How to view network traffic requested by a specific app?

If you have rooted phone, go for nethogs (for live monitoring) or iptables (to get statistics) commandline tools. Using VPN or Android stats based apps is the only possible non-root solution. Or refer to this answer for a logcat/dumpsys based solution.

First of all, tracking a UID or PID of a network stream isn't straight forward because these aren't network related but OS related parameters. Proposals and abandoned projects do exist.

Android assigns a unique UID to every installed app just like every human user on Linux has a UID. So we can capture packets sent by a specific UID over the network interfaces to track the usage.

TCPDUMP:

Now how we can capture network traffic? Most of the network sniffers use libpcap family of system-independent libraries for this purpose. It supports BSD Packet Filter (BPF) for in-kernel packet filtering. Some popular utilities that use libpcap include tcpdump, nmap, tshark/wireshark, dumpcap, nethogs etc. Android app Network Utilities and others also make use of tcpdump.

However UID info is not propagated through the AF_PACKET/PF_PACKET channel that pcap uses at OSI Layer 2. So what we can do here is to make use of network sockets (combination of IP and port) being created and used by an app. netstat -tup or ss -tup will show all network sockets with active/established connections. Both tools are available on Android (or you can get a static binary), ss is the newer one. Socket vs. UID information can also be directly read from /proc/net/{tcp,udp}. Android app Netstat Plus works on same principle. This will provide Local Address (socket) being used by a process.

Once we know what sockets are being used by an app (UID), tcpdump -i wlan0 src <IP> and port <PORT> will dump the whole traffic originated from that process.
Similarly a remote socket (if not connected to by multiple apps) can also be used for filtering results.

LIMITATIONS:

However there are some issues with this approach:

Android apps usually launch more than one process at a time in parallel i.e. multiple PIDs working under same UID. So we have to capture traffic from all processes.
Apps keep on creating and deleting sockets. Keeping track of continuously changing sockets is almost impossible particularly when there are a large number of apps accessing network simultaneously.
There is - though rare - possibility that local sockets are being shared by multiple processes on UNIX-like OS's. Remote shared sockets such as UDP/53 which is used for DNS resolution cannot be tracked for a single process. This further weakens the approach.

NetHogs traverses procfs and copes with the above limitations (though not always very successful):

IPTABLES:

The above described shortcomings of a Layer 2 tool can be mitigated using iptables LOG or NFLOG. Layer 2 is just above the Physical Layer i.e. it's the last thing packets encounter before leaving the device. That's why, being at Data Link Layer and working at lower level of net stack, BPF is a kind of stateless packet filtering mechanism as compared to netfilter / iptables which works at OSI Layer 3 (nearer to userspace programs). So iptables can also get information from TCP/IP stack (Layer 4). It filters packets based on their creator UIDs using module owner that interacts with sockets to find packet ownership.

iptables writes to kernel log which can be read using dmesg or logcat. UID of an app can be obtained using some app or read from /data/system/packages.list or pm list packages -U.

# iptables -I OUTPUT -m owner --uid-owner <UID> -j LOG --log-level 7 --log-prefix 'SNIFFER: ' --log-uid
# dmesg -w | grep SNIFFER

Output can be saved to a file and formatted using tools like grep, awk, printf etc. Network Log - though very outdated - works in similar way. AFWall+ is a firewall based on iptables that can log / notify an app's network activity when the app is blocked.

The only downside with this approach is that it cannot be used to sniff traffic from one process when there are multiple processes running with same UID. iptables can't capture packets based on PIDs. They decided not to use iptables with processes because the process is started before it is blocked/sniffed, and program could easily spawn a child process with new PID which would not be blocked / sniffed. Also PIDs are created and destroyed as quick as sockets are. So there is always room for traffic being leaked.

QTAGUID:

owner module won't work for incoming or forwarded traffic because IP packets carry no ownership information. To measure per-app incoming / outgoing network usage, Android patched kernel to include qtaguid module. We can read statistics from /proc/net/xt_qtaguid/stats. With some shell scripting get live data usage since reboot:

However on Android 9+, qtaguid is being replaced with extended BPF (which is also planned to replace netfilter framework in Linux kernel). Related: Which process is responsible for capturing data usage?

IPTABLES + TCPDUMP:

An alternate is to put the outgoing traffic from an app in an NFLOG group and later tcpdump captures packets from that group:

# iptables -I OUTPUT -m owner --uid-owner 1000 -j NFLOG --nflog-group 30
# tcpdump -i nflog:30

This is to ensure that we get closer to physical layer when sniffing outgoing traffic. But it can still give false positives e.g. if packets are dropped / lost in routing tables. That's why sniffers work at OSI layer 2. Or even better is to watch from outside e.g. using a proxy / VPN server or on a tethered PC or at router. But this won't capture traffic on per UID/PID basis.

OTHER OPTIONS:

Use diagnostic tools like strace to track syscalls related to network activity of a process. force_bind and tracedump also work on same principle. Linux kernel's audit subsystem can be used for the same.
Use Network classifier cgroup with iptables NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_CGROUP to sniff traffic from certain process(es).
Use Network Namespaces to isolate processes and read data usage on per interface basis. nstrace works on same principle.
If the intention is entirely to block traffic originating from certain processes, SELinux and seccomp can be used to restrict the processes' ability to create sockets by defining restricted policies and suppressing syscalls respectively.

Most of these are not straightforwardly viable options for Android and require advanced configurations.

ANDROID'S APIs (NON-ROOT OPTIONS):

Some apps like NetGuard use VpnService API of Android to block traffic at Layer 3 (TUN interface). The app can "notify when an application accesses the internet". Per app capturing and tracking (1, 2) is possible using VPN API as Android makes use of UIDs and SOcket_MARKs (1, 2) to control traffic in network Routing Policy (RPDB), just before leaving the device.

Some apps like NetLive make use of NetworkStatsManager, but it lags the real-time usage and "does not update quickly enough", it's "meant to provide historical data".

NOTE: I've no affiliation with any app referenced.

RELATED:

Restricting an app to only send internet traffic but not receive that back?
Why network activity is detected from apps after firewall blocks them?
Capturing mobile phone traffic on Wireshark


The general opinion everywhere is that the Web marketplace is much better with search results than the marketplace app (it is really puzzling as to why is such the case). And no, the problem is not India specific, it is faced everywhere. The same opinion holds for other stores as well, including Apple's AppStore. The good news is, there are a few companies trying to make it better, namely Chomp and Tapjoy:

Chomp has been pretty successful and has been solving a truly-existing problem, which is evident since Verizon now includes Chomp in its tethered phones.

For more info, see xconomy.com news article discussing the search issues in the mobile market places and apps like Chomp and Tapjoy.


Screen turns black during call after adding SD card

This is expected behaviour. The screen turns off during a call to prevent you from accidentally pressing on the screen.

I don't know if it possible to turn this off without rooting. It seems on some Samsung firmwares there is an option within the phone app but if you have checked there then I don't think it's possible.


You can go to the Google Play Store and that might show apps and what is taking the space or you can search on your phone for My Files and delete items that show to be too big.


Phone doesn't start. USB Debug is off, can't connect pc for recovery

Boot into recovery mode by holding the Power & Volume Up buttons on your phone. (if Volume Up doesn't work, try Volume Down).

I've used this method to get an unresponsive device to respond.


External USB Keyboard to Android (via bluetooth preferably)

If it's an USB keyboard, it can be directly connected to the MicroUSB port of your Android device using an OTG cable. If your device is OTG capable (most devices of the current generation are, so chances are pretty good), it should be detected automatically. That's what I do with my tablets (running Android 4.1) and a tablet-case with integrated keyboard, to transform them into a mini-notebook – it works fantastic!

As a USB keyboard usually doesn't have Bluetooth integrated, the BT approach would require some kind of adapter. I won't say there is no such thing, but at least I've never heard of any.


How to root phone without losing WhatsApp account?

If you are planning on using the same phone again, you can simply uninstall whatsapp and reinstall it after you add the new number. Whatsapp FAQ says that you will be given an option to restore all the data at the reinstall process. They specifically ask to install the app from their website rather than downloading from Google Play. (I couldn't find any reason for this).

If you can use the previous number, you will not lose your account or the data. Simply login to the app again.

On a side note, it is highly advisable to backup your chat history to your SD card as explained in this answer before you attempt anything (rooting, uninstall, etc.)


Here is the all information to unlock bootloader of redmi 5a without asking redmi with unofficial way
Pre required-

Pc running on Windows.
Download Mi flash and Mi drivers from here.
Download official twrp recovery for redmi 5a here.
Follow the guidelines given in above XDA thread link.

Good Luck


Is There A Way To Be Notified About Google Play (Android Marketplace) Discounts?

Your best bet would be to follow Google Play on Google+. They always post any kind of news, including promotions for apps, music, movies...


Android 4.4.2 not automatically connecting to wifi

Try Factory resetting the tablet or if you don't want to do that then try shutting down the tablet and then turning it back on,then remove the network and then re-add it.


How to solve "insufficent space on the device" error on Samsung Captivate

Always the way, innit?  5 minutes after I ask, I stumble across this.  It's not super elegant but its success is in its simplicity.  Simply replace the dedicated /cache partition with a link to the internal SD card, and Bob's your uncle.  Has to be repeated on reboot, so not perfect, but way better than not installing at all!


No, kernels are device specific and contain a lot of code (not only open source Android code, but much proprietary as well) that is compiled specifically for a devices hardware.

There exists a generic Android kernel, but it lacks many features like telephony and such, so device manufacturers have to add proper code that fits their hardware.

So: No, you can't use a Samsung kernel on a Huawei device or vice versa because of the hardware modules of each individual device.


MTP sync on LG Spectrum --- kill with extreme prejudice

MTP stands for Media Transfer Protocol. Its honestly better than Mass Storage mode because the memory card does not need to be unmounted on the phone for the PC to transfer data.

If you want to disable it, switch your connectivity to MSC mode first then enable charge only. MTP is a passive protocol that is why it cannot be turned off when it is set by default.


Scheduled Backup of Files / SMS / Contacts to Email

If root is an option, the ultimate answer would be Titanium Backup. Scheduled backup of everything, support for Dropbox and more.

As for folders, I'd say FolderSync is certainly worth a try. Support for many cloud services, as well as your own servers via FTP and more.


