# Question
Title: Can I view the sales reports/information from Android Market for my apps somewhere?
Is there a way to download the sales information for my Android apps?

For the iTunes store, Apple provides a tool for the same on iTunes Connect Sales and Trends Guide.

Are there similar tools for the Android apps' sales data? OR are there any external tools? I noticed that Appmonger is an app that provides the same. Are there any other external tools/sites?

# Answer
> * **Earnings Reports**: Generated near the beginning of the month.
> * **Estimated Sales Reports**: Generated daily by adding all transactions that were CHARGED or REFUNDED recently to the current month's file. It can take several days for all new transactions to appear.
>
> **Note**: Financial data is based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

From Play Console Help - Download sales and payout reports
> 0 votes

---
Tags: google-play-store
---


title: MacroDroid : Using password in Intent

text:
# Question
Title: MacroDroid : Using password in Intent
I use Adguard on my Pixel 6a. After a recent major upgrade, I noticed that the app is disabled erratically. Since this behavior is unpredictable, it is difficult to capture logs precisely for troubleshooting. I did manage once to capture and send them and they are taking too long to revert, so I thought of automation as an alternative.

Adguard knowledgebase suggests using Tasker set up as below. Adguard generates a password to authenticate the intent (preventing misuse by malicious apps) and this password needs to be a part of intent.

**Tasker Implementation**

**MacroDroid Implementation**

I tried replicating the pattern in Tasker above in MacroDroid unsuccessfully. Please note that the password, package name and class are correctly entered. The action I am trying now when Adguard is running is

> `stop` stops the protection, no extra data required;

The MacroDroid implementation does not work. **How do I fix this?**

Edit: If I change the target to *activity* instead of *broadcast*, I get this error in notifications

# Answer
> 1 votes
I'd posted this in the MacroDroid forum and got a solution, which was tweaked and it works! Posting it here, so that it may help somebody else.

Essentially,one needs to declare the password as a local variable, with *auto detect* changed to *string*. However, for the person who suggested this, it worked in the default auto mode

YMMV!

The macro now looks like

Edit: After a few days of trial, the macro below works well.

---
Tags: automation, macrodroid
---


# Question
Title: Edit phone number associated with device / SIM
On my device, when I check the phone number through `Settings` \> `About Phone` \> `Status` \> `SIM Status`, the phone number is incorrect. I ported my number over when I took out a new contract so I guess this is the number originally associated with the SIM. Is there any way to change this?

**EDIT:** Device is a Nexus 6P running M 6.0.1, no root.

# Answer
> 5 votes
A SIM contains multiple phonebook sections. One of them stores your SIM contacts. Another section contains "My Numbers" (MSISDN) with a max capacity of 3 numbers, usually.

Unfortunately, my phones are too new to access "My Numbers", and my phones that are old enough (2005) to edit them are out of reach.

Fortunately, I had a spare SIM800 *development board* lying around. I hooked it up to my Arduino and started issuing AT commands.

Here's my conversation with my SIM card:

```
AT               <-- Check if we are live and communicating with the SIM

OK

AT+CNUM?         <-- Get own number

ERROR            <-- CNUM failed, we don't have an "own" number

at+cpbs="ON"     <-- Switch to "ON" phonebook: MSISDN (SIM own numbers)

OK

at+cpbs?         <-- Get capacity of current phonebook

+CPBS: "ON",0,3  <-- Notice that there's no stored number (0 out of 3)

OK

at+cpbw=,"+639950001234"    <-- Saving my number

OK

at+cpbs?          <-- Get capacity of current phonebook

+CPBS: "ON",1,3   <-- Number saved (now consuming 1 out of 3 slots)

OK

at+cnum           <-- Get own number

+CNUM: ,"+639950001234",145,,4    <-- CNUM OK

OK

AT

OK

```

Unplugged, then returned SIM to phone. After that, my phone now shows my number `+639950001234` instead of "Unknown".

# Answer
> 2 votes
I have found only two solutions:

1. Get Xposed and then either the app above or this one: https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/themes-apps/app-sim-changer-change-registered-sim-t2106490
2. Use an old Nokia/Alcatel phone to edit SIM phone number

# Answer
> 1 votes
Unfortunately I've had to join to answer this, so don't have the reputation to add a comment to Aloha's answer, but anyway... that answer is almost perfect. However, I was recently trying to change the my number using that method, but found that I couldn't access the "ON" phone book. It turns out that you have to switch to local phone books before you can access it ( presumably only on some modems or SIM cards. ) You do this using `AT$QCPBMPREF=1` \- after which the "ON" phone book is available. I found this info from the thread here.

---
Tags: settings
---


# Question
Title: Can't find "Free Up Space" options in Settings on Samsung (Android 12) device
For some reason, I'm unable to find the Free Up/Clean Up Space feature in Settings on my Samsung Android 12 (specs) phone.

My device has 60GB+ listed under Other in the Storage menu that I would like to clean up, but I don't see a way to do it without resorting to using 3rd-party apps. It feels like that shouldn't be necessary.

# Answer
> 0 votes
You have to click on each item such as Images or Videos. Then you can select the images or videos and delete.

Otherwise use a file manager or a system cleaning app.

---
Tags: samsung, settings, storage, cleanup
---


# Question
Title: Can I bulk delete shared media on Android texts?
When I go into the texting app and click on the settings, then shared media, it allows me to delete gifs/images individually by clicking on the three dots, but I want to get rid of 90% of these and doing it one by one is a slog. Any advice?

# Answer
> 0 votes
I use X-plore app to manage the files. Heres the screenshot of the top of the tree.

---
Tags: delete, media-files
---


# Question
Title: Who is "Dr. MAD"/who composed the default Android ringtones?
I found Android's ringtones (in `/system/product/media/audio`), and a lot of them have metadata. The most common name that shows up in the Artist section of the metadata for most ringtones, as far as I know, is "Dr. MAD".

For example, you have "Growl.ogg" (real ringtone in the directory I mentioned above), which has metadata saying the Artist is "Dr. MAD".

Who is "Dr. MAD"/who composed Growl (and all other "Dr. MAD" ringtones)?

~~Google's song recognition (and Shazam) says it's this: `Nthahouse - Big Jay Mack & Gino Veddy Cheddy`, however I'm not convinced it is because the only audio of it available¹ sounds like someone just looped the ringtone over and over, and placed the vocals of a random song over the top.~~

It seems as though the people who made that song actually sampled the ringtone.

I've tried googling it, but Google keeps throwing irrelevant results at me. Or maybe I'm not searching the right thing. So, who is this person?

---

¹ Nthahouse - Big Jay Mack (Growl Ringtone) on YouTube

# Answer
> 4 votes
Interesting question from a historical perspective since a Google search threw up a few references to Dr.MAD in the ringtone meta data of several OEM ringtones.

Here is what I found. I cannot vouch for the authenticity.

Tech Product Bangers on Twitter (@techprodbangers) whose profile says

> An account that posted bangers from consumer technology products, such as **ringtones**, BGM and synth demos. Formerly known as Ringtone Bangers + More.

A search for "Dr. MAD" in their Tweets returns these results:

> This is "Sorry", the full song behind the Android 1.0 ringtone, Terminated!
>
> Composed by Sébastien "Bara" Barafani of NewWave Labs, a French company that did ringtones for Google. **(all credited to "Dr. MAD", aka leader Alain Georges)**

> **The mystery behind "Dr. MAD" has been fully solved.** It's a team consisting of:
>
> * Alain "Dr. MAD" Georges
> * Gilles "Zill" Tremellat
> * Christian "T-Jam" Laffitte
> * Noël "Dr. No" Laffitte
> * Charles "Kallaghan" Massabo
> * Sébastien "Bara" Barafani
>
> Thanks to Bara for sending this!

> I'm pretty sure Dr. MAD is just a fake artist name Google used for all of the ringtones by NewWave Labs (which Charles was the director of, and composed some of his own)

> Here is an almost complete composer breakdown of the NWL ringtones. These are all credited to Dr. Mad (Alain), and while he led the team, only 3 of his were used.
>
> The team:
>
> Alain Georges
>
> Sébastien Barafani
>
> Gilles Tremellat
>
> Christian Laffitte
>
> Charles Massabo

| Gilles Tremellat | Sébastien Barafani | Christian Laffitte | Charles Massabo | Alain Georges | No Credit Available |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Beat Plucker | Bentley Dubs | Bird Loop | Game Over Guitar | Don' Mess Wiv It | Lectro Beat |
| Insert Coin | Cousin Jones | Caribbean Ice | Enter The Nexus | Funk Y'all | Silky Way |
| Medieval Jaunt | Crazy Dream | Ether Shake | Revelation | Miami Twice |  |
| New Player | Curve Ball Blend | Loopy Lounge | Thunderfoot |  |  |
| Romancing the Tone | Dream Theme | Mildly Alarming/Eridani |  |  |  |
| Thriller Three | Friendly Ghost | Ding/Carina/Noisy One |  |  |  |
| Backroad | ***Growl*** | Sitar vs. Sitar |  |  |  |
| Bollywood | Love Flute | Springy Jalopy |  |  |  |
| *...and 8 more* | *...and 8 more* | *...and 15 more* |  |  |  |

(emphasis supplied)

---
Tags: root-access, audio, ringtone, android-13
---


title: Trying to delete a folder with Termux

text:
# Question
Title: Trying to delete a folder with Termux
I'm trying to delete a file Android will not let me delete it. Trying to use Termux, I can't seem to find the file. I used termux-setup-storage, and per the instructions entered:

```
cd /storage/sdcard0/FilesAndFolders

```

And get

```
bash: cd: /storage/sdcard0/FilesAndFolders: No such file or directory

```

I'm working with Android 11, and I am a real novice at this. I can't figure out what file path they want. Suggestions?

