title: How to sync Android and iOS photos?

text:
# Question
Title: How to sync Android and iOS photos?
I currently have iPhone 5, iPad mini, MacBook Air and iMac. I use the iOS and OS X Photos apps to store my photos and to share select photos with family. My photos are stored in iCloud for purposes of personal storage, and shared with spouse and parents via iCloud Photo Sharing. I am desperate to move back to Android for my phone device (probably Nexus 5X) but feel the photos part is locking me in to the Apple ecosystem.

If I return to my Android heartland after too long away, What, if any, ways exist that would help me sync my Android phone photos with my other iOS/OS X devices - and vice versa? In other words, how can I get as close as possible to having a single, cross-platform photo library on both Android and iOS/OS X? When I take a photo on Android, it would also appear in my Apple photo library on both iOS and OS X devices (ie. in iCloud)? Likewise, if I took a photo with my iPad or added a photo to the Photos app in OS X, it would appear back on the phone.

I am investigating Google Photos on iOS and web. I fear family won't want to use this on their iOS devices for sharing. I love the auto photo identification but other aspects of it look weak.

Really struggling with ecosystem lock-in. How can I ween myself off but only partially?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Maybe too late for this answer, but did you try IFTTT?

https://ifttt.com/connect/ios\_photos/google\_drive https://ifttt.com/connect/android\_photos/ios\_photos

---
Tags: photos, google
---


title: Can't open Google Assistant settings

text:
# Question
Title: Can't open Google Assistant settings
I cannot open the Google Assistant settings on my Huawei P10. Whenever I try, it shortly looks like it goes to a new window, but then immediately goes back to the previous window...

I have tried restarting the device. Google Assistant has been enabled on the device for a long time.

Any ideas?

# Answer
> 1 votes
I had the same problem on multiple Huawei phones. The only thing I have found to work is a factory reset. You can back up your phone first if you have anything you want to save, but I've only gotten it to work with a full reset of all data. When I restore the backup, sometimes it stops working again, sometimes it doesn't. I think it's a problem with the EMUI skin, because I have had no problems with it on custom ROM's on Huawei devices. Hope you get it working!

---
Tags: huawei, google-assistant
---


title: How to remove screen lock?

text:
# Question
Title: How to remove screen lock?
I don't know why, but the swipe, and none options have been greyed out.

How to enable them (without factory reset)?

***Note:*** I have unchecked all device administrators (google find my phone, microsoft authenticator etc.), cleared all certificates and restarted my phone. The issue still persists. I don't use any VPN service either.

# Answer
As far as my knowledge goes, this will happen when you have security credentials or certificates installed, or when another app has administrator access and is preventing you from removing the lock. You can try going into your certificate settings to check if there are any certificates installed and make sure you don't have any apps requiring that you have a lock screen. If I recall correctly, there is a way to see a list of apps using administrator privileges as well. Good luck!
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 6.0-marshmallow, lock-screens
---


# Question
Title: Thumbnail image different to actual image
A similar question has been asked previously, however the answer is not relevant to my problem.

I have a number of photos where the thumbnail in the gallery does not match the photo displayed by the viewer (HTC Sensation, stock gallery and photo viewer).

for instance, take a picture of a child on a swing.

The thumbnail appears to be an image taken a fraction of a second earlier than the photo the viewer presents. The child is framed to the right of the photo in the thumbnail but to the left in the full view.

Is anyone able to explain why this is the case?

Also, am I able to rescue the image presented as the thumbnail (which is a better framed image)?

# Answer
> 1 votes
I had the same problem with my OP5T running android 8.1. While you don't seem to be able to obtain the original images, the thumbnails can be found as low-res jpgs at:

> storage/interrnal storage/DCIM/.thumbnails

Depending on what you need them for, you might still be able to use the images. I hope my answer was helpful.

---
Tags: gallery, images, thumbnails
---


# Question
Title: The current version of Firefox is not available from Google Play
I use Lineage OS on a Motorola G4 plus phone. I have Google Play installed and I can install and update all kind of applications (like Stack Exchange for instance).

I can also install Firefox but only the version 59.0.2. According to the Mozilla website the current version is 60. Until I updated Firefox manually (using side loading) the Firefox website warned me that my Firefox version was outdated (which it was).

Again Google Play does not show any issue on my phone. Other applications are installed normally and updated on a regular basis, even after finding the issue with Firefox. I tried to delete the data of the Google Play application on my phone, it did not change anything.

Do you have any idea why Google Play is offering me an older version of Firefox? Does anyone have the same issue? Could this issue be linked to regional or device restrictions?

# Answer
> 1 votes
The current version of Firefox for Android (Firefox 60 at the time of writing) is now available from Google Play on my phone. So the issue is not linked to regional or device restrictions. One possible explanation is unpredictable replication delays between the Google mirrors. Another possible explanation is staged roll-outs as suggested by eldarerathis.

---
Tags: google-play-store, firefox-for-android
---


# Question
Title: Android: Where does android store system properties key/value
I want to change device's serial number. I have researched and finding some places that android stores prop file:

```
/default.prop
/system/build.prop
/system/default.prop
/vendor/build.prop
/data/local.prop
/factory/factory.prop

```

On my device, there are just 2 places for storing prop file:

```
/default.prop
/system/build.prop

```

But I view those two files and don't see serial number storing here. I also see that serial number is storing at: `/data/property/`. But as I researched, this directory is just a memory mapping. So I have tried modify and reset device, all values come back to normal value.

Please tell me where android store imei/serial number ...

Thanks

# Answer
> 3 votes
### Device Serial

I have several devices sharing the same serial (namely the phantastic `0123456789ABCDEF`), so I've been looking for a solution as well a few years ago, and found it. Of course, it requires a rooted device.

```
adb shell
su
mount -o remount,rw /system
vi /system/etc/install-recovery.sh
# edit, save and exit
mount -o reount, ro /system

```

And here comes the line to add to `/system/etc/install-recovery.sh` to make the magic happen:

```
echo -n NEWSERIAL123 > /sys/class/android_usb/android0/iSerial

```

Of course, replace `NEWSERIAL123` by the serial you want the device to use. After the next reboot, this should be in effect.

---

### Device IMEI

As for the IMEI, you'd better not touch that. Legal issues – apart from the fact that different brands deal with it differently.

# Answer
> 1 votes
sn is stored in same private partion(such as misc). And it's read by bootloader and passed to kernel by boot cmd(ro.boot.serialno). Then init will set it to prop ro.serialno.

See this: http://androidxref.com/5.1.1\_r6/xref/system/core/init/init.c#752

# Answer
> 0 votes
I don't think that changing IMEI is done like that. It's not stored in any .prop file. Maybe even if you change it you'll screw your phone badly. If you still want to change it you have xposed module called 'IMEI changer. I'm curios why do you want to change it?

---
Tags: file-properties
---


# Question
Title: How to hide hotspot icon in the drop down after lock
Sir , I use android marshmallow and My brother always enables the hotspot also after I lock the Phone with Password Because "hotspot setting is shown in drop down menu " I wanted to ask how to remove it ? From dropdown menu after lock?

# Answer
For Android Marshmallow devices, you need to activate SystemUI Tuner which is hidden by default. To enable the SystemUI Tuner:

1. Swipe down the notification shade from top. Long-press the Settings(gear) icon.
2. After about few seconds of holding, it spins and release when it displays a message saying `Congrats! System UI Tuner has been added to Settings`.
3. To access it, go to Settings-\>System UI Tuner(scroll down to the bottom of the screen). Tap it.
4. On the System UI Tuner device shows a warning message. Tap `Got It` to continue.
5. Tap Quick Settings option to customize your tiles.

a. Press and drag to rearrange

b. Drag to the trash can to remove tiles you don’t want to see.

c. Click "Add Tile" button to add any unused tiles you want to include.

d. If you want to go back to the default layout, tap the menu button and choose “Reset”.

**Note:**

Choose option **5b** to Remove the Hotspot tile. After that, you can activate Hotspot only from Settings App, because, icon is no longer displayed under notification shade, until you add hotspot tile using add tile option.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: wi-fi, 6.0-marshmallow, wifi-hotspot, notification-icons
---


# Question
Title: How can I see if my boyfriend has added a listening, tracking app on my zte?/
I believe that my boyfriend has put a hidden app on my phone that enables him to read all my text messages, phone calls and know my location. How can I see if he has done this ?

# Answer
> 0 votes
PC World had an article on the topic a little while back and recommended Anti Spy Mobile Free and Anti Spy.

Be careful when using them - judging by their descriptions, they appear to be using heuristics that might be fooled by legit apps in some cases. Of course, if they show an app that's deliberately hiding itself and can read your text messages, it's probably spyware.

---
Tags: security
---


# Question
Title: Wifi and cellular data keep turning off by itself.
I have an Alcatel onetouch fiercexl. All of a sudden my wifi and Metro PCS cellular data keep turning off. It only stays on for a few minutes. If try to use any app or go on the internet by the time I load it it says no internet connection. I use my data if I'm not home and wifi at home and they both keep turning off. Is there anything I can do about it?

# Answer
I had the same problem. Android Samsung S5. Wifi kept turning itself off. Very annoying. I had the smart network switch on or off...didn't matter. I discovered that I had the ATT Smart WiFi app enabled. I turned that off and it solved the problem.
> 1 votes

# Answer
That definitely should not happen. Few things to try:

* Did you install / Do you use any program that can change these settings? Something like app for changing the status by your location or by time or by its profile. It might be some application that came reinstalled with your phone (do not know what was there)
* Is there newer version of firmware for your phone? If so, consider upgrading. This might be radio ROM issue.
* As last resort on your side, you could try to perform factory reset on your phone (however you LOSE ALL YOUR DATA) to see if the problem persists afterwards.

If nothing above helps you it might be hardware problem and you should return your phone for warranty repair.
> 0 votes

# Answer
\[Please note, this is a Windows phone and this is an Android forum. So this answer will quickly disappear. If it's useful, please up-vote and/or mark the question as answered? I could do with the reputation points.\]

According to the Alcatel One Touch Fierce XL Manual, as well as a full factory reset it is possible to reset the browser, camera and storage separately.

But before that, have you tried simply turning the phone off, waiting a little, then turning it on again? \[It is, after all, a Windows phone :-) \]

If the suggestions by Aries fail, you will probably have to try a Factory Reset. (Alcatel require this before contacting them, see the Troubleshooting section of the Manual.)