Clear or reset my lock screen password/PIN

I got it fixed. Here are the steps I took:

Use the exploit here entitled "Phone: Use a hole to disable your lock". For me, it didn't work exactly as documented, though. I had to mash the password keys for a long time (calling my phone was unnecessary), then swipe up Google Now, mash the password a few more times, and hit Enter. With that, Google Now pops up and the phone is unlocked. I didn't test to find out how much of this is necessary and how much isn't.
Fire up a terminal app on the phone. I can't get root access from adb. Type su to become root. It should go without saying that this method will not work unless the phone has been rooted.
Enter the following commands to clear the password (source). Each line represents a command to type, one at a time.

sqlite3 /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db
delete from secure where name='lockscreen.password_type';
delete from secure where name='lockscreen.password_salt';
.exit

Tip: These commands will be easier to type if you use Hacker's Keyboard and type with the phone in landscape orientation.
Reboot the phone.
The screen will still be locked and non-unlockable. So, repeat step 1 to unlock it.
Go to the security screen and hit Screen lock. You will be asked to confirm your PIN. The new password is null. That means that instead of entering a password, just hit Next with a blank password.
Now, you're in, so go ahead and change your PIN to whatever you want.


How to exclude a program from being presented as program to update

The only way I see around this is to uninstall Google Maps and the only way to remove built in apps is to be rooted and either use a 3rd part app or use ADB and uninstall the app yourself. There's no way of "excluding" an app from updates unless you simply uninstall it.


Google Play Store stopped unexpectedly Samsung Galaxy II

you can  try to install an updated version of play store, it resolved my problem once.

here is a tutorial i wrote about play store issues  :

Solutions for the most major play store Problems


Samsung S duos - showing charging symbol but percentage not increasing

The charger will show as connected because the cable is making contact with the charging port, regardless of actually charging.

Yes chargers do go bad, usually at inopportune moments and there is a long list of reasons why. Sometimes from being plugged into long, getting dropped, getting too hot, used with wrong devices, being improperly pulled out from the wall, the charge connector getting bent in the charging port, etc.

When acquiring another charger, check a few things.

Is the charger OEM (recommended, although aftermarket's will work)
Does the charger have proper charging connector (miniUSB, microUSB, male plug, female plug, etc.)
Will the power output match the requirement of your device (voltage & amperage must be correct)
Is the charging cable long enough (for convenience).


Quadrant and Linpack are the two I use.  Linpack is purely for measuring CPU performance, whereas Quadrant also takes into account I/O speeds, graphics performance, and the like.


Is it possible to transfer one app from my old phone to my new if my phone is not rooted?

Do you want to just install the specific version of the application you have in your old phone? If so,

a) run an application like Titanium Backup on the rooted phone

b) backup the app

c) find the .apk in the backup folder

d) transfer the .apk to your new phone

e) run the .apk to install the application on the new phone. I believe some phones do not do it out-of-the-box and you might have to download some kind of app (search for "apk install") to do it. Try without an app first, though.

In case you also want your data to be transferred along with the app, I'm not sure whether TiBu can do this for non-rooted phones. Someone else will be better suited to answer.


There is currently no way to limit the maximum volume.

This has been asked on XDA Developers and there was only the one response since the beginning of August.


Why is Android claiming I have multiple Flickr accounts, and not allowing me to upload to Flickr?

Go to:

Settings -> Accounts and sync

Do you see a Flickr account there?  If so, either make sure you are using that account with the Gallery or try deleting that account and trying the Gallery again.


Can I mount /data/data/(app_name)/ on external sd card?

create a file in MicroSD Card. make sure the file is not too large for fat32 file size limitation
busybox dd if=/dev/zero seek=4294967295 bs=1 count=0 of=/mnt/media_rw/6DE8-1BC6/loop.img

create a file system (confirm with y)
/system/bin/mke2fs -t ext4 /mnt/media_rw/6DE8-1BC6/loop.img

loop mount the file to existing directory
mkdir -p /data/data/com.termux/files/home/ubuntu20-fs
busybox mount /mnt/media_rw/6DE8-1BC6/loop.img /data/data/com.termux/files/home/ubuntu20-fs

UPDATE:
that works only for busybox with largefile support. according to user Jtnqr and user Hmm you may still facing some trouble. the following is exactly the same example like above but with screenshots
* * * stop reading here * * *
only one extra step is copying files/usr into loop file before mounting

create a file in MicroSD Card
ls -la /data/data/com.termux/files
su
mkdir /storage/26B7-11F7/com.termux
cd /storage/26B7-11F7/com.termux
busybox dd if=/dev/zero bs=1M count=4095 of=usr.img

create a file system (confirm with y)
/system/bin/mke2fs -t ext4 usr.img

copy files/usr into loop file before mounting
mkdir -p tmp/usr
busybox mount usr.img tmp/usr

df -h | grep /dev/loop
grep termux /proc/mounts

busybox cp -acv /data/data/com.termux/files/usr tmp
df -h | grep /dev/loop

loop mount the file to existing directory
umount tmp/usr
busybox mount usr.img /data/data/com.termux/files/usr
df -h | grep /dev/loop
exit
ls -la /data/data/com.termux/files/usr

the same can be repeated for other directories. you can loop mount another home.img file into files/home to extend termux storage
reason for splitting into multiple files is fat32 file size limitation < 4 GB


Is there a way to see the top apps across all categories?

AppBrain can give top apps overall and by cateogry.  It also has filters for Free, Paid, New, Updated and Price Reduced.


Google Voice Search no longer automatically takes action

Same here on Xperia Z2..

If you uninstall updates to the Google search app functionality is restored so it is definitely a Google update


After updating to 5.1, phone wont get past black "Google" screen

Looks like I'm forced to do a factory reset, and I am using the guide on this page:

https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/4596836?hl=en-CA


How to set default Home screen on Nougat/7.1.1?

Long press on screen, then hold and drag wanted screen to left (first) position


How to remove X button on video overlay?

Open YouTube
Click on your picture on top right corner
Click on settings
Click on Accessibility
Disable the thing.


Why an android device overwrites the header named message-ID?

There are mail headers for threading (in particular I'm thinking of References: and In-Reply-To:), why not use one of those rather than trying to overload something else?


Xperia L (C2104) unusual behavior when GPS is active

Upgrade to Android 4.2. That fixed the problem to me and the original poster. I was getting an average of approximately 100 disconnections per day, in about three weeks. Since upgrade a few days ago, there were only 7 disconnections, even with Google's location service enabled. I think the firmware update 15.0.A.1.31 (based on Android 4.1.2) introduced the problem, but anyway we confirm that it is fixed in 15.3.A.0.26 (the upgrade to Android 4.2.2).


How to turn off vibration for incoming messages in Google Chat (not Hangouts) - Android 10?

Go to App Info

Click on Notifications

Click on the Messages (didn't know that it could be clicked; was assuming it'd just toggle)

Expand the Advanced section

Toggle Vibrate

Was desperate; so decided to ask SE.
But, found the answer right before submitting it; so, sharing it.


Will my phone still be unlocked after I install CyanogenMod?

No!

CyanogenMod will wipe the DATA partition, all the CACHE partition and the SYSTEM partition while installing. It will not affect anything about lock/unlock of sim card.


AndroIRC supports PASS, although it's hidden in the settings.
Open the app, and press the Menu key. Then, select "Servers". Press the Menu key again, and select "New server". Look for the field "Password": if you set a password, it will be sent with PASS.


What I did:

Move my actual contacts to the SIM card
Wipe the data from the Contacts Storage app in the Application Manager
Load the contacts from the SIM.


Can I save my htc desire if the battery is dead?

How long have you left it charging for? If it hasn't been long (a couple of minutes then your phone is probably fine). Connect the phone to the mains and leave it plugged in (don't try to turn it on) for about 15 or 20 minutes. It should start up then.


Check out Gnirehtet from Genymotion. It's the most simple solution I've come across.  There's no root required. The only requirements are that you should have Java 8 and recent version of adb configured.

Root: Not required

OS: Linux, Mac, Windows

Android device : Android 5.0+ [API 21]

Steps

Download the latest version of gnirehtet from this link.
Extract the zip
Connect the phone to computer with usb debugging enabled
Run ./gnirehtet rt
Accept the VPN request on phone and enjoy.
To stop, Ctrl+C

References:

https://github.com/Genymobile/gnirehtet
http://openjdk.java.net/install/index.html


Lenovo Vibe K5 Note USB connection issue

Ive found 2 ways to solve this problem.

Goto C:/Windows/INF and search for wpdmtp.inf & right click and install it.
Turn on safe mode in yor phone and then connect it to pc then remove safe mode.


Just wait, it takes a few weeks before everybody gets the update... And it was first released two days ago... So if you don't have it in two weeks, write back :)


If it'll help, an app like Titanium Backup (sounds like you're probably already rooted) handles pretty much everything for you.


How to make volume buttons on earphones/headphones work with Android?

Apple and Android headphone wiring standard is different. You can either buy an converter or change wiring on headset connector. See here.
Apple Headphone is Not Working On Android or Windows Phone


How to flash a custom recovery with heimdall (without touching the main system)?

It depends on your PIT partition file.

Before you do anything using heimdall, print the partition table of your phone.

sudo heimdall print-pit

The output of the file is the location assigned to each partition. For example on my Galaxy S3, I have something like this:

--- Entry #20 ---
Binary Type: 0 (AP)
Device Type: 2 (MMC)
Identifier: 19
Attributes: 5 (Read/Write)
Update Attributes: 1 (FOTA)
Partition Block Size/Offset: 491520
Partition Block Count: 32768
File Offset (Obsolete): 0
File Size (Obsolete): 0
Partition Name: Kernel2
Flash Filename: recovery.img
FOTA Filename:

Now this tells me 3 main things:

Name the flash file: recovery.img
Location of the identifier 19
And finally the name of the recovery partition Kernel2

What does this means?

This means if I want to flash a recovery image I should use either the identifier 19, or the name Kernel2.

sudo heimdall flash --19 any-type-of-recovery.img

or

sudo heimdall flash --Kernel2 any-type-of-recovery.img

Bottom Line: Look at the pit file to figure out where to flash your recovery.

Cheers,
Mel


Using an Android phone as a cordless headset

In the links you provided in your question, are the devices that are required.  They have that feature built into the hardware.


