# Question
Title: Check if Google Play Service is up to date
I have a Sony Xperia Z3 compact, and when I trying to broadcast my video live on YouTube from Xperia , I sign in with Google+ account and I received "Error when trying to sign in, please check if Google Play Service is up to date",what to do? ... When I buy my phone I updated all applications.

# Answer
As a workaround you could sideload the last Google Play Services app.

You can check your version under Settings \> Apps \> All tab \> Google Play Services.

Here in the Google Play Store you will find the latest version number or alternatively here at Google with some more in-depth info.

As a resource you could try and trust (hopefully) androidpolice.com and search for Google Play Services, download the app, allow *Unknown sources* under settings and sideload (install) the app.
/Update: APKMirror is the 'new' service from androidpolice where you find all apk's. Search here.

But usually after a short time Play Services should update automatically.
> 5 votes

# Answer
Check installed version **via terminal**:

```
adb shell
pm dump com.google.android.gms|grep version

```
> 5 votes

# Answer
You can install ApkTrack from F-Droid which checks periodically for updates to the installed applications. It uses multiple sources for checking if the applications have an update.

Just install it, open and tap on refresh button.
> 0 votes

# Answer
1. Open Google Play.
2. Tap the profile picture at the top right corner.
3. Settings.
4. About.
5. Play Store Version.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: google-account, google, sony-xperia, sony-xperia-z
---


# Question
Title: Notification messages from when I turned on the phone. Where are they?
My Galaxy j7 shows me notification messages when I turned on the phone (i.e. received messages, phone calls, apps updated, etc.)

Is there a way to see those from the normal interface without having to turn the phone off and back on?

# Answer
> 5 votes
One way it is possible is by using an app - Toaster or Notification History or Notification Log History

**Notification History** displays more information

> Notification History records USSD, Class 0 (Flash) SMS, popped dialog, app installation, toasts and notifications. This can be used to:
>
> 1. Backup messages by apps and read them later
> 2. Find out which app pushed annoying status bar advertisement, and uninstall it.
> 3. Auto dismiss USSD and Class 0 dialog (pro version)

**Toaster**

> Records every toast message including the sender package. May be helpful if you get messages and don't know, which app sends it.

**Notification Log History:** It also let's you view deleted notifications!

---

# I don't want to install an app

Go your widget drawer, find the settings app and drop it on your home screen and choose notification log as shortcut (source). This is possible with recent Android versions and if your device doesn't support, you can try the same trick by using Nova Launcher but then you are adding another app, if Nova isn't your preferred launcher

# Answer
> 1 votes
So it isn't clear to me exactly what you are looking for so I thought I would post what fixed this issue for me.

Recent Notification displays the recent notifications as if your phone is locked. It supports swiping to dismiss notifications, clear all, excluded apps, etc...

---
Tags: notifications, samsung-galaxy-j7
---


# Question
Title: Cast screen on Samsung Television from Moto G7
I have a Samsung smart TV. I want to cast the screen of my *Moto G7 Power* running Android 9 onto the TV. I have made sure that the TV and the cell phone are on the same Wi-Fi system. When I go to Connected Devices -\> Connection preferences -\> Cast, then I can't find my TV there. However, when I try the same thing with my *Nokia 6.1 Plus* then I can find my TV there and can easily cast my screen. Also, when I cast from within the Youtube app on *Moto G7*, then I can find my TV and can successfully cast just the video being played on the app (but this doesn't cast the entire screen). Has anyone experienced something similar? is there some settings that I need to change to be able to cast the entire screen of my Moto G7?

Also, I don't own a Chromecast and don't want to purchase one either. I want to make my Moto work the same way the Nokia does.

# Answer
In order to mirror your Motorola smartphone's screen onto a Samsung smart TV (assuming both devices are equipped with the necessary features, some are not) you must connect the devices together using WiFi Direct.

I have no idea why this is the only way it works. I wish that the manufacturers (product & feature designers) of our (smart) devices would understand that in order for features to be useful for their customers, they MUST actually work. A fundamental & crucial aspect of functionality (working) is compatibility across devices, brands & OSes/OS versions. If proprietary features exist only compatible with the same brand and they functionally replace some feature or capability native in the OS, that is asinine & unhelpful.

The solution/workaround to this discrepancy is very inconvenient. This is also completely unnecessary. The designers could have simply used the features incorporated in the OS. Or they could have tested their devices and come up with patches to resolve the issue.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: samsung, 9.0-pie, motorola, smart-tv
---


title: Enter EDL mode in Motorola devices

text:
# Question
Title: Enter EDL mode in Motorola devices
I have a bricked Motorola Moto E (2nd gen) XT1527 which throws a preflash validation failed error whenever I try to flash any of the files included in the stock firmware. Some guy told me to enter EDL mode, and I would prefer not to disassemble the device.

Searching through the internet, I found a way to enter EDL mode with a modified fastboot.exe, but it seems to work only for Xiaomi devices.

Is there some way to do this in Motorola devices? USB debugging and OEM unlock are disabled, and the bootloader is locked.

# Answer
You can always make an EDL cable. Simply take a usb cable you want, take the top layer off to expose the wires. Usually they are color coded, and if so, strip the black and green cables, but keep them separated. Use a PUSH switch between the green and black cable, so when pressed, it will SHORT the black and green cables, thus throwing the device into EDL mode.

To activate EDL mode, some devices use different method. Power the device off, plug the cable into the phone computer.

Method 1

plug the cable into the phone and when the battery status shows, press the button. The device should reboot. Most devices will blink the led red when in EDL mode.

method 2

press the button to short the cables and keep it pressed while you connect the phone. The phone should start EDL mode and blink the led.

Hope that helps.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: unbricking, motorola, motorola-moto-e
---


# Question
Title: How to let Gmail only send notifications and not allow the features like Find My Phone?
I have a Gmail account and 7 of my friends including me have added the google account to our android devices. However, it can be used for the features like Find My Phone and subsequently can be used to erase the data if any one of us wishes to do so.

So, how do I make that Gmail account just send me notifications for new emails, and not allow it to trace my phone using features like Find My Phone? I have searched in the web, but didn't get any way to achieve what I want. Any suggestions regarding this would be of much help to me.

In other words, is there a way to add the Gmail account like just another email account (e.g. Outlook etc.) in our devices?

# Answer
Couple of ways of using a Gmail account on your phone without linking it to your device (avoiding contacts sync, device manager concerns etc) :

Both these methods don't link the mail account to your device and therefore cannot be used for Find my phone, contact sync etc.

**Note:** First remove the account from your device and then use either options
> 2 votes

---
Tags: gmail, google-apps, location-services
---


# Question
Title: Generic approach to get Ethernet working on android
Is there a generalised approach to getting Ethernet cable networking to work on (preferably) recent Android versions with minimum fiddling?

I've looked at other similar questions but they focus on pre-existing devices, specific Ethernet adapters and/or specific ROMs.

For example, I have found that Nexus 7 (2013) with the ResurrectionRemix ROM (Android 7.1.2) worked with a generic noname Ethernet (powered) adapter from aliexpress when connected through an OTG cable and with the USB RNDIS selected in Options \> Developer Settings \> Default USB Configuration. Connecting power to the ethernet adapter, the OTG cable and the RNDIS setting was all that was required.

With more recent android devices and newer Android versions I could not identify a successful combination of rom+adapter+device+\[kernel\].

Given that I am willing to root a device and/or buy a specific combination of compatible android device + compatible ethernet adapter, what are some known configurations that work out-of-the-box with minimal extra configuration? Any hints, suggestions or guidelines in this regard?

Alternatively, is there a 'generic' package with USB-Ethernet drivers that could be flashed for widely supported ROMs (such as lineageos) that \[in combination with a custom kernel or without\] would provide Ethernet connectivity?

And finally, in case if the official AOSP/LineageOS/etc repos have this functionality but it is not enabled by default, what would be the steps to build a ROM such as lineageos or AOSP with all possible Ethernet and USB-Ethernet modules enabled?

# Answer
* Mokee 11 ROM experimental (Android 11, apparently a fork of lineageos) and xiaomi.eu roms contain the required ethernet drivers that happened to work with two USB-C to Ethernet adapters that I tried. The USB-C version of the ethernet adapter works on a rooted mipad4 tablet OOTB without any extra actions required. The USB-A version only worked with an intermediary USB hub + USB-A to USB-C dongle. When connected via a USB hub the network connection will only appear after rebooting the device with the cable plugged in or after issuing in the terminal `su` followed by `dumpsys ethernet`.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: custom-roms, networking, ethernet
---


# Question
Title: How can I view the Android internal partition table?
I've rooted my device, put it in recovery mode, and have linked it to PC by adb shell.

How can I view the list of storage devices and partitions?

**Note:** `fdisk` doesn't work.

# Answer
> 14 votes
I believe you want: `cat /proc/mtd`.

Also useful: `mount`.

# Answer
> 40 votes
I usually use a *combination* of the following 4 commands and correlate them, since each of these commands gives a piece of the information that might be needed.