Even though I'm using:

```
rm -rf [directory name]

```

it still comes back saying the Directory is not empty. No command I try deletes this file. The file name at the end of the string has a black diamond with a question mark on it.

I tried SD Maid to no avail, Termux didn't work. I'm considering a factory reset as my only option. The file is a .mp4. I tried `*.MP4`, but no luck. I've tried deleting the folder and the file in every way I could find. I traced the file from the tree, sometimes it tells me the file doesn't exist when I can see it in the tree.

Is there any way to delete this file?

# Answer
> 0 votes
I think the path is incorrect.

* Try one folder at a time from the top and see when it fails.
* Or install a file explorer app to look at what's there. I use `X-plore`.

I am not associated with it.

---
Tags: files, delete, termux, bash
---


# Question
Title: "You don't have another device" when trying to install Android apps on ChromeOS
This is a weird situation: since I don't have a smartphone, I installed PrimeOS on a USB stick and booted on a laptop. Under this live system, I installed some apps in Google Play Store just to test them (the laptop is recognized as a mobile device).

Afterward, I decided to overwrite the USB stick with ChromeOS. Now under ChromeOS, the Play Store shows my installed apps, but of course, I cannot access them anymore. It seems impossible to delete them or install them again. The Play Store says, "You don't have another device".

Any ideas to solve this?

# Answer
> 1 votes
As Andrew T. pointed out in the comments, ChromeOS Flex (which I'm actually running) does officially NOT support Android apps.

---
Tags: google-play-store, installation, chrome-os
---


# Question
Title: How can I set my device to display time in UTC?
I want to try thinking in UTC instead of my local time. There is no UTC region and no UTC time zone under the United States region.

How can I set my device so it always displays the time in UTC instead of my local time zone?

# Answer
> 3 votes
Now `Select time zone` has a sideways `...` that you can select `Select by UTC offset`; this is an alternate way you can select `UTC GMT +00:00` without selecting a region. (Android 10, 2022-02 patch.)

I assume that this is the same time that one uses for SSL certificates, which I'd imagine is probably UTC instead of GMT. I use this as well, and it mostly works. The only trouble I've had is getting re-certified with Microsoft's OAuth mail server.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Set your device to the Iceland region. Iceland has a single time zone with a UTC offset of +0, and they do not use DST. Other time zones that may work are listed here.

---
Tags: clock, date-and-time, time-zones
---


# Question
Title: How can I make Google Maps speak the street names when the voice is set to a foreign language?
I'm running Google Pixel 2 with latest updates. You can change the navigation voice language in Google Maps via:

hamburger icon (3 horizontal bars) --\> Settings --\> Navigation Settings --\> Voice selection --\> choose any language

I have my Google maps voice set to French. However, it no longer speaks street names! I am using Google maps to navigate using voice only, with*out* a screen, while riding my electric skateboard. So, I really need it to speak the street names while I'm riding, but I want the voice to be in French. Any way to do this?

# Answer
> 6 votes
The best answer would be for GOOGLE TO PLEASE FIX IT so we can have an option to turn street name speaking on or off regardless of the chosen system language and the chosen Google Maps spoken language (they should be functionally separate).

However, this is the only current work-around I have been able to discover:

the solution is simply to change your entire phone language to the foreign language you want spoken, as apparently the street names can *only* be spoken in the phone's default language. This is dumb.

**Anyway: main phone settings --\> System --\> Languages & input --\> Languages --\> Add a language --\> choose the one you want (ex: French) --\> tap and hold the hamburger icon (3 horizontal bars) next to this new language and drag it up to re-order this language to be on the very top (it is now your default system language).**

That's it! Now, back in your Google Maps navigation settings you'll see that the default language (French) is now chosen, and under it it says what it used to say for the English default language: "Prononce les noms de rues" (Speak street names). **It now speaks street names in French, just like it used to do for English.** *However, the down-side is that my entire phone is now in French instead of just the audio for my Google Maps, like I wanted. **Google, please fix this!***

# Answer
> 0 votes
Actually, you only need to change the app language, not the phone language. open Maps, open the profile menu, go to settings and select app language.

Please Google, fix this.

# Answer
> -2 votes
There's no reason why the above "solution" needs to be so complicated. Open Google maps. Cluck settings. Click navigation. Click language. Click default. That's it.

---
Tags: google, google-maps, languages, google-maps-navigation
---


# Question
Title: Is there a contact book that allows partial access for apps?
In my phone book, I have both personal contacts and work-related contacts, like clients, contractors, etc.

Applications such as 'WhatsApp' are great and easy, but I do not necessarily want to add all contacts to all apps that use the contact book.

Is there **either an alternative contact** book that allows only certain people (groups?) to be shared with an app while keeping others out, **or a privacy setting** in the default contact book that allows certain contacts not to be seen by every app?

# Answer
> 6 votes
The pro version of XPrivacy can do just that. I use it to allow WhatsApp selective access to contact book entries only if I know that the person in question is already registered with WhatsApp.

Blocking contacts by default:

Allowing partial access:

# Answer
> 2 votes
Use the app in Dual Messenger mode (dual account/secure mode) and turn on the option "Use separate contacts list".

# Answer
> 0 votes
I found OpenContacts that allows you to manage a second contact book that will be isolated, so no contacts will be uploaded.

Yes, there is no way to setup partial access, however you can open chats from OpenContacts, directly. It's a good solution if you have business contacts that you use only for calling, SMS and email.

# Answer
> 0 votes
As of 2023 the only vendor-agnostic solution I could find, was to use work profiles. Apps like Shelter help with setting this up.

---
Tags: contacts, privacy
---


# Question
Title: How can I access my phone with a broken screen when TWRP decryption is unavailable?
Recently I broke the screen and digitizer of my phone and now want to be able to get my data off or even control it. While researching I stumbled upon scrcpy which gives you full access to your device if you have ADB enabled (which I unfortunately have not).

I have TWRP installed, can boot into it and have ADB access there but my persistent storage is encrypted and when trying to decrypt it with TWRP I just get the `E:No crypto support was compiled into this build.` error message.

Now how can I get off my data or control my device while being unable to decrypt the persistent storage?

# Answer
> 3 votes
You can enable ADB by editing certain build.prop options which can be done without data access. Then, like you already mentioned, you can easily control your phone with scrcpy.

For an in-depth explanation on how to achieve this head over to this XDA Thread. It boils down to these 7 steps:

1. Boot into the recovery
2. With ADB, add the following lines to `/system/build.prop`
```
# Enable ADB
persist.service.adb.enable=1
persist.service.debuggable=1
persist.sys.usb.config=mtp,adb

# Disable authorization
ro.adb.secure=0
ro.secure=0
ro.debuggable=1

```
3. Reboot to system
4. ADB should be enabled now, use scrcpy to enter your decryption secret
5. Wait until the persistent storage is mounted (e.g. by checking if the directory `/data/adb/service.d/` exists) and then IMMEDIATELY push a script with the following content into the `/data/adb/service.d/` directory and make it executeable (via `adb push /path/to/script.sh /data/adb/service.d; adb shell chmod 777 /data/adb/service.d/script.sh`
```
#!/system/bin/sh

resetprop persist.service.adb.enable 1
resetprop persist.service.debuggable 1
resetprop persist.sys.usb.config mtp,adb

resetprop ro.adb.secure 0
resetprop ro.secure 0
resetprop ro.debuggable 1

echo "1" > /data/property/persist.service.adb.enable
echo "1" > /data/property/persist.service.debuggable
echo "mtp,adb" > /data/property/persist.sys.usb.config

```
6. Reboot again
7. Enjoy your ADB access!

Note that in order to get this to work you need to have Magisk installed. If that's not the case it should already work after step 2, if it doesn't you can try to just execute the last three lines of the script as soon as the persistent storage is mounted.

---
Tags: twrp, data-recovery, encryption, broken-screen
---


# Question
Title: How do I know if I can use LHDC in my Android phone?
I have a Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE and I would like to know

1. Whether it can support the LHDC function provided by Xiaomi Buds 3T Pro.
2. If the above is a yes, how do I know I am using that codec? \[Will the word "LHDC" be displayed alongside with the Bluetooth device?\]

I have searched many websites but cannot get a definite answer.

In my phone, I discovered the following: Settings \> ... \> Developer ... \> Bluetooth ... and besides "SBC", "AptX" and ...., "LHDC" is an allowable choice.

# Answer
> In my phone, I discovered the following:- setting \> ... \> developer ... \> Bluetooth ... and besides "SBC" , AptX" and ...., "LHDC" is an allowable choice.

**If "LHDC" is mentioned in the settings then your phone supports LHDC.** So...

1. Yes, it supports LHDC (most Xiaomi and others support it since at least 2021).
2. Yes, the acronym "LHDC" will appear at the right of the Bluetooth audio device's name. That said it may not be selected by default. If that's the case then you need to tap the arrow (\>), scroll down and enable the codec.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Unfortunately, after pairing Xiaomi Buds 3T Pro with Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE, the codec can only go up to AAC but not LHDC. Sad. This is because the HD audio has been factory pre-set as deactivated. Methods of re-activating it are welcome.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: settings, bluetooth, bluetooth-audio, hardware-requirements
---


# Question
Title: How do I delete a single calendar in Android (not just hide it)?
How do I delete a single calendar from the native calendar app (not only the entries: the whole calendar) without wiping out the app or all calendars, in android \>4.0?

This feature was available till ICS. In Kitkat, it's still not possible.

# Answer
I just ran into the same problem. I created a local calendar with an app and then removed the app before deleting the calendar. I could re-install the app and delete the calendar there. So, for you as a developer, this means you should probably add this functionality to your app.

However, if you need a quick fix or if someone else is running into this problem with a third-party app that does not provide a way to remove its own calendars, you can use the (no longer free) app iCal Import/Export CalDAV by Lukas Aichbauer, as this app allows you to remove any local calendars.