Do any phones other than the Samsung S have gyroscope capabilities?

The Samsung Galaxy S series phones have a 6-axis accelerometer, which is not a true gyroscope although a good approximation.  Hopefully it is actually a true gyroscope in the Nexus S.  Motorola's next big phone is rumored to have a gyroscope, but who knows.  I don't believe any other Android phones have a gyroscope, but the iPhone 4 does.


This app promises to run "fstrim" without root but I am not sure if it works

Here is the link how this app works you might not understand the language its English title is LagFix Trimmer to cure the machine without root | Easy Android Click here


recover whatsapp messages (database folder deleted)

I'm sorry for you but that isn't possible. Whatsapp only stores message backups locally. The only things on the Whatsapp servers are messages that hasn't been delivered yet. I.E. Skype doesn't backup messages on their servers and they also don't store messages on it which haven't been delivered yet so the 2 contacts have to be online to receive the message. If one of them isn't the message will never be delivered to the other unless they come back online at the same time. It might be usefull to backup your Whatsapp message backups to the cloud. I.E Google Drive.

Have a nice day,


Where does BlueStacks store my app's data (e.g. save game files)?

In Bluestacks 3 and 3N, apps are installed in various Android folders, such as:

/data/app (stores APKs)
/data/app-lib (libraries)
/data/data
and more.

/data/data also contains your app's data (such as save files, whether the app stores game progress locally). You need to root the emulator to access those folders.

Userdata\SharedFolder only contains files that you shared between Windows and the emulator.


In the case you weren't eager to look at the research, here's the solution.

In the same folder of your Odin executable, you'll find a file called Odin3.ini. Being it a configuration file, it defines the behaviour Odin should meet at startup. What we're interested into, though, is to examine its content, so fire up your text editor of choice and open the file.

Once opened, you'll see various sections, each marked by a [Something] label. What you need to do, is to find the [ButtonOption] label.

After you've found it, you'll see various entries under it. Specifically for your case, the section should be similar to the following:

[ButtonOption]
Bootloader=0
PDA=1
Phone=0
CSC=0
UMS/PATCH=0
USERDATA=0

Now, a 0 means that the corresponding checkbox is greyed out, while a 1 lets Odin know that such checkbox will be selectable. Since the flags' names can be confusing, here's a brief overview of their meaning:

Bootloader = BL button
PDA = AP button
Phone = CP button
CSC = CSC button
UMS/PATCH = UMS button
USERDATA = not implemented yet

You should now be able to edit the flags in order to activate the needed checkboxes. Just remember to save your changes afterwards.


How to delete a file (e.g. malware app) that cannot be even removed with root access?

Most likely this files attribute is set to "immutable". Which means nobody will be able to edit, rename, move or delete it. (Not even root)

You can check this in linux with the command: lsattr file

If this output shows an "i" my assumption is right.

The immutable attribute can be removed by chattr -i file. After doing this you should be able to delete this file as root again.

As far as I know the android toolbox does not include these binaries. You need to cross compile(your device is ARM based?) busybox for your device and take care that both binaries are included or take a prebuilt busybox binary from a trusted source which includes them.


Control media player on one phone from another

KODI + KORE
for those who looking not only streaming but a simple remote control over media player itself (android - to - android)
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/pictures-story/494-android-tv-remote-apps.html#s16


Trying to factory reset galaxy, wierd thing happens

What button combination are u using and there should be a factory reset in the setting

Go to settings
Scroll to backup and restore click it
 scroll down and there should be a factory reset button
I'll probably have to have 30% or more battery  to do so

I have not had that model of phone but I've had a few Samsung's if  above is not possible u can use Odin mode  and flash new firmware to the device it's very easy to do if u have a PC to do it with
Look for ur model phone and Odin guide
Here is one I looked up for u
Delete the space before and after the word firmware

http:// firmwarefile .com/samsung-sgh-t959


Why is my Nvidia tablet looking for chinese servers(baidu.com)?

You might want to read this February 2016 article at citizenlab.org.

Most relevant part of the article:

  Leaks sensitive data on startup

  Upon application launch, we observed Baidu Browser sending an HTTP POST request to
  https://hmma.baidu.com/app.gif

  The body of this HTTP request is a gzipped JSON file. The JSON file contains a list of fields with various details about the phone and the user, some in plain text and others encrypted.

  Unencrypted fields in the JSON file include:

  o: the user’s operating system (e.g., “Android”)
  n: Baidu Browser version number
  w, h: width and height, respectively, of the screen in pixels
  gl: GPS coordinates and time of last GPS update

  Some fields are encrypted using AES+ECB with the hard-coded ASCII-encoded key
  h9YLQoINGWyOBYYk

  and then Base64 encoded. These fields include:

  dd: IMEI number
  ii: a string containing the phone’s IMEI number written backwards and an MD5 hash of Android software version information
  wl2: list of all in-range wireless networks and their MAC addresses and signal strengths

  With knowledge of the hard-coded key, these fields can easily be decrypted. The source code for a python script for decrypting these fields is available here.

And then there's Baidu's response (PDF file hosted at citizenlab.org). They don't seem to see an issue in collecting this data, they just acknowledge that they need to improve their encryption:

  Baidu endeavors to collect data in a way consistent with the highest standards of security and
  user privacy in the industry. We disclose our practices in our terms of service under privacy
  rights as detailed here (Chinese): https://www.baidu.com/duty/yinsiquan.html

  We're grateful of Citizen Lab for being mindful of data security in transmission and we have
  already made substantial progress toward ensuring that any such transmission will be secure.

So citizenlab's article is probably no more describing what you can see on the net nowadays.


Google Cloud Print

Generally, you'd want to use Google Cloud Print compatible printers. The full list of Cloud Print ready printers is available here.

If you're stuck without one of these printers (i.e. a classic printer), you've still got options:

  Before connecting your classic printer, confirm if you have:

  Google Chrome
  Windows or Mac computer

  And if you’re using Windows XP, the Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3).
  Then, follow the steps below to enable the Google Cloud Print connector:

  Open Google Chrome.
  In a new tab, open chrome://devices
  You’ll see a list of devices already registered with Google Cloud Print, and new devices available on the network.
  Under "Classic printers,” click Add printers.
  You'll see a confirmation that Google Cloud Print has been enabled.
  To learn more, click Manage your printers.

To connect classic printers in a business or school environment, use the Cloud Print Connector service on Windows or Linux.

After adding your Cloud Print ready printer, use the Google Cloud Print app to start printing

In versions of Android newer than 4.4, the app isn't necessary:

  Open the page you want to print in its app (Photos, Chrome, etc).
  On the app, click Options.
  Select Print.


How to create link to app that does not appear in the apps menu?

If your Launcher includes an "activity browser" (as e.g. Nova Launcher and Apex Launcher do), this is easy to achieve: Just long-press on an empty place of your homescreen, select to add an activity.

Activity selector in Apex Launcher (click image for full size variant)

Each app that provides activities (that is, basically, a screen to interact with the user), should be listed here together with all the activities (screens) it offers. Scroll the list until you find the app you want to add to your homescreen, then open the list containing its activities (in the screenshot, the arrows on the left border indicate whether the list is opened (up-arrow) or closed (down-arrow)).

If there's only one activity shown (screenshot-example: LocMgrPT), that's probably the one you need. Simply tap it, and the icon should appear on your homescreen. If, on the other hand, multiple entries are shown (as for LocMgrPD in the screenshot), you might need to try until you find the correct one. Often, the activity name helps you sorting out unlikely candidates.

If you've found your target, you'll have a corresponding shortcut on your homescreen. Other than a simple "app start icon", this is a "shortcut", i.e. you could even jump directly to a "sub-screen" of the app.

And there are even more uses for your findings: having the activity name, you could have that activity launched automatically using e.g. tasker, or call it from the command-line using a terminal app or adb.

If your launcher doesn't support adding Activities this way (just apps, widgets, and shortcuts), take a look at Activity Launcher to substitute for this feature. Additional highlight: it even allows you to chose an icon of your choice.


You're going to have to use a computer to phone based soultion. One touch rooting apps use a exploit that has since been patched.


update Android 6.0 to Android 8.0 on my RCA Galileo Pro 2 in 1

If your wifi  chip doesn't already support dual band (2.4/5 Ghz), there is nothing you can do via software or firmware to change this - it's a function of physical hardware that was built in when the tablet was manufactured.
As far as an Android update - that is usually up to the manufacturer.  There is a menu item in settings to check for system updates.  Connect to the Internet and then select this menu item - if an update is available from RCA, then it will tell you and allow you to download and install the update.
The 2020 version of the Galileo Pro comes from the factory with Android 8.1 Go edition.


Voice action "Set alarm..." doesn't work on HTC Desire

It appears that it is possible to get the "Set Alarm..." voice action working by installing a leaked version of DeskClockGoogle.apk as described on this website. I have not tested it.

It seems that this feature is not yet officially released but is coming soon.


I have encountered random OFF problem a couple of times and it seemed to be always related to the connection with a Bluetooth equipment. For the random ON problem I would recommend shutting down the sound and keeping the device ON every time. The random music activation should have been corrected with the latest firmware update. In my case, the firmware version 2.1-update1 corrected the random music activation. I would recommend that you make sure all your firmware updates have been done.

These are not the best solutions but that is all I have been able to find. Let's hope the next update to Android 2.2 will correct all these issues once and for all.


How to remove a stored user name and password in Wifi Connection Settings?

For me that seems like another third party application is rendering the UI (drawing over your settings app) for saved WiFi passwords since natively, forgetting a WiFi will delete and forget it's password and manual settings too. Go to settings, Apps:

and click the cogwheel icon on the top right corner,

click drawing over other apps.

Disable all apps. Return to you WiFi settings if it doesn't show, enable them one by one to note which application was doing that. Hope this helps you


How can I retrieve data from an Epic 4G without a working screen?

onik's right that ADB is your best bet for retrieving your apps, data, etc.  But to get it all, you need to be rooted.  XDA has an extremely simple guide for rooting that fortunately doesn't require the use of the screen, it just requires USB Debugging.

Once you root and start adb shell, try entering su before anything else.  If the prompt changes from $ to # then you have root privileges.  If it fails, adb probably gained root privileges automatically.  Now you can access the full contents of the data partition and other areas normally off-limits.


