can see the same permissions with 2 different uses of it. For large permission as WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE (to write on SD card), one can just write its settings files, the other can put a malware script on it... The only way to know exactly what an app does with the permissions, is to see the code. But, in most case, if it is a non-open-source app, you can't...

I hope I answer your question. If not, I will try to give details with your more precise question.

Regards


How can I reenable Gmail notifications after disabling them through Inbox?

You have removed Inbox app, but the issue remains. If Inbox did modified Gmail settings, then you have to tried the "usual" steps:

Clear Gmail's cache.
Clear Gmail's data (this step also clears the cache): It will reset the app to default. You will have to login again to your account as you did the first time you used the app.
Remove and re-install Gmail (if it was not installed by default like in some custom ROMs).
Remove all Gmail updates (it will allow Gmail to return to the state it had when you bought the device).


Not recieving messages from only one WhatsApp contact

In order to understand if the problem is of your phone or of something else, ask your boyfriend if he sees a double-check or just one check (✓) near the messages he sent you, but you didn't receive.

If there are two checks, the message was delivered to your phone, but for some reasons it isn't shown up. Maybe because of a malicious application?
If there is just one check, the problem is on the side of whatsapp as messages are sent to their servers but not delivered to you.


there is many methods like overclock,

it means you can check the performance or check the Power of Android hardwares.but, this is dangerous for users and then you can check the performance of this hardwares (as GiantTree said) ;

for example :

The best App (AnTuTu Benchmark - Google Play)

but, excuse us.there is one community for Suggested apps.you need to ASK this question on :

http://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/questions


How to make a schedule voice recorder using Tasker + easy voice recorder?

After you start the recording which you've already figured out, but for others I'll list it below, you add a Wait action for the specified amount of time, then add an action to stop recording.

In your task, choose Plugin->Easy Voice Recorder and configure it to Record.  For the second action, choose Task->Wait and configure it for 10 hours.  For the final action, choose Plugin
->Easy Voice Recorder and configure it to Stop.

A1: Easy Voice Recorder Pro [ Configuration:Record Package:com.digipom.easyvoicerecorder.pro Name:Easy Voice Recorder Pro Timeout (Seconds):0 ]
A2: Wait [ MS:0 Seconds:0 Minutes:0 Hours:10 Days:0 ]
A3: Easy Voice Recorder Pro [ Configuration:Stop Package:com.digipom.easyvoicerecorder.pro Name:Easy Voice Recorder Pro Timeout (Seconds):0 ]


Is Google aware of multiple user profiles sharing the same Android device?

If your Internet provider uses IPv6 and your device is using IPv6, and you use any service or web site that uses Google resources/services in any way Google can identify your device by it's IP address if you switch the profiles without rebooting no matter what ROM you have installed.
As modern devices with Google PlayServices + PlayStore installed contact PlayStore for updates even if no Google account has been set-up on one of your profiles.


How can I disable the button on the earphones?

Headset blocker will disable those buttons.  It's a widget, not an app.


Well, you can't change the actual screen size or DPI, because those are physical characteristics of the screen hardware.  You can't stretch the phone to be the size of a tablet, or change how the LCD is wired.

On a rooted device, you can edit a configuration file to change how big Android thinks the screen is, which will affect the calculated DPI and the resulting layouts.  That isn't convenient for testing, though, because rendering a "larger" screen's UI on a smaller screen will result in tiny text that's hard to read and tiny touch elements that are hard to interact with.

For testing a variety of screen sizes, you're better off creating a variety of AVDs in the emulator.  That's much simpler and less dangerous than rooting and editing low-level system configuration files just to test a layout.


I believe your computer does not have the drivers needed to communicate with the phone. It is like speaking german to an american, you do not understand what they are saying.

First of all, You can search for your phone's drivers via google search. Trust me, i know what the problem is, this also happened to my Nexus 4.

It all should be good from their. If there are still problems, just PM me. Or you can tell me the device name. (ex. Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Nexus 5, OnePlus One, etc.) or if it is a generic phone. tell me.

EDIT: Search ADB Drivers on google. It is a universal driver, and its the one I used with my phone. If this doesn't work, then I don't know what.

MORE GOODNESS:

Also, I forgot to point out. You have to enable USB DEBUGGING on your phone. If you already have developer options enabled in settings, it should be there. IF YOU DONT HAVE DEVELOPER OPTIONS UNLOCKED, go to settings > About Phone.  And tap on the build number 5 times.