First save all your data:

1. Make a note of the email account and password you used as the phone's first account.
2. Under Settings-\>Personal there is an option to backup the phone's internal data to Google Servers (if you registered a Google account).
3. Be aware that you will have to back up any documents, music or pictures separately. Plugging your phone into your computer using a USB lead (the charging lead?) is one way of doing that.
4. Make sure your emails are safe by checking you can access all of them independently (on your computer or from your email provider's web interface). If necessary, Forward them to your email account.
5. Make a note of any Apps you've downloaded from Windows Store. The Store should have a record of any you have paid for. and will allow you to restore them later.

Then do a Factory Reset from Settings-\>Personal-\>Backup & Reset. Or, with the phone turned off, hold Volume Up and Power keys until the screen lights up.

Finally, log in using the original email and password, restore the settings from Google and copy back your music, photos and any other files.
> 0 votes

# Answer
I know this is a really old post but i thought i'd still post this if anyone comes across this while having similar problems... I solved this by removing the SIM card and putting it back in. Hope this helps
> 0 votes

---
Tags: wi-fi, connection-issues, mobile-data, alcatel-one-touch-idol-s
---


title: 800MB free RAM yet home screen redraws?

text:
# Question
Title: 800MB free RAM yet home screen redraws?
my lowest priority app-kill min-free level engages at 64MB.

if I have 800MB of free RAM as reported in OSMonitor, why is the garbage collecting Nova Launcher assets? I can't even.

BTW, I have noticed this behavior in Android for many years, across launchers, across phones. I don't think it ever really got fixed-- remedied perhaps; I think people just gave up fussing. From the user's perspective, nothing should be cleared from RAM unless RAM is needed.

# Answer
> 0 votes
This is a rather old question but Nova Launcher has an option to stop (most) redraws.

It can be found in Nova Settings \> Advanced (at the bottom of the list).

It reads:

> ### Aggressive desktop
>
> Persistence, caching, and preloading to reduce redraws. Comparable to Keep in Memory option of Android 2.x launchers.

It's not a good idea for phones with low RAM (\<=1GB), but if you have 800MB free (so, assumingly, your phone has 1.5 or 2GB), it should be just fine.

There should also be `(persistent)` next to the app name in Android Settings \> Developer options \> Process stats after changing that option.

---
Tags: 4.4-kitkat, ram, nova-launcher
---


# Question
Title: Does Whatsapp notifies if my security code has changed to people I don't have in my list of contacts?
I know Whatsapp gives you a notification when someone change their security code (eg: when they change their smartphone) I am wondering if this is also the case when that person doesn't have you in their list of contacts.

To make it clear, for example, if I am in a group and I have only some of the members added to my contact list, and then I changed my phone, will they all be notified or only those I have added?

# Answer
If you're in a group and your security code is changed then every member of that group would be able to see that notification. I'd observed this many times even though neither me nor them knew each other or had each other's number saved. They would see your number in the notification (not technically a notification), not the name.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: whatsapp-messenger
---


# Question
Title: My device is getting slow, apps start misbehaving/crashing. What can I do?
Everything was working fine for a long time. But suddenly the device is getting slower than usual (e.g. apps react slowly when starting an action -- like the RSS reader takes "ages" to open an article). Also, several apps start crashing: force-closes as well as unexpected restarts. Sometimes this even involves some automatic reboot of the device.

Is there anything I can do, besides doing a factory-reset? Preferably it should work on un-rooted devices.

Remark: not all described problems may occur together, so on one device e.g. there might be no automatic reboot involved. Question remains the same, nonetheless.

# Answer
A behavour as described above in most cases indicates something's messed up in the system. The most likely candidates here are:

* Application Cache
* Dalvik Cache

As you might have guessed already, different solutions are available for rooted devices -- but only few for non-rooted devices, which cannot directly access the *Dalvik Cache*. So read on below examples until you hit something working for you, or continue to the very end for all options.

## rooted and non-rooted devices: remove obsolete apps

Cause of a slow-down might be some app, hogging all resources. Those apps usually can be identified via the "battery consumption" page in *Settings.* But even if you cannot find it there, it cannot hurt to remove apps you once installed but no longer need (see e.g. Alix' answer).

You can also disable some system apps you don't need (keyword: ). To do so, go to *Settings → Applications*, select the "All" tab, and walk the list to find those apps. Tap their entry, and you should find a "disable" button. It might be grayed out: if so, you first have to "force stop" the app, and maybe to "uninstall updates", before the "disable" button becomes accessible. Note however, that this possibility will not exist for all system apps. For rooted devices, there are several tools available allowing you to "freeze" or even remove system apps (be very careful with the latter); one famous example is Titanium Backup.

## rooted and non-rooted devices: Clear the *Application Cache*

If you're lucky, it's simply that: the *Application Cache* got filled/messed up. This can be easily resolved, even on non-rooted devices:

* With methods available by default on each Android system:
    + From your homescreen, go to *Settings → Apps → Manage Apps*. Make sure to view *All Apps*, not *Downloaded* only
    + Walk the list, open each app, and hit the *Clear Cache* button
* Easier method using helper apps: There are several apps available on the Playstore which allow to clean all application's caches at once, so you don't have to walk a long list and do it manually. One example for such an app is 1Tap Cleaner, which also can clean up several other histories like e.g. the browser history

## rooted devices: Clear *Application Cache* **and** *Dalvik Cache*

Even more likely for the described case is a messed-up *Dalvik Cache* -- especially if you tested a lot of apps, permanently installing/uninstalling different ones. So a cleanup of the *Dalvik Cache* most certainly will solve the situation. As a side effect, it will certainly speed-up things. No negative side-effects are to be expected.

* Via Custom Recovery
This is the most effective way and sure to really do the job. This example is based on the *ClockworkMod Recovery*, which is most widely spread. It should be equivalent with *AmonRa Recovery*.
    + Boot into recovery mode (how to do this often depends on the device/ROM used. For *CyanogenMod* users it's most easy: Long-Press the `power` button, select "Reboot", select "Recovery")
    + Using the `Volume` controls, select *Wipe Cache* and approve it using the `power` button. On the next screen, approve the action the same way. This way you easily clear the *Application Cache* as described above, all at once, without the need of an extra app.
    + Go to the *Advanced* menu, select to *Clear Dalvik Cache* the same way with the `Volume` and `Power` keys and approve it.
    + Go back to the main menu, and select *Reboot*. The next reboot *will* take longer as usual, so don't worry: Android needs to rebuild the *Dalvik Cache*, that's completely normal behaviour.
* Helper apps:
Several apps offer options to cleanup the *Dalvik Cache* (e.g. SystemCleanup and Titanium Backup PRO Key ★ root). You can try those; but I'm not sure if one of them really "wipes" the *Dalvik Cache*. At least for *Titanium Backup* I know it only removes remains from uninstalled apps (i.e. obsolete Dalvik files).

## rooted and non-rooted devices last resort: *Factory Reset*

If none of the above does solve your problem, there's always the *Factory Reset*. Basically, this does all the above (wiping *Application Cache* and *Dalvik Cache*) -- but it also wipes the `/data` partition. This means: All your settings and data (except those stored on your sd card) as well as all apps you installed yourself are gone. So be sure to have a good backup before doing this (see e.g. Full Backup of non-rooted devices for how to achieve this).

---

## rooted devices: fstrim

Another reason for slowing things down lies in the storage. A little background for understanding:

On the flash memory used in our devices, each cell can only be written so many times. To prevent capacity loss and wear-out, the flash controller applies an algorithm called "wear leveling" to evenly spread writes across the medium. Of course, to prevent data loss you want to write to "empty places" only (except when explicitly overwriting a file). And here comes the culprit: To speed things up, the file system in most cases only marks files deleted, but doesn't tell the controller about the "freed blocks" -- so it becomes inefficient with time.

Android 4.3 addresses this issue with appropriate `fstrim` calls, telling the controller once a day which blocks to consider freed. Some ROMs integrated a comparable feature also in earlier versions of Android, mounting file systems with the `discard` option (so the controller is informed at once on deletes), but this slows down deletes a little. For devices not having addressed this in either of the two ways, it might be worth to take a look at the Lagfix App, which calls `fstrim` in a user-friendly way for selected partitions. Running that once on a long-used device may speed up writes by a factor of up to 30, and even reads get a little faster.

References:
> 47 votes

# Answer
My HTC One V was getting so slow that I was getting ready to smash it. After trying everything with nothing working, I went through my apps and deleted a few. Apparently the one causing all the trouble was You Don't Know Jack. The second it was off my phone my speed dramatically increased and started functioning normally again. Not sure if this will help anyone else, but on the off-chance it does, I just wanted to let you know.
> 3 votes

# Answer
## How to Speed up Slow Android

Remember the day you bought your android? It wasn't slow. It was so fast. What happened? Did the silicon get slower? Did the bits get clogged? Of course not. You're just running more invisible background services.

First, disable auto updates in

* Samsung galaxy store (if applicable),
* in settings \> software updates,
* In secret developer options menu (look it up)
* and Google play store

This is important because otherwise they just reinstall / update themselves.

Then look for apps that open automatically after removing them from via device maintenance \> clear memory & developer options \> running services and **uninstall** or reset them to factory default to as many as you can (I also remove permissions from them so they cant read from storage secretly in the background etc.). Some system apps you may want to keep, such as Google play services etc. Just uninstall the ones you are confident you understand are not needed

Remember, clearing the memory does NOT speed up the device, it only shows you what apps autoload background processes so you can uninstall them. A good example of this is Instagram, if you notice it keeps running while it's closed, because it will preload dozens of Instagram videos in your feed before you even open the app. While preloading is generally seen as an optimization, if you have enough apps aggressively preloading at the same time, and security apps monitoring those apps, and RAM filling up which then kicks off garbage collection on the Java runtime, and possibly even memory paging, plus any activity you actually request, plus reporting your location to Google, plus reporting your location to "find your phone" programs, plus checking traffic on your future commute, plus parsing your calendar for AI usage with Google Home, plus updates checking, plus notification querying, etc etc, then you may find that your device is doing far more activity than it can handle. Simple way to test this is to turn on Max Battery Saving option and see if the battery and responsiveness improves. If so, it's in large part because all the extensive background processing is disallowed.