As suggested by @Izzy I am going for the "firewall-solution":

Block all connections for the adb-port (5555), except from my trusted devices.

Thanks again!


Gmail not working with the background data restriction

Gmail app is used to show only the mails that is received by another core app called Google play services using synchronization that needs background data connection,When we open Gmail app then the play services app get restricted by DATA restriction.
I want to say that some app like Play Store and Gmail will not work If you have restriction on background data.
I think it will help


Why does Battery Doctor say my battery is 50% charged while Android says 23%?

There are two sources for reading the battery capacity

From the battery files

From the ROM

I learnt this when I saw a similar but smaller discrepancy on my new phone using 3c Toolbox and the developer clarified this on mail. To quote from 3C Toolbox developer mail

In Android, one can get the stock hard-coded battery capacity from battery profiles, an hidden API in Android. That’s the one of the 2 sources the app uses.
The other source is in the kernel, usually under /sys/devices/power_supply/battery/charge_full_design

On my device path is different. To know the path on your device, from 3C Toolbox, tap request support from Help and support menu. An email will be generated to the developer having information about your device, including battery_info.txt. This file amongst other things specifies the path of second source
Since you are using an extended battery, I would guess that the app is reading from the ROM and  Android from the battery files (original battery is 2100 mAh and extended battery is 4200 mAh and the  battery percentage readings are nearly half).
This is the only explanation I can think of

Edit:  For more details , please see Where are the battery capacity files located


What alternative browsers are available on Android?

Some options:

Coco
Dolphin
Opera Mini
Skyfire

Here's a quick read on AndroidApps.org that gives overviews on some of the more popular browsers. And a longer one from PC World.

I personally just use the stock Android browser. I've used Dolphin HD for a while, but at times it felt slow (on my Droid). The Opera Mini browser is supposed to be pretty quick at loading pages because it will transfer your requests through Opera's servers first so that they can compress the content and send it back to you. Right now, I'm waiting for the release of Fennec, by Mozilla, which will hopefully be amazing.


Is there a way to transmit all sound over wifi from my tablet to my pc?

In general it is at the moment impossible to stream all audio from your android to another receiver.

There's no app which can help you because android itself has no APIs for grabbing audio.

But sure you may use a specific player, e.g. one for YouTube and one for music and so on.

I really know what I'm talking about because I'm developing an app for general streaming audio since several months (it's really hard work with rooting, kernel-module etc.).


SMS notifications on Moto G2 no longer appear

In Settings › Apps, you have to chose the "All" tab: by default, Settings usually shows the "Downloaded" tab, which holds all the apps the user installed. The stock messaging app does not fall into that category, as it comes pre-installed – hence you'll find it on the "All" tab.

Now you've found it, you can take the approach you initially had in mind: calling its context-menu to re-enable notifications by long-tapping the entry here.


ADB do not recognize a Tegra Based Tablet

Follow the instructions here.
I just followed them (changing the PID and VID numbers as you did and it worked!)

TIPS

In the changed .inf file remember leaving an empty line after pasting the code after [Google.NTx86] or [Google.NTamd64]; and also after it and the beginning of the next paragraph.
Don't forget the step 5 where you must put your VID number (example: if your VID  is 0955, then put 0x955).

And the rest is exactly the same. It worked for an Excite 10 from Toshiba with Tegra 3 processor.


You can use Wireless ADB (note: root required) to connect over wifi and then you can plug in your device to the power socket.


Android Nexus 5 knows password of WiFi he was never connected to!

Did you backup/restore your settings to/from Google? If so, that's why you can connect to these wireless networks. One of the things that gets backed up is the wireless network passwords so when you restored them back on your new device it is able to connect.

Android has built in backup functionality. It offers to backup settings (including wifi settings) automatically from each device. When you go through the set-up on a new device it then gives you the option to restore these settings. If you had this configured (I think it's enabled by default) then your wifi settings would have automatically been backed up on your Nexus 4 and restored to your Nexus 5.


Go to 'settings'-> 'Language & keyboard' -> 'Select language' and select one. If there are only a few available then that was the (awkward) choice of your operator or phone manufacturer.

To solve that problem, an app like CustomLocale solves it only a little. It doesn't work all that well or complete. Rooting and installing a custom ROM with sufficient languages is the only way to fully solve it.

If only the virtual keyboard is bothering you, you can install others, such as the MultiLing keyboard, from the Market. Be careful for malicious apps though. You're granting them access to anything you type in, and since the keyboard is pretty much always loaded, it might render your phone slow or instable if the keyboard app is buggy.

The instructions above might differ per flavour of Android (provided by the manufacturer on top of the stock Android) but will be similar.


How can I get the lock screen sounds from Android 4.3 back? (upgraded to 4.4)

You could probably download a custom Rom from xda and find and extract the sound files from

/system/media/audio/

You should be able to put them into the relevant folder on the 'sdcard'

/sdcard/alarms/
/sdcard/Notifications/
/sdcard/Ringtones/

where they will get picked up by the OS.

As for the notification icons, without rooting and customising the relevant files (I'm not sure exactly which) there is no way to change them from white to blue.


My wife shares her Google calendar with me. How can I see her events on my Android device?

I encountered this problem too when trying to get my Facebook events and shared Calendar events (which were appearing on desktop) to appear on the mobile app. I solved it via the Calendar app's settings:

Go to Calendar->Settings

Find the email address the shared calendar is associated with

Select the shared calendar (if it isn't appearing click 'Show More')

Click on the 'Sync' slider to enable that shared calendar

The shared calendar events should now appear

Guidance screenshots:

Click image for larger versions


Where can I find my App Folder when connected to Computer?

Apps' private data directories aren't visible over the USB connection to your PC. It would complicate error handling in apps a lot if you had to worry about users making unexpected changes to your data files, so Android doesn't let you do this, to make it harder for you to screw up your phone.

You can access them from the phone directly, but only if the phone is rooted. If your phone is rooted, you can access any files, but you have to accept the risk of breaking things (this is why it voids the warranty), and it'll make it a lot harder to get support from app vendors. All the same, this is probably using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, and there's probably an easier way to achieve the thing you're trying to, using the facilities built into the app.


Yes you can.

Actually, wiping an (unrooted) Android device is relatively easy. Just go into Settings and look for Backup & reset option. At the very bottom of the options you'll see Factory data reset, hit it and you'll see some confirmation dialog, go through that and your "new" Galaxy Nexus will be ready in a couple of minutes ;)

This method will compeletly erase anything stored on the phone's internal storage, including all Google-related data.

Note that it's a good practice to also erase the sdcard partition alongside the process. Some Android application uses the sdcard partition to store user data which might be restored even after you wiped the device.

Good luck! :)


HTC Desire has trouble to establish connection via Wifi

I have noticed the same thing happening occasionally - I find that if I turn the wifi (on the phone) off and on again it will usually pick the wireless network up straight away - that's not quite as drastic as having to enable/disable airplane mode.


Enabling the accelerometer on android phones

The accelerometers are hardware, thus always ON. When you deactive the settings that need them (your example Auto-rotate screen is a good one), you merely deactivate the reading of that sensor to control the activity. A good proof of this is to use the game app "Drop", which uses these sensors. While you may turn off Auto-Rotate, the sensors are still live for the game.


What is the downside of using GO SMS Pro and / or Handcent?

I can only comment on  GoSMS which, while being a great app, has a few obvious issues.

Texting via GoChat is, at best, unreliable. With both parties connected to hi-speed broadband, texts take their own sweet time to deliver. These texts shouldn't expire but they do. Given a certain amount of time, texts stay undelivered.
If you have root access and are thinking of uninstalling the stock SMS app (which would be the logical thing to do), bear in mind that GoSMS notifications don't work hand in hand with the app's UI. Meaning, if you see a notification in the status bar and press on it, it will lead you to the main app interface but you may or may not see the actual message. This happens often when you receive more than one or two texts at the same time. Strangely, even though you can't read the texts (I assumed they were lost), you will have an irritating notification indicating that you have unread texts (that you obviously can't read because they don't show up). Having the stock app ensures that GoSMS shows all texts, unread or otherwise. Also, when you have read the text in the stock app, the notification from GoSMS disappears.
Local backup only works when you aren't connected, either via Wi-fi or mobile data. With the latest version of the app, everything gets backed up to GoCloud. This happens only if you have signed up with GoChat.

Hope this helps.


Marshmallow Keeps rebooting. It seems a Stagefright bug. How to know which file causing the bug?

Turns out the adopted storage is corrupted. Fixed by running FSCK after unmounting it first from storage option menu/setting

fsck.f2fs /dev/block/dm-0


To fix my device I did the following:

pull the battery to get the device to stay off (if you are quick you
might be able to hold the power button and select shut down before it
reboots)
While the device is off hold both volume buttons and the power button. This will bring up a bootloader menu
Use the volume buttons to change selection to "Recovery Mode" Press Power button to select
Once there is an Android guy with an exclamation on the screen press Volume Up+Power at the same time. I had to try a few times to get it to work. Seems like you have to hit them in just the right way.
This will bring you to another menu that you navigate with volume buttons and select with power. Choose "Factory reset"
Wait several minutes for the reset to complete. Once it is done select reboot.
At this point my device booted back up fine but was still stuck in a boot loop. I panicked slightly
Get the device to the Off state again. Either by pulling the battery or holding power and selecting shut down from the menu quickly while it is actually on. I went with the latter this time, though I did have to be quick about it to not be interrupted by a reboot.
Press the power button to begin turning the device on
When you see the "Google" logo press and hold the volume down button. Continue holding the volume down button until the device is fully up and running. You should see "Safe mode" in the lower left corner.
While in safe mode my device did not reboot itself. I took this opportunity to complete all of the device setup menus
once done setting up the device I turned it off and back on in the normal manner
once it came back up it was no longer stuck in boot-loop.

Note: I factory reseted the device because it isn't the phone I carry and it had nothing I cared about on it. If you are having this issue with your real phone I suggest trying safe mode before resetting as the actual reset didn't seem to fix it.


How to find the unboxing date of an Android device?

You can simply go the Service menu of your phone and see the total call time which is very hard to reset. By that, you can assume how long it has been used.

As of Android 4.3 Jellybean, that is the best you can get.


How can I send service commands from my Nexus 7?