Summarily:

1. Using `df` lists the filesystem path alias and size info as seen below (total size, used, free and block size)

* Example output:

    ```
    root@ks01lte:/sdcard # df
    df
    Filesystem                               Size     Used     Free   Blksize
    /dev                                   910.0M    92.0K   909.9M      4.0K
    /firmware                               64.0M     8.7M    55.2M     16.0K
    /firmware-modem                         64.0M    49.2M    14.8M     16.0K
    /system                                  2.2G     2.2G    62.7M      4.0K
    /data                                   11.9G     3.0G     8.9G      4.0K
    /cache                                  31.5M     4.1M    27.4M      4.0K
    /persist                                 7.9M     4.0M     3.8M      4.0K
    /efs                                    13.8M     4.4M     9.3M      4.0K
    /storage/emulated                      910.0M     0.0K   910.0M      4.0K
    /storage/emulated/0                     11.9G     3.0G     8.9G      4.0K
    /storage/emulated/0/Android/obb         11.9G     3.0G     8.9G      4.0K
    /storage/emulated/legacy                11.9G     3.0G     8.9G      4.0K
    /storage/emulated/legacy/Android/obb    11.9G     3.0G     8.9G      4.0K
    /mnt/media_rw/extSdCard                 29.7G   251.8M    29.5G     32.0K
    /storage/extSdCard                      29.7G   251.8M    29.5G     32.0K

    ```

    (... cut for space reasons)
2. Using `cat /proc/mounts` shows the partition file path, the alias, the filesystem type, the startnig inode, the number of blocks, read/write status (and other parameters of the individual partition that I'm not entirely sure of)

* NB: The output of `cat /proc/mounts` can be a bit messy, but if you read it line by line (entry by entry) carefully you'll get the info
    * Example output:

    ```
    root@ks01lte:/sdcard # cat /proc/mounts
    cat /proc/mounts
    rootfs / rootfs ro,relatime 0 0
    tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,relatime,size=931840k,nr_inodes=124673,mode=755 0 0
    devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=600 0 0
    none /dev/cpuctl cgroup rw,relatime,cpu 0 0
    proc /proc proc rw,relatime 0 0
    sysfs /sys sysfs rw,seclabel,relatime 0 0
    selinuxfs /sys/fs/selinux selinuxfs rw,relatime 0 0
    debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs rw,relatime 0 0
    none /sys/fs/cgroup tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,size=931840k,nr_inodes=124673,mode=750,gid=1000 0 0
    /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system /system ext4 ro,seclabel,relatime,data=ordered 0 0
    /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata /data ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,discard,journal_checksum,journal_async_commit,noauto_da_alloc,data=ordered 0 0
    /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/cache /cache ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,discard,journal_checksum,journal_async_commit,noauto_da_alloc,errors=panic,data=ordered 0 0
    /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/persist /persist ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,discard,journal_checksum,journal_async_commit,noauto_da_alloc,data=ordered 0 0
    /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/efs /efs ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,discard,journal_checksum,journal_async_commit,noauto_da_alloc,data=ordered 0 0

    ```

(... cut for space reasons)

3. Using `cat /proc/partitions` you will get the actual partition name identifier and the number of blocks in the partition.

* Example output:

    ```
    root@ks01lte:/sdcard # cat /proc/partitions
    cat /proc/partitions
    major minor  #blocks  name
     253        0    1048576 vnswap0
     179        0   15388672 mmcblk0
     179        1      15360 mmcblk0p1
     179        2      58816 mmcblk0p2
     179        3        512 mmcblk0p3
     179        4         32 mmcblk0p4
     179        5         32 mmcblk0p5
     179        6       2048 mmcblk0p6
     179        7        512 mmcblk0p7
     179        8        512 mmcblk0p8
     179        9      10240 mmcblk0p9
     179       10      10240 mmcblk0p10
     179       11      14336 mmcblk0p11
     179       12       3072 mmcblk0p12
     179       13       3072 mmcblk0p13
     179       14      20480 mmcblk0p14
     179       15      20480 mmcblk0p15
     179       16      10240 mmcblk0p16
     179       17       7159 mmcblk0p17
     179       18       3072 mmcblk0p18

    ```

    (... cut for space reasons)
4. Using `ls -al /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name` you get the mapping between the partition alias and the path of actual partition file (you also get the owner, their user group, etc)

* Example output:

    ```
    root@ks01lte:/sdcard # ls -al /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name
    ls -al /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name
    lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2014-01-20 11:29 aboot -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p6
    lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2014-01-20 11:29 apnhlos -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
    lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2014-01-20 11:29 backup -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p17
    lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2014-01-20 11:29 boot -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p14
    lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2014-01-20 11:29 hidden -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p25
    lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2014-01-20 11:29 modem -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
    lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2014-01-20 11:29 persdata -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p22
    lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2014-01-20 11:29 persist -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p21
    lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2014-01-20 11:29 recovery -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p15
    lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2014-01-20 11:29 system -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p23
    lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2014-01-20 11:29 tz -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
    lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2014-01-20 11:29 userdata -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p26

    ```

    (... cut for space reasons)

# Answer
> 10 votes
Old thread but found something nobody else has mentioned... just in case anyone finds it useful.

`ls -la /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name` The directory contains named symlinks to all the partitons.

# Answer
> 8 votes
Even more useful information can be obtained from `parted`. An example when the block device is `/dev/block/mmcblk0`:

```
~ # parted /dev/block/mmcblk0 print
Model: MMC SEM04G (sd/mmc)
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 3959MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name       Flags
10      524kB   1573kB  1049kB               PIT
 6      1573kB  3146kB  1573kB               CSPSA FS
 7      4194kB  14.7MB  10.5MB  ext4         EFS
 2      14.7MB  31.5MB  16.8MB  ext4         Modem FS
14      32.5MB  34.6MB  2097kB               SBL
16      34.6MB  36.7MB  2097kB               SBL_2
 1      36.7MB  53.5MB  16.8MB               PARAM
12      53.5MB  55.6MB  2097kB               IPL Modem
13      55.6MB  72.4MB  16.8MB               Modem
15      72.4MB  89.1MB  16.8MB               Kernel
17      89.1MB  106MB   16.8MB               Kernel2
 3      106MB   748MB   642MB   ext4         SYSTEM
 5      748MB   2056MB  1309MB  ext4         DATAFS
 4      2056MB  2377MB  321MB   ext4         CACHEFS
 9      2377MB  2713MB  336MB   ext4         HIDDEN
11      2713MB  2765MB  52.4MB               Fota
 8      2765MB  3949MB  1184MB               UMS

~ #

```

# Answer
> 8 votes
You can use fdisk via busybox on a droid. So, assuming you have the busybox binary on your rom, and it's on your path, the command would simply be:

```
busybox fdisk [the various fdisk options...]

```

Example output of an i9305 with TWRP recovery running (`v3.5.0_9-0`):

```
~ # busybox fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0
Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT

Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 30777344 sectors, 2740M
Logical sector size: 512
Disk identifier (GUID): 52444e41-494f-2044-4d4d-43204449534b
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 30777310

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            8192           16383       4096K   0700  BOTA0
   2           16384           24575       4096K   0700  BOTA1
   3           24576           65535       20.0M   0700  EFS
   4           65536           73727       4096K   0700  m9kefs1
   5           73728           81919       4096K   0700  m9kefs2
   6           81920           90111       4096K   0700  m9kefs3
   7           90112          106495       8192K   0700  PARAM
   8          106496          122879       8192K   0700  BOOT
   9          122880          139263       8192K   0700  RECOVERY
  10          139264          319487       88.0M   0700  RADIO
  11          319488          843775        256M   0700  TOMBSTONES
  12          843776         2940927       1024M   0700  CACHE
  13         2940928         6086655       1536M   0700  SYSTEM
  14         6086656         7233535        560M   0700  HIDDEN
  15         7233536         7249919       8192K   0700  OTA
  16         7249920        30769151       11.2G   0700  USERDATA

```

# Answer
> 3 votes
You can see sizes and usage statistics of all *mounted* partitions by simply using this command:

```
df

```

Note, the typical `df -h` does not work here and is not needed because the output is already in megabytes. The command works within `adb shell` and the Android terminal emulator, but not in the Recovery mode terminal because nothing is mounted at that point.

# Answer
> 1 votes
For internal storage only, you can install DiskInfo. But it doesn't show the file system of my SD card.

# Answer
> 1 votes
for listing mmcblk0 partitions:

cat /proc/dumchar\_info

```
Part_Name   Size    StartAddr   Type    MapTo
preloader    0x0000000000600000   0x0000000000000000   2   /dev/misc-sd
mbr          0x0000000000080000   0x0000000000000000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0
ebr1         0x0000000000080000   0x0000000000080000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
pro_info     0x0000000000300000   0x0000000000100000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0
nvram        0x0000000000500000   0x0000000000400000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0
protect_f    0x0000000000a00000   0x0000000000900000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
protect_s    0x0000000000a00000   0x0000000001300000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
seccfg       0x0000000000020000   0x0000000001d00000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0
uboot        0x0000000000060000   0x0000000001d20000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0
bootimg      0x0000000000600000   0x0000000001d80000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0
recovery     0x0000000000600000   0x0000000002380000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0
sec_ro       0x0000000000600000   0x0000000002980000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0p4
misc         0x0000000000080000   0x0000000002f80000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0
logo         0x0000000000300000   0x0000000003000000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0
expdb        0x0000000000080000   0x0000000003300000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0
android      0x0000000000a00000   0x0000000003380000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0p5
cache        0x000000002bc00000   0x0000000003d80000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0p6
usrdata      0x00000000b6ca0000   0x000000002f980000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0p7
bmtpool      0x0000000000000000   0x0000000037780000   2   /dev/block/mmcblk0
Part_Name:Partition name you should open;
Size:size of partition
StartAddr:Start Address of partition;
Type:Type of partition(MTD=1,EMMC=2)
MapTo:actual device you operate

```

# Answer
> 1 votes
Try this in the path -

```
dev/block/platform/******/by-name # ls -al

```

try out all directory inside dev/block/platform/\**/byname

---
Tags: storage, file-system, partitions
---


# Question
Title: Cannot record audio using screen recording on Google Meet
I am using screen recording to record Google Meet on phone. Unfortunately, the recording cannot record audio. It shows an error that the microphone is on used.

Any way to record Google Meet on phone? I am not the organizer.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Unfortunately, you can't.

Due to privacy concerns, while screen-recording, Google has put up restrictions to record audio in apps such as Google Meet, Google Assistant,etc

---
Tags: google-meet
---


# Question
Title: How to uninstall gmail app on android without root
I'm looking for a way to remove the preinstalled Gmail app (not account, I meant the app itself). My web searches yield methods to remove gmail account, not the app. Just to add, I had managed to finish the default android setup/installation (when the phone was 1st activated after purchase) by using a non-gmail account. It worked just fine til today (almost 1 year).

Gmail/Gmaps/Photos/Other G-Apps is just another app in android. Just quite puzzled why it can't be uninstalled just like any other app. I'd prefer a non-root removal solution if possible.

If it is not, appreciate if you can include a way to 'undo' the root after the app removal. Terminal based or debug mode solution are still acceptable as long as the phone can still be switched back to 'non-root' mode later. Fyi, I'd prefer the phone to operate in 'non-root' whenever possible as a (tiny) phone cybersecurity effort.

p/s : This post share a method to disable it.. but not (afaik) uninstall.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Install Platform-tools on your computer (google if don't know how to) Enable Developer Options on your phone (google if don't know how to)

Then enable USB debugging in developer options

Then give the command

`adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.google.android.gm`

---
Tags: gmail, uninstallation, root-access, google-maps
---


# Question
Title: How to find my own mobile number on Huawei P30 Pro?
Is there any way to find the number of my SIMs? I tried to find it on the "about" page of the phone, but it's not there.

Any suggestion?