Just start it, select "Edit Calendars", then "Choose Calendar", and select the calendar you want to remove. Then click "Delete Calendar" and confirm if you are certain you have selected the right one.

Maybe use the same app first to pull a backup of the calendars you want to keep.
> 14 votes

# Answer
Since it seems there is no easy free way to do this, I created my own =)

Here is the app: Calendar Toolbox

If someone needs to create, delete, or update a local calendar, it will do it.
> 11 votes

# Answer
Android devices have a local calendar storage database that is opaque and difficult to modify with app-level programmatic. You can, however, clear all local calendar data, which should remove the calendar entries permanently. Any sync'd calendars will repopulate.

Settings \> Apps & Notifications \> See all Apps \> (... menu) Show System

Navigate to "Calendar Storage", choose "Storage & cache", and then "Clear storage".

All calendar events will disappear, sync'd events will repopulate via account sync over the next few minutes.

Another comment noted a paid app "CalDEV". My guess is that it does a less nuclear version of this.
> 4 votes

# Answer
Calendar Backup lets you backup and delete calendars. I just used it with the Samsung calendar on a Galaxy A6.

Before deleting it, you can export it as an .ics file as backup, and it offers you to save it or directly share it to an email or messaging account.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: calendar, delete
---


# Question
Title: How to access Google Family Link from within child device?
I want to install an application directly from .apk file on my child's phone. This operation is blocked due to the fact that the device is controlled by a parent.

On my child's phone I have an application called "Parental Control" installed. It is clearly from Google (help icon points to Google resources) though I have no idea what is it and how does it differs from Google Family Link.

Tapping (?) icon in the top-right corner opens a Family Link help where I can read (in "Unlock your child's device" section):

> 1. On your child's device, click **Parent Access**.
> 2. Enter the password for the parent's account used to supervise the child.

The problem is that I cannot find even a trace of "Parent Access" button or menu item. Neither in this "Parental Control" nor anywhere within the system (Readme 9A, Android 11).

Trying to resolve the above, in addition to this "Parental Control", I have also installed "the original" (?) Google Family Link app (also on child's phone). But when I am trying to run it, I am falling into a never-ending loop of:

1. Welcome to Family Link
2. Continue as \[child name\] (button)
3. The Family Link app is for parents
4. Parent sign-in (button)
5. Welcome to Family Link

I don't know what am I missing or doing wrong.

**How can I access "parent mode" in Google Family Link-supervised child's phone? Or temporarily disable this supervision? How can I install some third-party application directly from .apk file on Google Family Link-supervised device?**

This Redmi 9A phone is used as a spare device when the actual phone (Redmi 11S) is being repaired. But I recall that I had exactly the same problems (i.e. never-ending loop in Google Family Link) on Redmi 11S.

# Answer
To gain access to "Parent Access", lock child's device from Family Link app on your own device then you'll see the "Parent Access" button on lock screen of your child's device(See attached screenshot I got from Internet). BTW, Family Link app is for parents while "Parental Control" is available on supervised devices.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: android-11, google-family-link
---


# Question
Title: APK updates showing on Aurora (3rd-party store) before Play Store
I noticed this yesterday. I went onto Play Store and had "10 app updates available". I then went on to Aurora Store and there were "125 app updates available".

I checked the version number of a few apps online, and it did seem as though the updates were legitimate.

My questions:

* Are the updates on Aurora Store legitimate?
* And, if so, why are they not showing on Play Store?

# Answer
# Aurora Store is same as Play Store

> Overall, Aurora Store is an intriguing app, that completes two functions. First of all, it makes it easy to download virtually any APK **offered on Google Play**, and second, it enables you to manage the apps already on your device. All from an elegant, intuitive interface.

(Emphasis added)

This makes it clear that the source for Aurora is Play Store. Also the FAQ has this

> **Is it safe to use Aurora store?**

> Aurora Store is fully open-source and verified by F-Droid. If you're asking about the safety of the apps in the store, those are the **exact same ones the Play Store would load and display**. A lot of dangerous stuff seems to sneak past Google though, so as a rule of thumb, don't download anything which you're unsure about.

# Why does Aurora show more updates than Play Store?

> New and existing users are eligible to receive updates from staged rollouts and are chosen at random for each new release rollout.

> Your app update will be available to the percentage of users in your staged rollout, but it may take time for the full group to receive the update.

> Users won't be notified if they receive a version of your app in a staged rollout.

> If you choose specific countries for your staged rollout, the upgrade will be limited to users with Google Play accounts in those locations.

Robert's answer gives additional reasons for staged rollouts

To summarize, you won't see all app updates available on Play Store

# Aurora Store is legitimate

**The updates in Aurora are legitimate** Aurora store is open source hosted on Github and the latest update to readme says

> The source code for Aurora Store is actively developed on GitLab. You can find the latest updates, contribute to development, and track the progress on the Aurora Store GitLab repository

Hence, there is no reason at all to doubt the authenticity of Aurora Store. As a side note the developer of Aurora store is also the developer of Warden which is a tool for privacy conscious users, since

> Detects Trackers & Loggers across whole device

> Allows to disable all trackers/logger
> 7 votes

# Answer
App developers usually don't publish app updates immediately to all users. Instead they publish new app versions only a small subset of users (may be 5-10%) that is increasing over time ("staged rollout").

This is a precautionary measure, because if something goes wrong e.g. an app always crashes on a certain device or on devices by a certain manufacturer then this can easily lead to a denial-of-service attack against the app support (e.g. a forum) when millions of customers trying to reach the app support.

The Aurora Store uses internally Google Play Store but using a different account. Therefore it can happen the Aurora Store account is in the group of accounts which get access to the app update earlier, therefore in this case the app update is visible earlier in Aurora Store.
> 4 votes

---
Tags: google-play-store, updates, apk, alternative-markets
---


# Question
Title: Is there a way to force Google Podcast App to play podcasts in chronological order?
Looking for a way to autonomously play podcasts in the order they were recorded using Google Podcast Application.

But, irritatingly, Google Podcast always plays the latest (newest) episodes. Even if it was already played (specifically, Google Podcast always plays the last few minutes of the latest previously listened to podcast).

This might be OK for news, but if you are trying to learn something, it may be all you can do from throwing your Android out the car window.

# Answer
*Caveats*

* I don't use podcast apps or listen to podcasts but I was intrigued by the poor UX feature to investigate.
* Solutions proposed have undergone limited testing, yet posting it as an answer since it has an alternative app suggestion too.

---

**Google Podcast app**

1. Manually arranging podcasts

> If you click the green checkmark on an episode in the queue, then select "Play Next", it will move the episode to the top of the queue. It also remembers this new order. Inexplicably, you can now sort that episode into any position, and it will remember. Repeat this process for every episode in the queue, and you will be able to rearrange the episodes freely, and the app will retain the new order. The worst part is that you have to do this every time you add an episode to the queue (you only have to do it for the added episode) if you want to change the position of the new episode.

One needs to use = on the left to order

2. Using a PC to manually arrange podcasts
3. User jlehenbauer commented

> I jumped back into Google Podcasts and selected an old podcast with an episode from 2022, and after it finished it moved automatically to the next released in chronological order (*not tested by me*)

Since the OP listens to a channel (Ologies) having 100s of podcasts, these solutions are not optimal

---

Therefore, an alternative app solution is proposed below (I am not affiliated with it)

**Podcast Guru**

1. Select "Ologies Channel"

2. On opening the podcast sub-topic list , by default it shows newest first

3. Click on the arrow buttons to reverse order to show oldest first

4. Additional features that would help OP

* Create a home screen shortcut to a podcast.
* "Hide completed" or "Mark all completed"
* Play chronologically, without the last few minutes of previous podcast being played
> 0 votes

---
Tags: google, podcast
---


# Question
Title: When crypt14 file of WhatsApp database is deleted automatically after 7 days, is it possible to recover it in Android 12? Are they permanently deleted
I downloaded some data recovery apps from Play Store. They failed to recover my deleted data, but they show some hidden WhatsApp files like `.status`.

Can they recover and steal my database file from them and upload it to their server?

# Answer
> 1 votes
File recovery in newer Android OS is not possible.

Long Answer:

Most data recovery apps over the years have just failed to recover anything.

Some fake recovery by trying to get leftover data from cache or thumbnails and show them as recovered. These apps claim to be able to recover deleted files. However, their effectiveness can vary, and they might require certain permissions or features that may not be available in Android's newer versions due to increased privacy and security measures.

Even if device is rooted any data recovery app needs to acquire permission with user intervention and can not directly access storage as low level disk access.

---
Tags: whatsapp-messenger, data-recovery
---


# Question
Title: Is there a way to transfer apps, watch faces, settings from Samsung Galaxy Watch4 to Watch6?
I just purchased the Samsung Galaxy Watch6. Is there a way to transfer apps, faces, and settings over from Galaxy Watch4?

# Answer
> 3 votes
Finally took a punt at it.

* Open `Galaxy Wearable` App
* Click on hamburger menu at top left
* Select `Add new device`
* If you dont have a backup on the old watch, make one. (I had automatic backups, but made another anyway)
* Add the new watch, and along the way it asks if you want to restore the backup
* It tells you what it is able to restore and then restores it.

So, it didnt restore apps and watch faces, "because they are not compatible due to different OS". It just restored the settings.

---
Tags: samsung, data-transfer, smartwatch
---


# Question
Title: How to make calls ring (with sound) while messages vibrate?
This seems like a fairly basic thing but I'm having trouble nonetheless. I'd like my calls to ring (with sound) while messages vibrate (no sound). How do I do this?

* Setting sound mode to "sound" and turning notification volume down means calls ring, but I get no vibration.
* Setting sound mode to "vibrate" means messages vibrate, but I get no ringing for calls.