Also remember that disabling auto updates does not speed up the phone per se, it just allows you prevent future updates from causing unexpected performance degradation. It makes you the gatekeeper so your phone cannot magically slow down overtime, but rather let's you pick and choose what apps you trust to update (and of course, update the apps you love.) It's like Kon Mari method for your phone.

Remember, phones don't get slow over time. Bad programming in Updates cause phones to get slow. And this will get you back to a smooth android like the day you bought it (also good for battery)

I've had outstanding success with this. And my frame rate is 2x better as well as app open speed. It's fantastic.

Oh and also enable background ANRs so you can see invisible stalls
> 2 votes

# Answer
I have had very similar problems with my phone. The response I got to my query on the whirlpool forums seemed to have fixed it. (I had apps closing, the keyboard not appearing or closing, etc).

Go to settings \> power Untick fastboot.

Power off then on your phone.

This saves a hard reset if it works, which it did with me.
> 1 votes

# Answer
I've noticed on mine that when I run the Gallery app, things get very very slow for a long while, then eventually start working fine again. I suspect that's because I have a huge number of pictures, and almost never use the Gallery app. I think it may be re-scanning and cataloging in the background or other maintenance-type functions.

I found a similar issue when I was cleaning my call log. Every now and then, I'll scroll back several months and delete log entries from telemarketers or other undesireables. When I do this and go back several months, things can get very slow as well. In this case, I suspect it's because I'm essentially fragmenting a very long log file, and it's trying to clean things up in the background, but while it's doing that, I'm continuing to poke additional holes in it. Again though, if I just wait it out, it seems to resolve itself.

Today I did both, and things got extremely slow for about an hour after I finished. But I just left it alone, and now everything smooth as glass once again.

Sometimes we just need to let the machinery do it's job without fiddling with it, thereby making things worse. :)
> 0 votes

---
Tags: performance, crashes
---


title: does ART use dalvik bytecode?

text:
# Question
Title: does ART use dalvik bytecode?
I know dalvik vm use dalvik bytecode. does ART use dalvik bytecode or something else ?

# Answer
> 1 votes
ART is simply just Dalvik 2.x (and up) if you check the Dalvik version. It has to be able to run any valid \*.apk files so obviously it must support all Dalvik VM's instructions. The instruction format is still the same like before, and so are the instructions

> Android runtime (ART) is the managed runtime used by applications and some system services on Android. ART and its predecessor Dalvik were originally created specifically for the Android project. **ART as the runtime executes the Dalvik Executable format and Dex bytecode specification**.
>
> **ART and Dalvik are compatible runtimes running Dex bytecode**, so apps developed for Dalvik should work when running with ART. However, some techniques that work on Dalvik do not work on ART. For information about the most important issues, see Verifying App Behavior on the Android Runtime (ART).
>
> ...
>
> At install time, ART compiles apps using the on-device dex2oat tool. **This utility accepts DEX files as input and generates a compiled app executable for the target device. The utility should be able to compile all valid DEX files without difficulty**.
>
> https://source.android.com/devices/tech/dalvik/

# Answer
> 1 votes
ART uses Dalvik bytecode but unlike Dalvik which would only create an optimized version of its bytecode before all of it is interpreted by the VM, ART can compile some Dalvik bytecode to native code while other code gets interpreted.

Regardless Android APKs still contain DEX files which is Dalvik bytecode.

---
Tags: dalvik, art
---


title: Long press textmenu editing

text:
# Question
Title: Long press textmenu editing
I am very new to apply codes. Sorry my disturbunce...

I am english learner. I am reading english newspaper. When i long press on a word textmenu popup and i need to push translate button but its in hidden side and i need to press three dot to open it.

How can i find this textmenu area in an app on apk editor? How can i get long press menu fixed in view on an app. Or at least how can i change order long press menu copy,share, select all to other order.. Thank u in advance. Any mistake please delete my message and forgive me...

# Answer
> 1 votes
You cannot change this order because Android devices this order internally.

# Answer
> 0 votes
As Aashish points out, it's Android itself that presents this menu, not the app. The app can add extra items to the "three dots" menu, but it can't move items into the first menu or change the order. Instead, you should look for a *custom ROM* (a modified version of Android with this feature), or an Xposed plugin that lets you change the menu. I don't think the feature you want exists in either of those forms.

One alternative is provided by the Google Translate app itself. It has an option called **Tap to Translate**. This option makes it listen in for text copied to the clipboard. When you copy some text, Google Translate pops up a button to translate it immediately. You might find this a little easier than using the **Translate** option from the menu.

To activate this option, go to the Google Translate app. In the navigation drawer (the *hamburger menu*), go to **Settings**, then **Tap to Translate**. Flick the **Enable** switch on.

---
Tags: applications
---


# Question
Title: Device is showing in device manager but not in Android ADB Interface?
Hi I am Having some problems while using adb on my computer. I connected tab to my laptop with a usb cable. And This is the device manager.

Here you see that my lenovo tab is connected but not connected in android device. I typed adb devices in cmd and too it showed "List of devices attached" and nothing else. Please reply as fast as you can.

# Answer
First make sure you have the latest USB drivers for your device installed on your computer. Also make sure that USB Debugging is enabled. If the problem persists, you may try reinstalling the drivers. May I know if you are using adb as sideload to flash roms or other usage?
> 0 votes

---
Tags: adb, tablet
---


# Question
Title: Is there a way to bypass the PIN on Galaxy Tab a without deleting anything on it?
I've had a Galaxy Tab a for about a year now, and I recently went out of town. When I came home and entered the security PIN, it wasn't working and then I realized that I changed it. I tried entering what I remember changing it to, but none worked. Is there a way to bypass the PIN without deleting anything on the tablet?

# Answer
> 0 votes
There should be a way to reset the PIN by using your email. If your device is rooted, there are quite a lot of flashable zips for you to bypass the lockscreen on XDA.

---
Tags: locked-out
---


# Question
Title: Why does my storage page say I have 34 GB of Audio files when there are only 2 audio files stored, totaling 2.1 MB?
I've been trying to free up space on my Pixel 2XL, and the Storage menu in Settings says I have 34 GB of audio files stored, but when I go in to the files to try to erase things, I only have two audio files taking up a total of ~2.1 MB. I don't even know where to find what else might be taking up the space, there's nothing else there... Any ideas?

**Storage Menu:**

**After pressing `Audio`**

**After pressing `Unknown`**

**After pressing `VoiceRecorder`**

# Answer
> 0 votes
Apps may not store files with music file extensions, this is why they cannot be seen as audio files. You should try clearing app data of Apple music or something similar or check in its directory to see what you want to keep. Sometimes android also recognizes file extensions wrong and interprets them as audio files, such as incomplete downloads. You may use apps such as Files Go from Google to optimize your device storage space.

---
Tags: internal-storage, storage, insufficient-memory
---


# Question
Title: What will happen if I delete the Google Play Services?
What will happen if I delete and re-install the Google Play Services?

Will all my game data be deleted too?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Google Play services is required to access features from Google, such as downloading apps from Google Play and accessing Google Play Games for achievements. If you are reinstalling Google Play Services, your game data will not be harmed as they are either synced onto cloud or is stored locally and separate from Google. However, reinstalling does not really help. Is battery drain the issue? You can try deleting app data, which is similar to reinstalling. Freezing it with Lucky Patcher may also solve some of your problems.

---
Tags: google-play-games
---


# Question
Title: How do I prevent usb mount while the the mobile is OFF
I know that this topic helps prevent USB mount. But there is such thing that while the android mobile is off, volume button + the power button starts the boot, and the android can be still mounted while it is off. How do i prevent this?

# Answer
> 0 votes
volume button + the power button boots the phone either to fastboot mode or recovery mode. One way to do it is to flash a recovery that does not support USB mounting. However, the thief may still flash a new recovery to access your files. At least it would be way more complicated. I'm afraid there is no absolute way to prevent USB mount.

---
Tags: security, usb, power-on, samsung-galaxy-note-4
---


# Question
Title: How do I stop a Google account from syncing contacts?
I have multiple email accounts on my phone. Some are personal emails and one is for school.

The problem is that my school email is syncing all of my school contacts to my contacts. This is a problem for two reasons:

1. I do not want 2,000+ people that I do not know appearing in my contacts when I search and
2. I like to keep my school information and personal information separate. I only want to use my school email for email, docs, and drive.

When I go to my account, I unchecked everything except those three options and my school contacts are still synced. If there is anything I am doing wrong or something I can do instead, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

# Answer
> 0 votes
You can go to Settings - Accounts - Google and uncheck "Gmail" to turn automatic synchronization off I think but doing so will stop push notifications about newly received emails and information from your main account won't be synced too.

# Answer
> -1 votes
What if you make two different Chrome profiles? Am I correct in assuming that you are now logged in with 2 Google accounts in your Chrome browser? If so the first account you logged in with is your main account and all the following accounts you add will synchronise with the data from the first account.

You have to click on your name in the right top corner of the Google Chrome browser and then click Manage people. Then add person 1 and you use your second Google account to log in.

Now you should have 2 Chrome profiles on. The one you use now, all the Google accounts you add will sync to the first account you logged in with. On the second Chrome profile in which you used the other account to log in, all the accounts you add will sync to that account. Do not forget to log out of your second Google account from the first Chrome profile (the one you use now.)

# Answer
> -1 votes
You should go to Settings - Accounts - Google - your email - contacts to turn sync off.

---
Tags: contacts, sync, gmail, accounts
---


# Question
Title: On Alarm Clock Plus, what does "Allow auto snooze/dismiss" mean?
On the Alarm Clock Plus app, what does "Allow auto snooze/dismiss" mean? How do I use these features? Can they both be used on one alarm?

# Answer
**Snooze** \- Instead of shutting the alarm off, it would pause it allowing you to sleep for few more minutes. If you see your settings, you could notice the snooze minutes viz - 5, 10, 15 minutes and you can also keep custom minutes. When the alarm rings and you feel like having a quick 5 min extended sleep, you hit the snooze option. This comes handy since you dont need to wakeup, set another alarm for next 5-10 minute and doze off.

**Dismiss** \- This cancels/shuts the alarm down for that day & time. You click on the dismiss option when you are ready to ware up!