Android version = 9

# Answer
Huawei P30 EMUI 11: Settings → Mobile Network → SIM menagement. Here you will see a list of your SIM cards and their phone numbers.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: huawei
---


# Question
Title: Unable to activate Developer Options on Samsung
A quote from here:

> I have tried everything and am unable to activate the developer options on my Sasmung Galaxy S7 Edge with Android 8.0. Whenever I tap the build number repeatedly, it says that the developer mode has already been enabled. I can confirm however, that this is not the case:
>
> 1. The "Developer Options" menu does not appear in my settings
> 2. Even when using the search, these settings do not appear
> 3. Some users used third party apps like "ActivityLauncher" to manually search the com.settings.Settings.$DeveloperOptions activity. I have tried this method multiple times with different apps, it doesnt work. Trying to open an activity that requires developer mode gives me an error as well.
> 4. Tried restarting the phone multiple times, closing all tabs, clearing the "settings"-App cache and data. Nothing works.
>
> I am at a loss right now... I really want to avoid resetting to factory mode because my phone has a ton of data stored on it. Any ideas on how I could solve this?

This was also true for my S8, Android 9. Though, every time it says "You are _ steps away from being a developer..." and then asks me to put in the password and then says "Developer mode has been turned on." I can repeat this many times and it will ask me for the password every time and say the same things every time and the developer options are still not there. I am equally at a loss to the OP and I'm equally unhappy about the current only solution of a factory reset. Help would be greatly appreciated!

# Answer
I found the reason it was for me: I use an internet filter called NetSpark (https://www.netsparkmobile.com/en/) which disables Developer Options as a security measure to prevent workarounds or uninstallations. It is a matter of enabling this in the Netspark settings.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: samsung, samsung-galaxy-s, usb-debugging, bugs, developer-options
---


# Question
Title: How to display camera image on second Android device?
I'd like to hold my Android phone in an awkward to reach place and be able to see the live image on my Android tablet.

I might be able do it with some cable adapters and a Chromecast dongle, but is there a software solution that uses wi-fi or Bluetooth directly without any of the extra hardware?

# Answer
Android doesn't provide any native way of mirroring one screen on another Android screen, but there are several apps that can do it. The problem is that, in every search I tried, they are buried in with a much larger number of apps that stream to TVs, and are difficult to find.

user3179186 suggested using the *HTTP Stream* app, as described in Cast Android Screen to Android - YouTube, but as a link-only answer it was deleted.

I tried it, and it's more than adequate for my purposes.

Basically what it does is act as a mini-web-server running in the background. It makes a single web page available on the local wi-fi network, a page that simply shows whatever is currently on the host device's screen.

Anyone on the local network can use a web browser to see it, so it is not only useful for acting as a remote camera, it can allow several people to see whatever you are doing on their own devices (rather than having all the heads together trying to see the one screen). So it's perfect for "*look at these photos*" or "*look, this is how you do it*" situations.

The only two possible drawbacks I've found so far are that it doesn't provide audio, and the video has a slight time lag.

---

\[Note to user3179186, feel free to repost a more suitable version of your answer. Make it better than this, and I'll delete mine and accept yours.\]
> 2 votes

---
Tags: screen-mirroring
---


title: XPS viewer similar to Adobe PDF viewer

text:
# Question
Title: XPS viewer similar to Adobe PDF viewer
Is there a way to open Microsoft XPS documents on Android, similar to the way Adobe PDF documents have "Adobe Reader for Android"? I took a look in the Market but I didn't find anything.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I'm looking for an XPS reader too. Two points. First, Google Docs Viewer supports .XPS files (Getting to know the Google Docs Viewer) but Google Docs Mobile Viewer ***does not***, per my experience and this support page (Viewing files from within Google Docs). I spent time trying because this cached page's article title is

> Google Docs Mobile Viewer for Android, iPhone, iPad has Been Released

and has this list of tags that made me think I'd found a solution.

> Article Tags:xps Android, xps viewer android, android xps, xps viewer for android, android xps viewer, android xps reader, XPS reader android

Second, perhaps if enough people show interest there will be an XPS Viewer available from the Android Market. I added to the Android Market XPS Viewer Feature Request thread.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I use Documento - office viewer to open XPS files.

# Answer
> 1 votes
There's an app called EBookDroid

# Answer
> 0 votes
Docs Viewer is a free app on the Play Store that you can use to view XPS files and other documents in a big number of formats on your Android devices.

# Answer
> 0 votes
mupdf supports viewing XPS and is free / opensource:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.artifex.mupdf.viewer.app

---
Tags: documents
---


# Question
Title: Why does GrapheneOS use signify instead of PGP to sign their releases (GPG, cryptographic signatures)?
Why is it that the GrapheneOS (Android ROM) project crypographically signs their releases with signify instead of PGP?

The install documentation for GrapheneOS instructs the user to install the `signify-openbsd` project from `apt` and use it with the official GrapheneOS release signing public key to verify the authenticity of their releases.

Most software projects use PGP to sign their releases.

Why does GrapheneOS use `signify`?

# Answer
> 3 votes
Daniel Micay (Lead developer of GrapheneOS) decided to use `signify` instead of `gpg` because of many issues associated with `gpg` and the OpenPGP standard, including:

1. PGP Certificate Flooding attacks
2. `gpg` is very hard to use
3. `signify` is far simpler than the `OpenPGP` spec; it's less vulnerable to (keychain) exploits, the code is shorter, and has a lower attack surface
4. The `gpg` implementation bugs permitting DOS attacks on keyrings are long-standing and not being addressed in a timely manner by its developers

> It's overly complex with far too much attack surface and has egregiously bad usability and security. It's only suitable for usage as a case study in how not to design and implement software. Rather than changing the instructions to work around GPG deficiencies, it won't be used.

Source: https://twitter.com/DanielMicay/status/1145264664315604992

> It's a systemic issue, not a specific problem. GPG is vulnerable to a severe denial of service (permanently bricking the keyring) when importing public keys through multiple weaknesses. The public keyservers make the situation worse, but the issues with the GPG implementation are still relevant even without keyservers.
>
> GPG also has a lot more wrong with it than this. I've been phasing it out over time for my own usage and had previously talked about my plans to phase it out for GrapheneOS too. OpenPGP is a overly complex and poorly designed legacy standard, and GPG is a low quality implementation of it.
>
> The thing that finally pushed me to prioritize fixing this was the terrible responses of the GPG developers to the issue summarized well by Hanno Böck: https://twitter.com/hanno/status/1145597144373575680.
>
> Look through my recent tweets / replies and retweets about GPG, or my previous threads about it in May.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/GrapheneOS/comments/c7gb3f/grapheneos\_factory\_images\_are\_now\_signed\_with/

These are the opinions of Daniel, not my own. Of course I think signing with PGP is better than not signing at all (or where signature verification requires you to use a tool that cannot itself be obtained securely), which is the absurd reality of most Android ROMs.

---
Tags: security, custom-roms, installation, rom
---


title: How secure are Pixel Recorder files?

text:
# Question
Title: How secure are Pixel Recorder files?
I noticed that the files stored on Pixel's Recorder app (if not backed up/synced) cannot be easily imported from other apps.

They are stored in `/data/data/com.google.android.apps.recorder/files/recordings` which I understand requires root access to directly access the files outside of the Recorder app.

My question - and I apologize in advance for the newbie nature of this question - is, on a non-rooted phone, how easily could these files be accessed by an app that has permission to access media files or all files? Thinking of malicious apps, or apps like TikTok which have been known to gather/access more data than they need.

# Answer
The directory `/data/data/com.google.android.apps.recorder` and the files and folders within are app-private which means that no other regular app can access those files.

This is true as long a the app itself does not provide a way to access the internal files (this is possible providing a ContentProvider). But for an audio recoding app this would be quite unusual to implement something like that.

The only exceptions are system apps and may be other apps from Google (assuming the the recorder app has set some special sharing flags (`sharedUserId` ). But this flag is rarely used and thus not very likely to be present here.

The last possibility is an malicious app which uses a vulnerability to temporary gain root permissions.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: privacy, google-pixel, voice-recording
---


# Question
Title: how to get data from Android phone internal memory in downloading or recovery mode
My Yotaphone 2 started to boot loop (can not finish booting). I can only reach "Downloading mode" or Android system recovery with options:

* "reboot system now"
* "apply update from ADB"
* "wipe data/factory reset"
* "wipe cache partirtion"
* "reboot to bootloader"
* "power down"
* "view recovery log"

reboot or wipe cache partition didn't help.

I tried "ADB devices" but it can't see the phone and shows only "List of devices attached" (downloading or recovery modes).

The Windows\_7 can see "Androd bootloader interface" in downloading mode or "Linux file-CD Gadged USB Device" in the boot loop state.

I was also unsuccessfil with the "go-mtpfs" to reach MTP file transfer in Linux.

Before I do the factory reset I would like to save photos and some datas.

Is there any other way how to save datas from the Android phone with boot loop problem?

# Answer
> 0 votes
after trying (four different ROM) and spending many hours with

* fastboot boot boot.img (some finished OK but still boot loop)
* fastboot boot system.img (finished with errors and still boot loop)

I gave up trying to save datas and did "wipe data/factory reset". The mobile phone started after few minutes and works, unfortunately without my photos a files.

---
Tags: linux, boot, bootloader
---


# Question
Title: Screen not registering all inputs (touchscreen isnt broken)
So i recently got a new phone, its good but ive noticed an issue with it. For whatever reason the screen isnt registering inputs but it like is at the same time (hard to explain)

So if i go into developer options and turn on the show touch coordinates, it will show all of my inputs im doing on the screen fully accurately. The issue is that the game im playing isnt being told about these inputs at all and acting like they arent there. (not an issue with the game itself, this happens everywhere, even on the home screen.)

So the physical screen itself is fully fune but there is some kind of artificial limitation in the software or whatever.. and im wondering if i could fix it somehow, like flash a rom or change some setting or some screen repair app

here is a few demonstration videos: https://youtu.be/pJLiaXRxzWA (the display showing the inputs are happening but thing no work work)

https://youtu.be/I8RUbMgNnGM (press finger on screen screen no do thing bla bla bla..)

The phone is Poco x3 nfc by xiaomi, running android 10, MIUI global 12.0.4 stable

and if anyone knows a better place to post this to get better answers please tell me

# Answer
> 1 votes
I had the same issue for few days, on the same phone. First try enabling 'show pointer' in developer options. If touches are detected but not registered or occassionally omitted, switch off device for 5 mins, and turn back on. Worked for me!