IF YOU NOW HAVE DEV. OPTIONS, go to settings > developer options. And click on "Enable USB debugging"

Hope this works.


Is there an app that will drain my battery?

Do not do this. You are actually harming the lifespan of your battery when fully discharging it before a recharge. See this site for a discussion of how depth of discharge affects battery life.

The only reason you might want to fully discharge before a recharge is if you have a NiCad battery that is susceptible to the memory effect. Your smartphone most likely uses a Lithium-ion polymer battery, so there is no good reason for you to totally discharge your battery. The lifetime is longer if you have a shallow depth of discharge.


How Class Lookup happens in Android ART?

From the Google IO video on ART the speaker states that the DEX files are kept around for class loading and debugging. https://youtu.be/EBlTzQsUoOw?t=9m20s


How do I make sure my notes and highlights from Google Play Books are saved when I factory reset my Android phone?

You can check from your PC on this address that all your notes and highlights from Google Play Books are saved in the cloud and not in your device:
https://play.google.com/books/


Can I repartition the internal storage of my device to make space for apps?

Highly doubt if this can be done, even if it is feasible, it is extremely risky and could render the phone bricked!

Some handsets have the capability to resize the partitions used.

For example:

The Zte Blade is one very good example that can enable through what's known as TPT transfer, where the /system, /cache and /data can be resized conveniently, albeit in a limited fixed way, such as 2Mb /cache, and 210Mb /system. See this example of the alternative layouts that can be used for this handset.

The software used to achieve this, is not easy to find on the internet, known as, testpoint, although it does require specialized knowledge on how to use it, and does involve the risk of overwriting the IMEI number for this to work.

There is one for Qualcomm based handsets and is floating around on the internet.

Now, going back to T-Mobile Concord handset, not sure if there's one for specified handset concerned, as GSMArena indicates that this is a Broadcom chipset...

It might be best to dig around on XDA to see if anyone has achieved it.

If not, then take it as a no-go!


Why does the new Chrome update want the permission to use my camera and audio recording?

The Chrome page in the app store says this about the new permissions:

  This version requests two new permissions, Camera and Modify Audio Settings, to support WebRTC, an experimental feature under development.

WebRTC itself is designed to expose your camera and mic to the browser, so that web-apps can implement video-conferencing and other multimedia solutions in-browser.

The WebRTC people have at least nominally considered the privacy implications, by adding an info-bar to Chrome:

Chrome on Windows is said to have access to your camera and mic. So if you use Chrome on Windows (and soon Firefox too) then you are implicitly trusting the vendor of those programs to not take pictures of you when you don't authorize it. The same is true for Android. One hopes that they don't introduce security flaws that allow unauthorized access to the camera/mic by malicious websites.

As to what you can do about it, on a rooted phone you can uninstall Chrome or install a permissions-control app that denies permissions to installed apps. You can switch to a different browser that doesn't support WebRTC. Otherwise you're stuck with what Android provides. If you decide that you trust Microsoft or Apple more than Google, you can switch. Or maybe you trust an open-source Android variant like Cyanogenmod. For myself I consider the fact that Google already has a bunch of apps on my phone which have access to my camera and mic, so if Google wanted to spy on me they already can. Heck, they could build that right into the OS and just not tell anyone.

Google Apps that can access the camera/mic:

Search
Voice Search
Plus
Translate
Drive
Shopper
Goggles
Youtube Remote
Youtube

Not to mention the camera app which is built-in to the phone.

Edit: The question was updated with a screenshot of what the phone shows when you are prompted to update the app. Unfortunately at this time there doesn't seem to be a way for app developers to document why they need particular permissions, except in external sources. For example, this Chrome update states why it needs the permission in the "What's New" page. However, if you don't look there and just see the scary warning, you are left wondering what is going on. As an app developer I wish we could add help text to the permissions page to explain to the user why we need the permissions and how the privacy policy protects the user. Google could certainly make this more usable and less scary.


How to download .docx document to the phone from Google Drive?

You can download docx documents as stated here:

Which file formats can I download?
You can download files in these formats:

Documents: HTML, RTF, DOCX, OpenOffice, PDF, EPUB, Text.
Spreadsheets: CSV, HTML, ODS, PDF, XLSX, TXT (only for a single sheet).
Presentations: PDF, PPTX, TXT.
Drawings: PNG, JPEG, SVG, PDF.

Using version 2.19.013.08.35 of Google Drive, it does not convert docx documents to pdf.

Open Google Drive, go to the folder your file is located.
Click on the 3-dot, then click Download.