**Auto Snooze** That means if there isn't any action (if you don't hit the snooze options) system automatically snooze and again the alarm rings after the x minutes as per the snooze interval. If this auto snooze is not set, you would probably get a notification as "missed alarm". I just updated the answer aswell.

Hope that helps!
> 1 votes

# Answer
Snooze means delaying the alarm to a certain time. For example, I set an alarm at 7am and the snooze time is 5 minutes. After ringing for some time (dismissed you may call it), it will turn off and snoozes till 7:05am for the next ring.

Dismiss means the alarm is completely turned off. If you do not interact with your phone for a certain while the alarm is on, it will be automatically dismissed (turned off).
> 0 votes

---
Tags: applications, alarm
---


# Question
Title: Can't change MAC address on Rooted Android Nextbook Ares 8
I rooted my Nextbook Ares 8" tablet, model NXA8QC116, so I could change the MAC address and host name, as I hate personal data mining and user behavior monitoring.

Device specifics: Model NXA8QC116S, Android Version : 5.1.1, Build # : V3.0.?

Rooted with the binary "Nextbook Ares 8 Stock 5.1.1 Rom modified boot.img" from forum.xda-developers.com

Commands (terminal app):

```
u0_xxx@NXA8QC116:/ $: su
root@NXA8QC116:/ #: busybox iplink show wlan0
[reports the MAC address]
root@NXA8QC116:/ #: busybox ifconfig wlan0 hw ether fa:8e:f0:f2:14:27
root@NXA8QC116:/ #: busybox iplink show wlan0
[reports the original, unchanged MAC address]

```

I tried this with the WiFi both on and off. I also tried leaving "busybox" out of the commands.

Any help is appreciated.

# Answer
> 0 votes
There's a file called mac.txt in /config/wifi, which contains the MAC address, which is the only thing in the file.

Changing this value, and then enabling the wifi adapter results in a new MAC address. (Confirmed by logging into a router it connected to.) This change survives a reboot.

Now to research how to write a script to randomly pick a manufacturer prefix number and the rest of the digits at every restart, along with setting a temporary randomized hostname (setprop net.hostname xxxxxx).

I found the MAC text file by searching the device for files with Total Commander.

---
Tags: privacy, root-access, mac-address
---


# Question
Title: How long will battery last, assuming no usage
**Short question:** How do I find how long my battery will last, taking into account the current settings (Airplane mode, Battery saver, etc) I have enabled, and assuming I do not use it?

**Detailed question:**

When I open the *Battery usage* app (?), I am given 3 numbers...

1. Usage on battery
2. Estimated time remaining
3. Last 3 h of usage

I understand what **#3** means.

What does **#1** mean?

The time given by **#2** does not make sense. I currently have 2% remaining, with Airplane mode and Battery saver mode turned ON, and it tells me I have 14 minutes remaining. But it has said that for the past 30 minutes. (Note: I have only used my phone a couple times to quickly check on the battery in the past 30 minutes.)

I did some searches, and the closest questions I was able to find was here and here. But neither answers my question.

Phone is a LG Tribute HD with Android version 6.0.1

# Answer
> 0 votes
That usually refers to the impact on battery given by a single app. If you expand you are supposed to get a list of your apps running, ordered from the most costing ones in terms of battery usage.

---
Tags: 6.0-marshmallow, battery, battery-life, lg
---


# Question
Title: Running Android on a PC as a nondeveloper, just to run apps
I am an Android user running Android 7.0 (Nougat) on a Wiko Sunny 2 Plus device with 4GB internal storage, most of which is taken up by pictures and WhatsApp data. I have purchased this device because I was tired of mobile phones breaking down at home due to carelessness and am now stuck with this cheap model meaning that I now cannot run several nifty apps I had purchased.

However my home computer has about 300GB internal hard drive and I was thinking that even though I cannot carry my computer around the same way as a mobile phone or use touch screen since touch is missing from the screen not use GPS or a back camera nor use the cellular network for phone and messages as it does not have a sim card, I could still download some apps such as edutainment and dictionary apps and use them there.

So, I was wondering, as a nondeveloper, what is the easiest way to download the latest Android OS to your computer, in my case Windows 7 64-bit, and run an Android emulator or full screen tablet app on my computer, so that I can still make use of my purchased apps and what not?

Also, will I be able to use the same Google account name on the emulator without running into problems of conflict with my main smartphone?

Is there an easy emulator setup for nondevelopers, app testers for instance, that does not require a download of all the tools involved?

Thanks.

# Answer
> 3 votes
Yes, Bluestacks is the best option for your needs. Particularly suitable for game players, you can run any app on it. No need to download any extra; after downloading Bluestacks on your PC, just log in with your Play Store account and you'll find all of your apps listed.

# Answer
> 1 votes
For non-commercial uses Genymotion is a great candidate. It is free for personal usage. It supports GApps (Google apps i.e Playstore, Gmail etc). It is also quite faster than the Google's stock emulator which comes with Android studio. For genymotion you need to

1. Make a Genymotion account
2. Download Genymotion for Windows
3. Sign in
4. Download an android OS image
5. Configure the device if you want else run it directly after downloading

# Answer
> 0 votes
You may also wish to try MEmu - Android emulator

It is highly customizable, yet lightweight with elegant features:

Rich Features:

* Full Android experience with an elegant desktop
* Flexible customization (CPU, memory, resolution, device model, root mode, etc.)

> * Mapping the keyboard/joystick to screen touch for much better game experience
> * Passing through sensor data (e.g. accelerator) to Android, like Microsoft Surface.
> * GPS location simulation, show up wherever you want
> * File sharing between Windows and Android
> * One click to create/clone Android instances

You can setup your Google account just like any other device.

System Requirements:

* Windows Vista/Windows 7 SP1/Windows 8.1/Windows 10
* Intel or AMD CPU (with Virtualization Technology support preferred)
* GPU with OpenGL 2.0+ support
* At least 1 GB free system memory
* At least 2 GB of free disk space under installation path

...and by the way it's absolutely FREE

---
Tags: windows, android-emulator, emulators, android-pc
---


title: Are there codecs or codec packs?

text:
# Question
Title: Are there codecs or codec packs?
I have a video without any problem in Windows (with K-Lite Codec Pack, but probably it is not important).

I copied it into my smartphone with OS Adroid 5.0.2, and I indeed need some codec/codecs for playing it back, because I got a message that is not possible to playing it back.

I know that there are media players with embedded codecs but it is not a solution for me - I want playing it back with my favorite media player.

Converting it to another (supported) format is not acceptable, too.

Is there a codec for it? Here is MediaInfo output for it:

```
General
Complete name                : C:\Videos\Woods.avi
Format                       : AVI
Format/Info                  : Audio Video Interleave
File size                    : 43.2 MiB
Duration                     : 2 min 59 s
Overall bit rate             : 2 050 kb/s
Writing library              : VirtualDub build 24469/release

Video
ID                           : 0
Format                       : MPEG-4 Visual
Format settings              : BVOP1
Format settings, BVOP        : 1
Format settings, QPel        : No
Format settings, GMC         : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix      : Default (H.263)
Muxing mode                  : Packed bitstream
Codec ID                     : DX50
Codec ID/Hint                : DivX 5
Duration                     : 3 min 15 s
Bit rate                     : 1 977 kb/s
Nominal bit rate             : 3 695 kb/s
Width                        : 640 pixels
Height                       : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio         : 4:3
Frame rate                   : 25.000 FPS
Color space                  : YUV
Chroma subsampling           : 4:2:0
Bit depth                    : 8 bits
Scan type                    : Progressive
Compression mode             : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)           : 0.257
Stream size                  : 41.6 MiB (96%)
Writing library              : DivX 5.2.1 Beta (UTC 2004-09-08)

Audio
ID                           : 1
Format                       : MPEG Audio
Format version               : Version 2
Format profile               : Layer 3
Format settings              : Joint stereo / Intensity Stereo + MS Stereo
Codec ID                     : 55
Codec ID/Hint                : MP3
Duration                     : 2 min 59 s
Bit rate mode                : Constant
Bit rate                     : 64.0 kb/s
Channel(s)                   : 2 channels
Sampling rate                : 22.05 kHz
Compression mode             : Lossy
Stream size                  : 1.32 MiB (3%)
Alignment                    : Split accross interleaves
Interleave, duration         : 40  ms (1.00 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration : 502  ms

```

# Answer
> 2 votes
If you use an Android device with Google Play Services, Google has a document which requires what the device MUST have:

Current Android Compatibility Definition Document - 5.3 Video Decoding

As you have an Android 5.0 device this document would apply:

Android 5.0 CDD - 5.1.3 Video Codecs

Note that your video file is an AVI container format which isn't listed so it would be up to the manufacturer to support that format or any additional codecs.

As to why can't you just add a codec see this StackOverflow post:

Adding video codec to Android

The short version is that codecs are in ROM and you can't write to ROM unless you are creating your own Custom ROM.

TL;DR: No, you can't add codecs. Use a third party player which supports your format or convert your video to a supported format (both of which you've rejected).

---
Tags: audio, video
---


title: How to show fps counter in Android 8?

text:
# Question
Title: How to show fps counter in Android 8?
In Oreo, is there a native way (preferred) or a 3rd party app that can show current screen refresh rate (fps counter), in the form of an overlay, in all situation (system UI, apps and 2D/3D games)?

# Answer
You can try FPS meter or GameBench (FPS counter without root). I am not sure but they both supports non-rooted phones.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: applications, system, 8.0-oreo, overlay
---


# Question
Title: Deleting a picture being sent by whatsapp
How do delete a picture that has started sending on whats app but hasn't completed

# Answer
When sending whatsapp image there will be cancel symbol only till file is not uploaded to Whatsapp servers, Here is the cancel symbol for reference.

If Image gets uploaded you have to use Delete for everyone feature for removing the Image.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: whatsapp-messenger
---


# Question
Title: How can I see the number WhatsApp is dialing instead of the name?
How can I see the number WhatsApp is dialing instead of the name?

My friend Erwin has two mobile phones, one in Switzerland and a new one in Vietnam. Yesterday he called me from Vietnam by WhatsApp. Simple-minded as I am, I added this number under the same contact "Erwin". Today I wanted to call him back by replying his last WhatsApp call from yesterday (I selected his WhatsApp call from the call protocol). However, WhatsApp obviously connected to his Swiss number (as he's registered there as WhatsApp user), and nobody picked up, of course, because it was switched off. In such cases it would be very helpful to see the number WhatsApp is using. How can I make this number visible?