---
Tags: screen
---


# Question
Title: How to mount system under super partion?
Google has recently changed the way to mount system and introduced Dynamic Partitions. Previously in a rooted adb shell, I used to run `mount -o rw,remount /system` to mount system in read-write mode. They introduced a new super.img that contains system, vendor, odm, product, etc.

I have a simple question: How can I mount a system from a rooted adb shell in recovery?

After reading the Implementing Dynamic Partitions guide it looks like I have to

1. create system partition dynamically
2. need an entry somewhere where mount point exists
3. mount the system after the above steps.

I don't know how I can do the first step. As the information on the mounting location is inside super.img meta-data and I am unable to read it.

Anyone can put some more light here?

# Answer
> 2 votes
On devices with enough disk space one can convert ext4-dedup dynamic partition into r/w system partition.

This can be done

1. **offline** on linux computer using (official) Dynamic Partition Tools `lpunpack` and `lpmake` for which precompiled binaries are available from (unofficial) OTA Tools
2. **offline** on device from TWRP recovery with 3rd party tool super image dumper for which precompiled binaries can be downloaded from XDA super image tools
3. **online** on device via 3rd party bash script SystemRW running entirely from `/data/local/tmp`

---
Tags: adb, root-access, mount, selinux, bind-mount
---


# Question
Title: Can we backup the stock recovery.img in any way?
Suppose I plan to flash my recovery with TWRP/CWM, but then later suppose I would like to move back to the stock recovery. Is it possible to take a backup of stock recovery just like we can take a backup of our ROM?

# Answer
> 10 votes
**EXTRACTING BOOT.IMG FROM STOCK ROM or OTHER IMG LIKE RECOVERY ETC.**

**REQUIREMENT:**
1. Download **adb** required tools.
2. PC
3. Phone Drivers (for other phones google it out)
for spreadtrum phones: SCI-Usb-Jungo v4 (download here) or SCI-USB2Serial v1.5.6.1 (download here)
4. Android Phone + Usb cables

**STEPS:** OPEN cmd window in adb folder

type the ff:

```
      adb devices
      adb shell
      su
      cat /proc/mtd

```

Now from your screen look at your files and you see **mtd10 has your recovery.img**

```
dev: size erasesize name
mtd0: 00040000 00020000 "misc"
mtd10: 00500000 00020000 "recovery"
mtd12: 00280000 00020000 "boot"
mtd13: 04380000 00020000 "system"
mtd14: 04380000 00020000 "cache"
mtd15: 04ac0000 00020000 "userdata"

```

Once u see it's **LOCATION** in which in this sample is in mtd10 type:

cat /dev/mtd/mtd10 \> /sdcard/mtd10.img **or**
cat /dev/mtd/mtd10 \> /sdcard/recovery.img
*Source:* http://howtorootcherrymobilesnap.weebly.com/adb/how-to-extract-img-files-via-adb-ex-bootimg

# Answer
> 5 votes
# Generic Backup/ Restore

If you are root you can backup/ restore all partitions (not only recovery) with native tools.

To list all mountable partitions and block devices use `find` and `grep`

```
adb shell
su
find /dev | grep by-name$

```

On my system I get `/dev/block/platform/soc/1d84000.ufshc/by-name` back (this is very device specific and yours may look different).

Now You can list `ls` this path to show all mountable partitions.

```
ls -al --color /dev/block/platform/soc/1d84000.ufshc/by-name/

```

Or all in one command

```
ls -al --color $(find /dev|grep by-name$)

```

## Backup

Armed with this information you can, as root, backup all partitions. Just use the `dd` (part of every android toolboox/ toyboox e.g.:

```
dd if=/dev/block/platform/soc/1d84000.ufshc/by-name/recovery of=/sdcard/Download/recovery.img.dd

```

## Restore

> **Warning** Data lost possible! Don't use until You understand all `dd` parameter.

In many cases you can also **restore** with the `dd` tool, e.g:

```
dd if=/sdcard/Download/recovery.img.dd of=/dev/block/platform/soc/1d84000.ufshc/recovery

```

# Answer
> 3 votes
The key point is to boot a custom recovery partition such as TWRP **without installing it**. For instance with an HTC device you would use the platform adb tools and run this command from a terminal in Windows:

```
fastboot boot twrp.img

```

This remote-boots the custom recovery partition so you leave the stock recovery partition intact.

Now you root the phone.

Reboot the phone.

adb shell

su

Use dd command to copy the recovery partition.

If you have already flashed a recovery partition then it's too late. You will have to find a stock recovery partition for your phone somewhere on the interweb.

---
Tags: recovery-mode, twrp, stock-rom
---


# Question
Title: How do I see number of or icon for unread messages?
**My device**: I use Android 9 on samsung galaxy s9.

**Background**: I believe there was a feature before (or maybe currently still, but I turned it off) about showing number of unread messages on apps like whatsapp, viber or the SMS app (and i guess gmail or facebook) or at the very least there's some kind of dot or something on a corner of the icon of such an app that indicates there exists at least 1 unread message (so the dot is an alternative to a specific number of unread messages).

**My situation**: I do not have such number or dot on icons on apps on my device. If I get a message on whatsapp or viber or regular SMS but say I have to install some updates and so my phone has to turn off or restart, then the notification of this message is gone.

**Question**: How do I see number or existence of unread messages on icons of apps such as viber and whatsapp and the SMS app?

I have tried looking this up, but

1. I wasn't able to find any articles specifically on Android 9 and Samsung Galaxy S9.
2. The solutions proposed in articles I've found on Android 9 but a different phone or on different versions of Android have not worked for me.
3. I've tried looking up some apps on the play store, but I haven't downloaded any because of the reviews.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I found out, both online and even in settings, badges go away when you swipe...Guess I'll have to resort to nova or some other launcher.

---

Some sources:

---

Source 1:

DudeThatsErin It goes by what is in your status bar. If you swipe them away the number will disappear.

dark\_sage94 They notification bar disappears for me once I read one text

LoyalRoyal18 Nova launcher does what you want, I believe.

https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS9/comments/9e66n7/notifications\_badge\_on\_icon\_disappears\_even/

---

Source 2:

Eh can't find anymore right now

# Answer
> 0 votes
With an ASUS Zenfone do the following: Pinch-in at the Home screen, then go to Preferences \> Home screen \> App icon badges to complete the setting.

On other phones you may want to press a few seconds the homescreen and then 'home preferences' or similar

---
Tags: notifications, settings, notification-icons, push-notifications, instant-messaging
---


# Question
Title: What does the "2 arrows inside a broken triangle" notification icon mean on Samsung devices?
Since yesterday, I am seeing the below icon on my Samsung Galaxy M30s that looks like 2 arrows inside a broken triangle.

I have gone through the official user manual and found nothing related to this.

What does this icon mean?

# Answer
It is the data saver icon - switch it off from your settings and it will vanish (Thanks to OP for the link of Data saver)

Source: Personal experience
> 1 votes

# Answer
You need to go to settings and then Connection \>data usage\> data saver and turn off the data saver if you would like to remove the sign
> 2 votes

---
Tags: samsung, notification-icons
---


# Question
Title: How to set distinct boot and lockscreen passwords in Android 10 (full disk encryption)
How can I set a distinct password for:

1. The Full Disk Encryption password (used to boot the device)
2. The Lock Screen password (used to unlock the device)

For security reasons, I use a 25-50 character password to protect my devices when off and a shorter password for the lock screen.

This was previously possible using apps such as:

1. EncPassChanger or
2. Cryptfs Password

I just upgraded my phone, and neither of these apps appear to work in Android 10.

How can I set a distinct password for \[a\] the boot password and \[b\] the lockscreen password in Android 10?

# Answer
### Solution: Primary & Secondary account, distinct passwords

This doesn't answer your question directly, but you can probably achieve what you want by using multiple profiles with distinct passwords.

Set the "owner" profile to a very long "boot" passphrase.

Then create a new user profile (`Settings` -\> `System` -\> `Advanced` -\> `Multiple users` -\> `Add user`). Switch to this user and set a shorter "lockscreen" password.

Now when you boot the phone, in order to access the secondary user's data and apps, you *must* type the long "boot" passphrase for the "owner" user first, then you *must* type the shorter "lockscreen" password for the secondary user.

After switched to the secondary user (thereby necessarily having authenticated with both passwords), your lockscreen will be unlocked with the shorter "unlock" password.

If you reboot the device, then you must type both passphrases again. This achieves almost the same end as having FDE with a distinct boot & lockscreen password.

### Issue: FDE removed in Android 10

Unfortunately, the solution you're looking for does not appear to be possible because it's not possible to use FDE in Android since Android 10.

According to the ASOP documentation, it is no longer possible to use FDE and the user is forced to use File-Based Encryption

> Note: Devices running Android 7.0–9 support full-disk encryption. New devices running Android 10 and higher must use file-based encryption.

### More issues: Backups

Unfortunately, the biggest issue with the dual-user approach is backups.

As far as I can tell, both users have distinct files (encrypted with distinct keys that are not shared), apps, and app data.

~~Moreover, secondary users in Android cannot use `adb` or become root. Therefore, `adb backup` and tools like `oandbackups` will not work because the "owner" user (the only user who can become root) cannot see the secondary user's files/apps/data.~~

~~So, if you're google-free, then this solution probably means you cannot backup your phone anymore :(~~

**Update**: I was successfully able to restore backups of apps taken on my old phone's "owner" account in `oandbackups` and restore them to my new phone's secondary user's account with `oandbackups` following this procedure:

1. first, uninstall the app if already present
2. open oandbackup (as the secondary user, needs root)
3. find the package you want to restore, long-click it -\> click "uninstall"
4. when finished, long-click it again -\> restore -\> apk (only)
5. open the app as the secondary user
6. after opening it, run `ls -lah /data/user/10/xyz.tld` and make a note of all the owner:group perms of the files
7. back in oandbackups, choose "restore -\> data" for the package
8. run `mv /data/user/10/xyz.tld /data/user/10/xyz.tld.fresh`
9. run `mv /data/user/0/xyz.tld /data/user/10/`
10. run `chown abc:xyz -R /data/user/10/xyz.tld` to match the permissions of the freshly-installed app for this user
11. run `restorecon -R /data/user/10/xyz.tld` to fix SELINUX permissions
12. reboot the phone (if you don't do this, opening the app will immediately crash)
> 0 votes

---
Tags: encryption, android-10, password, disk-encryption, password-protection
---


# Question
Title: How to stop notification sound from playing three times?
I noticed several years ago after getting a new phone that newer versions of the Android software seem to play my notification sound three times. Prior to this phone it only ever played once. It gets pretty annoying and I was wondering if there's any way to configure this so the sound only plays once? Or is this hard-coded?