I am using Android 11 and have a Samsung Glaxy A71.

# Answer
> 0 votes
There is a very simple solution

1. The Ringtones (used by Calls) and Notification sounds (used by Messages) can be set to different audio.
2. For Notifications (under Settings-\>Sounds and Vibration), select a tone without audio.

As an example Zedge has such ringtones.

---
Tags: notifications, calls, ringtone, vibration
---


# Question
Title: How to edit/send a previously sent gmail message as a new one on Android?
Something well known to be unsupported on the official gmail.com website and official app.

The typical answer in that case, is go on Microsoft Windows to install an imap client like Thunderbird which has such feature. **But how to do it if you have only access to an android devices?**

I tried the beta version of k9 which is to be rebranded as Thunderbird for Android and it does support copying sent messages but not across mailboxes/imap account whereas Google doesn’t support copying emails to a the Drafts folder (you normally have to use a client which support send a message as new directly or put the message in the drafts folder of an other imap account which isn’t Google).

# Answer
> 1 votes
FairEmail supports it. You can download it from Github release page, or on Play Store (available in some countries only). I've been using FairEmail ever since it was released and it has tons of amazing features (I am not affiliated with it, just promoting a great product).

Though the XDA thread is closed, development is ongoing with an update once a week on average. He is the one who's developed Net guard, XPrivacy and XPrivacyLua.

On top of every message there is a configurable set of actions. Tap the three dot menu (second on left) and follow the screenshots

Select *edit as new*

You can change the from(any mail client configured in FairEmail) /to mail ID, subject, header or text and send it.

You can read the Github (linked in first Para) for other features of the app.

---
Tags: gmail, email, imap
---


# Question
Title: Chrome doesn't require permission to download files and install web apps?
Chrome for Android seems to require no permission to download files and install web apps. Disabling storage permission does not prevent the browser from downloading the EICAR test file, and disabling app downloads does not prevent the installation of the Android Developers web app.

In further detail, installing the Android Developers web app seems to trigger a download with Google Play Services, but does not show up in the list of installed applications in Google Play. When attempting to access its page in Google Play through notifications, apparently it doesn't exist and shows an error has occurred.

I'm not sure whether this is an intended feature or if my device has been compromised.

# Answer
> 2 votes
What you see is referred to as PWA(Progressive Web App). The technology/feature is essentially to allow services provided by web sites to be launched and displayed as though they were individual apps. With the help from Chrome browser, web apps have their app icons displayed within home screen and may be uninstalled like Android apps. In essence PWAs are web pages hosted by full screen browser tabs which is why most PWAs rely on network connection to be fully functional.

Reference

Examples of Web apps

---
Tags: chrome-for-android, installation, permissions, downloading
---


# Question
Title: Building AOSP kernel with debug filesystem
As mentioned in android documention, **Android 12** should not use debug filesystem in **user** mode.

I want to build AOSP 12.1 for some device, but building in user mode results to error below:

**files are incompatible: Runtime info and framework compatibility matrix are incompatible: No compatible kernel requirement found (kernel FCM version = 5)**

**for kernel requirement at matrix level 5, for config CONFIG\_DEBUG\_FS, value=y but required n**

This config (CONFIG\_DEBUG\_FS) isn't my defconfig. I also added **CONFIG\_DEBUG\_FS=n** config to defconfig, but no change. result kernel config (obj/KERNEL\_OBJ/.config) after build is same (**CONFIG\_DEBUG\_FS=y**)

It seems that Android build system uses a **base config from host os** OR there are some **depencencies** to this config such that this config is ignored.

How to disable this config in android build system?

UPDATE

I tried "make KCONFIG\_CONFIG=arch/arm64/config/vendor/my\_defconf **menuconfig**" so my defconf was input to menuconfig.

I disabled CONFIG\_DEBUG\_FS by disabling PAGE\_OWNER option. because there was a rule that if 3 specific config was set, this config will set automatically.

These caonfigs were PAGE\_OWNER && DEBUG\_KERNEL && STACKTRACE\_SUPPORT.

if all sets then debugfs will set. so I disabled PAGE\_OWNER because two others were Mandatory or useful. Then I saved defconfig. such that so many configs changed. and I start to build kernel but too many errors was in result.

# Answer
As I mentioned in question, for aosp 12.1 and above, you should unset "CONFIG\_PAGE\_OWNER" config in kernel config file to build in user mode. unsetting this option will unset CONFIG\_DEBUG\_FS
> 0 votes

---
Tags: file-system, kernel, aosp
---


title: "remount: not found" error

text:
# Question
Title: "remount: not found" error
I want to install an application as a system application.

To do so, I must remount the system partition RW, to do so I run the command `adb shell remount rw` in a terminal, but I get the error `/system/bin/sh: remount: not found`.

How can I remount the system partition RW?

# Answer
> 9 votes
The command is: `adb remount`, please try this first. However, if it doesn't work, make sure your device is rooted, and try these commands:

```
adb shell
su
mount -o remount,rw /system

```

Those commands will directly remount the system as RW. However, you must be rooted.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I have faced the exact same issue: "remount: not found". Seems there are different syntax possibilities depending on the OS or updated libs. In case the syntax doesn't suit, it just interprets 'remount' as a command "not found".

Then I tried

```
mount -o rw,remount /system

```

and it worked.

The strange thing is, a few months before, just after having rooted my device, this worked: `mount -o rw;remount /system`. There seems to be also: `mount -o remount,rw /system`.

Just try different syntaxes. If you rooted your device, one must work.

---
Tags: adb, partitions, mount
---


# Question
Title: Don't charge the battery but use connected power to run the phone
Answers to this question Is power consumed from battery to run the phone when charging? explain how charging while phone is in use does both - charging the battery **and** powering the on going activities.

My question is different — **Can I stop charging the battery but use the connected power for ongoing activities?**

*Why do I want to do this?*

and

* at the same time use the charging power to keep running the phone without any heat stress on battery, thus extending battery life.
* Also the battery is not drained, enabling me to use the phone for longer time without charging

Edit : I am not looking for dedicated cables or hardware that can possibly do this

# Answer
> 33 votes
Yes, it's possible if your device is rooted running Advanced Charging Controller-Acc Magisk module *and* device kernel supports (see currently known list at the end of answer. For more join telegram )

* Battery Idle Mode: To activate this feature at a user defined battery level.

And/Or

* Custom Charging Voltage Limits: Activates this feature at a user defined voltage level. This method is superior to first method since granular voltage control is possible Keep in mind that battery charge level is *not* an accurate indication of voltage. Kernels that support this, include support for first mode too.

First step is to configure charging to be stopped at a safe level, in my case, 75%, using the Acc module

Next step is to use the charging power to run the phone *only*

**How does it work?**

In either methods (battery idle mode or Voltage based) , the charger is fooled into "believing" temperature conditions aren't good for charging (either the reported battery temperature is too high or too low, so battery charging is discontinued as a safety precaution).

That means the device is drawing power from the external power supply alone - which is exactly what we wanted! And the battery doesn't get drained because it is not being used (of course over a long period of time it would drop a percentage point. As an example I used the device to surf for 4 hours, mostly YouTube videos and lost *just 1%* of battery)

On my OnePlus 7, battery idle mode is supported by Kirisakura kernel. Interestingly, beta versions of stock ROM have this feature in stock kernel but one doesn't know if it makes it to next stable version (Edit : Stock kernel on 10.3.2 supports idle battery mode as verified by me)

When this feature is running, a low USB equivalent power is fed to the phone and conventional charging indicators show charging with zero power. Note that the second screenshot (Ampere app) shows "not charging" and no word about discharging, so the battery is at status quo. Normally, such apps show a binary status, either charging or discharging. Here, you see the difference

This screenshot below is from ACCA (Acc App, optional companion app of Acc magisk module ) which offers all the command line options (believe me, a ton of them) in a user friendly GUI. It shows battery charging idle mode at 75%

---

**Support Battery Idle Mode**

* Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1
* Essential Phone
* Lenovo K5 Pro L38041 (kunlun)
* Motorola Moto G4 Play
* OnePlus 7/Pro
* Xiaomi Redmi 3 (ido)
* Xiami Redmi Note 8
* Pixel 4a on Android 11 (not initially but in subsequent updates) and Android 12.

**Support Custom Max Charging Voltage**

* Essential Phone
* Lenovo K5 Pro L38041 (kunlun)
* Xiami Redmi Note 8 ...

# Answer
> 0 votes
For completeness, I want to add my solution. I have been using a tablet as a control panel for home automation. The first one died, with a swollen battery that made the screen detach from the case.

Samsung repaired it, but didn't tell me the cause. I realised it later. So I now use the home automation to disconnect power to it for 4 hours a day.

A simpler soltion would be put a mechanical or electronic timer to do the same.

---
Tags: battery, charging, battery-life, oneplus-7
---


# Question
Title: How to check if an Android device supports eSIM?
I'm using Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2. I found there's **Mobile Plan** in **Network & Internet** settings. But I'm not sure it is for eSIM.

When I tap on it, it says: *"Network has no known provisioning website"*

How to check if an Android device supports eSIM?

# Answer
Having gone through it myself, a few weeks ago, you actually need to ask your provider if they support **esim** on that phone.

* If the esim is for the phone, then the options will become enabled and visible if you are connected to a provider that supports esim on that phone. They may also only become available after you have purchased that option from your provider.
* If the esim is for the watch, then those options only become available after you have paired a compatible watch to your phone. Prior to that they are either disabled or not visible.

The options may have different names on different phones.
> 1 votes

# Answer
To post Rahul's comment as an answer:

> eSim depends upon carrier and mobile manufacturer. Top end devices like Pixel, Apple, nuu and top smart watches support esim. In India Airtel and reliance jio support esim. I think Asus doesn't have such feature even if it is pure android from Google.