# Answer
You can't make the number visible, as the developers of the Whatsapp hasn't add that functionality.

You can however check after the call

> Go to CALLS tab -\> Select the Contact -\> click on Message icon -\> Select the View Contact from Menu -\> About and Phone Number will show the Contact number
> 0 votes

---
Tags: whatsapp-messenger
---


# Question
Title: Galaxy s4 mini (GT I9192) - Android 4.4.2 .... Storage space depleting even though data being deleted
So this is a recent development since last night.. when the phone suddenly started misbehaving. Hanging, apps crashing, working really slow, screen going blank, `Vol` / `Power key` buttons not working etc.

Messages kept popping up that storage space is low.. with great difficulty managed to delete apps and other data. Images, audio, video etc. The instant I clear up and check storage it will indicate the appropriate amount - 200 mb, 300 mb...

However in a few seconds, the same issues of hanging reoccur, and upon checking storage I see that it has gone back down to 180 mb, 700 kb n finally now its showing 56 kb despite having removed more than 2 gb worth of data and apps. CACHE continually being deleted, best I can do since the phone is barely functioning, but it keeps filling up to about 1.84 mb (not that it matters).

Help! I cannot purchase a new phone as I do NOT have the funds for it. I also get a pop up which goes something like `android.acore` stopped functioning. Sometimes `"process system" stopped functioning` along with the usual pop ups of Whatsapp, Google apps, Touchwiz not functioning.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Remove all your (CM) protection apps, thread and cache cleaners, battery savers and so one. Do not use frabrique reset or cache cleaning. It do nothing then erares all your address and other personal data and it's not the cause. The cause is that some protection apps are the treats. I've removed all mine (CM ) protecting apps and there is no stoped message any more. I use Sophos for this moment as protection app there it now the best in the AVG test.

# Answer
> 0 votes
You can check the option to see hidden files from my files. Then, go to my files and check what are the large files causing this issue.

Also, another temporary solution is to delete the thumbnails folder from DCIM (camera folder). It is about 300 or 400 MB usually. If you had enough space to install a small app, then Go install ES Disk Analyzer: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.storage.space.es.diskanalyzer

It is high quality application that helps you address these issues.

---
Tags: 4.4-kitkat, insufficient-memory, storage, system-freeze, samsung-galaxy-s-4-mini
---


# Question
Title: Where does "Voice Recorder" save files to on Samsung Galaxy S6?
I don't seem to find the recorded files on my Samsung Galaxy S6. What is the file path to the saved recording files? Google doesn't tell me the answer.

# Answer
I can't say with absolute certainty where they are on a Samsung S6, but on my Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and I doubt that they change their filesystem layout too much from one device to the next.

I can see them from Windows 10 at:

```
This PC\SM-N900T\Phone\Sounds\Voice 001.m4a
This PC\SM-N900T\Phone\Sounds\Voice 002.m4a
This PC\SM-N900T\Phone\Sounds\Voice 003.m4a
This PC\SM-N900T\Phone\Sounds\Voice . . .

```

Obviously the mount point will have a different name through other operating systems, but the path from the mount point will be the same.

As viewed from within the phone itself, they're at:

```
/storage/emulated/0/Sounds/Voice . . .

```

If Samsung changes things between devices, well, shame on them. Then this won't help you, but it will at least help people with the same layout as the Galaxy 3.

I found it by searching from within ES File Explorer, and checked for similar names through the Windows mount point. So if it's not in the same place, you can at least search for it that way.
> 2 votes

# Answer
This was the path I ended up finding using a local search. I didn't change it so this must be the default path for the Samsung Voice Recorder \Samsung Galaxy Note 5\Phone\Call
> 0 votes

# Answer
Recordings can be found under: settings/device maintenance/memory or storage.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Navigate to the Phone. Then click in the "Voice Recorder" folder. The files were there for me.
> 0 votes

# Answer
On my S8+ it is in Phone/Recorders
> -2 votes

---
Tags: samsung, file-management, samsung-voice-recorder
---


# Question
Title: What does the setting option mean entitled "allow multi-thread downloads" in Es file explorer?
What does the setting option mean entitled "allow multi-thread downloads" in Es file explorer' under download manager settings?!

# Answer
> 0 votes
It will divide your Download file into Multiple parts and Start Downloading those parts in parallel. After Downloading all the files it will merge all the downloading parts.

The Toggle is for changing the behavior to multi thread or Sequential Download.

---
Tags: download-manager, es-file-explorer
---


# Question
Title: App showing battery charge based on its voltage
I have a xt894 with Android 4.3.

I bought an extended 3800mAh battery (Mugen) but the droid doesnt recognize it properly.

I tested a couple of battery manager apps, but I dint find what I am looking for.

I would like to know the name of an app that shows the current battery charge based on its voltage

# Answer
> 3 votes
There is no app that does that, and there never will be, because it is impossible. The voltage of a battery does not tell you how much charge a battery has, nor does any other characteristic of the battery. Battery voltage does drop as capacity drops, but the voltage drop is a function of the *percentage* of charge, not *amount* of charge.

It is impossible to directly determine the amount of charge in a battery at a given point in time, by voltage or any other means. Battery capacity tests can only be conducted by *spending* the battery charge, and measuring it as it is used up. The test doesn't tell you how much charge the battery currently had at any given point in time; it tells you at the end how much charge the battery had at the beginning. I suppose a smart aleck might say that at the end of the test you know how much charge the battery has at that point in time, because that charge is zero. However, you're still not determining that by measuring the charge directly; you're measuring the current, and inferring zero charge based on zero current.

It should theoretically be possible to design an app that estimates capacity by conducting a drain test, but I haven’t been able to find such an app. Maybe that’s because it would be a major pain to run the test. The test would need to start with the battery fully charged and run until it is fully drained, and in order for the test to be accurate you would need to leave the device idle for the duration of the test.

The best method I can think of to estimate battery capacity is to compare the drain rate of the stock battery (or any other battery whose specs you trust as a baseline) to the drain rate of the battery you want to measure, under circumstances that are as similar as possible.

I'm not sure exactly how Android measures the battery percentage. I've read in unofficial sources that it's supposedly based on current and/or voltage, but I've also read that due to the nearly flat voltage vs. charge percentage curve, voltage is not sufficient for determining the charge percentage of lithium ion batteries, and other characteristics need to be used, possibly in combination. In any case, I recommend starting the test from the same percentage charge for both batteries and near the middle of the range, due to the fact that some of the characteristics that can be used to estimate charge percentage (such as the voltage) have a non-linear relationship to the charge percentage, and the curve tends to be flattest near the middle.

Step by step:

1. Insert the reference battery (whose capacity rating you trust) and power up the device.
2. Set the timer for 1 hour, or some amount of time during which you expect that the battery will drain at least 20% but no more than 50%. You it to be enough to produce granular results where rounding errors won’t significantly throw it off, but no so much that you’ve almost depleted the battery and entered the steep part of the voltage curve.
3. To reduce the number of variables that can impact the power drain, run the test after a restart, turn off all network connections (airplane mode), and make sure the screen brightness is constant (by disabling automatic adjustment and screen timeout, or making sure the screen is off for the duration of the test. Running a high drain app can help get more significant results more quickly. However, to ensure that you’re reproducing the same drain rate for both batteries, choose an app with a constant rate of power usage (such as an LED flashlight app). Don’t run any other apps or interact with the device for the duration of the test.
4. Drain it to 75%. The moment it reaches 75%, start the timer.
5. When time runs out, check the battery percentage.
6. Power off, and repeat the test using the extended battery, (make sure you use the same charger and same amount of time, of course).
7. Divide the change in percentage for the extended battery by the change in percentage for the baseline battery and multiply by the baseline battery’s capacity.

For example, running my Galaxy S4 for one hour, in airplane mode with the LED flashlight, on, the screen brightness at maximum, and the timer app displayed, starting from 75% charge, the stock battery drains to 39%, and my Deep Stretch DPS430 extended battery drains to 52%. The stock battery’s capacity is 2600 mAh. So, to estimate the extended battery’s capacity based on how its drain compares to the stock battery:

```
(75 - 39) / (75 - 52) * 2600 = 4070

```

To my surprise, that was actually pretty close to the stated capacity of 4280 mAh (keeping in mind that the test isn’t perfect, and is subject to rounding errors. In this case rounding errors could throw off the results by up to ~110 in either direction, so the actual result really should be stated as “approximately 3960 to 4180 mAh”.)

# Answer
> 2 votes
VBatt does this work best for me. It allows you to display widget that shows the current battery charge based on its voltage. App description says

> Vbatt is a simple battery widget for Android smartphones and tablets. It displays the current battery voltage (Vbatt) and the remaining battery capacity (percentage) and optionally logs these values to a CSV-file.
>
> For testing and benchmarking Vbatt provides a JBox2D\** based discharger, which drains the battery and displays the clock and runtime and for CPU benchmarking the simulation frequency.

# Answer
> 1 votes
> There is no app that does that, and there never will be, because it is impossible. The voltage of a battery does not tell you how much charge a battery has, nor does any other characteristic of the battery.

That's not true, Battery Monitor Widget Pro has an option to choose "Calculate battery level from voltage". There are all kinds of battery meters that use voltage to measure charge condition. Admittedly it isn't as accurate as coulomb counting. However, a coulomb counter off calibration will mislead you more than voltage, and thus many modern day designs incorporate both.

It depends a lot on battery technology if voltage can be used to check the charge level. Lithium, which is what we are talking about here, works reasonably well with voltage sensing. NiCD and NiMH don't work well at all. Etc.

You could read more on BatteryUniversity for details and a graph of volt vs charge level for lithium.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Modern cellphones use lithium batteries, which have constant voltage all along their discharge time (almost), hence a 3.7V value can mean "80%" or "20%", so to properly calculate available energy it is required an "electronic fuel gauge" which measures how many mAh came out of the battery and divide them for the known total amount of mAh available in the battery, thus obtaining a number \<1 which, multiplied by 100, gives State of Charhe (SoC) in terms of %. Actually, at full chrage, there is a quick lowering of voltage from 4.2 to 3.7, but this fall just represents a 10% of total charge; then, from 3.7 to 3.5, there is an 80% of the charge, and eventually from 3.5 to 3.0 there is the final 10%.