It has happened with my last three phones, so it's likely a feature of newer versions of the Android software. I have a Samsung Galaxy J7 running Android 7.1.1.

Whenever I get a notification sound (custom WAV sound that is just the door chime from Star Trek TNG playing once) for an email, app, etc, instead of just playing once, it plays three times in a row.

I have not been able to locate any settings that would allow me to configure how many times it plays.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Ironically, I had this problem. I just checked my Star Trek Chime file, and the file contains the chime three times. Whoops. Try a different custom sound. The whistle file I got from the same website just whistles once.

---
Tags: notifications, settings, operating-system, custom-sounds
---


# Question
Title: Must a device's bootloader be unlocked to temporarily boot into another recovery?
If I want to boot into a temporary recovery by issuing command

```
fastboot boot my_temp_recovery.img

```

must the bootloader of the device first be unlocked?

# Answer
It does indeed look like an unlocked bootloader is a requirement even for temporary boots, the key message found is the **`Device not unlocked cannot boot`**

```
$fastboot boot twrp.img
Sending 'boot.img' (15240 KB)            OKAY [  0.510s]
Booting                                  FAILED (remote: '    Device not unlocked cannot boot')
fastboot: error: Command failed

```

```
$fastboot oem device-info
(bootloader)    Device tampered: true
(bootloader)    Device unlocked: false
(bootloader)    Charger screen enabled: false
(bootloader)    Display panel:
OKAY [  0.000s]
Finished. Total time: 0.000s

```
> 0 votes

---
Tags: fastboot
---


title: How to turn off active Zen Mode?

text:
# Question
Title: How to turn off active Zen Mode?
OnePlus offers Zen Mode app for its devices as a system app. It functions more like an app in kiosk mode and gives you access only to one of its activities, the dialer app for emergency calls, and the camera app. The user cannot access anything else.

Works fine. Except that it also means the user is locked out of their device (which the user explicitly agrees to when using the app every single time) for X duration which the user had set in Zen Mode app.

Once in a while I feel the need to immediately access my phone because the objective I have in mind cannot be achieved without the phone. At that point Zen Mode comes in my way because I can't do anything with my phone except stare, *in despair*, at its countdown to finish.

Here are a couple of things I tried with no success when Zen Mode was active:

* disabled Zen mode app using adb.
* hid (`pm hide`) Zen mode app using adb
* rebooted the device using adb
* force stopped Zen Mode app using adb

If Zen Mode app is disabled or killed or hid when its timer is active, then irrespective of a reboot all I see is the launcher app with status bar hidden. If I try to open any app using my launcher or using adb, it doesn't show anything on the screen at all. It doesn't show any error either. When I re-enable Zen Mode and when the active timer expires then after exiting Zen Mode app I can see all those apps in the Recents View that I had tried to access when Zen Mode was disabled/hid/force-stopped.

I am looking for a way to turn off active Zen Mode in my rooted OnePlus 6 running OxygenOS (v10.3.11) / Android 10. **How do I do that?**

# Answer
> 12 votes
**Note**: this answer assumes that your **OnePlus device** has USB debugging enabled and authorized already on an immediately accessible PC when you're in active Zen Mode. If not, this answer would be of no help to you.

Here's how to turn off an active Zen Mode. Run this adb command:

```
adb shell settings put secure op_breath_mode_status 0

```

That's it. Active Zen mode would turn off immediately and you can access your device to your heart's content.

Tested on a OnePlus 6 running OxygenOS (v10.3.11) / Android 10 with Zen Mode app v2.3.0 (works on earlier versions too).

---
Tags: oneplus-6, oneplus
---


title: How to solve problem in APK Tools

text:
# Question
Title: How to solve problem in APK Tools
I'm trying to decompile an apk with the apk tools and I'm not getting it. When I run `apktool -d myapp.apk` it displays this **error** to me:

```
 Exception in thread "main" brut.androlib.AndrolibException: Invalid chunk type: expected=0x00000200, got=0x00000203
    at brut.androlib.res.decoder.ARSCDecoder.checkChunkType(ARSCDecoder.java:542)
    at brut.androlib.res.decoder.ARSCDecoder.readTablePackage(ARSCDecoder.java:88)
    at brut.androlib.res.decoder.ARSCDecoder.readTableHeader(ARSCDecoder.java:82)
    at brut.androlib.res.decoder.ARSCDecoder.decode(ARSCDecoder.java:48)
    at brut.androlib.res.AndrolibResources.getResPackagesFromApk(AndrolibResources.java:786)
    at brut.androlib.res.AndrolibResources.loadMainPkg(AndrolibResources.java:67)
    at brut.androlib.res.AndrolibResources.getResTable(AndrolibResources.java:59)
    at brut.androlib.Androlib.getResTable(Androlib.java:66)
    at brut.androlib.ApkDecoder.setTargetSdkVersion(ApkDecoder.java:236)
    at brut.androlib.ApkDecoder.decode(ApkDecoder.java:118)
    at brut.apktool.Main.cmdDecode(Main.java:170)
    at brut.apktool.Main.main(Main.java:76)

```

Can anyone help me with that? I would offer more reward does not yet

# Answer
> 0 votes
Please use Apktool v2.5.1-0a7b84-SNAPSHOT to decompile the apk. This will be fixed in v2.5.1, which is not released yet to the public

here is the link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RmHwBD4DnDHt6RIN1Ua2gHE6F8sPqJ0O/view?usp=sharing

# Answer
> 0 votes
Here is my powerful tool Decompiles almost every apk!

https://github.com/kikfox/kikfox

# Answer
> 0 votes
If you might be a bit suspicious of using a jar from

* a not-so-well-known fork of apktool (kikfox) ; or
* a Google Drive link

You may be pleased to know that you can build it yourself rather easily from the official APKtool github site, following the easy-to-follow official instructions. It just takes a few minutes.

I tried with an apk that had been giving this error.

Using apktool\_2.5.0.jar (the most recent release, Dec 2020), from Apktool release site, the error was seen.

Building apktool from the source, and trying on the same apk, it worked perfectly without the error.

---
Tags: applications, file-system, apk, java
---


# Question
Title: How do you disable autoplay in the YouTube app when you are watching a playlist?
I have set autoplay to off in settings, but when I enter a playlist video, the next video still starts when the one I am on ends.

# Answer
> 3 votes
No, you can't set Autoplay to OFF for playlist.
Since it is a play**list**, so the concept of Autoplay doesn't lies here as you are playing a *list* and not a *single video*.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Despite being commonly used to organise channels videos in to themes, rather than as more traditional playlists, this is an oddly unavailable option. This is a particularly odd omission as there is ordinarily an auto-play on/off toggle within the video controls and this option used to be available for playlists in the browser, but only when not using a playlist. While a bit of a cop-out, your best bet is to use a browser such as chrome and a plugin to do this for you.

# Answer
> 0 votes
If you install NewPipe Legacy from the F-Droid store, you can share a single video from the playlist to it and play it this way. This way, it will stop playback when the video finished.

# Answer
> -2 votes
Turnoff the loop option. Check the image

---
Tags: youtube
---


# Question
Title: Google Assistant working but not showing up
Since a few days, my Google Assistant has a strange behavior: when I long press home button, it works fine and shows himself like in the image

but this window doesn't show up when I say "Ok Google" or "Hey Google". The assistant does work and replies vocally to my commands, but I want it to also show up like in the image. It used to show up on voice interaction until some days ago

**Phone**: Samsung Galaxy A71
**Android version**: 11
**One UI version**: 3.1
**Google version**: 12.24.10.23.arm64 (updated on 23 Jun)

# Answer
> 0 votes
Just updated Google app and the problem solved

---
Tags: google-assistant, android-11
---


# Question
Title: Lost Android phone. Google will not reveal IP
Is there any way an Android phone can be pinged or tracked by the IMEI number? My phone has been missing for 7 months now and Google tells me the phone got synced. It tells me the date and time and says Google knows this via IP address. But they won't reveal the IP to me. Does anyone have a way around this?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Yes, but whether *you* can do this, remains to be seen. Phones can receive commands through the phone network (*not* what you would see as the "phone's internet connection"), what is called the OTA channel. Whether they *do* is another matter.

Samsung phones can be remotely controlled via the KNOX subsystem, but your phone needs to be registered *and* you need to be its Knox controller (usually this is done for branded phones - i.e. Stark Industries purchases 1,000 phones for their employees, but makes it so they can't change the logo, or use a different SIM, or can be tracked if needs be). The same applies for iPhones. On both systems (I suspect *all* systems), what is seen by the user as "the OS" is actually a guest that lives at the complete mercy and sufferance of the underlying secure module, which always has complete control.

Unfortunately, while the owner **can** request for a remote factory reset, data wipe, and sometimes even a total system lockout (what is commonly referred as "bricking", but isn't a definitive bricking), locating the phone through OTA requires uploading a bespoke app to said phone, and this feature is not available to the average Joe for obvious privacy issues. It can be done and is routinely done in response to police requests, for example. If you denounce the theft, it is possible that such a request might be made. Whether the police will be able to pinpoint the location and recover the phone is doubtful, but once I saw this done for a tablet, so...

Another thing that can be done (and is routinely done too) is locate the phone by triangulating through the network carrier cells. This too isn't available to the average Joe, and requires much more hassle. It's only done to track criminals (or if you lost a phone with the missile launch codes, I guess :-) ). You *can* request from your vendor (with appropriate proof of purchase) for the IMEI to be blacklisted through the global database. Once that is done, the phone will be unable to connect to *any* carrier.

A more worrying issue though is that "Google tells me the phone got synced". **What** got synced? Your Google account? Because that would mean that the phone is still logged with your password, and you certainly *don't* want that. I'd disconnect the device and change my password ASAP.

---
Tags: lost-phone, imei
---


# Question
Title: Moved out with my router : Location services don't get it
So I moved out, carrying along my WiFi router. I set it up at my new place, but now, every time I use a location service, it recognizes my router and places me at my old address... Any way I can force the new location to be recognized for my router?

Thanks!

# Answer
> 7 votes
To submit a request to Google to have them update their database, send feedback from within the Google Maps application.

1. Open Google Maps.
2. Touch the menu (three lines).
3. Touch 'Send feedback'.
4. Touch 'Report location issues'.

This what Google requests you do.