To see if it supports that, check manufacturer specifications. If those aren't available in detail, GSMArena.com is a great resource.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: esim
---


# Question
Title: How to know if my phone has NFC technology?
I bought the Samsung Galaxy Note phone in Greece, but the store in which I bought the phone brought it directly from Samsung in France (that's what they told me), and the language that the phone had when I first booted the device was in German (so I suppose this phone was purposed for Germany).

Is there any way to find out whether my phone has NFC technology or not?

# Answer
> 1 votes
For some years now, there are many free apps that will give you this information. I have one called `Phone Tester` which shows this screen

# Answer
> 0 votes
As a declaration of support for NFC capability an OEM would most likely add **android.hardware.nfc** to device's feature list - Which can be queried via adb:

***adb shell pm list features | grep android.hardware.nfc***

Reference

---
Tags: nfc
---


# Question
Title: Is there a way to configure always-plugged-in android devices to partially change battery or NOT stay fully charged?
So I’ll apologize in advance as I’m an iPhone user for mobile and Linux for work/desktop - Android is mostly unfamiliar territory to me. I’ve recently set up 3 or 4 android devices (a various combination of older tablets and phones from different manufacturers) as more or less “display boards”. After one of them quit working and I took it apart to find a badly swollen battery pouch I realized that these devices spend 99.9% of their time plugged into USB power, and as such they’ve spent their entire lives at or near 100% charge, which we know is not great for these types of batteries.

Is there some way in the OS (or otherwise, I suppose) to configure these devices in “always plugged in mode” so that the batteries stay within a friendlier range for state-of-charge? I don’t remember details but I think the recommendation is that Li-ion batteries be left at/near 50% if they’re not being cycled.

Neither my coding chops nor my motivation are sufficient to go poking around on my own in the android development world, but it seems like this might be a common enough use case that there might be a setting buried somewhere that would do this?

# Answer
> 1 votes
A simple solution would be to use a mechanical or electronic timer to switch off power to the devices for a set number of hours. I am doing precisely this for my wall-mount Android tablet with home automation.

---
Tags: battery, charging
---


# Question
Title: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 running Lineage OS not rebooting properly after `adb reboot` unless USB disconnect
I am currently facing an issue with my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 tablet running Lineage OS. Whenever I attempt to reboot the device using the `adb reboot` command through `adb`, it enters a strange hanging state - the screen turns off, and it becomes unresponsive to any further commands. It remains in this state until I physically unplug the USB cable, at which point the tablet restarts and functions normally again. Interestingly, during this state, the `adb` daemon fails to recognize the device, but `lsusb` still detects its presence. I have attempted to restart the USB port/device using `usbreset`,

```
sudo usbreset 18d1:4ee7

```

but within the `dmesg` log, I get attempts with several errors saying `usb 1-1: device descriptor read/64, error -71` followed by finally with `usb usb1-port1: attempt power cycle` (full error output here). The terminal output is

```
Resetting Galaxy Tab 2 ... failed [No such device]

```

And the computer (in my case, a Raspberry Pi Zero W) does not recognize the Android device anymore until I disconnect the USB. I have tried restarting the RPi but still no luck, since I assume a complete "power cycle" would trigger it since it only operates after disconnection or reset of the 5V connection in the USB.

One hacky solution I have contemplating was creating a switch with the GPIO pins as a variant from this post, but I am still optimistic for a software-only solution before I start throwing hardware into the mix.

Here are some additional details that might be useful:

```
Tablet model: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2

adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release: 7.1.2
adb shell getprop ro.build.version.sdk: 25
adb shell getprop ro.build.flavor: lineage_espressowifi-userdebug
adb shell getprop ro.build.description:
espresso10wifixx-user 4.2.2 JDQ39 P5110XXDML1 release-keys

$adb --version
Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.41
Version 28.0.2-debian
Installed as /usr/lib/android-sdk/platform-tools/adb

```

Any suggestions are appreciated!

# Answer
Well, I own multiple Samsung devices, but Samsung uses a custom boot process. It uses more like a custom uboot image than a standard Android boot process. Second, you will need a Samsung driver. From what I saw, you are using a Linux machine and Debian-based.

But I can see that you are using an Android 7 image. That device was shipped with an Android 4 system that could boot Lineage OS 10.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: adb, usb, linux, lineageos, reboot
---


# Question
Title: Android Emulator cellular speed limits does not work properly
I need to limit cellular speeds in Android Studio's Emulator. I tried to limit it from the default settings:

but it does not work. Each time I select anything lower than LTE I get like 0.01Mbps.

Any idea how to fix it so I get the speeds which are described in reference:

```
                  UP(KBps) DOWN (KBps)
                  -------- ----------
gsm   GSM/CSD         14.4       14.4
hscsd HSCSD           14.4       57.6
gprs  GPRS            28.8       57.6
umts  UMTS/3G        384.0      384.0
edge  EDGE/EGPRS     473.6      473.6
hsdpa HSDPA         5760.0   13,980.0
lte   LTE         58,000.0  173,000.0
evdo  EVDO        75,000.0  280,000.0
full  No limit           ∞          ∞

```

# Answer
I have the same issue, either the speed is really fast or so slow that it basically is not working at all. I also tried using "adb emu network speed 4096" in the terminal for multiple speeds, the results are the same. My solution was to install clumsy. With clumsy, you can simulate a slow internet connection on your PC and with it on your emulator as well.

PS. I had a problem with clumsy as well, it didn't work, but when I set the filtering to "outbound" it started working.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: mobile-data, android-emulator, android-studio
---


# Question
Title: How does WhatsApp's Delete For Everyone work for photos?
In WhatsApp, when the sender deletes a photo for everyone from their side, does it permanently deleted from my phone, or are they still there on my phone? If it was there, are they recoverable by the data recovery app downloaded from Play Store?

The phone is not rooted.

# Answer
> 1 votes
When someone (e.g. an administrator, the sender) deletes a photo for everyone, **the respective file on the internal storage will be automatically deleted *when the recipients' WhatsApp is online***. This is a must for the WhatsApp app to receive the signal from the server in order to delete the file.

Thus, *that does not guarantee that no copy of the photo exists anymore*. One can set an automatic cloud backup for WhatsApp image folders so that every photo received will be backed up as soon as possible. Otherwise, when the recipient does not have an internet connection and the photo is still there, they can also make a local copy of the file somewhere else, whereas WhatsApp cannot touch the copy in both situations.

---
Tags: whatsapp-messenger, photos, delete
---


# Question
Title: Modifications of vendor image on Android 10
There is a vendor image in my device I want to change (unpack/mount, doing changes, pack/umount). My purpose is to update `boot.img` with my new kernel (in a rooted device). Unfortunately, it does not work due to incompatible versions between a newly compiled kernel (my compilation) to the previous kernel modules stored in `vendor.img`. As I figure it, I need to update the old `ko` executables stored in `vendor.img` in my product.

The first step is to do `dd` from my device and `adb pull` it out to my build environment. While I tried to do a mount on `vendor.img`, I discovered it not working due `share_blocks` attribute blocking it to mount as RW (`dmesg` wrote: "...unsupported optional features (4000)"), To solve it, running the following command

```
e2fsck -y -E unshare_blocks vendor.img

```

will disable the `share_blocks` feature that prevented me to do mount as RW. Of course, doing mount RW works correctly.

In the last phase, I tried to replace files in the `vendor` filesystem and then I discovered another challenge into my way, Unfortunately, there was a problem with limited space in the file system,

For example: In case I want to replace the kernel module called `abc.ko`, deleting the file doesn't show any new free space in the file system. At this point, I can't update the old kernel modules with the new ones (compatible with the newly compiled kernel). Of course, running `df -h .` returned no free space and 100% used.

Does anyone have any idea what I need to do?

# Answer
I know it is almost 2 years ago, but this is solved.

1. Go to this repository: https://sourceforge.net/projects/multi-function-patch/files/RO2RW/. I used this version and the test one successfully: `RO2RW-StableBeta.v3.7.2.1.zip`.
2. You flash it in Magisk with the phone running.
3. Reboot and open up Termux
4. Execute the following commands

```
su
RO2RW

```

The script will walk you through the process. Many options like adding disable force encryption which is a boon to development since TWRP decryption is spotty at best now on a variety of devices. It allows you to resize or repartition in a variety of options.

At the end of the script, it offers a choice of a deblocked `super` for flashing in TWRP style recoveries or one suitable for fastboot work. It dumps the new `super` with a `vbmeta` and `vbmeta_system` image that corresponds to a folder in the internal storage. At this point, you can use a number of tools to dump the `super` and edit it, and then put it back together.

---

All my phones are RW rootfs now. The good old days of wiping out bloatware and having room for new system apps is back.

I am experimenting as we speak with repacking the decrypted RW `super` to include GSI VNDKLite system images. I love a lot of these ROMs but it is such a PITA to get good connectivity and MMS out of them due to the proprietary firmware for the devices and radios.

I am shooting to modify `vendor_boot` and repack the super with the GSI system, but retain the vendor-specific hardware items in the factory firmware in `vendor`, `vendor_boot`, `boot.img/kernel/`, `vendor`, and `product` partitions. I think it's a matter of putting them in the same folder and using common tools for repacking these and editing `vendor_boot`. According to what I have been reading, facilitating this is actually the purpose of the new setup with these bundled ramdisks in `vendor_boot`. If/when I sort it out, I will throw a tutorial up on XDA. I am about to fire this tool off towards that end: https://gitee.com/cfig/Android\_boot\_image\_editor.