A voltage-based charge status indicator is instead possible for lead batteries, where the voltage linearly decreases from "maximum charge" value to "minimum charge" value.

---
Tags: applications, battery-life, motorola-droid-4
---


# Question
Title: How to use Tasker with the new OpenVPN version?
I usually use OpenVPN Connect android client for connecting to my OpenVPN server in a raspberry. I also use Tasker to automatically connect to the VPN when I am outside from home. My configuration is:

```
Send Intent
Action:android.intent.action.VIEW
Cat:None
Extra:vpn.AUTOSTART_PROFILE_NAME: <PROFILE NAME>
Package:net.openvpn.openvpn
Class:net.openvpn.openvpn.OpenVPNClient
Target:Activity

```

Few days ago, the OpenVPN version has been changed to 3.0.1 , and my tasker is not working any more. At least the tasks are not able any more to start a VPN connection or disconnect it.

Obviously, that means that with the new version of the App, some configuration must be changed. Do any body knows what are these new configurations?

# Answer
> 1 votes
The offical docs (https://docs.openvpn.net/connecting/connecting-to-access-server-with-android/faq-regarding-openvpn-connect-android/#How\_do\_I\_use\_tasker\_with\_OpenVPN\_Connect\_for\_Android) state:

**CONNECT**

a) Access Server module `Action: net.openvpn.openvpn.CONNECT`

OR

```
Action: android.intent.action.VIEW
Cat: None
Mime Type: {blank}
Data: {blank}
Extra: net.openvpn.openvpn.AUTOSTART_PROFILE_NAME:AS {your_profile_name}
Extra: net.openvpn.openvpn.AUTOCONNECT:true
Extra: net.openvpn.openvpn.APP_SECTION:AS
Package: net.openvpn.openvpn
Class: net.openvpn.unified.MainActivity
Target: Activity

```

b) OVPN Profile module `Action: net.openvpn.openvpn.CONNECT` OR

```
Action: android.intent.action.VIEW
Cat: None
Mime Type: {blank}
Data: {blank}
Extra: net.openvpn.openvpn.AUTOSTART_PROFILE_NAME:PC {your_profile_name}
Extra: net.openvpn.openvpn.AUTOCONNECT:true
Extra: net.openvpn.openvpn.APP_SECTION:PC
Package: net.openvpn.openvpn
Class: net.openvpn.unified.MainActivity
Target: Activity

```

**DISCONNECT**

```
Action: net.openvpn.openvpn.DISCONNECT
Cat: None
Mime Type: {blank}
Data: {blank}
Extra: net.openvpn.openvpn.STOP:true
Extra: {blank}
Extra: {blank}
Package: net.openvpn.openvpn
Class: net.openvpn.unified.MainActivity
Target: Activity

```

Java code example

```
String profile = "myvpn";
Intent openVPN = new Intent("android.intent.action.VIEW");
openVPN.setClassName("net.openvpn.openvpn", "net.openvpn.unified.MainActivity");
openVPN.putExtra("net.openvpn.openvpn.AUTOSTART_PROFILE_NAME", "PC "+profile);
openVPN.putExtra("net.openvpn.openvpn.AUTOCONNECT", true);
openVPN.putExtra("net.openvpn.openvpn.APP_SECTION", "PC");
activity.startActivity(openVPN);

```

The formatting is off but i hope it will help someone

# Answer
> 2 votes
Ok, thanks to this web. Seems that I am right and the configuration has been changed. The new settings for connecting will be:

```
Send Intent
Action:android.intent.action.MAIN
Cat:None
Extra:de.blinkt.openvpn.shortcutProfileName:PROFIL ENAME
Package:de.blinkt.openvpn
Class:de.blinkt.openvpn.LaunchVPN
Target:Activity

```

This is able to start the OpenVPN connection using a OVPN file. For disconnection, I also need to change the profile:

```
Send Intent
Action:android.intent.action.MAIN
Cat:None
Extra:de.blinkt.openvpn.shortcutProfileName:PROFIL ENAME
Package:de.blinkt.openvpn
Class:de.blinkt.openvpn.activities.DisconnectVPN
Target:Activity

```

The author comments -and it is true- that when disconnecting the application remains opened on the screen at foreground. A solution proposed on this forum for this issue is to use a not existing profile as a connection. When trying to connect to this non existing profile, the first action will be to disconnect the current one. As the profile does not exists no connection will be performed.

# Answer
> 0 votes
https://forum.xda-developers.com/u/tasker-tips-tricks/openvpn-3-0-0-connect-disconnect-tasker-t3750552 Default OpenVPN 3.0.0 - Connect and Disconnect with Tasker (Solution) Hi All,

It would appear that the interface / code changed rather a lot in the most recent update and the previous intents are no longer working.

I have figured out how to fix this. Please follow the directions below.

Important Note: Your profile name is now prefixed with PC. E.g. My profile of test.co.uk/example \[user\] would now be PC test.co.uk/example \[user\]

So, here are the settings (don't include the curly brackets):

Connect

Action: net.openvpn.openvpn.CONNECT Extra: net.openvpn.openvpn.AUTOSTART\_PROFILE\_NAME: PC {Your profile name} Extra: net.openvpn.openvpn.AUTOCONNECT: true Package: net.openvpn.openvpn Class: net.openvpn.unified.MainActivity Target: Activity

Disconnect

Action: net.openvpn.openvpn.DISCONNECT Extra: net.openvpn.openvpn.STOP: true Package: net.openvpn.openvpn Class: net.openvpn.unified.MainActivity Target: Activity

Annoyingly they have made it so OpenVPN remains in the foreground on disconnect. I have yet to look into this.

---
Tags: tasker, openvpn
---


# Question
Title: How often does Android 8.1 ask for a password instead of a fingerprint?
I use fingerprint to unlock my phone (Nokia 6 TA1033, upgraded to Oreo 8.1, not rooted). Sometimes it doesn't let me use fingerprint and asks for a password instead "for better security". I can't predict when this happens. Is there a way to prevent this? Like maybe unlock with a password on every nth wake-up so that I don't have to type the password in an uncomfortable situation?

Sometimes it is just really inconvenient to type the password, especially when your password is long. Also I believe in public places it is better to unlock with a fingerprint because then no one can see what you type.

# Answer
> 3 votes
On stock Android, a backup authentication method is required after 5 failed attempts, or 48 hours since the last time that backup authentication method is used.

Using a screen off app will trigger this immediately, as that's how they trigger the screen off.

# Answer
> 1 votes
In Android 8.1, password input in required when the phone is rebooted or is locked by administrator (e.g. a screen locker app). You may use a pin-code instead to ease the unlock process. Face recognition is also a good way to unlock your phone.

---
Tags: password, fingerprint, 8.1-oreo
---


# Question
Title: What app sends these push notifications?
Hope you can see the images. Need to know what app these notifications belong to please.

Screenshots (click images for larger variants)

# Answer
> 1 votes
To know which notification belongs to which app what you need to do is just long press that notification (after opening notification panel) and it'll reveal the app name or at least it will give you the option to see "App info" which essentially will take you to that app's settings.

# Answer
> -1 votes
It's an google voice assistant daily jokes. See the notification icon in the first screenshot, and compare it with the icon next to the full notification in the second:

---
Tags: notification-icons
---


title: Edits hosts file ignored by chrome

text:
# Question
Title: Edits hosts file ignored by chrome
I'm trying to cut down on procrastination in a fun way (read hacking) by rooting my phone (moto g2) and editing the `/system/etc/hosts` file like this

```
127.0.0.1     localhost
::1           ip6-localhost
127.0.0.1     youtube.com
(trailing newline)

```

I tried the following fixes:

* Turning off Data Saver
* Clear all data in Settings-\>Storage-\>Apps
* Clear cache from chrome://net-internals/#dns and clear
* Reboot

Still I'm perfectly able to access www.youtube.com, no problemo. Any thoughts?

# Answer
> 2 votes
If you want to redirect `www.youtube.com` to 127.0.0.1 you have to add it exactly that way to your hosts files.

However you only redirected the main domain `youtube.com` to 127.0.0.1. not the subdomain `www.youtube.com`. Note that this does not affect subdomains. If you want to cut of Youtube completely you have to add every subdomain to your hosts file.

---
Tags: dns, hosts
---


# Question
Title: Updating S7 Edge using Odin: stuck in Download Mode's "Downloading..."
I have done the following steps (in this order) to update my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge using Odin: \- Downloaded and installed the Samsung USB driver on my Windows PC \- Enabled USB Debugging on my phone \- Booted my phone into Download Mode \- Opened Odin (v3.12) on my PC \- Connected my phone to my PC (confirmed connected by Odin) \- In Odin, selected the BL, AP, CP and CSC (intentionally instead of the HOME\_CSC, as I wanted a reset as well) \- Clicked Start

It has now been 1.5 hours, and the phone's Download Mode screen is still showing "Downloading...".

Did I do something wrong? It's not meant to take this long, is it? (I read that it's meant to take no more than 20-30 minutes)

EDIT: after over 2 hours with no change, I force reboot my phone, after which I was greeted with the following error:

> "Device storage corrupt. the data partition has been corrupted. you need to reset your device to factory default settings. this will erase all your data"

I am now downloading the latest UK Oreo ROM, which just came out yesterday, in hopes I can manage to flash it successfully and that I haven't bricked my phone beyond repair...

# Answer
> 1 votes
Okay so I eventually managed to both unbrick my phone and install Oreo. Here is how I did it.

Unbricking the phone:

* When the phone is off, press Power + Home + Volume Up (yes, up)
* Don't worry about the weird messages, just wait a minute
* A menu will appear with several options, one of which will be to factory reset the phone. Use the volume keys to go to this option, and then the power key to select it
* As if by magic, your phone will reset and then be unbricked, and the OS will load normally

Installing Oreo - what I missed was:

* Enabling OEM Unlock in Developer Options in the phone's settings
* Using the latest version of Odin - v3.13.1 - it appears that anything older won't work
* (possibly) Running Odin as administrator on the PC

I recommend this video tutorial to install Oreo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdSIyk7lkd8

Good luck!