To address the problem without contacting Google: The location databases use the MAC address of the router. On most routers, you can change the MAC address, which will prevent your old address from showing up. If there are other access points in your area, this may also be sufficient for the location service to return the correct location.

# Answer
> 6 votes
I have the same problem with a WLAN router I have bought recently. When I connect my mobile without GPS on it usually places me at the location of the former owner. I assume the router location is bound to the router's unique MAC address - not to it's IP or the SSID which both have changed now.

ZdNet's article says, the location database will become updated when connecting a mobile with it's GPS "on" to this router. More info about Google's location service can be found here.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Another possible solution is to change the SSID on the router. That should force location services to retry its location

# Answer
> 2 votes
Same Problem here.

**FIXED.** Took about 5 mins to update and correct location.

1. Connect your mobile to the Wifi router with GPS on. Run Google maps and ensure the blue dot moves to correct location (Get sat signals near window). Mine gradually glided from old address to new.
2. Connect a tablet (Eg. I used Samsung S2), connect to Wifi and turn on GPS. Run google maps and again ensure blue dot moves to correct location (get sat signal near window)
3. \[Prob optional\] - Get you home location on google maps by dropping a pin at your new address and calling it Home. I also changed Icon to a house

Once blue dot had relocated on a couple of devices with GPS, then my laptop / desktop also updated the blue dot location. (on closing and reopening G maps)

hope it works for you too.

Wile E Coyote

# Answer
> 1 votes
**FIXED:** I had the same problem, my router is a gift from my brother who is in Cape Town, which is about 1400km from me. But my phone started showing that I was in Cape Town which was frustrating.

What worked for me is the following (I use Huawei B315s router)

1. Used routers IP to view it's dashboard from my computer screen
2. Updated SSID
3. Under System --\> Device Information --\> Refresh

Location updated instantly on my phone.

I hope this helps.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Turn off Developer Option under Settings -\> System and restart your phone and it will clear any mock location data. This worked for me.

# Answer
> 0 votes
The router location seems to be linked to a database of locations, referred to in Google's 'Location services' by its SSID. So ...

1. Turn location accuracy to GPS only on your phone and let it find itself correctly.
2. Change the SSID of your router to something new. This may have to be a permanent change as I don't know how quickly Google purge unused entries.
3. Turn location accuracty back to high, using your router as a location hint.
4. Check location on Google maps, fingers-crossed it should now be ok, and stay that way.

Hat tip to @user276467 and a Netgear forum for putting me on the right track.

# Answer
> 0 votes
What worked for me was to download a "Fake GPS" app on my phone, placed the fake position on my house and activated the WiFi position setting. Then I just waited several hours and at the same time opened Google Maps every now and then.

None of the solutions above worked, but this did.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I found a fix for this. Worked beautifully for me but YMMV

1. Open Google Maps while connected to Wifi so it bounces to your old location
2. Open Your Timeline. It should have your old address/suburb listed
3. Click on the address/suburb.
4. Click Edit.
5. Scroll down to the bottom and click SEARCH FOR A PLACE
6. Search for your new address and choose it.

Google Maps SHOULD now associate your wifi AP to the new address.

---
Tags: wi-fi, geolocation
---


# Question
Title: How can one paste to markdown in Android?
I would like to be able to copy some text (e.g., from a website viewed in Google Chrome) and paste it so that the pasted text uses markdown, e.g. to contain links. On Microsoft Windows + Chrome, I use the Google Chrome extension Paste as Markdown. How can I do that on Android?

I use Android 10 with Samsung Galaxy S9.

# Answer
> 2 votes
As you can see from this Stack Overflow post, Android does not support markdown (Markdown support in Android TextView)

You will need to use a third party app like Markdown X (you have many others in Play Store or from lists like Izzy's)

---
Tags: copy-paste, editing
---


# Question
Title: Recovering data from formatted sdcard in Android
I have a rooted android phone running android 10. My 128gb sdcard with filesystem exFAT, had data of about 100GB. When I inserted it in my phone. My phone did not show the sdcard contents and asked me to format it. So I formatted it and sdcard worked normally. Then I tried to recover data by creating raw image of sdcard using

```
dd if=/dev/block/sdd  of=/mnt/meda_rw/BACKUP/sd.img

```

But this created `sd.img` of size 8MB which is equal to the size of current contents in sdcard(which android created automatically after formatting).

After that I looked up the mounted sdcard entry using `df -h` command, shown as :

```
/dev/block/vold/public:179,1    119G  8.6M  119G   1% /mnt/media_rw/AC8C-9FF9

```

Ran :

```
dd if='/dev/block/vold/public:179,1'  of=/mnt/meda_rw/BACKUP/sdd.img

```

This time, it created a raw file `sdd.img` of size 119GB.

I tried to recover data from the generated 119 GB `sdd.img` using testdisk, photorec, r-studio, disk drill etc. But none of them detected any file and showed 'Found 0 files & 0 directories'.

Note. My sdcard is stuck now in the slot & I cannot remove it as doing so might damage the pins.

Why `dd` cmd is creating `sd.img` of size 8MB only from `/dev/block/sdd` ?

Has the sdcard been completely wiped by android (during formatting process) due to which it is not possible to recover data now?

How can I recover data from sdcard now?

# Answer
> 1 votes
For Linux, as specified in the comment, Foremost can be used. For the `dd` image Sleuthkit with Autopsy can help. Another option is to use SIFT Workstation, in a virtual machine, which contains tools that can also be helpful.

Note that the data can be recovered only if the SD card was not trimmed: If I reset my phone, will it also TRIM the fragmented eMMC?

---
Tags: backup, external-sd, data-recovery, formatting
---


# Question
Title: How can I configure Android so that the background applications download and upload as fast as possible?
According to the screenshot below, background applications have a lower download and upload speed:

The screenshot says:

> Keep the app open for getting the best and upload speed.

How can I avoid that?

I use Android 10 with Samsung Galaxy S9.

# Answer
The notification "*Keep the app open for taking the best and upload speed*" is most likely shown by the app as there are a few known problems when apps running in background that could make the download stop so that the app has to resume (or even restart it if the server does not support resume) it which of course makes the download slower.

The main reason for the different behavior between running in foreground compared to running in background is the battery optimization applied by Android.

As Android is open source phone manufacturer have the possibility to apply modifications to those parts of Android Google does not covered by it's certification. Some years ago phone manufacturer have started to implement additional "battery saving" mechanisms to reduce CPU usage of apps in background (as far as I remember Huawei was one of the first, the other followed). The term "battery optimization" is a brightened description of "app killing when they are in background no matter if the user wants it to run or not".

Of course from a user perspective an app that just stops does not work correctly and thus the app developers have tried to find workarounds for this problem. But as every manufacturer implements the background app killing in a different way developing an app that runs in background can get pretty complicated depending on the phone used. A very good summary of the whole app killing problem can be found on Don't kill my app!. There an experienced app developer has collected information on which manufacturer and android versions affect apps in background in what way and how to deal with this situation.

So as a conclusion: The shown notification is in my interpretation just a suggestion by the app developer to avoid problems. An app running in foreground is usually not affected by those "battery optimizations" and thus can download the file in a nnormal way.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: downloading, android-10, uploads
---


# Question
Title: `mkbootfs` command not found while trying to build AOSP kernel
Followed guide here: https://source.android.com/setup/build/building-kernels

```
mkdir android-kernel && cd android-kernel
repo init -u https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/manifest -b android-msm-bonito-4.9-android11-qpr2
repo sync
build/build.sh

```

It runs for ~7min then fails @

```
Creating initramfs: build/build.sh: line 967: mkbootfs: command not found

```

I found the `mkbootfs` binary, in many locations actually, and all of them, when executed, say "command not found"!

* I tried `chmod 777` & `chmod +x`, but same issue.
* Tried `sudo` as well.
* I tried adding `$HOME/android/aosp-kernel/build/build-tools/path/linux-x86` to my `PATH` but same results.

`build\build.sh` Line 967 is not where the `mkbootfs` cmd is, but it does appear on line 980:

```
mkbootfs "${INITRAMFS_STAGING_DIR}" >"${MODULES_STAGING_DIR}/initramfs.cpio"

```

What is the expected result when `mkbootfs` is run without parameters??

I'd think this would be easy. For some reason, I can't find anything helpful on the net.

Please help.

# Answer
**Issue:** Cloning the repo doesn't include these folders:

* `/aosp-kernel/prebuilts/build-tools/path/linux-x86/`
* `/aosp-kernel/prebuilts/build-tools/path/linux-x86/bin`
* `/aosp-kernel/prebuilts/kernel-build-tools/linux-x86/bin/[mkbootfs]` (& more)
* (maybe a few more)

Note: kernel-build-tools URL/Repo is on https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/prebuilts/build-tools/+/refs/heads/master/linux-x86/bin/

**Band-aid Fix: (x86 Linux)**

```
cd ~/
mkdir kernel-build-tools
git clone https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/prebuilts/build-tools
ls -l kernel-build-tools

```

Add build tools you just downloaded to the path: (this will work as the current user, **NOT SUDO!**)

```
nano ~/.profile

```

Paste the following lines at the end of your `~/.profile` file.

```
# add Kernel tools to path
if [ -d "$HOME/kernel-build-tools/build-tools/linux-x86/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="$HOME/kernel-build-tools/build-tools/linux-x86/bin:$PATH"
fi

```

Refresh your shell environment: `source ~/.profile`

**VALIDATE**: `mkbootfs` -\> "error: no directories to process?!" (This is good!)

I was able to compile it after this. FYI, `~/aosp-kernel/` is where I synced the Android kernel to.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: kernel, aosp
---


# Question
Title: How can I configure Microsoft Teams so that it doesn't disconnect the audio when I receive a phone call during a Teams meeting?
How can I configure Microsoft Teams so that it doesn't disconnect the audio when I receive a phone call during a Teams meeting? I use Android 10 with Samsung Galaxy S9.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Sounds like this is impossible to configure Microsoft Teams so that it doesn't disconnect the audio when I receive a phone call during a Teams meeting. From barneyman on Reddit:

> I don't think you can - Goog's hangouts and meet suffer the same problem

---
Tags: microsoft-teams
---


title: Samsung A21S support USB-C to HDMI?

text:
# Question
Title: Samsung A21S support USB-C to HDMI?
I buyed a USB-C to HDMI device and it didnt work, so i thought the problem is the device and tryed to get a refund.

I have no other device capable of testing it and i searched in the entire Internet about it but found nothing.