If you are still unable to download documents as docx, verify that you have not by mistake converted it to pdf,


Android 2.2 update for samsung Galaxy 3 (I5801 and I5800)

The original target was September 23rd of this year, but as of October 28, 2010, Samsung advised that there are some errors they're still working on for the Froyo release for this phone:
http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-apollo-3/160300-root-froyo-samsung-i5800-galaxy-3-a.html#post1808621

There is no updated target date at this time.


App is running even though disabled! Why?

SystemUI.apk is an System app which needs to be always running to provide the Android UI as you know, like Navigation bar, Status Bar, even Wallpapers, and lots more ....

It's a very bad idea disabling it. Even if you disable it, it'll just restart.
If you remove it, your phone won't be having an UI.

  How can it both be running and be disabled at the same time?

As far as the question is concerned, I think the current instance of the app will be running eventhough you disable waiting for the effect to take place on reboot.
But Android may not allow SystemUI being disabled during boot, by forcibly starting the app and its services.

If you are a developer/debugger and really want to disable it for some reason, this might help: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28055413/can-i-disable-systemui-from-within-my-android-app

I think you can also Freeze it using apps like Link2SD :)


How to remove No SIM found notification (Android 7.1.1 Nougat)

If you put the phone into Airplane Mode, it'll stop looking for a SIM card and the notification should go away. Of course this also disables Wifi put you can enable Wifi while it is still in Airplane Mode.


Set Android device default install location to external SD card

This has been by far one the best utility app that I have bought for my phone. It will install to your SD card and can be set to do so by default:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.buak.Link2SD&hl=en

I had a special condition where my SD card was "emulated" and so the OS couldn't link the app to the external storage. This app solves that by having you partition the SD card and then using a startup script to mount it as another ext filesystem that it can use to link to. It does this all fairly automatic and seamless.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated or know the developer of this app, I just shopped around and found this to be the best one under all circumstances.

(you may need to be rooted, not sure for your device)


How do I get a USB stick with an adapter to work with an Android phone (rather than a tablet)?

How to set the default USB behavior in Android 10
When you plug something into your Android device, it will behave in accordance with how you have configured the action. With Android 10, you have five options:

File transfer/Android Auto: Transfer files to and from PC/Android or
open Android Auto.

USB tethering: Behave as an external network interface for the PC.

MIDI: Used when connecting your phone to a MIDI device (such as a
digital keyboard).

PTP: When connected, your device will appear to the PC as a digital
camera.

No data transfer: No action taken.

Steps to change the default USB dehaviour in Android 10:
First, you are going to want to enable Developer options

Open Settings. Tap About Phone.
Scroll down to the bottom.
Tap Build Number (seven times) until you are informed that
Developer Options have been enabled.

Now that you have Developer Options enabled, you can set the default USB behaviour.

Navigate to the developer options: (System > advanced > developer options, may differ from device to device)
Within Developer options, navigate to (in my case) Networking > Default USB configuration


How to open links directly in Firefox full browser?

Some app developers prefer to keep user within the app as much as possible, even when visiting external links. WebView embeds external web content seamlessly in an app activity so that it looks a part of it. However large contents like complete webpages which cannot fit inside app layout require a minimal browser to show them. Some apps have their own in-app browsers. A relatively recent addition is the ability of standalone browsers (including Chrome and Firefox) to show Custom Tabs inside other apps the same way an in-app browser looks.

When you tap a link, app may fire an explicit intent.action.VIEW to web browser or an implicit intent with URL as data. In latter case if there are more than one apps which can handle the given scheme in URL (e.g. https://) and a default app isn't selected already, system activity resolver (com.android.internal.app.ResolverActivity) shows Open With dialogue (with help from package manager which shows last selected app on top (see more details in this answer):

Then an explicit intent is forwarded to user selected app. So here if you select a browser (or other app) which doesn't provide Custom Tabs functionality, full browser is launched. But if the intent is a CustomTabsIntent (with EXTRAs) and the selected app (e.g. browser) supports Custom Tabs, the URL is opened within the calling app. Browser may start a CustomTabsService in background to receive intents with ACTION_CUSTOM_TABS_CONNECTION:

~$ dumpsys package | grep CustomTabsService
      android.support.customtabs.action.CustomTabsService:
        b5a09c8 org.mozilla.firefox/org.mozilla.gecko.customtabs.GeckoCustomTabsService

Firefox, at least, provides an option in settings to disable Custom Tabs:

Similarly some apps can provide a configuration option to open links externally, disabling in-app browser and/or custom tabs. Or you can customize the custom tabs behavior using third party apps like Lynket - an open source project (I have no affiliation). Theoretically the same approach can be used to disable custom tabs by selecting such app when "Open with" dialog is shown.