---
Tags: odin, 8.0-oreo, samsung-galaxy-s-7-edge
---


# Question
Title: is it impossible to know a Wifi mac address of an android phone via a link?
There is someone that I doubt that he uses my stolen phone so I want to make sure that the phone that he uses is mine or not by knowing the Wifi mac address of phone – to see if it's mine or not.

I have used iplogger before but all what it shows is ip address- Android version - browser - phone model-etc. I just wanna make sure before telling telling the police about this person.

I have already done tracking report, but they did nothing.

What can I do ?? The phone uses Android 5.

# Answer
An IP logger captures the IP address and the browser user agent string, the browser user agent only contains information like phone model and browser, no uniquely identifying information like MAC addresses.

So no, this iplogger (or any other that uses similar techniques) cannot determine if the phone is actually your's, only if it is the same model, but thousands of that model are sold so that is not considered evidence.
> 1 votes

# Answer
What you'd need for that is something that also supports ARP. You could try a tool like Fing, which does that:

Fing (source: Google Play; click images for larger variants)

As you can see in the second screenshot, *Fing* is able to tell the MAC address (at least of nearby devices). Some alternative apps can be found in my corresponding list.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: wi-fi, 5.0-lollipop, chrome-for-android, gps-tracking, mac-address
---


# Question
Title: Accessibility of router password entering via scanning for blind, old people, and ease of use
This post is about accessibility by older people and people forgetting their glasses and shop and warehouse personnel wanting to make use of a QR code and some blind people as a quick input method.

I'm running Android 7.0 Nougat.

This post is not about an app but about the Android system proper and asks about whether any more advanced versions of Android actually support the feature described in this post: camera to text input (as a core, integrated Android feature (in this post using QR codes)).

Currently, gboard, the current default Android keyboard on Google systems, allows you to to perform input operations on various Android apps and system widgets that take text input, by typing text, inserting an image, or using voice to enter text as voice to text translation is performed on Google's servers. However, it would be nice if one could long press on the microphone icon to temporarily change input method to QR-code, (or perhaps even more generally bar code), input mode. This would allow the text corresponding to the given bar code to be included. I am searching for this keyboard on gboard as it is the default Android system on Google keyboards even though having it on Swype would be nice too.

The reason this feature is good is that people like older people and lazy people with the sight problems might need to quickly access WiFi, perhaps even in an emergency situation where someone comes back home and the data network is not working and needs to quickly place an outgoing call over WhatsApp. Here, the router providing WiFi, would have a QR code in place of the default password, and many people I have seen use the standard default password on the router and have guests which may have forgotten their glasses or have a back acke or memory problems and have trouble inputting the long number.

If routers provided a bar code representing the password next to the password on the stickers at their back these sort of people could quickly connect to WiFi when there was trouble.

Another category of people who could make use of this input system are shop assistants and warehouse personnel, etc, who need to copy and send UPC codes of products allowing managers, clients, and what not, to quickly send these codes reliably without copying.g mistakes, even with the keyboard.

The number of applications of including a barcode reader in a keyboard could be virtually unlimited. The alternative would be having a small button to activate a barcode reader on apps and system widgets such as the one where the Wi-Fi password is entered, but this would mean having to place them everywhere it made sense where cm as the keyboard would be a standard catchall place for this.

The feature could even be available as a plugin if the keyboard supported some sort of generic modular plugin system for extending its functionality.

This feature may also help independent blind users connect to routers that found they had to use a separate app to scan the label at the back of the router, extract the password, and read it out loud before the text could be input.

So, my question is, whether newer versions of Android support what I describe.

Thanks.

(as a note, I am able to scan my credit card when making online purchases or donations via some web input boxes in chrome, and this is by scanning the front of the card where the numbers appear, and although the number of digits on the front of the credit card are fixed, the clicking the camera from the drop-down on the web widget when I click on the credit card number input field also fills in the expiry date and year, so theoretically it should be possible to input a router password, which as a technical complication is variable length, in general, using scanning techniques. It would also be nice, if, in absence of based codes, Talk back could work here, allowing the blind user to read the back label of the router in scanned portions and tap on the one corresponding to the password (perhaps after hearing the contents of an adjacent label the user got to with the finger in TalkBack navigation here that read out "password".)

Thanks again for your care, feedback, and support for blind people, people with geriatric problems, and for making Android a more and more user-friendly platform with each Android version.

And above all, thank you for your feedback and support.

# Answer
> 1 votes
No, Gboard doesn't support this feature at the moment, though a quick search on Google Play shows a few third-party keyboards that support scanning bar codes for text input.

Being able to install a third-party keyboard to add the functionality you want to use is pretty much the whole point of having the input method be an app instead of a built-in part of Android. There's really no reason to push this functionality into Android itself.

---
Tags: wi-fi, password, accessibility, router, password-protection
---


# Question
Title: How to reach local computer via machine name instead of IP?
Developer here prototyping a mobile app, somewhat new to mobile:

* I have a simple HTTP service running (currently) on my main laptop with machine name `latitude`.
* Another laptop named `vaio` sharing the same WiFi network can access that service via `http://latitude:8080` -- in other words, it can easily resolve the (current) IP 192.168.x.y (or whatever dynamic IP it has at that moment) of `latitude` somehow.
* Now my HTC Android phones, connected to the same WiFi network, can reach the IP address of `latitude` so opening in its browser `http://192.168.x.y:8080` works.
* But I'd like to use the machine name here, too, like when I access the HTTP service from `vaio`, simply by typing `http://latitude:8080` and have the phone resolve the current dynamic IP of `latitude`. This doesn't work, only get the standard browser error page: **"Webpage not available"**.

Is there some DNS setting in Android I need to tweak? Haven't found anything from playing around with Settings, and a question like this is notoriously hard to google, too...

The One V has Android 4.0, and the One M7 has Android 4.2 in case that makes a difference.

(Note, this should work even when the Android is not USB-connected to my computers and is not acting as a WiFi Hotspot -- obviously, since it's consuming my main WiFi network anyway).

# Answer
Regardless whether you're connected to your local network via WiFi and DHCP is in use, Android always seems to override its DNS entries using Google's servers. It's somewhat hidden, but easy to change – provided you have your own DNS running (a lot of routers offer that already).

To do so, go to your list of WiFi networks in *Settings*, long-press your WiFi's entry, select to edit it. Activate *Advanced* Settings. Now you can edit the DNS entries. Simply replace the first entry with your own DNS server's IP, and leave the second entry (DNS 2) untouched for fall-back.

Now, if your own DNS can resolve your local network's machines, you should be able to use their hostnames to reach out to them. No root and no editing the `hosts` file necessary (thought that might be an alternative, if you've got no own DNS service running). Works excellent here with me and my network ;)
> 7 votes

# Answer
When I want a machine name instead of an IP I edit the HOSTS file. Try adding the devices and their IP addresses there. A google search for the hosts file for your operating system should be easy.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Add two lines at the end of your device's hosts file (`/etc/hosts`) file with ES Explorer (needs a rooted device).

Template:

```
your_host_machine's_IP_address  domain_name

```

Example of `domain_name` can be `localhost`.

Example:

```
::1  domain_name

```

It works fine when typing `localhost` in URL bar instead of IP address.
> 0 votes

# Answer
In my case, on Windows 10, temporarily turning off windows firewall made surfing to `http://latitude:8080` possible.

For the longer term I created a rule to let these sort of connections through the firewall ...

* {Windows} \> Start \> "Firewall" \> Windows Defender Firewall with Advance Security. Inbound Rules \> New Rule ...

+ General
        - Name: TCP web connections from LAN
        - Allow the connection if it is secure ...
        - Choose: "Allow the connection if it is authenticated and integrity-protected"
    + Protocols And Ports
        - Protocol Type: TCP
        - Local Port: 80, 880
    + Advanced
        - Specify profiles to whcih this rule applies: Private
* {Android}. Test with Firefox or Chrome, not Dolphin
> 0 votes

---
Tags: wi-fi, networking, dns
---


# Question
Title: App installing takes a long time in a Work Profile
Having MIUI optimization enabled on a MIUI device (for me: Mi Max 2) makes it to take a long time (exactly 10 minutes) for each new app to be installed. Although I have not seen such behavior in the main profile/user, in a Work Profile (i.e. managed profile) with MIUI optimization enabled, each installing process takes exactly 10 minutes.

However after turning off the MIUI optimization (under Developer options), this behavior does not happen. Has anyone notified of this behavior? What is wrong with the MIUI optimization? Can I get rid of this optimization without getting into trouble in other parts of system?

# Answer
There won't be any real damage when you turn off MIUI optimisation.

This post describes the effects of having MIUI optimisation turned on/off as reported by MIUIers.

The optimisation offers some MIUI based settings & optimizations set by developers with aim of giving a fast user experience but of late has **offered more disadvantages especially in new ROMs**.

It has been reported to cause some some incompatibility **issues with Google based apps and sync services** and also **non functionality** of Greenify hibernate feature in non-root mode (MIUI 9.xx) althought it doesn't affect MIUI 8.

Therefore, you can **safely turn it off**, if it is causing lag issues With work Profile, as much as it is recommended to be off when using Greenify (MIUI 9). Besides the changes described in the linked post (as a MIUI user) I don't see any detrimental effects when you disable it.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: xiaomi, multi-user, miui, restricted-profiles
---


# Question
Title: cant do factory reset or hard reset on mi 5x
I tried to factory reset my mi 5x phone through settings but after clicking reset device, it just turn off the phone and restart it without changing anything on the phone.

And when I try to do a hard reset, after holding `Vol down` \+ `power` button, this screen shows up:

And after a few seconds the phone turn off again.

How can I fix this problem?

# Answer
Reading the comments above, I can think your volume up button may be broken? But remember, you can perform a factory reset from the Fastboot mode too, simply connect your phone to the computer, install **Minimal ADB & Fastboot** (Windows), run it then type `fastboot -w`\[press enter\] the phone should be reset.

Also ADB lets you do many things on your phone including factory reset:

* Enable ADB (USB Debugging) from the Developer's menu
* Connect the phone to the computer
* Run Minimal ADB & Fastboot
* Type `adb shell` \[press enter\]
* Type `wipe data` \[press enter\]

You're done.

ADB can let you boot in recovery mode and perform factory reset manually:

* Type `adb reboot recovery` \[press enter\]

PS: *Don't forget to install drivers to let your phone be detected by the computer.*

Not on Windows ? Check this question related to a minimal installation of ADB for all operating systems.