I found something about HML and my device does not support it, but some people said that the HDMI works even without the device supporting HML.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Samsung flagship devices support it - not all. Check the lists at mhltech.org and everybodywiki.com. I cannot find the A21s or its model alias SM-A217F there.

---
Tags: samsung, hdmi
---


# Question
Title: Install TWRP in Essential Phone(PH-1): No such partition
I have unlocked bootloader, and in bootloader, I follow the instructions on TWRP site:

But I failed with `No such partition`.

Here is my log:

```
➜  platform-tools ./adb shell getprop ro.boot.slot_suffix
_b
➜  platform-tools ./fastboot flash boot ~/Downloads/twrp-3.2.3-0-mata.img
Sending 'boot__b' (48712 KB)                       OKAY [  2.086s]
Writing 'boot__b'                                  FAILED (remote: 'No such partition.')
fastboot: error: Command failed
➜  platform-tools ./fastboot --set-active=_a
Slot _a does not exist. supported slots are:
a
b
➜  platform-tools ./fastboot --set-active=a
Setting current slot to 'a'                        OKAY [  0.162s]
Finished. Total time: 0.162s
➜  platform-tools ./fastboot flash boot ~/Downloads/twrp-3.2.3-0-mata.img
Sending 'boot__a' (48712 KB)                       OKAY [  1.145s]
Writing 'boot__a'                                  FAILED (remote: 'No such partition.')
fastboot: error: Command failed

```

Could anyone please give me some hints about that problem?

# Answer
If you're flashing to partition `a`, use `boot_a`. This worked for me on my Essential PH-1.

```
fastboot flash:raw boot_a

```
> 0 votes

---
Tags: root-access, twrp
---


# Question
Title: How to kill an app in LineageOS 18 (Android 11) by holding the back button
How can I kill an app by holding the back button in Lineage OS 18?

One of the first things I've always done when installing a new Android was to enable developer options, then scroll down to the very bottom and enable the toggle for \`Kill app back button"

> Kill the foreground app by long-pressing the back button

I just upgraded to LineageOS 18, and I was very sad to discover that this option is missing!

How can I replace this functionality on LineageOS 18 so that I can force-close misbehaving apps by holding down the back button?

# Answer
To enable this feature in newer versions of LineageOS, go to

> `Settings` -\> `System` -\> `Buttons` -\> `Back long press action` = `Kill foreground app`

It appears it was moved from `Developer options` section to the `Buttons` section.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: lineageos, task-management, developer-options, force-close, force-stop
---


# Question
Title: How does Google know whenever I made a login in Android?
Now a time, whenever you make a login or anything using a username or password, Google prompts you to save the password in your primary account.

Unlike earlier, when it was limited to browsers only, but now the prompt comes even when you're logging with an app.

How is Google able to know that it is login and they have to prompt to save password?

# Answer
> 1 votes
**Because since Android 8.0 Oreo, Android supports autofill framework natively, and the input fields are considered as *account credentials*.**

Android introduced autofill framework in Android 8.0 Oreo. It allows autofill services (e.g. Google Autofill, password managers, etc.) to save and automatically fill the data on autofill clients (e.g. Android apps) when needed.

To determine the type of the input, developers can rely on the autofill service's heuristics or explicitly give proper hints. One of the common autofill scenarios is account credentials, in which there are hints for:

* Username (`AUTOFILL_HINT_USERNAME`)
* Password (`AUTOFILL_HINT_PASSWORD`)
* New username (`AUTOFILL_HINT_NEW_USERNAME`)
* New password (`AUTOFILL_HINT_NEW_PASSWORD`)

When the autofill service detects these hints, it will prompt the user to save/fill the credentials.

---

P.S. the autofill service can be changed from the Android Settings by navigating to Settings \> System \> Language and input \> Autofill service, or searching for "autofill".

---
Tags: applications, security, google, password, password-protection
---


# Question
Title: APK signature scheme v4 can't be verified with apksigner
I am trying out the APK signature scheme v4 introduced in Android 11. I use the apksigner from the Android Sdk and it seems to work fine: it signs the .apk and generates the .idsig file as expected:

```
$ apksigner sign -v --ks ~/keystore.jks --ks-key-alias testkey app.apk
Keystore password for signer #1:
Signed

$ ls
app.apk  app.apk.idsig

```

However, when I use the same apksigner tool to verify the signature, it outputs the following:

```

$ apksigner verify -v ./app.apk
Verifies
Verified using v1 scheme (JAR signing): true
Verified using v2 scheme (APK Signature Scheme v2): true
Verified using v3 scheme (APK Signature Scheme v3): true
Verified using v4 scheme (APK Signature Scheme v4): false
Verified for SourceStamp: false
Number of signers: 1
WARNING: META-INF/com/android/build/gradle/app-metadata.properties not protected by signature. Unauthorized modifications to this JAR entry will not be detected. Delete or move the entry outside of META-INF/.
... # and a bunch of other v1-related warnings

```

So it successfully verifies based on APK Signature Scheme v3 and doesn't take into account the .idsig at all (modifying the .idsig file does not affect the verification result). I expect `Verified using v4 scheme (APK Signature Scheme v4):` to also be `true`.

Am I missing something?

# Answer
APK signature scheme v4 is a "detached signature format" which means the signature is saved in a separate file.

For apksigner you have to specify this detached signature file using the undocumented parameter `-v4-signature-file <idsig file>`.

So the full command for verifying an APK with detached v4 signature is:

```
apksigner verify -v -v4-signature-file <idsig file> <apk file>

```

The current version of apksigner seem to miss this option in the command help text but I am sure I had at least one version that already mentioned it (can't find it at the moment).

The parameter is e.g. mentioned in the source code of apksigner
> 7 votes

---
Tags: android-11
---


# Question
Title: Can RAM and flash memory be increased after rooting a device?
How can I increase RAM and flash memory after rooting my Lenovo A269I running Android 2.3.6? After rooting an Android would the RAM and flash memory be increased?

I have not rooted my device yet. But I want to do so.

# Answer
You can't make your phone "faster", expand storage or upgrade other hardware by rooting your device.

However, you can remove some unwanted system apps when you are rooted, and that should give you some more storage space on your phone.

I suggest you to use Titanium Backup to remove some unwanted apps. Be carefull, because if you remove the wrong apps, your device might not boot anymore.
> 1 votes

# Answer
It can be possible by upgrading Hardware only. But the existing memory can be used wisely by rooting your device.

For example, to get some free space,

* ROM (can remove unwanted System apps)
* RAM (can swap some of your unused app memory from RAM to secondary storage (SD card); try out RAM Expander for instance )

**Note**: we cannot expect the same hardware's performance while swapping RAM.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Well there is an existing workaround - by using an SD Card.

Apps like link2sd (if that doesn't work, try similar apps with good ratings) can actually virtually merge internal storage with SD Card and thus you would be able to install those big apps to the SD Card instead.

Also create another partition in SD Card and use the app Swapper (root) to create a swap partition and thus increase RAM.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: internal-storage, ram
---


# Question
Title: What is the name of the install package and how to make it visible in Recovery mode?
Issue; when downloaded to a Mac, the .zip file was unzipped. The issue was resolved by downloading files from the vendor with Windows.

The goal is to install the factory Android 10 ROM:

## HE\_FULL\_UPDATE\_10-16-10.00-QG-U00-STD-HEL-04.zip

and wipe the existing configured ROM. The .zip file contents were copied to a micro SD card, which was installed in the Android device.

From Android Recovery Mode, I tried to install the files that were visible, however the failures returned are captured on the photo:

A list of files is returned by user@mac HE\_FULL\_UPDATE\_10-16-10 % `find .`

```
./compatibility.zip
./.DS_Store
./care_map.pb
./META-INF
./META-INF/.DS_Store
./META-INF/com
./META-INF/com/.DS_Store
./META-INF/com/symbol
./META-INF/com/symbol/DeviceManifest.xml
./META-INF/com/android
./META-INF/com/android/otacert
./META-INF/com/android/metadata
./payload_1.bin
./payload_properties.txt
./payload_properties_1.txt
./payload.bin

```

For some reason not all file are displayed in Android Recovery Mode. Which file is the to be selected and how to enable its selection from the Android Recovery Mode?

# Attempt to flash .zip file failed:

# Answer
> 2 votes
flashable UPDATE.ZIP must not extracted. flash the file as it is

---
Tags: recovery-mode
---


# Question
Title: Emulating Sony devices for Android Studio
I have a project that requires me to test it on a Sony device. Unfortunately, I don't have a physical device.

Is there a Sony emulator for Android Studio?

# Answer
Android Emulators are based off the Google Android Studio SDK Emulator and don't contain any Manufacturer proprietary code/API.

The general properties to change when creating a hardware profile are screen resolution, screen size and RAM. If needed there are additional hardware properties you can configure.

If there is a particular model you need to duplicate, creating an emulator with the same screen resolution, screen size, RAM and OS version would be a good place to start.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Android Studio only provides Google phones as a built in hardware profile. But you can create a new hardware profile and customize it accordingly. In the AVD Manager \> Create new emulator, On the Hardware page Clone a device and customize it or to create a hardware profile from scratch, click create hardware profile and there you can create it from scratch.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: android-emulator
---


# Question
Title: WhatsApp videos not downloading on phone having high speed internet
some videos are not downloading on WhatsApp on my phone. SAMSUNG GALAXY J2 2018 ANDROID VERSION 7.1.1

when trying to open that paticular video on WhatsApp web it says video not available on phone.

tried uninstalling and reinstalling WhatsApp..still no change..

This has been going on for some time
(maybe for a couple of weeks)and on one device only...WhatsApp on other devices in my household are working fine.

I did turn on media visibility in Chat settings on my phone...but the issue still persists.

Although like i mentioned.. this issue occurs from videos sent from one particular sender in a WhatsApp group...

Videos from all other senders in this group and other groups and other personal chats on WhatsApp downloads properly without any problem.

I have ejected the SD card from my device and checked..still same story..

I noticed now that if the mobile data is switched on instead of the Wi-Fi (72 mbps speed) at the time of receiving the video it does get downloaded.

Although if Wi-Fi is switched on at the time the video is received on my phone the video does not even download/open.. Even if trying to open it later using mobile data

green circle will come and then i get the message "download cannot be completed" also when the video is received on my phone..the file size is not displayed on the video

Would you be able to help me with this?