The best way in my opinion is via Google Photos, since its allredy built into android.
https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6193313?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en


Why LG GT540 after boot it disconnects with ADB

Some people have had their device turn on the mass storage mode by itself.

Verify that you haven't enabled Mass storage only mode in Settings -> SD Card & storage -> Mass storage only, then reconnect & restart adb daemon.


What's the difference between these two volume bars in Android Marshmallow?

It appears from the screenshot that a theme is in place with its own set of icons. Stock Android Marshmallow doesn't show four but only three bars. The extra one CM shows is for notification volume. Anyhow, a theme alters the icon but not the order of bars. You can always revert to stock theme or icons and get this result:

(Click an image to enlarge it)

First bar      : Ringer volume
Second bar : Media volume
Third bar     : Alarm volume
Fourth bar   : Notification volume

If you don't intend to revert the theme icons, then head over to Settings app → Sounds and behold the meaning of icons yourself:


If you're running the HTC Sense UI, then it should already be disabled.  Otherwise check this blog post for a .zip you can flash to disable it.


Wi-Fi hotspot timeout setting gone in Nougat 7.0 , 7.1, but timeout has not

Yes, it is because of inactivity timeouts. But without rooting the device I cannot determine for sure if it is that specific hostapd ap_max_inactivity=300 default, but I believe it is. I'm not sure if it is
the case that my Linux 4.10 x86_64 iwlwifi driver (recently restructured) is not acting appropriately when it receives the empty data frame.

But, I think it is really not in for Android to decide to prevent users from setting this parameter anymore, when it used to let them in previous versions.

The fix is, of course, to start a 'ping monitor daemon', like this shell script on the AP client host (Linux in my case):

#!/usr/bin/bash
declare -i wpm_should_exit=0;
function wpm_exit()
{ wpm_should_exit=1;
}
function wlan_ping_monitor()
{ trap 'wpm_exit' HUP INT QUIT TERM;
  local the_IF="$1";
  declare -i ok=1 i=0;
  def_router=$(ip route show default  2>/dev/null |\
  sed -rn \
      '/^default[[:space:]]via/{s/^.*via[[:space:]]+'\
      '//;s/[[:space:]].*$//;p}'); # join above lines!
  if [ x == x"$def_router" ]; then
     echo "$FUNCNAME: default router is not set. Nothing to do." >&2;
     return 1;
  fi
  kernel_org=$(host www.kernel.org | sed -rn \
     '/has[[:space:]]+address/{s/^.*address' \
     '[[:space:]]'//;p}'); # join above lines!
  if [ x = x"$kernel_org" ]; then
     echo "$FUNCNAME: Unable to resolve kernel.org -"\
          " must be able to ping an internet host." >&2;
     return 1;
  fi
  logger -p user.info "$FUNCNAME : started.";
  sleep 60;
  while ((0 == wpm_should_exit)); do
      ((ok=0));
        for (( i=0; i < 3 ; i+=1 )); do
        if /usr/bin/ping -n -q -c 2 -W 8 $kernel_org >/dev/null 2>&1 || \
           /usr/bin/ping -n -q -c 2 -W 4 $def_router >/dev/null 2>&1; \
        then ((ok=1)); break 1 ; fi
        logger -p daemon.error \
             "$FUNCNAME: ping $def_router or $kernel_org failed.";
        sleep 1;
     done
     if (( ok == 0 )); then
        logger -p daemon.error \
            "$FUNCNAME"': interface '"$the_IF"\
            ' is down. Could not ping '$def_router' or '$kernel_org\
            '. Restarting Network...' ;
        /etc/init.d/network restart || break;
        ((ok=1));
        sleep 60;
    else
        sleep 8;
    fi
 done
 logger -p daemon.error "$FUNCNAME: restarting network failed.";
 rm -vf $PID_FILE;
}
declare -i status=0;
case "$0" in
  (\*${BASH_SOURCE})
      wlan_ping_monitor ;
      status=$?;
  ;;
esac
((status==0));

For completeness, here is daemon.sh, with which the above script
is invoked by '/etc/init.d/network start':

PID_FILE=/run/wlan_ping_monitor.pid \
   daemon /etc/init.d/wlan_ping_monitor.sh

Missing is only the 'setpgid' and 'noctty' bash built-ins, which does:

setpgid( pid = getpid(), pid );

and

ioctl(0, TIOCSCTTY , 0 );

But, they are not strictly necessary to test - just remove / comment out -
these built-ins are easy to write & available on request. They must be
built-ins, not programs, because they must effect the current process.