---

Other relevant links:
> 2 votes

# Answer
Assuming `vendor` is standalone partition (for `super` partition, refer to other question)

```
adb pull /dev/block/platform/bootdevice/by-name/vendor vendor.img
dd if=/dev/zero bs=1G seek=1 count=0 of=vendor.img
resize2fs vendor.img 1G
e2fsck -E unshare_blocks vendor.img
e2fsck -yf vendor.img
adb push vendor.img /dev/block/platform/bootdevice/by-name/vendor

```

that will resize to 1 GB total.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: linux, mount, kernel
---


# Question
Title: How can I eyeball a URL before clicking, on Brave on Android?
On a desktop, I always hover and look at a link before clicking it.

Is there a way I can get Brave on Android to show me the link contents first?

# Answer
> 1 votes
To inspect a link in most mobile browsers, as well as perform additional functions like copying or sharing the link, opening it in a new tab or a private window, copying the link text, and other functions common in desktop versions of browsers by right-clicking the link, you would long-press the link and that will bring up a menu as well as show the full link address in the pop-up.

---
Tags: url, hyperlinks, brave-browser
---


# Question
Title: Actually prevent mobile data use when mobile data is off (Android 13+)
Multiple old questions (here, here, here, and here) document that even when mobile data is switched off, mobile data still gets used as part of 4G voice service. I'm looking for up to date information (e.g. possibly relating to 5G, eSIMs, latest Android version, retirement of 3G, etc.) to see if the following scenario is possible without rooting my phone:

* Home SIM active for SMS (but not MMS)
* Home SIM active for voice calls (this is not essential to me)
* eSIM for ALL mobile data used while travelling

Why am I so keen on this? The ability to receive SMS codes is sometimes needed to verify oneself to a service. (Yes, I know it is not as good as other alternatives.) As of 2023 eSIMs provide very cost effective data service almost anywhere in the world, while international data roaming charges from one's home carrier can be exorbitant (e.g. $10/MB for me). At those rates, tiny amounts of unexpected data use can add up fast.

Doing all of the following is NOT sufficient to avoid use of mobile data:

* Turn off mobile data AND turn off data roaming for the home SIM
* Send zero text messages and make/receive zero voice calls
* Turn off MMS for the home SIM
* Turn off "Data during calls"

Questions:

* Are any new strategies/settings available or in development?
* Does 5G have the same problem as 4G - using data to establish itself on the roaming voice network?
* Would setting preferred SMS to my home SIM, but voice calls to a data-only eSIM be possible?
* I would consider moving to iPhone: Is this an Android-specific issue?

# Answer
I think that if you want to receive calls on your normal sim, then you are roaming. You can't have it both ways.

Suggestion. Have two sims (or a sim and esim).

* First SIM, select a plan that has a phone number and no or low data that stops or slows down when you reach the limit. Or get one with no data.
* Second SIM, get one with data and leave it off until required.

I have used BNESIM to give me data (it came with a limited phone number that I did not use). You only have to top it up once a year. They now have esims as well. I am not associated with it.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: mobile-data, data-monitoring, esim, android-14
---


# Question
Title: How to make Android use remote DNS servers over VPN?
I've set up an L2TP/IPsec PSK VPN between my phone and my home network. It works, but Android doesn't use my home DNS server, so none of my internal hostnames resolve. I can access internal servers by IP address, but not by name. How can I get the phone to use my internal DNS instead of whatever servers it normally uses?

Some background: I'm using a Samsung Epic 4G running Gingerbread. My VPN server is running xl2tpd and openswan on Linux. I checked the routing table on my phone, and traffic is correctly being routed through the VPN. On the server, there are options in the PPP config called "ms-dns-1" and "ms-dns-2" that allows the server to push DNS server IPs to the client. But apparently those options are only used by Microsoft clients. I've Googled the issue, and other people have the same problem, but I haven't been able to find a solution.

My phone isn't rooted. I'm willing to root the phone if I have to, but I'd prefer not to.

**Edit, 2 months later**

I finally found out what was wrong, and it had nothing to do with DNS. I'm using my desktop computer as the VPN endpoint, and I had neglected to turn on IP forwarding, so it wasn't forwarding packets. I could access services on the VPN endpoint itself, but anything that required forwarding packets (including DNS lookups) failed. The VPN client *was* correctly picking up DNS information, but it couldn't reach the DNS server because of the forwarding issue. Once I corrected that, the VPN worked perfectly. To summarize, I'm an idiot.

# Answer
You might want to take a look at the DNS Settings app, which claims to be able to do what you want (you just have to switch once to a static IP to change the DNS settings, and then switch back to dynamic IP, according to the description). That's the only non-root app I could find for this issue -- there are two more apps at least, but they require root to work.
> 1 votes

# Answer
I know this is an old thread, but I recently ran into this problem on my Samsung Galaxy A21s and figured out the fix yesterday.

In my case, I had a VPN server where DNS resolution was working fine when used with my iOS device, but DNS resolution was not working when I used an Android device to connect to the same VPN server.

In my case, the issue was the DNS settings on the Android device.

Under `Settings` \> `Connections` \> `More connection settings`, there is a feature called `Private DNS`. This was set to "Automatic". I set that to `Off`. After that, when connected to the VPN server, the Android device started using my internal DNS server (as specified by the VPN server). When not connected to VPN, the Android phone uses the DNS servers specified by the local network. This was the desired behaviour for my use case.

Apologies, but whether someone set the `Private DNS` feature to Automatic while troubleshooting is unclear. So I can't tell whether or not Android sets that to Automatic by default. Frankly, I've spent too much time troubleshooting the issue to confirm either way (this was only meant as a POC). Just sharing my experience in case anyone else runs into the same problem in the future.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: vpn, dns
---


# Question
Title: How to uninstall default Samsung Dialer + Contacts + Call apps
I am Samsung One UI 3.1, Android 11 (no custom ROM/GSI, no root). I removed default Google apps and I also want to uninstall default Samsung Dialer + Phone + Call + Contacts apps via ADB after replacing them with FOSS ones.

Samsung Phone apps:

1. com.android.phone
2. com.android.server.telecom
3. com.samsung.android.dialer
4. com.samsung.crane

Samsung Call apps:

1. com.samsung.android.app.telephonyui
2. com.samsung.android.incallui

Samsung Contacts app: com.samsung.android.app.contacts + there is WiFi calling, Spam ID, Call log backup, Blacklist number storage .. apps.

I could not find clear info about which of these can be uninstalled without breaking any phone/call in the future.

Which ones should not be uninstalled?

# Answer
I don't know much about Samsung One. But I did something similar with a cheap android 8 phone.

If you want to debloat, or just to get rid of "bigtech" go linux. I used **Santoku**. Its specially tuned for android phone manipulation. For example, you can mount and delete whatever system or "priviledged" app on the system, vendor file from the stock rom (extract it or download it before).

Search for tutorials about how to "mount android partitions on Linux" and try them. Also you will need some basic linux skills. I advice to make an hard disk install, rather to use live system, to be able to keep changes.

By testing (reflashing) each one you made, you will see how and if it works. Then keep what fits more your expectations. Without root, even with adb, you will not be able to do what you want.

Unless you delete some really essential system app, it will work and you can replace a lot of them by FOSS ones. However, there are cases you will certainly loose some functionality. For example, only stock caller(phone app) is able to run "secret codes". Otherwise getting rid of most bigtech and vendor app is possible. The extent might depend on the phone type. That way, you will see by yourself how far you can go. You will need a lot of time... thought.

....

All right. As of some negative comments... I'll add this conclusion:

For sure, "com.samsung.crane" can be safely uninstalled (as it's basically an anti-sms-spam gadget). Many people did it, I did it, and breaks seemingly nothing (else then itself).

I wouldn't recommend uninstalling any other stock phone/calling app, for the reason I mentioned above. Freezing should be enough to test FOSS equivalents. However it's possible.

How without root: the description of the process as mentioned above would be too long and somehow out of subject here. It can be "googled" easyly. Basically it's about to mount rw the android system partition and delete the unwanted apps from /apps /priv-app or similar depending on the specific system. Using MC for ex. Then, unmount and test by flashing.

In more detail: On debian like systems.

You will need :

```
sudo apt-get install android-tools-fsutils

```

It' already included in Santoku.

Get MC to ease the file management process:

```
sudo apt-get install mc

```

Put your system.img (or else named) somewhere in a "home" folder and create a subfolder (here: system0).

You might need to convert first the 'sparse' system.img to raw (loop-mountable):

```
simg2img <sparse_image_file> <raw_image_file>
here:      system.img        system-s.img

```

To mount system to system0 subfolder (can be else, created before):

```
sudo mount system-s.img ./system0 -rw

```

Make changes by MC.

Unmount it:

```
sudo umount ./system0

```

Convert back to sparse:

```
img2simg system-s.img system_modified.img

```

If you have also a vendor file in your stock rom, you can do the same with it.

Replace the original system/vendor files and test by flashing.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: samsung, calls, system-apps, debloat
---


# Question
Title: What is signified by the yellow triangle with a black exclamation mark on Samsung devices
My friend has a Samsung Galaxy S9. Every now and then it refuses to charge because of moisture being detected in the port.

However, upon completely discharging, once, it showed a ⚠ mark when the charger was inserted. Eventually the device started charging normally.

What does this symbol mean?

# Answer
> 1 votes
The symbol is a general warning symbol. Since the context is charging, it means that

1. It is slow charging. In which case it will tell you how long it will take to charge. This can be fixed by finding the right combination of charger and cable.
2. There is a problem with charging. This could mean connector fault or battery fault. If the battery is removable (not applicable to S9) then remove and re-insert the battery.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Basically that symbol means that the charger that is inserted into the phone is slow charging it. To fix this problem, change chargers.