# Answer
> 0 votes
> when trying to open that paticular video on WhatsApp web it says video not available on phone.

This error is generally thrown out by whatsapp when you've deleted an already downloaded file from `/storage/emulated/0/WhatsApp/media`

---
Tags: wi-fi, whatsapp-messenger
---


# Question
Title: How to disable showing home screen by swiping the locked phone
When my Android 11 phone is locked and dark, the Home Screen shows with some gesture. Or e.g. when putting the phone in my pants pocket, which I find annoying.

My previous phone has Android 8, which is too old to receive security upgrades, so I replaced it by a Motorola G20 phone with Android 11.

The old phone was nicely locked until you pressed the hardware power button on the side. This made it very hard to accidentally turn it back on.

The new phone turns on by the slightest handling, even without pressing any button. After a lot of experimentation I am still not sure which exact swipe or gesture turns it on

The phone has, apart from the large volume up/down button, two small buttons. The top one was assigned to Google Assistent, which I was able to disable. Now the top button brings up the home screen, the notifications, and the dots for swiping the unlock pattern.

The other small button brings up the home screen and the notifications. To get to the dots, I need to swipe up.

When the phone is locked, swiping several times diagonally brings up the home screen with notifications without dots. If the clock were an analogous clock, the swipes are roughly from 2 o'clock to 7 o'clock. I mostly need to do several swipes, sometimes 2, sometimes 4. I tried with multiple fingers, but it sometimes work with one finger, so I guess that multiple fingers is not a factor here. Anyway, I cannot conclude how many swipes are really needed. The minimum seems 3, but it can be that one swipe is enough, but that the other 2 were wrong swipes.

The fingerprint sensor feature is not set up.

My problem is e.g. that I do not know the correct android jargon which makes it hard to google this problem. This seems not to be: "anti-falsing" or "swipe unlock".

Of course, this is a new Android "feature" and should be regarded as a huge improvement of the user experience. In fact, I was stunned by the number of new features that you can turn on or off in the Settings menus. However, I like the old school principle of having explicit control, and a phone that is "off" until I explicitly press the "on" button, and not accidentally when I just grab the phone to just move it to another place on the table, or put it in or out of my pocket.

So how is this new feature called, and how to turn this off?

# Answer
> 0 votes
if a password protected phone is being simply unlocked by simply swiping the home gesture, it's probably a security flaw and you're requested to contact motorola for the same.

if the device isnt set up with a secure locking mechanism, there's nothing you could do for now

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Tags: lock-screens, buttons, android-11, gestures
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# Question
Title: Is there a way to group notifications by app?
So, my phone is running MIUI 12.5(rooted if it matters) and some apps just push individual notifications so each notification I get, shows up in its own bubble instead of showing them all under a group of notifications for this same app.

It's really hard since it takes up all my screen and if I want to search for notifications from a certain app I have to go over all the other notifications from the other apps..

Is there a way to force notifications from the same app to be grouped together in my notification bar?

Thanks

# Answer
This works for me on Pixel 4a running stock Android 11 (YMMV on MIUI)

Download and install from Play Store Notifications Organizer . App description includes

> Organize notifications by app

Grant the permissions asked and optionally toggle unread badge count and tool bar fixed (not sure what this does but I enabled it).

On getting notifications, a tiny bell icon flashes in status bar and you see notifications by app in the notification bar (relevant portion of screen shot below)

You can access the notifications through the app also (for easy access, drop app widget to home screen)

Note that only 5 apps are supported (in the notification bar, while no such restrictions apply to app interface) , so you would need to add apps to *exclusion list* to exclude them.

P.S. The app is being well maintained with last update of June end. In case it doesn't work as advertised, maybe you should approach developer. I am not affiliated with it.
> 0 votes

# Answer
shortest possible working solution : switch to a stock android based custom ROM. Stock android by default behaves the way you're talking about
> -1 votes

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Tags: root-access, notifications, notification-bar, miui
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# Question
Title: Android 10 based LineageOS not rendering Indic languages
I have tried going through many reference links for my below issue, but all of them are at least the pre-Marshmallow age so couldn't find a proper solution.

I have a Redmi 2 Prime mobile (2014 model) and I have flashed it with LineageOS 17.1 version (Android 10) (exact version is `lineage-17.1-20200711-nightly-wt88047-signed.zip`) along with OpenGApps pico version (`open_gapps-arm-10.0-pico-20200725.zip`).

The device came up fine, most other things which I have checked also is working fine, except for Indic language support. I am specifically looking for Malayalam (South Indian language).

When I try to add it in languages section, it shows the name of language itself as garbage (see item 2 in screenshot).

I tried adding GBoard and Google Indic keyboard, but when I select Malayalam-\>English, it says 'Your device does not support this language' (can be seen above the space bar of keyboard).

When I add Malayalam language (by typing in English and selecting the only option that comes), Google Play services is shown to check for some language support online but quickly stops and nothing happens.

I checked accessing a web page in this language in Google Chrome and it rendered nicely. But when I checked Malayalam version of Wikipedia, it is the same junk (both in Wikipedia and the Google search results for it)

Could someone help me with what I should try to get this fixed

# Answer
At last I was able to add support for the language\[Answering for the sake of others who might face this issue\]. It seems there was some issue with the font I tried earlier( though it was looking fine in PC and was known to be working in other models of mobiles ). Steps followed

1. Downloaded relevant ttf and otf fonts to SD card
2. Rebooted to TWRP
3. Mount-\>Select System & External SD-\>Uncheck 'Mount read-only'-\>Select 'Internal Storage' for mount location
4. Press Home( not Back ). Clieck ADvanced-\>Terminal
5. In terminal, copy the fonts to /system/fonts/ using cp command ( The copy in Advanced-\>File Manager also might work, but I havent tried )
6. Mount-\>UnSelect System & External SD-\>Uncheck 'Mount read-only'-\>Select 'Internal Storage' for mount location
7. Reboot to system
8. Verify if font support is available by going to Settings-\>Language ( or browsing to a webpage with that language )

Many thanks for the support and the initial hint that this might be a font problem @Andrew
> 1 votes

# Answer
**NOTE: This solution works for all the devices that have font issues.**

Your problem can be solved so easily, let me give it step by step.

1. (Phone) - go to the recovery mode, select **Advance Option** and tick the SYSTEM alone. **NOTE: unselect data and cache for now.**
2. go to this link, download and extract on desktop. Inside this navigate to fast-boot folder. Now get inside the fast-boot folder press(SHIFT + RIGHT CLICK in mouse) and choose **open cmd window here.**
3. Connect the phone to a laptop and enter the cmd\> `adb devices`
4. You'll find all the attached devices.
5. In cmd give this code : `adb push fonts /system/fonts` and press enter
6. **Please press home button in TWRP \> click *Advance Option* \> now check (Data and Cache) and unselect system - IF NOT YOU WILL STUCK IN BOOTLOOP**.
7. Reboot the device and navigate to browser and see the magic
> 1 votes

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Tags: lineageos, languages, fonts
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# Question
Title: How can I get back lost internet access on Android 4.x or lower?
I have an Acer A500 tablet running Android 4.0.3. Trying this after not using for some time I find it can't access most websites, getting "Webpage not available" in Opera Mini browser. I have found an interesting web page (using my desktop) at Android Police - Many websites will stop working on older Android versions in 2021.

Following up a link on this page, it says there has been a workaround by Let's Encrypt which will last till 2024, and doesn't need users to make any change. If that's so, it doesn't work for me. Can anyone help?

# Answer
The problem with the root-CA certificate is not the only one you are facing:

Devices with Android version 4.4 and before have problems accessing a lot of https sites because they do not support TLS 1.2. More and more web sites require that TLS version now as the older versions (SSLv3 TLS1.0 TLS1.1) have known security problems and there is a recommendation to not use them anymore.

There is a workaround where app authors can implement a workaround to include a custom TLS implementation. But AFAIK that requires at least Android 4.1.

Therefore there are multiple reasons why your tablet is EOL. You can try to flash a custom ROM (e.g. one with 5.1 to extend it a little longer but that will get you only a short delay).
> 2 votes

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Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, certificates, https
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# Question
Title: (Not Solved Again) How to root Gabb Wireless Z2?
(UPDATE: The accepted answer has since been patched. 12-16-2021)

I have a Gabb Wireless which is an Android that is programmed to be "dumb". By "dumb", I mean it only has core apps such as Settings, Phone, Messaging, etc. I like it because it is not additive to where I can't focus on my school.

It has some major drawbacks though. To keep kids from messing up the restrictions, they pretty much bricked the phone. I can't flash, ADB\*, install apps\**, or unlock the bootloader\*** the way other sites say to do.

All I want to do is host a web server and customize the OS a bit. I have contacted the distributor and of course, they would not reveal anything.

Stars:

1. The original way to allow USB debugging/Developer mode is gone.
2. The store was removed and you can't install raw APKs.
3. When I boot into the Bootloader, the screen is blank with "=\> FASTBOOT mode..." at the bottom.

Overall, I am disappointed with the extremes which the company took. I have gotten them to admit that the device *is* hackable. Of course, any device is hackable so I did not get much from that.

Any ideas?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Ok, I've got half an answer for you.

I was able to get apps on my Gabb phone. What you do is get an ADB program like this one. Next, you want to extract the contents of the `platform-tools` file to a new folder in your (C:) drive called `adb`. Next, you are going to set up USB Debugging on your phone by going into your settings in your Gabb phone, Privacy, Permission manager, and search "autofill" and press on the one with developer options under it, turn on developer options at the top then look for USB Debugging and turn it on.

Now back on your computer open the Command prompt, take the charger, and plug one end into the computer and the other into your gabb phone. Get an APK file like this one and once it's done installing, go to your command prompt and type: `cd C:\adb` then enter. Next, type `adb install`, then insert your file then press Enter. Now the app has been installed and that's how you get apps, it's easy and it worked for me so, have fun getting apps on your Gabb Phone!

I don't have an answer for the rooting part though sorry.

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Tags: adb, rooting, rom-flashing, gabb
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# Question
Title: How to get rid of hovering circular notification shortcut in CyanogenMod?
Ever since I installed CyanogenMod, there has been this hovering blue circular notification on top of every application. I don't know what its called so I really can't find a way to disable this. Can anyone help me identify what it is and how to get rid of it? Attached is a screenshot.

Click for full size image

# Answer
Thanks @eldarerathis the link to the video helped me get rid of it.

To get rid of it, I had to DOUBLE tap the "halo" and move to the X area just as you would when getting rid of apps from the launcher.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Go to settings, Accessibility, Motor, and Cognition, and turn off Touch Assistant. That should take care of the little blue thing for you.
> 0 votes

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Tags: cyanogenmod
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