One weird thing about the ping script is that it must send a packet
out to the WAN internet to reset the inactivity timer - it is not
enough to simply ping the phone , which can fail to respond to ICMP
packets within 4 seconds while still passing through pings to the WAN.

#!/usr/bin/bash
. /usr/lib64/bash-${BASH_VERSION}_loadables/load.sh
if [ ! -v N_DAEMONS ]; then
   declare -xi N_DAEMONS=0;
fi
if [ ! -v TMPDIR ]; then
   declare -x TMPDIR=/tmp;
fi
if [ ! -v USER ]; then
   declare -x USER=$(whoami);
fi
declare -i daemon_status=0;
function daemon()
{   export \
      PID_FILE=${PID_FILE:-${TMPDIR}/${USER}- daemon-${N_DAEMONS}.pid};
    declare -xi N_DAEMONS=0;
    if [[ "$PID_FILE" =~ ^(.*)[\.][pP][iI][dD]$ ]]; then
       export PID_FILE="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}";
    fi
    while [ -f "$PID_FILE".pid ]; do
       ((N_DAEMONS+=1));
       export PID_FILE="${PID_FILE%-\*}-${N_DAEMONS}";
    done
    export PID_FILE="${PID_FILE}.pid" LOG_FILE="${PID_FILE}.log";
    echo "daemon: PID_FILE: $PID_FILE LOG_FILE: $LOG_FILE" >&2;
    declare -i checkjobs_enabled=0;
    if shopt -q checkjobs; then
       ((checkjobs_enabled=1));
       shopt -u checkjobs;
    fi
    trap "" CHLD HUP TERM QUIT EXIT ERR;
    { tty=$(ps -o 'tty=' -p $BASHPID 2>/dev/null);
      { trap "-" CHLD HUP TERM QUIT EXIT ERR;
        if [ x != x$tty ] && [ -e /dev/$tty ]; then
           noctty < /dev/$tty || :; # another built-in -just comment out
        fi
        setpgid;
        echo "$BASHPID" > "$PID_FILE";
        declare -a ps=($(cat /proc/${BASHPID}/stat));
        if [ x != x"${ps[3]}" ] && [ "${ps[3]}" != 1 ] && \
           [ -d /proc/${ps[3]} ] ; then
           echo 'DAEMON: '${ps[3]}' : '$(readlink  \
              /proc/${ps[3]}/exe) >&2;
        fi
        exec "$@" </dev/null  >${LOG_FILE} 2>&1 ;
      } &
      exit $?; # our child becomes child of init
    }&
    declare -i ok=$?;
    trap "-" CHLD HUP TERM QUIT EXIT ERR;
    if ((checkjobs_enabled)); then
       shopt -s checkjobs;
    fi
    return $ok;
 }
 case "$0" in
   (\*/${BASH_SOURCE}) ;&
   (${BASH_SOURCE})
      daemon "$@";
      ((daemon_status=$?));
   ;;
 esac
 ((daemon_status==0));

This daemon is also killed by /etc/init.d/network stop (which is invoked
by 'network restart').

It is a shame that it is necessary, when simply moving from using an Android 4.2.2 phone Access Point / router to using an Android 7.0 AP, that such methods must be used by clients to maintain an 'always on' WAN internet connection through the AP.


Droid - what won't function properly on device if I disable background data usage for google play store?

I have done that months ago for the very same reason, so I can tell from my own experience:

you will no longer receive update notifications while on mobile data (naturally)
no apps will auto-update while on mobile data (again, naturally)

Both is what you want. I encountered no more restrictions. Update notifications coming in as soon as the device is connected to any WiFi, updates I either do on WiFi only.

What I didn't try is to force an update/install while on mobile data. In theory, this should work as long as you keep the app in foreground – but the installation will stall as soon as you switch to another app (as then Google Play no longer is the "foreground app"). But that's the theory only, as I've never tested it.


How to recover data from a screen-bricked phone?

This should help you: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2786395. Its a program that can mirror your phone to computer. There is also information to enable USB Debugging if you had that disabled.

Hope my answer helps!


What is google play music and why does it constantly load?