I think USSD Checker is the app that you are looking for.

It allows you to send USSD codes to your network without the use of a dialer. I haven't tried it myself though so comment whether it works or not would help.


Unable to mount a 64Gb SD card on Qualcomm's SnapDragon 810 MDP smartphone

I was in contact with Intrinsyc Support, apparently "only FAT32 is supported for that size".

Now the problem was to format with FAT32, as Windows (arbitrarily) doesn’t support formatting FAT32 above 32Gb.
I tried this tool but it didn’t work:
http://tokiwa.qee.jp/EN/Fat32Formatter/

What worked was:

Mount SD card on the phone
Settings -> Storage -> SD card -> Erase USB Storage

Apparently this doesn't just "erase", but also format the drive FAT32 (as I could verify afterward mounting it on Windows). The SD card is now mounted and running!


You can manually update your phone by downloading the update.zip file for 2.2, putting it in the root of your SD card and applying the update in the recovery during boot up.

See detailed instructions here.


Preventing browser redirects on Android (and iOS)

First of all: This kind of advertising should be reported!

  Can anybody provide advice on how to suppress these redirects, without
  resorting to a non-stock browser?

It looks like they use a bug in JavaScript. Maybe report to ad provider or app owner for blocking.

How to reproduce this issue:

If you use the preinstalled browser in Android, the ad site
opens "Google Play Store" and show you each time a different App.

How can I sandbox untrusted user-submitted JavaScript content?


What GPU is the Touchmate MID TM-MID777 Tablet?

Since I cannot find any reference online to the GPU in the TM-MID777, I thought I'd post this as a general link for any model instead.

Install CPU Z from the Google Play Store and run it. It will display all hardware information on your current device.

This is a sample screenshot, and can be very useful if you are buying a device, or doubt that a device is legitimate. There are a lot of clones out there and this is a great tool for that also.


Galaxy Tab S can't boot into fastboot mode


where does default setting for Command Line Switches is set in kernel source code in android

I presume that CPU_HOTPLUG means hotplug cpu governor is enabled in your system.
hotplug cpu governor can make cpu core online or offline based on total system load.
So, It might be possible that your other two cores are offline at the moment.

You can check the exact cpu cores by,

$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/present

This will display total cores on your system. Or you can do "ls /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*" then see cpu0,cpu1,... directories. Those are your different cores.

If you can not find 4 cores (0,1,2,3) in that directory, than there is some problem with your system.

You can change the cpu governor to some other for example, ondemand to utilize all four cores. But it may use more battery.

I hope this helps.

[update]
Also, if you are referring to set the default kernel command line from configuration then it is available at,

Symbol: CMDLINE [=]

Type  : string

Prompt: Default kernel command string

Defined at arch/arm/Kconfig:1766

Location:
-> Boot options

in kernel menuconfig window.

Generally in android, kernel commandline is part of boot image and not this default one, But you can still try that out. If bootloader is passing the kernel command line string than this configuration will be ignored.

Good luck.


Where is the options button in Rockplayer?

Try pressing your phone's Menu button.  That should bring up everything else you can do/look at/etc. that is not on-screen.


How do I know which one is a stable version of Cyanogenmode on this list?'

There are essentially two different products available here: Cyanogenmod (release), and Cyanogenmod Recovery (release recovery).

While Release is the custom ROM in itself, Release Recovery is a special recovery partition used to load Cyanogenmod onto the device if you don't already have it or TWRP installed. It is also used to do other low level system stuff if booting into the live system isn't possible or appropriate.


How to update rooted S3 to 4.3 using only OTA?

Since rooting changes the system image, the OTA update won't apply. You need to download the ROM (e.g. from sammobile.com) and flash it by hand (using Kies).


I can't use my Galaxy S3 storage on my laptop

OS: Win 8.1 x64 with latest updates.
Phone: Samsung galaxy S3 (GT-i9300).

I got it working without manually installing any driver.
When I plugged my phone in the computer it automatically installed the driver for me.
After that I didnt see any popup.
What you need to do is leave the phone plugged in your pc/laptop while restarting the phone (don't be to hasty here, give the phone some time to boot up completely).
After that go to control panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers.
In here look for the multimedia tab and you should see your phone (GT-i9300).
Right click on it and you should see the menu browse files > GT-9300.
Voila you are in your phone.

After that you don't even need to repeat the steps before again, because the popup suddenly comes back(don't switch to another usb port here, just keep using the port where you performed your phone reboot). Incase you accidentally plugged your phone in another usb port you need to repeat the steps above.

Thats how I got mine working. I hope it helps you!


Settings > Language and Keyboard > Samsung keypad > Auto-capitalization.


Is there a stylus-based notepad app for Android?

Sparx's suggestions seem pretty good.  Here are a few more (also untested):

Genial Handwriting
MyLetter (this one seems if-y)
Graffiti for Android (very cool if it works because it converts the handwritten notes to text)


Does my Android phone uses battery or outlet power to operate while being charged?

From my experience, my phone (HTC Desire) seems to use battery while being charged... or at least a combination of both. Reason is, while plugged in, if I am doing something intensive - eg playing games, I notice that either the battery % hasn't really increased or has actually decreased!

Also, not sure which phone you are using, so the behaviour maybe different to the Desire, but I'm guessing it uses a lithium-ion battery - here is some good info on "the best way to use Li-ion batteries" http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/02/ask-ars-what-is-the-best-way-to-use-an-li-ion-battery.ars

Basically:

They don't have memory
Don't worry about overcharging
Don't completely deplete the battery - lowest ~20%
Use your battery - you need to 'exercise' the battery
Try to keep the battery cool


How can I install apps onto my 2nd partition of my SD Card?

You'd better give up attempting to install apps on a FAT32 volume. Various issues will soon drive you mad. Format the 2nd partition to ext4 before doing anything else.


Can I root a phone thats already rooted?

You can try installing the app Root Checker to know if your device is rooted or not. And yes you can root your device again even if its rooted. But yes first its better to check if it has the rooted privileges or not. As far as running of apps is concerned sometimes some app stop responding even if one has the rooted privileges better would be to first check things out.


"Ok Google" Greyed Out / Unavailable After Hard Reset

The solution that enabled the "Ok Google" function was to Clear the Storage Data of Google Services Framework.

Caution, this will invalidate GCM ids of applications that have registered for one.  May require reinstall of those applications.


It's because it's looking for a relative path from the .../sdk/tools/lib/ folder, as that is where you are running the exe from.

I have not run Windows in a while, so bear with me, but if you open a command line, navigate to the .../sdk folder, then run the SDK manager from there by typing

tools/lib/SDK Manager.exe

I suspect it will work.

For easier access, you can create a shortcut to the SDK manager on the desktop, open the properties of the shortcut and change the 'Start Directory' (?) to the base .../sdk folder. Let me know if this does not work.


When I back out of an app is it still using up my data?

Yes, such internet-based applications normally use background services to stay connected with their servers and use mobile data when Wi-Fi is not available. But data usage is often very low for such background apps.

If you want to stop any data usage of any app when you are not using internet apps, you can disable mobile data temporarily. To do so, Go to Settings -> WiFi and networks -> Mobile data and uncheck the option to disable mobile data.

Also, if you are using Android 4 ICS or newer, you can disable background mobile data usage for some apps. Just go to Settings and under Wireless and Networks, click on Data Usage. Then you will see a list of apps that has used your data. Select the app you want to restrict and in newer window, scroll to bottom and check option "Restrict background data". Then, no background mobile data for that app is allowed.


It looks like currently, it is not possible to rate an app via Android TV Platform. However it looks like the feature will be coming soon as mentioned in this blog post:

  The team is working on the feature, but there isn’t an ETA.

Credits go to @MattLane and @NickFelker for providing the information in this post.


WhatsApp doesn't open on Android 2.3.6 - says "switch to a supported phone"

According to whatsapp firm :

Supported devices
We support all Android phones that meet the following requirements:

Your Android phone is running Android 2.3.3 or later.

Your Android phone is able to receive SMS or calls during the verification process.

You will also need a data plan in order to receive messages when outside the range of a Wi-Fi network.

We only provide limited support to tablet users and we don't support Wi-Fi only devices at this time.


In the realm of the ARM chipsets which is the common factor, the entire Android stack, from the near-identical kernel based on Linux, are in fact, 32bit, cross-compiled from usually either a 32bit/64bit host environment, the host environment is usually one of the distributions of Linux.  Recommended distribution, by Google, for building and cross-compiling Android is Ubuntu.

The Android run-time library (media, graphics, filesystem, to name but a few) are also 32bit, but as we reach the layer of the dalvikvm, then the number of bits becomes irrelevant as it is at this point, the apks coming from the Google Play Store are native bytecode (A "by-product" of generated Java code compiled into a portable bytecode) which targets the DalvikVM (Virtual Machine) which in turn interprets and translates the bytecode targetting the raw ARM instruction set.

Froyo was the last Android that enabled compilation under a 32bit hosted environment in which it was cross-compiled targetting the ARM chipset.

Gingerbread was the first of "future" Android, back then circa, three years ago, that introduced a requirement to use a 64bit hosted environment in which it was built. There was many hacks to get Gingerbread to be built under 32bit hosted environment.

ICS and JB, and upwards now definitely requires a 64bit environment to speed up compilation and to reduce turn-around time in building.

So to sum up, what you see on the Play Store has no bearing on whether 32bit or 64bit are used and thus irrelevant.

Side note: Typical 16GB RAM/Quad core/64bit Linux distribution, the time it takes to build ICS from scratch, takes 30minutes maximum, had this being a 32bit Linux distribution, it would have taken longer, in fact, may cause a CPU meltdown as there is simply, not enough processing power to churn and crank out cross-compiled code, which is a very demanding and taxing process!

Proof of this.

Pull in any native ARM binary found in /system/bin or /system/xbin, for example, /system/bin/dalvikvm, this is the Dalvik VM binary that is responsible for the upper layers of Java and APKs.

Now, examine the binary by issuing this command: file dalvikvm which gives a summary of the type of file it is, the expected output would be this:

  dalvikvm: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, ARM, version 1 (SYSV),
  dynamically linked (uses shared libs), stripped

Notice the reference to 32-bit ELF, and is cross-compiled to ARM and is a binary executable.