Check also our ADB tag-wiki
> 2 votes

---
Tags: factory-reset, xiaomi, hard-reset
---


# Question
Title: adb backup on Marshmallow - is it different?
**Device and settings:**

**Goal:** I wanted to take `adb` backup on Mint Linux (17.3) of my apps (with data if possible) and internal SD using this Full Backup of non-rooted devices as reference

**Problems:**

1. When I key this in terminal

`adb backup -apk -shared -all -nosystem -f moto.ab`

I get the prompt "*Now unlock your device and confirm the backup operation* " in the terminal but **nothing happens on the device- I do not see any panel to accept or enter desk top pass word as in pic below** (it's the same if I try *-system instead of -nosystem*)

2. The terminal reverts to prompt for next command in a few seconds ( A **0 Kb file** is created on the laptop)

**Question**

**Am I doing something wrong or Marshmallow require some extras to take a backup as desired?**

Moto devices are said to be "pure Android" so I expect this problem to be prevalent on Nexus devices running latest OS

---

**Edit:** Things tried with varying sucesss

1. Nexus 5 Marshmellow ADB backup problems. Going by this post

> (....) it appears that adb backup isn’t recognizing the -apk, -nosystem, and -noshared switches. Any idea why? From the command line, if i remove those switch the backup runs

```
adb backup -all -f moto.ab

```

works in the sense that I get the option on panel to enter password back up (problem 1 above overcome) but the file size (105 Mb) shows all apps are not backed up (In comparison using ES File explorer, the size is 2 GB)

2. I had read somewhere on this site that Helium app is based on `adb`. Helium Wiki says

> Helium is NOT available to Motorola devices. This is because Motorola phones have a bug that break Android's backup mechanism. Until this is fixed by Motorola, Helium will not work on those Androids (....) Update: Helium is working on the Motorola Droid Turbo.

That obviously explains why it doesn't work on my device was the logical conclusion. This called for experimenting, so I downloaded Chrome extension of Helium and activated it (it needed a little workaround explained here )

I selected all apps under Helium and it backed up (less some apps shown as "non backable") with a size of 110 Mb (similar to above experiment)

So, apparently, my device Moto X play is not the problem !

3. Tried solution here ADB backup creates 0-byte file; prompts for current backup password even though I never set one; “Failed to set password” for Desktop backup password recommending escaping spaces between arguments

`adb backup -apk\ -shared\ -all\ -nosystem -f moto.ab` and got a 0 Kb backup file

# Answer
Same problem here - this is how I fixed it on my side. Preparations:
\- Samsung Galaxy S5 on Android 6.0.1 (not rooted)
\- `adb` v. 1.0.32 running under Windows 10 command line
\- password set on the S5

I succeeded when using quotes for all switches:
**adb backup "-apk -noshared -all -nosystem"**
-\> will prompt for the password and produce a backup.ab

To backup single apk using a custom file name:
**adb backup -f all\_apk\_obb.ab "-apk -obb com.estrongs.android.pop"**

Seems that the switch handling of `adb` is a bit weird in the latest releases. I did that before and my old scripts are not working anymore.
> 5 votes

# Answer
It´s a known issue and it's still not solved:

https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=212238
> 2 votes

# Answer
I don't have this cell phone, but you could try this:

On the "config -\> security" is there an option "authorized agents" or something like that? And in that option, is there the option of a Backup agent?

Turn it on and test "adb backup" again.

Regards,
> 0 votes

# Answer
If you are using widnows, try

```
adb backup "-apk -shared -all -nosystem" -f "moto.ab"

```

instead of

```
adb backup -apk -shared -all -nosystem -f moto.ab.

```
> -1 votes

---
Tags: adb, 6.0-marshmallow, moto-x-play
---


# Question
Title: Where are downloaded apps saved when installed on SD card?
Yesterday I had ~40 MB of free space on my android 2.2.1 Samsung GT-S5570. I wanted to install `Facebook` App, so I downloaded from `Play Store` and then it installed automatically. It's size was ~20 MB.

This app is installed on the SD card. However, after all the proccess, I got a warning message about low internal memory. I checked the free spacea and surprisingly now it's ~20 MB... I assume the 20 MB are the downloaded app(something like the .exe in windows).

I searched through .temp and downloads to see if the ".exe" is there but I couldn't find it. I went through browser's settings(the default android browser) to see where do the downloads are saved, but I couldn't find any refference to the downloads.

Where do the ".exe" files downloaded, are saved?

# Answer
Android apps are not .exe files - they are .apk files, which are effectively Java .jar files with additional included information.

The packages are installed in one of a few locations:

1. `/system/app` \- for system installed apps - you can't modify this folder.
2. `/data/app` \- any apps installed from the market are installed into here, and you as a user can modify the folder.
3. `/sdcard/.android_secure` \- apps that are moved to the SD card are stored here

Note that apps will also put data in a number of locations, and not all of these are on the SD card, even if the app itself is installed on the SD card; this is likely your problem with the app on your device, and unfortunately - without rooting the device and using something like a2sd which enables you to move other partitions onto the SD card.

For reference, also see this question on StackOverflow which has more info.
> 2 votes

# Answer
The actual location(or path) of external sd card(not internal,sometimes user-available internal storage is considered to be external storage(in android developing)) varies from one device to another. So, presumably, the path of installed applications on sd card also differs from device to device. If you really want to know the actual location of installed apps(on sd card), you have to do a little bit of programming.

But most of the cases(samsung devices running on lolipop), the application package sits inside /mnt/asec/\[package\_name\] and the .apk file sits inside /mnt/asec/\[package\_name\]/\[app\_name\].apk . If you really want to know where it is,put the code bellow inside onCreate() method and run the app on the device you want. It will show you all the app's locations that are inside sd card....

Hope it will help...

```
PackageManager pm=getPackageManager();
    List<ApplicationInfo> infos=pm.getInstalledApplications(0);
    for(int i=0;i<infos.size();++i){
       String src_path=infos.get(i).sourceDir;
       if(!src_path.contains("/system") &&
               !src_path.contains("/data")){
           // showing path as toast message
           // you can even print it with System.out.println()
           Toast.makeText(this, src_path, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
       }
    }

```
> 0 votes

---
Tags: applications, internal-storage, downloading, insufficient-memory
---


title: Change adb permissions to rw?

text:
# Question
Title: Change adb permissions to rw?
I have LineageOS on my phone. I'm looking to edit some files in `/system`.

I'm using root permission for adb devices from Developers Options. When I request to move file into `/system`, I get the message `no permissions`.

I tried to change permission with chmod but its not working. Since I don't have root permission for apps I can't change it from file manager either.

# Answer
`adb root` then `adb remount` should be sufficient. However, you can also get `addonsu` for LineageOS of your version and device architecture, which enables root permissions for apps in Developer Options.

I understand some users might explicitly avoid opening up root for apps, so pick between the two according to your needs.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: adb, root-access, lineageos
---


title: Virus alert in my android phone

text:
# Question
Title: Virus alert in my android phone
A message that my phone is infected by virus is displayed and a button appears to deactivate it now.Its not my antivirus anyway. Sometimes a countdown also begins. what is all this? is it really a virus?

# Answer
> 2 votes
**Do not click the button**, close the webpage instead.

**Only your antivirus will alert you of viruses, this is obviously a scam to get you to click that button.**

When you visit a website, your phone sends some information like which webbrowser it is using and the device model to the webserver, it is common that people abuse that by making a "personalized" message about virusses that is meant to trick you into going to a website of theirs or installing a malicious app.

They display the device model to make it look more real and to unknowing users this makes the people who made the message look trustworthy and allknowing, and the countdown is to put you under pressure.

I cannot tell you what happens when you do click the link because i never did that, but i can tell you that it is far more likely to install virusses than remove them.

---
Tags: virus
---


title: Cisco Webex app on Android 6.0.1 phone

text:
# Question
Title: Cisco Webex app on Android 6.0.1 phone
My android phone spec says:

1) Dimensions are 3.00x5.96x0.32 inches

2) Display Resolution - Horizontal and vertical resolution of the primary display - 1080x1920

---

Installed Cisco webex app from Playstore. Phone connected with WIFI access point.

---

But, the Cisco webex meetings guide says:

Your tablet must meet one of the following requirements:

* Screen size 7.1 inches or larger and Android 3.0 or later
* Screen width 6000 dp or larger and Android 3.2 or later

---

I could not test the webex link that will be used for my interview, next week, until the host is available.

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Does this phone spec support Cisco webex audio/video call?Dimensions are 3.00x5.96x0.32 inches

# Answer
> 0 votes
Only one device fits the dimensions you've shared, and that's the Huawei GR5, which is a phablet with screen size of 5.5 inches, which doesn't fit any of the requirements. But even if it's not that specific model, it's not physically possible to have a bigger screen fit in those dimensions. So even if you're not talking about the Huawei GR5, your device still doesn't meet Cisco's requirements.

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Tags: applications, google-play-store, 6.0-marshmallow
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# Question
Title: Android x86 > error: SysRq: Emergency remount R/0
I have a **PC** with **Windows 10** and **Ubuntu 18.04**, but would like to add more **Android x86**(*lineageOS 14.1*). The **ISO** file works perfectly in **Live USB**. After installing with **USB** (by selecting "**Run LineageOS**"), the android launches without problems. But after the restart (added **lineageOS 14.1** via `/etc/grub.d/40_custom`), it does start with the following message:

```
Detecting Android-x86... found at /dev/sda7
[     3.697517] sysrq: SysRq: Emergency remount R/0

```

Then it reboots to the **GRUB2** menu.

How do I fix this, and boot **lineageOS 14.1**?

My **PC** with an **CPU** Intel Celeron 2.6 GHz 1 core, 1GB ram, and I am trying to start **lineageOS 14.1** on a 8GB partition (without SDcard).

My boot code is:

```
    recordfail=1
    if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,7)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 033e8fc7-4cfe-9454-bc59-df7329ca862d
linux /cm-x86-14.1-r2/kernel root=UUID=033e8fc7-4cfe-9454-bc59-df7329ca862d ro quiet splash
initrd /cm-x86-14.1-r2/initrd.img

```

# Answer
> 0 votes
## **I solved this problem!**

## This code for the **GRUB2** loader helped me.

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Tags: boot, reboot, mount, android-x86
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