The issue you are referring too is well reported on Google Support Forums, as it seems to be affecting many users and/or devices.

All points to an update(s) that raised the issue with certain devices.

You can go around this problem until it gets resolved:

Step by step:

Access your device settings;
Touch on "Applications";
Scroll down until you find the "Google Play Music" app;
Touch to open it;
Touch "Clear Data";
If any updates have been installed, on the upper right corner of your screen you should have a "Uninstall Updates" button, touch it to revert to the previous version;

It may ask your confirmation about going back to the previous/factory version, in that case, confirm the action.

Prevent recurrence:

To prevent this issue from raising anytime soon, you should also disable "Auto Updates" at least until a new update is launch and the reviews are positive:

Open the "Play Store" app;
Touch your device "menu" button;
Select "Settings";
Locate and touch "Auto-update apps";
Touch "Do not auto-update apps".

Quoted answer from Google Support Forum:

  GO INTO PHONE SETTINGS AND SELECT < APPLICATIONS>  SCROLL DOWN AND SELECT .. HIT   AND THEN UPPER RIGHT CORNER SELECT  IT WILL ASK IF YOU WISH TO GO BACK TO OLD FACTORY VERSION... SELECT OK. SHOULD FIX PROBLEM.  ANY APP YOU WISH TO UPDATE MANUALLY UNCHECK ALLOW AUTOMATIC UPDATING. READ THE REVIEWS FIRST TO SEE IF UPDATES AND NEW VERSIONS DON'T HAVE BUGS. GOOD LUCK


Download some video from the Facebook application

You can use the site SaveVideo, insert the link of the video and download the video


Is Screen Mirroring a feature of the hardware or the software?

Both.

Just a brief description of how it works:

At the core of this technology is the Wi-Fi Direct™ standard, which allows for point-to-point connections between devices without the use of a router. From there, Miracast adds a vendor-neutral wrapper that originally supported the streaming of up to 1080p video and 5.1 surround sound. It uses this variation of this technology to allow the output of audio and video.

  For the device whose screen you want to mirror, support for Miracast
  requires three things: wireless chipset support, operating
  system support, and driver support. If your device doesn’t meet
  all three of these requirements then you’ll have to buy a Miracast
  adapter and upgrade your operating system.

Users can wirelessly mirror the display of their Miracast-certified® phone, tablet, or PC to any Miracast-capable receiver

Android supported Miracast, in Android 4.2 (Jellybean) and Android 5 (Lollipop).

  On 29 October 2012, Google announced that Android version 4.2+ (from
  updated version of Jelly Bean) are supporting the Miracast wireless
  display standard, and by default have it integrated.

However, Google dropped native Miracast support in Android 6 (Marshmallow) and later, so to mirror the display from a newer Android phone or tablet, you’ll need to do so via Chromecast.

In the case that it is disabled but compatible for a particular Android device, you could edit the build.prop file in the following line:

persist.debug.wfd.enable=1

Using a root explorer navigate to your build.prop file located at
/system/build.prop

Check if the option is visible in Settings > Display > Cast Screen > Menu > Enable Wireless Display.

  Devices that are Miracast-certified® can communicate with each other,
  regardless of manufacturer.Both devices (the sender and the receiver)
  need to be Miracast certified® for the technology to work.
  However, to stream music and movies to a non-certified device Miracast
  adapters are available that plug into HDMI or USB ports.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has an official list of all Miracast source devices.

There is some evidence however suggesting one can use software based screen mirroring.

Acknowledgements

How to use Miracast to mirror your device's screen wirelessly on your TV—even 4K
5.0+ Lollipop - Enable wireless display with Miracast devices
What Is Miracast? Everything You Need to Know
Miracast


How to check which app uses GPS on Galaxy Nexus?

One way, Go to: Settings > Applications > Running Services to see if there are any suspicious services running.  Or check your battery usage in settings and see which apps suspiciously are up top.  GPS usage does suck battery.


How can I get information what happend with my Galaxy S4

To begin with this, I don't think that this question doesn't belong here, because it's related to the Android system logs and that's something we can be helpfull with.

I found a Thread, where the people are discussing various methods to obtain these log information - see here:

There are several directories where logs (including those from crashes) might appear -- not all of them are standardized (i.e. some may be ROM-specific).