---
Tags: samsung, charging
---


# Question
Title: Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra flickering screen caused by small drop
About a month ago, I dropped my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra about 10 cm above my sink, and it got a small dead pixel on the left edge near the top. The problem is that it has affected the whole area below the impact point, doing so that every time the light intensity gets too bright, for example, if I am accessing a white webpage with light intensity of 100%, the area below the dead pixel just turns black. But if I have the light intensity set to 10%, I can see the screen but the bottom area is still flickering.

I thought I could live with it, but I can't use my phone outside if I can only have the light intensity on 10%.

I know it's something to do with the screen, but I think it's weird that the top works completely fine, and everywhere beneath the impact point is broken. So I hope that it could be a loose cable or something and not the whole screen that has been destroyed due to a small dead pixel.

My question is, do you think it could be a loose cable or another thing I could fix without buying a new screen that costs 270€? Because if that's the case, I think I will just hold on for another month and switch to a new phone.

# Answer
> 0 votes
To my knowledge there may be two connectors to the screen, one for display and the other for touch. The point of impact has probably damaged the circuit board that the display is on. The pixels are laid out in a grid, and a damaged bus means that nothing after that point will work (in that route).

Therefore the screen needs replacing. Can I suggest that you invest in a decent case for your phone.

# Answer
> 0 votes
It most definitely can be a loose cable. Could also be a busted screen. Only way to know is to check. I myself have repaired tablets and phones that either needed the screen plugged back in or a power connector came loose in a phone, both happened after drops.

Warning, checking yourself will Void your Warranty, but is completely doable. Do so at your own risk.

Will require:

Small Phillips head and Flat head Screwdrivers (Like the size for Glasses). Some technical knowledge. Finess

I would look up how to take apart your model as each handset can vary in methods.

If you get the seal apart, be very careful with the screen, one wrong move can destroy it completely.

I recommend taking it to a professional.

But it's definitely doable, and could definitely just have something loose.

---
Tags: samsung, screen, broken-screen, samsung-galaxy-s-21
---


# Question
Title: ADB command am start - open settings sub-page
On a TC52 ZEBRA, I need the ADB command (am start) to change the settings.

With `am start -n com.android.settings/.Settings` command my settings window opens.

But if I want to have a sub-page access (Keyboard settings for example) what adb command I need to use?

# Answer
Have you tried to trigger tapping with opening settings:

```
adb shell input tap <x> <y>

```

Also, for cursor emulation:

```
adb shell input keyevent <19|20|21|22>

```

For triggering key:

```
adb shell input keyevent 66
adb shell input keyevent TAB
adb shell input keyevent ENTER

```

Then to start settings there's:

```
adb shell am start -a com.android.settings

```

To finish there's:

```
adb shell am force-stop com.android.settings

```

So, to start:

```
adb shell am start -a <settings choice>

com.android.settings
com.android.settings.APPLICATION_DEVELOPMENT_SETTINGS
com.android.settings.DISPLAY_SETTINGS
com.android.settings.DOCK_SETTINGS
com.android.settings.QUICK_LAUNCH_SETTINGS
com.android.settings.SOUND_SETTINGS
com.android.settings.TTS_SETTINGS
com.android.settings.VOICE_INPUT_OUTPUT_SETTINGS
android.settings.ACCESSIBILITY_SETTINGS
android.settings.ACCOUNT_SYNC_SETTINGS
android.settings.ACCOUNT_SYNC_SETTINGS_ADD_ACCOUNT
android.settings.ADD_ACCOUNT_SETTINGS
android.settings.AIRPLANE_MODE_SETTINGS
android.settings.APN_SETTINGS
android.settings.APPLICATION_SETTINGS
android.settings.BLUETOOTH_SETTINGS
android.settings.DATA_ROAMING_SETTINGS
android.settings.DATE_SETTINGS
android.settings.DEVICE_INFO_SETTINGS
android.settings.DISPLAY_SETTINGS
android.settings.INPUT_METHOD_SETTINGS
android.settings.INTERNAL_STORAGE_SETTINGS
android.settings.LOCALE_SETTINGS
android.settings.LOCATION_SOURCE_SETTINGS
android.settings.MANAGE_ALL_APPLICATIONS_SETTINGS
android.settings.MANAGE_APPLICATIONS_SETTINGS
android.settings.MEMORY_CARD_SETTINGS
android.settings.PRIVACY_SETTINGS
android.settings.SECURITY_SETTINGS
android.settings.SETTINGS
android.settings.SOUND_SETTINGS
android.settings.SYNC_SETTINGS
android.settings.SYSTEM_UPDATE_SETTINGS
android.settings.USER_DICTIONARY_SETTINGS
android.settings.WIFI_IP_SETTINGS
android.settings.WIFI_SETTINGS
android.settings.WIRELESS_SETTINGS
ACCESSIBILITY_FEEDBACK_SETTINGS
android.net.vpn.SETTINGS
android.search.action.SEARCH_SETTINGS
android.search.action.WEB_SEARCH_SETTINGS

```
> 0 votes

---
Tags: adb, settings
---


# Question
Title: Forgot screen lock pin and airplane mode on
Hi i have a Samsung Galaxy A30S. I added a screen lock pin code and can't remember it. The airplane mode is activated and I cannot turn it off, cause it's asking for pin number. I don't want to do a hard or factory reset since I have very important memories of photos and phone numbers in it. Please Help.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Its understandable. Everyone automatically assumes Stolen, but sometimes we legitimately just forget after setting an uncommon password or PIN.

Some programs to look into that will help, but are most likely not free by normal channels are Dr. Fone, 4ukey, UnlockGo, PassFab, FonePaw, DroidKit, and try doing a search for "Samsung FRP and PIN Unlock Programs." Samsung is probably the Most common Android Brand, so there are a lot of programs. There are also a lot of "Developer Unlock Programs (All-In-One Tools)" to be found in searching. Only testing will define whether or not they will work with your model (Dr. Fone Is BRANDED Wondershare, one of the better options). Some programs like "Chimera" can get pricey.

You can also search through XDA Forums for tricks on your specific device model.

I know a bypass trick, don't know if it will work with your Samsung model, and unfortunately it would normally require a factory reset unless your Google Assistant is active. I don't know, I've only ever tried after a factory reset, and from the beginning of setting the phone up. I'm also unsure if Assistant works in Airplane mode.

RECOVERY Mode: Turn Phone off. Then press and hold Volume+, and Press and hold Power until logo screen comes on. Then release, and Recovery Mode with the Hard Factory Reset Option should appear.

(After Factory reset from Recovery Mode) Normally I would tap on the Vision Settings from startup and activate 'Talk-Back.'

Then exit Talk-Back Menu. Next, swipe on the screen in a reverse L (swipe right and then up) to activate Talk-Back Voice Command. Then say, 'Open Google Assistant.' Google Assistant should open.

(Start Here if you already have access to Google Assistant or if the above worked) With Assistant activated say 'Open Settings.' (If the phone is still requiring a PIN, an external PC program is most likely required) \[If the above worked from either starting point, you should now have at least access to all settings not protected by a PIN or FRP Lock, and should be able to disarm Airplane Mode in theory\]

The above tricks worked on my OnePlus Nord N200 5G - Android 12. I have yet to test it on my Samsung Galaxy A14 5G - Android 13.

Additionally, I can reach the Home Screen from Settings by going to Home Screen Settings and changing the Home Screen Layout. I don't know why but it grant's me Home Screen access behind a PIN and FRP lock.

Worth a shot. Goodluck, I hope something that I've offered helps in some way.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Bypassing the pin of android would be a huge security issue so no methods are known and even if there where OEM would patch it.

Your best chance of keeping your data is by using fastboot or adb... But for that you need developer settings with oem unlocked and usb debbuging. You could pull all your precious data and then factory reset the phone.

If you did not enabled the dev options you'll have to reset the phone unless you exploit a security flaw in your OS but that shouldn't happpen.

---
Tags: lock-screens, screen, sim-unlocking
---


# Question
Title: How to turn off system-level push notification from phone vendor's message Flyme?
My system is Flyme OS on the Meizu brand. Even though I have uninstalled the application, I still receive notifications from that software, and after some searching for information, I understand that it stems from a message pushed from the system itself. But 100% of the content of that push feature is useless advertisements.

How can I turn it off?

# Answer
> 1 votes
### Provider

I think that they are coming from your Provider / Telco. Some of them can push ads. The last time I had this was when I was visiting India and had a local SIM. If they do push ads, you can see a button to disable them in the Networks section.

I can't be more specific as I dont see that button right now because my Provider does not push ads.

### Manufascturer

The phone manufacturer can also push ads, such as Samsung. In which case you can turn off the notifications.

1. Go to Settings -\> Notification -\> App Notifications
2. Search for "push"
3. You can probably disable all of them

### Services

You can also get ads / notifications from Store, Wallet, Themes etc. You can search for them in \`App Notifications' as above and disable them.

### Customisation Service

1. Goto Settings
2. Press on your name
3. Press on Security and Privacy
4. Press Customisation Service
5. Slide the `Customise this phone` to off.

**Note** not all of these settings will be on all phones or providers.

---
Tags: applications, notifications, meizu, flyme-os
---


# Question
Title: Is it possible to convert internal storage to RAM without Root?
There is this apk called SWAP no Root. The developer claims that this app can convert the internal storage up to 5GB to RAM without root. I read this discussion that I need root to be able to do that. Is that even possible? Or is it just hoax? Since it's an apk, I'm assuming it doesn't involve PC to proceed. I'm not familiar with swap, though.

# Answer
> 0 votes
"In reality, there is at least one app that I know of that allows you to create zram and swap basically without limits or whatever your device allows you to do, called Ultra Ram Swapper. Although it requires root permissions, you can find an old patched version without the need for superuser on several YouTube channels

---
Tags: applications
---


title: Free cloning app proposal for Android 9

text:
# Question
Title: Free cloning app proposal for Android 9
My phone is Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact - G8441 ruining on Android 9 with NO ROOT... I would like to run multiple (up to 4 different accounts) - ideally each with it's separate PlayStore Account and with WhatsApp / Viber / Telegram apps... I also really need some app that has an option to install an app directly from ".apk file" and just install it in one of the "containers" (without installing it on the "main" phone account)

I've tried Parallel Space and it's "Incognito Installation feature", but some apps just won't load when installed incognito and it kept crashing etc...