Right, moving on, let's inspect a native shared library found in /system/lib, for example, /system/lib/libandroid_runtime.so, now issue file libandroid_runtime.so, the expected output would be this:

  libandroid_runtime.so: ELF 32-bit LSB shared object, ARM, version 1
  (SYSV), dynamically linked, stripped

Again, notice, its 32-bit ELF, cross-compiled to ARM and is a shared library.

The key to the host's cross-compilation can be found in the AOSP source, i.e., Gingerbread build originally had a requirement to be built on a 64bit host system, here's the newsgroup linky referring to how to patch the scripts to get it to build on 32bit host which has two patches, found here, for build/core.mk and build/main.mk (combined) on AOSP's Gerrit review.

As a subsequent result, this patch had made its way to ICS's build scripts in which I did have the privilege of compiling ICS on a 32bit platform which took 3 days to build (it was a port of ICS for the Zte Blade). Now, the requirements are ramped up, you do definitely need 64bit host to enable cross-compilation of building AOSP from ICS upwards :)


Preventing mobile data use for select apps on non-rooted phone?

Not quite answering your question, but switching off Background Data usage should stop chatty apps from doing anything in the background, and restrict it to just apps you launch and use, rather than apps that are syncing and checking for status updates all the time.

If you add the Power Control Bar (built into Android since 1.6) to your home screen it's just one tap to switch the background data on and off. Just hold your finger on an empty space on the home screen, select Widgets, Power Control, and the second icon from the right (two round arrows in a circle) controls the background data usage.


Keeps restarting, stuck in Ultra Power Save Mode

You can always backup all of your photos and everything else to a Google account (here tells you how), and then factory reset the phone.

If this does not solve the problem, it may be worth taking it into a shop to see if they could do anything, or contacting Samsung directly.

Hope this helps


Project Fi - Calling Through Hangouts Compared to Calling Through Phone

Outgoing calling via Hangouts Dialer app uses 3G/4G LTE/Wi-Fi data, and utilizes high-quality voice technology, depending on your connection (it will sound better on LTE vs. 3G.)  It's very similar to how other VoIP solutions work (Viber, Line, Skype, etc.) with the added bonus of being able to call domestic landlines and cellular providers at no extra cost, aside from higher data usage of course.

Calling via the built-in Phone app on the other hand uses regular voice service, where your calls are routed over the cellular voice network of whichever provider Project Fi is currently connected to (T-Mobile, Sprint, or US Cellular currently.)  The "HD Voice" feature is not available on Project Fi yet, and therefore the voice quality will be comparable to that of regular telephone service.

Unfortunately there is no way to use the Hangouts app for incoming voice calls for accounts that are activated on Project Fi.  It's only possible for regular Google Voice accounts by enabling the "Incoming phone calls" option in Hangouts -> Settings -> your GV account.  This is a known limitation of Project Fi.


Unable to set custom ringtone on Moto G 2 after upgrading to Lollipop

Someone put this as an edit instead of an answer:

  Instead of setting ringtone under setting --> Sounds and
  notifications, try to set your ringtone from your player [Ex: ES File
  Explorer --> sdcard --> download --> your song. Play this in ES media
  player --> set ringtone ].

and someone else tried to edit this in:

  1- change ur choice music into .ogg format (try fx file explorer it may able to rename any format u want)
  2- put that music file on the ringtone folder on phone
  where hangout ringtones are present  3-now power off ur phone and
  start it
  4-go to phones and notification folder u got ur choice music
  as a ringtone


Boot Android Virtual Device into recovery mode

If your goal is to install Google Apps in the emulator, then you need to follow a completely different proceedure then the one telling you to reboot into recovery. Truth is, the emulators do not have a recovery partition, so there's no such thing as recovery mode for an emulator.

I can suggest a couple of options:

Search for procedures that are specific to the problem of getting Google Apps running in the emulator. I've done it before, but I can tell you it's a pain and there's no generic way to explain it without knowing the specifics of your setup (i.e., SDK version, x86 vs. ARM, etc.). Even then, it may not be possible.
If there's not a compelling reason forcing you to use the emulators, consider trying a virtual machine solution like Genymotion instead of the emulator. VMs are way faster than the SDK emulators and for most there are clear procedures available for installing Google Apps. Genymotion in particular has instructions for doing so. Genymotion also integrates with Android Studio/Eclipse and supports the debug bridge (adb). See genymotion.com to download.


Why is the '/storage/emulated/' directory inaccessible?

On Android 6+ /storage is a mountpoint where tmpfs is (bind) mounted (from /mnt/runtime/default) with mode 0755 i.e. it's world-readable.

For every app /storage/emulated is a bind mount in an isolated mount namespace, from /mnt/runtime/VIEW/emulated which is an emulated/virtual filesystem from /data/media having mode 0711 and owner root. So the directory is only traversable, not readable by non-root users that includes all apps.

VIEW is one of read (for apps with permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE) or write (permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE) or default (for all other apps and processes running in root/global mount namespace i.e. outside zygote).

/storage/emulated/0 is traversable, readable or writeable to apps depending on the status of manifest permissions READ/WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE.

These measurements are a part of Android's app sandboxing approach for better isolation, security and privacy.

Related: What is /storage/emulated/0?


Remove "ad-type.google.com" adware in any Android device browser

ad-type.google.com redirect adware has been most stubborn malware on the internet now.

Step 1: Disable JavaScript in all your browsers

Step 2: Install Malwarebytes Anti-malware for android

This should inhibit the infection.
If Problem persists go ahead with next step

Step 3: Your router might be infected too.
 Ask your ISP(internet service provider) to change your DNS server settings.

Also see protect your phone from infecting


You need to enable Developer options on your MI device.
To unblock the developer options,

Go to Settings >About, find the MIUI version and tap 7 times continuously.
You could see a message “You have enabled developer option” once you have successfully done that.
To access developer options, Goto Settings > Additional settings > Developer options.
Now scroll down till the end to see the option to toggle MIUI Optimization. You’ll need to restart the device once you enable the option.

Even though it is just a toggle which we enable, it causes the way which the system behaves, in turn changes the way many apps behave.

Source


It shouldn't be any problem. You can simply download the G Drive app on the Oneplus One and download whatever you backed up.

The G-Drive is accessible on many different platforms so it shouldn't be any problem.


The answer is simple: Do not close apps when possible!

Android takes care of app managemnt by leaving them stick around (which is not necessary in memory) when possibile allowing faster startup times and resumption where you left. Swiping out a app of the recent app list is similar too closing it, but not the same.


download several files to tablet from drive

From this page you can zip and download all Drive files

  Google drive has the ability to download a bunch of files and folders in a zip file.

  To do so , just select the files and folders and select More > Download > Download from Google Drive

  The files will be zipped and it will take some time for the process depending upon the size of the files and folders. You can either wait with that window open by looking into the estimated time or you can click 'Email when ready' which will send you a email with link to zip file onces its done.

Note the max zip size is 2Gb.

An alternative would be to do the following:

Sync the files to your computer using the google drive client app:

Install the google drive app on your computer
On drive.google.com, drag the folder shared with you from "Shared with me" to "My Drive"
Now all the files should automagically appear on the "Google drive" folder on your computer


If the device is rooted you can manually restore the backup.

On a PC extract the backup file using Android Backup extractor.
This will convert the backup to a TAR archive.
(optional) extract the APK files (if the backup contains not only app data) and install them via adb.
Upload the TAR archive to your device via adb push and untar it.
Copy the files you want to recover into the right directories using adb shell and root permissions.


Nexus 6P Bootloop - Flash "Google" on dark background keeps going on and off forever

It seems like you are facing the unfortunate end for your device. I personally have gone through 3 of these devices that fell victim to the same sudden BLOD (Boot Loop of Death). You have a few options at this point:

Get yourself on the list to be part of the class action lawsuit against Huawei and Google.
Contact Google or Huawei (don't have the link for this one sorry...) and demand a replacement. For a while there I know that people were given replacements for this reason well beyond their limited warranty.
If you're feeling particularly savvy you can perform these steps outlined on XDA that will give you functionality back to your phone. I've used this method for all 3 of my 6Ps that got the bootloop. Best of luck, I definitely feel your pain.


Is it safe to use an LG charger on a Moto X?

Yes, no problem. They both use a regular micro USB format.


Will android market work (update app) after I install a new mod in my phone

CyanogenMod is not permitted to redistribute Google's proprietary apps packaged with the ROM, but they make them available separately. As long as you download and flash the latest Google Apps package from your recovery system, you can continue to use the Market as you normally would.

The newest versions of CM are (according to the wiki, anyway) designed to actually backup your Google Apps during the install and then re-install them for you, but I've had mixed results with this so I typically just install them manually after installing CM.


How can I get a voice confirmation of an alarm?

While this may be extremely helpful, I believe that the only way to get this functionality would be to modify the Google Now app, or build the additional response into a custom ROM using one of the TTS modules.

While it is by no means an optimal solution, you could try third-party voice action apps like Vlingo or Jeannie to see if they include this functionality.


control charging for Samsung Galaxy S3 that is in charger 24/7

If your device is not rooted, it's not possible

If it's rooted, it's possible but you have to get your hands dirty, since ways below target to cut off battery charging at upper limit and not while discharging to a lower limit , as you want

[APP][ROOT][4.4+]Battery Charge Limit v1.0.1  available free at XDA works for your device as can be seen from linked user post. You can download the app from here. Fortunately, this is open source so you can tinker with it
Have a look at this for trying other ways of achieving your goal Automatically limit (stop) battery charging at a given percentage . Here again, the actions of discontinue charging can be configured to lower limit


No, it's completely safe to enable developer options.

Doing so only lets you access these options from your phone settings. Some of them may be dangerous under some circumstances, but they have to be explicitly enabled by you, as they are not activated automatically.


Reading Mifare Classic chips with Samsung Galaxy S4?

No, the S4 can't read MIFARE Classic cards. The main problem is that NXP does not license the reader-side of its proprietary MIFARE Classic technology (specifically the use of the (broken) Crypto-1 algorithm) to other chip manufacturers. As a result, the Broadcom NFC controller inside the S4 does not support communication with such cards.