/data/anr: Some trace files seem to get here (Dalvik writes stack traces here on ANR, i.e. "Application Not Responding" aka "Force-Close"; see e.g. log excerpts here)

/data/dontpanic seems to be a standard location (AOSP), and contains some crash logs including traces (see e.g. viaForensics and StackOverflow)

/data/kernelpanics is another location -- not having had any "kernel panic" on my Android devices, I saw no content there yet.

the /data/panic/panic_daemon.config may point to other locations configured -- on my Droid 2 it mentions /sdcard/panic_data/

/data/tombstones may hold several tombstone_nn files (with nn being a serial, increased with every new file). As tombstones are placed for the dead, it is done here for "processes died by accident" (i.e. crashed) -- and it is what is referred to as "core dumps" on Linux/Unix systems. However, not all apps create tombstones; this must be explicitly enabled by the developer (see Debugging Android Core Dumps).

Since you already have root access to your phone, you can even examine the LogCat output through the adb.

Here are some other links that might be of use for you:

Link - The "Android System Info" Application's description
Link - The "Crash Log (Logcat)" Application (PlayStore link)
Link - *

In brief: Since it's a long artice, which describes how to debug, this can be found anywhere in Google (see also "debuggerd"). This is of course if those links ever get down.

My personal advice - revert to the original Android ROM, which was installed on the Samsung, then perform a revert to factory defaults, go where you bought the phone and ask them to see it once more if the problem persists.

Cheers


How do I root a Zte Origin from Solavei?

I rooted mine with no trouble. It's been a while but I now have SuperSU and Uninstall on my unit.  I don't remember specifically downloading either one they nay have downloaded along with an 'install'.  So do dome DD and try downloading these two. I do remember I had to fiddle some on the connection between my PC and the ZTE but eventually the rooting software loaded. I also installed Internet Booster, Ram Booster, SDCard Booster and I believe these are by the same software designer and seem to be flawless. These products working together have dramatically speeded up my ZTE Origin and I rarely get 'out of space' warnings - theyare fantastic and I would HIGHLY recommend them.

After getting all of these installed I was able to move a number of apps to my SD card freeing up a ton of space.


How to switch on/off system load and running processes overlay

The setting you are looking for is, most likely, found in Settings → Development (might be called "Developer options"; I know on some ROMs this option is initially hidden -- but if it's hidden in your case, it would be funny how that CPU overlay was activated). Scroll down a bit there, and you should find the "Monitoring" section -- where you probably checked to "show CPU load".

As the screenshots show, the settings item is sometimes called "Development" and on other ROMs (here: Nexus) "Developer options". Simply check for something similar -- not sure if some manufacturer decided for a third term ;)


Why is TRIM not supported on encrypted "/data" partition?

Just if someone stumbles upon this, following conditions should be met for TRIM to work:

Underlying hardware (eMMC) must support TRIM. For instance Redmi Note 4 comes with MCP: RX1BMB which contains eMMC 5.1 and hence supports TRIM.

Kernel must have support for TRIM, was added in v3.1, but it is disabled by default and vold daemon must map userdata partition with allow_discards option, which it didn't in my case.
If your /data partition is encrypted (FDE), Support for allow_discards was added in version 1.11.0 (1) of device-mapper crypt (1) target, but may not work e.g. on devices with Qualcomm SoCs. See this issue for more details.

Filesystem must also support TRIM (1) (except if you want to TRIM a whole partition with blkdiscard). Android uses ext4 or f2fs on /data partition, both support TRIM.

If these conditions meet, you can perform TRIM manually (fstrim -v /data) or periodically (scheduled service) or continuously (with discard mount option). See this answer for details on how often you should perform fstrim.


Unfortunately, no adb command works in Fastboot mode (or bootloader). The only way to communicate with a device in Fastboot mode is fastboot.

In your case, you should try finding a replacement key for the non-working one, or you're out of luck.


Tinder app won't work without Google Play services

I don't use Tinder, but I'm trying to answer your questions based on the provided information.

  What is the reason for this happening?

Seems you don't have Google Play services installed. Download and install it from Google Play.

  Why would Tinder need an active Gmail account on the phone?

As mentioned in the comment by Dan Hulme, "Needing Google Play Services installed isn't the same thing as needing a Gmail account, nor even a Google account." which is partially true regarding Google account (read the next section).

  In other words, what Tinder functionality could possibly break?

For Tinder-specific functionality, possibly nothing. However, as already stated from the updated info,

Failed to Enable Push Notifications. Your Google account credentials are invalid.

you won't get any push notification from Tinder (through Google Cloud Messaging). If you don't care about it, then you may just ignore it. However, if you want to have it, then you have to setup a Google account. From Google Cloud Messaging documentation,

"It uses an existing connection for Google services. For pre-3.0 devices, this requires users to set up their Google account on their mobile devices. A Google account is not a requirement on devices running Android 4.0.4 or higher." (Emphasized mine)

  Could this explain why I am not getting any matches?