All others "App Cloning" apps appear to be one same app with different colors/logos...

I am not an Android expert, so if you can give me some pointers - I would really appreciate any advice !

# Answer
> 0 votes
The apps you mentioned are linked to a phone number. So any attempt to clone them is going to be unsatisfactory. Dual sims is one way to have two accounts.

You can have multiple play store accounts, but can only be logged into one. And most, not all, apps generally use the current account.

---
Tags: applications, parallel-apps
---


# Question
Title: How to get Chrome (or any browser) to present a TLS client certificate?
I've set up a server that accepts HTTPS connections with a custom CA certificate. I've installed it on my Samsung Galaxy A50, and can now access the server without warnings in Chrome. Now, I'd like to limit access to clients authenticated with mTLS, where they submit client certificates.

So far, it works properly on desktop browsers, refusing a TLS connection when a client certificate isn't provided. I now need to access this on the Android phone.

I usually use Firefox on that phone, but Firefox does not support client certificates yet. Chrome does, however: when I access https://certauth.idrix.fr with the client certificate installed, the certificate choice popup does appear. It doesn't do that for my server, however: instead, it shows a `ERR_BAD_SSL_CLIENT_AUTH_CERT` (*WEBSITE didn't accept your login certificate, or one may not have been provided. Try contacting the system admin.*), and doesn't prompt me to pick the certificate.

From my testing, the problem doesn't seem to be specific to my server: the same happens with mTLS configs for Nginx, Apache HTTPd, and Traefik. However, the https://certauth.idrix.fr server is somehow special, because the mTLS works for it.

How do I get Chrome to do this prompt? If I can't, what other browsers support client certificates? (It seems that very few do.)

# Answer
It turns out that when a TLS server asks for a certificate, it sends a list of certificate authorities that it will accept a certificate from. Desktop browsers either ignore that list, or resolve the available client certificates up to the root. However, on Android, the dropdown is filtered by this list of certificates accepted by the server. Crucially, the certificate being referenced (i.e. directly trusted) by the server *must be included in the .p12 bundle on the Android*.

In my case, I was managing my CA with `step-cli`. When that generated a certificate, in the output file, it only included the leaf certificate and the certificate of the intermediate CA, not the root CA. So, when bundled into a .p12 file to import into Android, the Android didn't know the root certificate, so it couldn't determine that the certificate it had available could work with the server.

Here are the possible solutions to this problem:

1. Have the server accept all certificates, and verify them later: On nginx, there is the option `ssl_verify_client optional_no_ca`. This sends a certificate requests, but establishes the connection even if it was not provided, and does not verify the certificate. Then, the application can be set up to get the certificate from a proxy header and verify it manually. This allows the user to pick any of the certificates it has on file, which is bad for UX as it allows the user to pick the wrong one.
2. Add the intermediate CA to the verification list on the server: by doing this, it adds the intermediate CA's signature to the list of CAs accepted by the server during the handshake, which will allow Android to present the certificate because the bundle contains the CA being referenced by the certificate request. However, this means that revoking the intermediate CA will have to be done by manually distrusting it on the server.
3. (Best option!) When creating a .p12 certificate bundle to import into Android, make sure that the .crt file contains the root CA's certificate. Then, the Android will again know that this certificate is actually desired by the server.
> 3 votes

---
Tags: chrome-for-android, certificates
---


# Question
Title: Minimum Android version on kid's device required for parents to set per-app application time?
With parents running Android 13, what is the minimum Android version needed to be installed on a kid's device for parents to set per-app application time for their kids?

I need to purchase a second-hand phone for my kid and would like to make the right choice.

Note: I am not interested in using third-party parental control apps - just stock Android with Google Family Link.

**EDIT: I am specifically interested in *per-app* time limits, *not* general device-level time limits provided by all Android versions since 7.x (as well as some 5.x/6.x devices)**.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Answer below was before the question was edited. Retained to help someone searching for device level compatibility.

---

Google Family Link FAQ has your answer.

> Can children or teens be supervised by Family Link on Android devices?
>
> > For **best results**, we recommend that children or teens being supervised with Family Link are using **Android devices running version 7.0 (Nougat) or higher**. Devices running Android versions 5.0 and 6.0 (Lollipop and Marshmallow) may also be able to have Family Link settings applied to them. To find out more, see our Help Center

(Emphasis supplied)

---
Tags: applications, android-versions, parental-control
---


# Question
Title: Audio playback from two bluetooth devices stopped working
I have a Galaxy S10e running Android 12, and two bluetooth speakers. I connected to both of them and enabled "audio" playback in the settings. A notification popped up stating that my device is able to stream music to the two speakers at once and if I want to enable this. I did, and it worked fine: I was able to control the volume of both of the speakers separately. Note that I do not see this setting directly in the Advanced tab of the Bluetooth Settings.

That happened the first time I tried connecting the two speakers. Ever since then, when I connect the speakers, the notification does not pop up and only one of them is playing music. Switching the "audio" playback on and off in the bluetooth setting simply switches which one actually plays music.

Does anyone know how I can access the settings for dual playback again? I tried unpairing the devices to maybe trigger whatever happened the first time to no avail, and don't really have any ideas why the dual playback feature stopped being an option.

Thanks for any help! -Tusike

# Answer
> 1 votes
After searching all around the phone I found that the settings menu you get to by pulling down the touchscreen from the top actually has a "Media output" panel that can be immediately seen, and the dual audio controls can be found there.

---
Tags: audio, bluetooth-audio
---


title: Bypassing google play store region lock

text:
# Question
Title: Bypassing google play store region lock
I am from Slovakia and am going to be in Germany for the next couple of months which is why I purchased a german SIM card and I now want to download their region locked app. I find the google play rules understandable, but also draconian and cannot really afford the penalty of changing the account's region through official means in the play store (you can only change the region once a year, you can lose your current region apps &c). I know creating a new account is a solution, what else? Trying out some payment method glitches is out of question (it's a cat&mouse game).

**TLTR: With the presumption of full control over the system (capable of rooting) what can be done to install any google play region blocked app?**

Are there any reputable google play "mirrors"? Also, couldn't google start ditching these rules implemented for the big telephone operator or for the propietary content sharing company in the case of DRM, when the userbase of their services is now almost assured.

# Answer
> 1 votes
The solution is to create another google email/account and set it's county to Germany.

Note that some of the region locked may not work when you are back home. Some require a VPN as well as the account of the right country.

I have a few accounts myself, for this purpose.

---
Tags: google-play-store
---


# Question
Title: Any method to enabled n28b band on MIUI phone?
Actually, I'm not sure if n28a and n28b are in the n28 band, or if they're different in the first place (even though the frequencies are both 700). Because the cell phone info sites I know of usually don't directly state whether they support n28a or n28b, but rather use n28 as a catch-all...

I'm in Malaysia, and my current phone is a Redmi Note 11T Pro China Version, and according to this Malaysia 5G supported bands, my current phone's U Mobile only doesn't support n26 and n28b, and according to this U Mobile 5G Compatible Devices. I then used this Malaysia 5G Supported Bands website to check for supported phones and also found many phones that support n28b but not n26. I strongly suspect that I can't receive 5G signal because it don't support n28b band!

# Answer
The phones are locked for bands because they are not allowed to use other bands in that country. So they can be locked by the manufacturer or Telco/Provider.

Even if you can unlock it, it may not have the right antenna.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: networking, miui, network-signal, bandwidth
---


title: Switch to the best wifi: Android 13

text:
# Question
Title: Switch to the best wifi: Android 13
Pixel 6a Stock Android 13

I have two Wi-Fi networks at home with the same provider - 2.5Ghz and 5Ghz (SSID'S are different though).

I am usually connected to the 5Ghz network but at times the signal quality degrades to the extent that 2.5Ghz offers a better performance. Unless I physically notice this and switch networks downloads and uploads are badly affected.

I have seen these questions and the comments under them:

I don't think my question is a duplicate because:

* My device is rooted and I am open to rooted means.
* None of them pertain to the current Android version.

**Things tried**

* I do not want to use an app since they require location permission which is an unnecessary battery drain.
* I haven't found any setting including in developer options that can do this.
* I found a Magisk module trawling the net but I don't trust it since it lacks any details or any updates

**So, is there a way I can achieve switching to the best Wi-Fi on Android 13?**

Edit: I am not looking for solutions that require changing router or installing any hardware

# Answer
> 1 votes
It seems to be a design feature of the Android phones to stick to a network until it's just impossible to continue.

I used an app for a while but got sick of it and I have since installed Ubiquity Wireless Access Points and a Router in my house. This does what is called an `active handover`, where it instructs the phone to switch to a different WAP. It's the same method used in malls and airports.

It's either this or use an app. I can't recommend any as I haven't used one for a few years.

---
Tags: wi-fi, android-13
---


title: Audio from one android phone to another

text:
# Question
Title: Audio from one android phone to another
I have an old oneplus 6t I am using to play music as it is rooted and using Viper4Android to get better equalisation

At the same time, my main phone is a galaxy fold 4 and I would like to have my earbuds connected to this phone (so if I get a call I can take on earbuds etc) but receive music from my Oneplus

Anyone have any ideas or done something like this before?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Bluetooth is not designed to be a network. It is really for one device. It is hard enough to get more than one device working on one phone. They take turns to connect.

Although you can pair a device to more than one phone, you can only receive from one source.

---
Tags: bluetooth, music, headphones
---