This alone would not be too difficult to circumvent. The Crypto-1 algorithm has been reverse-engineered and published, so it could easily be implemented in software within an Android app. However, the MIFARE Classic protocol does not fully comply to ISO/IEC 14443-3 (NFC-A) in that the authentication command uses a non-standard frame format. As a result, the communication facilities accessible on Android (the closest would be the NfcA tag technology, that requires adherence to ISO/IEC 14443-3 framing) can't be used to communicate with MIFARE Classic tags.


What is the purpose of a ramdisk in Android?

Ramdisk

  ramdisk.img is a small partition image that is mounted read-only by the kernel at boot time. It only contains /init and a few config files. It is used to start to init which will mount the rest of the system images properly and run the init procedure. A Ramdisk is a standard Linux feature.

The ramdisk is in the boot image and also in the recovery image which is kind of boot image

Here is the tree for unpacked the boot image (Inside the boot.img):

.
├── dt.img
├── img_info
├── kernel
├── ramdisk
│   ├── data
│   ├── default.prop
│   ├── dev
│   ├── file_contexts
│   ├── fstab.goldfish
│   ├── fstab.ranchu
│   ├── fstab.universal3475
│   ├── init
│   ├── init.baseband.rc
│   ├── init.carrier.rc
│   ├── init.container.rc
│   ├── init.environ.rc
│   ├── init.fac.rc
│   ├── init.goldfish.rc
│   ├── init.ranchu.rc
│   ├── init.rc
│   ├── init.rilcarrier.rc
│   ├── init.rilchip.rc
│   ├── init.rilcommon.rc
│   ├── init.trace.rc
│   ├── init.universal3475.rc
│   ├── init.universal3475.usb.rc
│   ├── init.usb.configfs.rc
│   ├── init.usb.rc
│   ├── init.wifi.rc
│   ├── init.zygote32.rc
│   ├── lib
│   │   └── modules
│   ├── oem
│   ├── postrecovery.do
│   ├── proc
│   ├── property_contexts
│   ├── publiccert.pem
│   ├── sbin
│   │   ├── adbd
│   │   ├── bgcompact
│   │   ├── cbd
│   │   ├── emmc_quickverify
│   │   ├── ffu
│   │   ├── firmware_key.cer
│   │   ├── healthd
│   │   ├── knox_changer
│   │   ├── sverifysignature
│   │   ├── ueventd -> ../init
│   │   └── watchdogd -> ../init
│   ├── seapp_contexts
│   ├── sepolicy
│   ├── sepolicy_version
│   ├── service_contexts
│   ├── sys
│   ├── system
│   ├── ueventd.goldfish.rc
│   ├── ueventd.ranchu.rc
│   ├── ueventd.rc
│   └── ueventd.universal3475.rc
└── ramdisk.packed


Installing official Google Marketplace on a chinese Asus Eee Pad Transformer 101

Apparently there is no way to do it.

There are some alternative market places that can be used, but they don't solve the fact that tablets with the chinese firmware are rendered useless because there's no Google account support.

So the only thing you can do really is install this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1245892

Works like a charm :)

Oh and for the Prime, Asus officially supports it.


How can I use my device as a wifi keyboard and trackpad for my computer?

Gmote will let you control your computer over wifi via your Android phone.  It basically treats it like a keyboard/mouse.


Identifying an Android device by its hostname

If net.hostname was not preset by device manufacturer during production then Android would use ANDROID_ID to generate the unique android-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX host name:

    // setup our unique device name
    if (TextUtils.isEmpty(SystemProperties.get("net.hostname"))) {
        String id = Settings.Secure.getString(context.getContentResolver(),
                Settings.Secure.ANDROID_ID);
        if (id != null && id.length() > 0) {
            String name = new String("android-").concat(id);
            SystemProperties.set("net.hostname", name);
        }
    }


how do I set a ring tone for a specific contact?

OK I found it:

Go to the Contact.
Do not press Edit.
Hit Menu.
Hit Options.
Select Ringtone.
Set Ringtone.

Seems wacky that you don't edit the contact to change the ringtone.


N4 lost data connection after Lollipop update - sign into network HOME

I suspect the issue was caused by having Lollipop reset the default access point of the phone provider to Tmobile rather than Straight talk. Setting it to Straight Talk seems to have made it work again. Will report back if anything changes.


How to prevent android system from creating folders on internal storage

The way to prevent creation of new files/folders inside a particular folder is to use the chattr +i command. Using "+i" makes it immutable, preventing changes by anyone, including su, until you do -i .

so doing: chattr +i /data/app

and then running: mkdir /data/app/blah will fail
but mkdir /data/app/com.android.vending-1/blah will work fine


Why does the number of apps "optimized" not reflect removed apps?

When Android optimizes apps it will optimize all apps, including system apps that you cannot see/remove (well, technically you can, but that's a different question).

If you just check the installed apps on your phone it will just show you the apps that YOU have manually installed and that is why the number is not the same.


Try clearing app data of Clash of Clans from Settings->Apps->Clash of Clans-> Clear data
Then open the game and follow the tutorial until a gear icon appears in the top left corner.  Press the gear icon and select "google sign-in" option from there. Then select your account and you'll be signed in to your account. If you're having difficulty changing accounts, that could be due to network issues , connect to a faster network and try again.


Need help unbricking my Google Pixel (sailfish)

I found this tutorial, but it needs the firehose programmer file, which I can't find anywhere, not for sailfish (https://www.leakite.com/collection-qualcomm-emmc-programmer-files/) Here's the link, in case anyone needs it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z90cQ1whiSE . If you find it, please reply to this and I'll add it. Good luck!
Part 2:
So I finally found out about "Driver Binaries", files Google provides on their site, although no instructions are provided. I downloaded both of the files for 7.1.0 nde and ran the .sh file. Read the agreement and typed "I AGREE", after which the shell created a folder called vendor. Inside are BoardConfigPartial.mk, device-partial.mk and "proprietary" folder.
From what I searched, these are Makefile extensions to build the actual firmware, and all source code is stored in the proprietary folder found earlier. There seems to be a rampatch .img and a dedicated msm8996_camera.xml, and even more interestingly, another folder called lib64 which contains gps.default.so, libwifi-hal-qcom.so. Lots of files inside but I'm not going to go into details. The purpose of this comment is to let anyone more experienced with compiling and building software from raw code hopefully compile all of this into a single flashable .mbn.


I can't use my Google Account password to bypass the lock screen

It will not show if gapps aren't installed on the tablet (some more obscure brands don't come with gapps).

If gapps are installed, then try and enter it incorrectly 20+ times. This will lock you out. You will only see the enter google details screen if the device has gapps (Google Play, Gmail etc).


Need help in Upgrading My HTC Magic from Android 1.6  to Android 2.3?

Sankar,

There's some speculative chatter on the internet to suggest you'll have a hard time running 2.3-Gingerbread on first generation Android devices (such as the HTC Dream and the HTC Magic). It looks like some folks on XDA are working to port the OS but you're definitely looking at CyanogenMod in that case. Which means that ...

  Yes: you will have to root your phone
  to upgrade your OS.

It also means that you might consider doing something a little less drastic, like upgrading to a somewhat more stable ROM. (Especially if the idea of rooting your phone is giving you the willies!) @matthew_read tipped me off to the ROM Bible which is a great place to identify ROMs that other HTC Magic users have successfully installed. The ROMs there will still require you to root your phone, tho.

Check out the HTC Site to see if they have any supported updates though -- it looks like HTC India does offer at least one ROM upgrade for the Magic.


How to flash cyanogenmod to my HUAWEI P6 t00

Due to the device-specific nature of Android (it needs specific drivers for it to run on any one given device), it is generally impossible (or illogical, as it seems) to run a build of Android for a specific device on another device.

This also applies to custom ROMs. Unless you can find a CyanogenMod build specifically for your device or for an extremely similar device, there's no way for you to install CM.


Choose to Forget internal storage, how to recover

I can't help really, but I sympathize.  One commenter said "It's your fault".  No it's not!  Some stupid moronic programmer decided some idiotic protocol was required and the Moto G 2nd Gen quit reading any Micro SD card regularly, that is, encrypted for Andoid.  I had the exact same problem.  After upgrading to Marshmallow the damn thing quit reading my 64Gb high speed card.  So I dropped down to a 32Gb thinking it was compliant with manufactures specs.  Nope the 32 Gig failed just as much.  It would read the card for about 2 minutes and then stop.  I couldn't make a backup of the card, so you did the right thing.  Just start all over, format and get the BS encryption off your storage device.  If you ever format it again with Google encryption, well, then it's your fault. :)

Now root your Android roll it back to the previous build and you'll be able to shove a 128Gb Micro and it'll read it just fine.  Then you give Google a big FU for wrecking a perfectly functional phone.


How safe are my passwords at after-sales service?

General information
As The Andro Nerd pointed out in his answer, most apps store passwords (and other sensitive information) encrypted. Some even don't store them at all (they use a kind of "tokens", as is available with most Google apps -- or they don't store anything like that).
Unfortunately, only most apps seem to care this way. Some store everything plain text (the stock email app on some HTC devices is known for that, for example: Storing passwords and even directory information plain text for Exchange services. Sources for this allegation can be found in the book mentioned below).
Which apps are safe?
It's hard to really know which apps are save, though some services help you figure it out -- see e.g. ViaForensic's AppWatchdog, where they thoroughly investigate apps for things like that (but with limited ressources are far from covering everything). Some security blogs inform about found issues as well -- and if some well-known app is affected by such a security hole (as e.g. mentioned email app, or Skype), all the blogs in the world will spread word.
How to check it on your own
Knowing the structures how data are saved, you could investigate yourself (if your device is rooted, that is). Andrew Hoog's book Android Forensics and Mobile Security is one good source teaching you how to do that:
Apps store their data below the /data/data, in a directory with the apps package name as name (for skype, this would be /data/data/com.skype.merlin_mecha/). By default, that directory is accessible by the app alone (and, of course, by root) -- which is why it requires root privileges to dig deeper. The basic structure below is as follows:
/data/data/com.example.demoapp
├── cache                Directory
│   └── webviewCache     Directory
│       ├── 027e59a0     Cache file
│       └── 057606c4     Cache file
├── databases            Directory
│   └── example.db       SQLite database
├── lib                  Directory
└── shared_prefs         Directory
    └── example.xml      Config file

Obviously, there are two major places to check:

the shared_prefs directory, containing XML files. As those are plain-text, they should be easy to investigate.
the databases directory. Database files are usually in the SQLite standard, so you can investigate them with either an SQLite command line client, or with a graphical frontend like SQLiteMan.