As explained in your self-answer, no, the matchmaking system has nothing to do with Google Play services and Google Cloud Messaging.

Addendum: for devices which don't have access to Google services (Google Accounts, Google Play app and Google Play Services) can try a workaround to download from Amazon App Store (courtesy of Hugo's answer), which seems to be independent of Google services.


How to remove persistent "Mi Band is Connected" notification in Android?

Profile -> Settings -> Show Status in Notification Shade

August 2018
Android version 8.0
MiFit App version 3.4.4


Lost my phone without GPS & data plan on

Question 1

Theoretically not possible for an ordinary thief - it is enough of a deterrence. If the thief stole it from you, with an express international of gaining access to that data and he has sophisticated tools at his disposal, then you need to be worried. But going by your description, it is unlikely. There are also other factors involved, which you can see in this SE.Security question Is Android's Password Screen Lock Enough Data Theft Protection?, which explains in detail how it is possible for a determined person

In security parlance Physical possession is ownership is often said, but that's the worst case scenario

Question 2

Sorry to say but there is nothing you can do, till the thief chimed to internet and device is wiped.


How would you avoid potentially dangerous apps in the Play Store

While I mostly agree to Yaksha's answer, I still want to partly oppose it – and of course will include my reasons:

Instead of using Playstore, stick with F-Droid whenever possible.
F-Droid only serves open-source apps – so other than what Yaksha wrote about Playstore apps, you can look into the source. But most users won't be that "techy" to really understand it. Which is why the F-Droid team does that for you: they compile from the sources they have checked before (and they have a community supporting them). Plus, they have very strong inclusion criteria an app must meet to be allowed into their repository. So you e.g. won't find apps with proprietary ad or tracking modules there. Plus, so-called AntiFeatures are always pointed out. No way a dev can "hide" that by keeping it out of the app description.
When you have to use Playstore, cross-check the apps with Exodus.
Exodus grabs free (non-paid) apps from Play Store and analyses their code to detect trackers. It then points out how many of those it found and which ones. You can even read details on most of those "privacy snoopers" to know what they do. But they can only grab apps which require no payment.
For paid apps: AppBrain.
AppBrain offers an alternative front-end to what you find on Playstore – same data actually, and for installing an app you'd even be redirected to Playstore. But they add a bunch of useful information on top by checking the libraries an app contains, and grouping them so you can easily spot ads and analytics. Unfortunately, since summer 2017 free access is limited to 5 apps per day (creating a free account, you can top that up to 10).
Before installing a new app, cross-check with forums.
Often, a simple search (using the engine of your choice) gives plenty of useful hints – e.g. latest reports if an app had "conspicuous activity". For example, Cheetah Mobile's "Security" apps caused a big uproar lately as they called up to porn pages in background. With that search you can also find "external reviews" – though most of those usually concentrate more on the features than on security or privacy (a big exception is the German portal MobilSicher which does it just the other way around).

To make those steps easier, when looking for a new app you can use my app listings as a starting point. There you find the apps ordered by ratings – but with useful annotations: number of permissions requested (and details on them), availability on different places (e.g. F-Droid and Playstore), links to reviews, marks on critical libraries used, and more. It's not the full load of apps available worldwide, but a good hand-selected amount (about 14k currently).

Another word: don't rely on so-called "Anti-Virus" apps – they are mostly snake-oil. For references on this statement, please check e.g. Is there really such a thing as an Android virus?, Android antivirus apps are useless — here’s what to do instead and Antivirus software is snake oil!.

And yes, of course use your "common sense" when taking a look at the permissions an app requests: are they really justified by the purpose? Though admitted, that's not as easy as it sounds. While it might be clear a torch doesn't need access to your contacts – could you guess if access to your camera might be justified? Spoiler: indeed, to fire the flashlight it might be needed. When in doubt, compare with other apps offering the same feature set. If one app needs 24 permissions for something another can do with 5, you can be almost sure the difference of 19 is needed by some ad or tracking module. Again, my above mentioned app listings make such comparisons easier. To pick up an earlier example again: if one app was brought up obviously malicious, avoid all other apps from the same dev as well – chances are rather good they have similar issues (so: no Cheetah Mobile, for example).