A thorough information on this topic would go too far here -- but you got the idea, I hope.
Conclusion
I wouldn't be that much concerned with Samsungs official service (though "bad guys" could sit everywhere -- but one should not go paranoid about it. But of course it is a generally good idea to be careful of which apps one uses. Too late for your current case, might be -- but there's always a tomorrow.


I just updated the software of my S4 Active, and now my mobile data doesn't work

You can try these solutions. But first, take backup of your device.

Try factory reset. It is possible that previous config files/residual files maybe causing the conflicts.
Flash the latest radio image or just flash latest image of ROM.


I found this in Play Store. See if it works - NetCut Root.
Comment if worked.


On production (user) build of a ROM, you can't start adbd as root unless ROM or at least adbd binary is rebuilt with required modifications. Reason is the ALLOW_ADBD_ROOT build flag (1, 2).
 That's why adbd Insecure was developed, which replaced the adbd binary with a modified one.

On a userdebug or eng build (or with insecure adbd binary extracted from any of these build types):

If ro.secure=0, adbd runs as root when enabled from Settings (Developer Options) (3). However adb root won't work (4).
If ro.debuggable=1, adb root will restart adbd as root (5, 6).

However adbd can be built from modified source code to skip all these checks. Additionally SELinux should also be taken care of, if in enforcing mode. adbd must be allowed to run in unrestricted superuser context: u:r:su:s0 (7, 8), which isn't the case for user builds (9, 10, 11). See this answer for more details.

Android properties can be overwritten using /data/local.prop on userdebug/eng builds i.e. if ALLOW_LOCAL_PROP_OVERRIDE build flag is set (12, 13). But this doesn't work for ro.* properties (14) and same is true for setprop commandline tool. However default.prop / prop.default file - which could be located under multiple possible locations depending on the device build configurations (15) - can be modified to change read-only properties (if not already set from some other property file or *.rc file). If the file is in ramdisk, boot.img needs to be modified.

Magisk's resetprop tool can reset the read-only properties even if they are already set. ro.secure and ro.debuggable both may have possibly been changed as a part of MagiskHide policy (16), which you can revert back to allow adbd run as root.

Another related property is ro.adb.secure, which controls public key authentification. By setting ro.adb.secure=0 on userdebug/eng builds, authentification is skipped (no device unauthorized message ever) (17, 18, 19). Related: Storage location of “adb_keys”.


ClockworkMod Recovery is an custom recovery for Android phones, which is installed on the recovery partition on the internal memory.
AFAIK flashing CWM doesn't void the warranty, but rooting does.


Android devices have a unique way of booting, using a binary blob called boot.img that contains the kernel, and a ramdisk. This ramdisk will contain the /sbin symlink you want to remove.

To remove this, you will probably need either an upgrade image, or you will have to extract boot.img from your device. I can look for or put together instructions for this if you wish.

Once you have the extracted boot.img, you have to then extract the ramdisk image from it, make your changes, and put everything back together.

Then comes the dangerous part, unless you know you cannot brick your phone. You will need to flash this (hopefully working!) boot.img so that Android will use the new ramdisk.

So, for now, it might be better to figure out if there is an init script in the /system directory that you could remove your symlink in each time your phone starts.

  Update: or, like you did, you could just change the init script that calls swapon to call a different one.


I downloaded Angry Birds but can't actually find it on my phone (Samsung Galaxy Ace)

It may have been downloaded, but has it been installed?

Open up the Market app and click "My Apps". If it isn't listed there - i suggest you reinstall it.

Also, is your device capable of running it?


Gmail - one notification for all new messages

Within Gmail while at the inbox screen if you click Menu and then Label Settings you should then be able to check notify once and then you should get notified for every new messages as a group.


Rejoin the groups i had created on a previous Whatsapp account

After some investigation, I found out that the older groups are still in existence and the first person I had added in each of them, when they were created, became the admin of the groups. I had to ask them to add me back to the group.


The names and numbers are decided by Google's marketing department. It's got nothing to do with the developers, who don't even know the name or number until shortly before it's announced: they use an internal name to talk about the release while they're working on it.

The numbers aren't real "major" and "minor" numbers like you get on most software. You'd expect minor releases to be compatible, but in fact they often introduce new features (for example, Bluetooth LE support was introduced in 4.3). Google supplies security updates on a monthly schedule, much more frequently than the marketing version changes.

Application compatibility is dealt with in an entirely different way: every time the Android API is changed, the API level changes. Each Android version (whether it's a new name or not; whether it's a new "major version" or not) has an API level. The Android developer site has some information on API level numbers and how they relate to the marketing names/numbers. It's not intended for end-users but it's quite readable.


Can we delete /storage/emulated/0/tencent/MicroMsg/03a...df5/sfs/avatar.block.00008?

According to the info provided by this thread on XDA, any data contained within tencent/MicroMsg and its subdirectories, does not consist of chat backups and/or relevant data.

Instead, the folder tree contains several large cache files (for avatars and chats), and media files (pictures, music, video) sent to you by other users. This theory has been supported by the fact that, backing up the tencent/MicroMsg folders, uninstalling WeChat, reinstalling it, and then restoring the backed up tree, does not restore neither your previous chats, nor your old session.

Still, the app does never accomplish any maintenance on its cache, so that's a duty that must be carried out by the end user, while WeChat contacts and chats are stored within internal sql databases on the /data partition.


Fastboot command not working as expected

The fastboot utility had an internal whitelist for USB vendor IDs, which included only some major Android device vendors:

0x0451    Texas Instruments
0x0502    Acer
0x05c6    Qualcomm
0x0955    Nvidia
0x0b05    Asus
0x0bb4    HTC
0x0fce    Sony Ericsson
0x18d1    Google
0x22b8    Motorola
0x2314    INQ Mobile
0x413c    DELL
0x8087    Intel

In the AOSP commit from 2015-08-10 this USB vendor ID whitelist was removed, therefore new fastboot versions should work with all Android devices without needing the -i 0xXXXX option (now the option just limits the selection in case multiple Android devices from different vendors are connected). However, the most current platform-tools release (23) at the time of writing this answer does not yet have this commit included, therefore you will need to keep using the -i 0xXXXX option for some time.


Email App: How to select a subset of IMAP folders to subscribe to?

There are some additional options available in K-9 Mail, but it offers only the following choices: "All", "Only 1st Class folders", "1st and 2nd Class folders", "All except 2nd Class folders", "None". Not sure if this helps in your case, depends on your folder structure.


How to do a factory reset on Xperia Z with broken screen?

The simple way to factory reset for unrooted phone is to perform a factory reset via pc companion.

Download PC COMPANION and install
Open up PC companion and click on Software Repair
Optional: If your screen is locked and you can't unlock it, check the "I can't start my device"-checkbox in the lower left corner. Click "Next".
It will say could not find phone because you haven't connect it yet! so, do connect it and click on the repair phone like this picture. Follow onscreen instruction.


There is no option in the gmail app for viewing the contacts! You can access them through web.


You can flash the CM12S update over the CM Nightly. I did it myself.

Just make sure you have a custom recovery installed and make a backup just in case!


I can't find the boot/recovery partitions on my Android phone for backup - where are they?

as aureljared already mentioned, proper configured MTK devices populate their recovery and boot partitions in /dev/recovery and /dev/bootimg. Just dd from there.


No problem to use odin and flash stock firmware, newest you can vind on www.sammobile.com

On XDA I found you a thread to make sure you can succesfully use odin.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2704363

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Axel


"Unfortunately the process com.android.phone has stopped" after upgrade to Lollipop on my S5

You can reinstall Lollipop by installing ODIN onto your computer.

and then you download lollipop, that is compatible with odin, for your S5 HERE.

Your model number for your S5 on the phone underneath the battery. You search that on the website.

These are the steps you do next

Turn off phone.
Hold the Volume Down Button, Home button, and Power button.
Ignore the warning message and press the volume up button to continue.
Connect Phone to Computer
Allow computer to install drivers.
Extract the ZIP file of Lollipop into the ODIN FOLDER.
Open ODIN
Click on the PDA button.
Select the extracted *tar.md5 file.
Click Start!
You should be running Lollipop before you know it!


Which modem firmware for Samsung Galaxy S (GT-I9000) works best with the mobile networks in Russia?

(Initially, the device had XXJPK radio firmware, and it worked bad in Moscow (Megafon operator). Another device had SPJG2 radio firmware, and it worked a bit better here.)

Then I tried:

XXJVT, which was installed together with CM10. And it worked almost as bad again (no signal in our apartment, where previously another Samsung Galaxy S had connection);
JW1, JW4 (radio-cm-7-GalaxyS-JW4-signed.zip), which were bad again;
Modem_XXJVT-CWM3.zip (again XXJVT) couldn't be installed into my device with CM10 from my CWM-based recovery (something incompatible); radio-cm-7-GalaxyS-JVT-signed.zip, which worked bad;
and, finally, ZSJPG_ICS.CM.I9000.zip (from CM10 files) works better! -- it has better signal in many places (but not as good as some other old mobile telephones with the same SIM card in the same places). (I saw a good reference to ZSJPG in a message at xda-developers from April 2012: "What do you prefer for a good stable rom in Holland? -- ZSJPG..best modem ever made"; I started searching for it because I saw it among the popular/most-downloaded radio-modem-firmwares for SGS at 4pda.ru (in Russian); in another thread at 4pda.ru (in Russian), it is listed among the modems for Asia, and there is a comment below saying that JPG was the only one that worked good for that person in an office building.)

(Feel free to give other good tested radio firmwares here, if you have some experience or information!)


You can now change this in the Google Play app under:

Menu > Account > Preferences > Country and profiles

If you have more than one profile - they should be here.
In case if you are stuck with a single business profile - signing up for YouTube premium creates an individual profile.


Is there an offline maps application for Android?

Yah, there is a terrific one, called Maverick Lite.

Off-road GPS navigator with OSM, Google and Bing maps. Support for offline maps & multi-touch. Build-in compass, timer and trip computer. Share your current or planned location. Record and upload tracks to GPSies.com. FourSquare support.

And it's free. the paid version costs about $4