# Question
Title: A friend gave me a backup he used for his Samsung Galaxy On5, How do I use these files to 'restore' my Samsung On5?
```
boot.emmc.win
boot.emmc.win.md5
data.ext4.win
data.ext4.win.md5
data.info
recovery.log
system.ext4.win000
system.ext4.win000.md5
system.ext4.win001
system.ext4.win001.md5
system.info

```

So I'm using Arch linux, I'm familiar with flashing using the heimdall utility(currently using a rom for an On5 that isn't the same as my phone so I can't get audio/camera usage). Also I have TWRP installed. How do I use these files to restore my phone?

# Answer
Boot in TWRP and hit Restore. It will show a list of backups, select one and you'll see a list with System, Data, Boot. Make sure all the boxes are checked and swipe the bar to restore. The restore will take a few minutes, but when it’s finished, you can reboot your phone back into Android. If it asks you to root, be sure to tap “Do Not Install” if you don't wish to.

***Flashing a zip file:***

Tap on Install . browse to the location where you saved the file `2016-09-21_twrp_on5ltetmo_system_data.7z`. Now at the bottom of the screen, do a swipe on the Swipe to confirm flash option to begin flashing. Reboot the device when finished.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: restore
---


# Question
Title: Error reflashing Nexus S to stock Jelly Bean
I've got a Nexus S (D720) running CM 10.1.3, and I'd like to flash it back over to Google's latest factory image (sojus-jro03r). When I try updating, I get the following:

```
sending 'bootloader' (1536 KB)...
OKAY [  0.195s]
writing 'bootloader'...
OKAY [  0.347s]
finished. total time: 0.542s
rebooting into bootloader...
OKAY [  0.001s]
finished. total time: 0.001s
sending 'radio' (15232 KB)...
OKAY [  2.037s]
writing 'radio'...
OKAY [ 15.314s]
finished. total time: 17.350s
rebooting into bootloader...
OKAY [  0.001s]
finished. total time: 0.001s
archive does not contain 'boot.sig'
archive does not contain 'recovery.sig'
archive does not contain 'system.sig'
--------------------------------------------
Bootloader Version...: D720SPRKE1
Baseband Version.....: D720SPRXXX
Serial Number........: 3730DA5FBAF300EC
--------------------------------------------
checking product...
OKAY [  0.001s]
checking version-bootloader...
OKAY [  0.001s]
checking version-baseband...
FAILED

Device version-baseband is 'D720SPRXXX'.
Update requires 'D720SPRKC9' or 'D720SPRKD8' or 'D720SPRKE5' or 'D720SPRKH1'.

finished. total time: 0.006s

```

Searching "D720SPRXXX" on Google gets exactly zero hits. How did my baseband version get like that, and how do I change it to make Google's update happy?

It's worth noting that the device *still boots* into CyanogenMod without issues, and can be reflashed with a *new* version of CyanogenMod; I just can't install Google's factory image.

# Answer
> 1 votes
what I found was that flash\_all.sh actually updates the baseband version with the radio image. but rebooting from fastboot to fastboot again does not show the update in the baseband version. so manually reboot the phone to normal boot, and try one more time going to fastboot and do the update.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I managed to get the phone fixed, but I still don't know what actually caused the problem. Here's what I did:

I was using the "sojus-jro03r" image. I assume the same will work with any other. Once I unzipped the archive, there's a file called `image-sojus-jro03r.zip` inside that contains the OS image. Inside *that* archive is a file called `android-info.txt`.

That text file has a couple lines in it, the last of which starts with `require version-baseband`. By adding `|D720SPRXXX` to the end, I was able to trick the update into accepting my device. I updated that text file in the .zip file, ran `flash-all.sh` again, and everything worked as it should!

My phone's working as I want it now, but I'd still like to know how in the world this happened in the first place. I'll leave this question open a while longer, and if anyone can explain what would cause a problem like this, I'll accept that answer.

---
Tags: rom-flashing, samsung-nexus-s, vanilla-android
---


title: Init.d script trouble shooting

text:
# Question
Title: Init.d script trouble shooting
I'm trying to run an init.d script when my rom boots to disable system services, and they aren't running.

The script is as follows

```
#!/system/bin/sh
su -c pm disable com.google.android.gms/.update.SystemupdateService
su -c pm disable com.google.android.gms/.update.SystemUpdateGcmTaskService

```

I can confirm that normal pm disable commands work to disable non system applications. So I suspect I'm not doing something right to su privileges.

# Answer
If you didn't done this way then try it: Put this script in file and save it in system/bin/ (let's say you name it script1) and set permissions to 755, than make file in system/etc/init.d/ (name it whatever you want) and in file write:

```
#!/system/bin/sh
script1

```

And also set permissions to 755. Reboot and see if it has any effect. Also you can try enabling su during boot, you have that option in super su.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: root-access, lg-g3, disable-app, init.d
---


# Question
Title: Can I install apps to different devices from one device?
I am wondering if there is a way to install and open apps on different devices I am signed onto from one device.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I think what you are looking for is *Apps Syncing* across multiple devices. AFAIK, there is no native way to directly do this. You would need to have something like what this App Sync app is promoting.

<sub> **Disclaimer**: I am not associated with the app's company or developers in any way. I just did a quick search and their app was the first one to show up. </sub>

IMHO, I think apps syncing would is convenient, but may result to some crashes, since there is a chance where your devices each are using a different Android OS version, different specs, and last but not the least is app device specific compatibility (e.g. Tablet-only apps).

# Answer
> 0 votes
First of all, all devices must be linked to the same google account. Access google play store via browser, when you find an app you want to install you will have a drop-list to choose on which device you want to install it so choose one device and hit install than second and hit install and so on.

---
Tags: applications, multiple-devices
---


# Question
Title: Can Google Pixel C tablet Android OS update every version?
If there releases a new android version, can google pixel c tablet update that soon by user himself from system control tool?

Is it the same as iOS update?

# Answer
In practice an Android device can only be updated by an update provided by the device manufacturer. This is not the same as an iOS update.

An update provided by the manufacturer contains a great deal of device specific code and data which the android version provided by Google does not. Each new version of Android has minimum hardware requirements which older hardware may not meet. Manufacturers receive the update in source form and add the code needed to interface with their hardware. They may also need to customize the Android code according to their own requirements.

In some cases it may be possible to update from other than the manufacturers update but this is for experts only and would require a great deal of time and effort.

This is one of the unfortunate realities of the Android market. Manufacturers would much prefer to sell you a new device than update your old one.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: tablet
---


title: screen is broke at the bottom

text:
# Question
Title: screen is broke at the bottom
I had just bought zte Android phone. An I was short on cash so I didnt get the insurance an went to leave an dropped it. I hadn't even activate activate it yet. Is there anyway I can use for keyboard just till I get passed set up.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Sorry to hear about that. Could you please refine your mobile model? If it supports OTG, you can use OTG Cable(would cost you around $1) to connect an external mouse or a keyboard to mobile to complete the setup.

---
Tags: sync
---


# Question
Title: Change the date format of the default Phone app in Micromax canvas 4
In the **Phone** app (which came as as a preinstalled on my Micromax canvas 4 Device, running Android 4.2), the date format used (in the call logs for example to show history of calls placed/received) is USA-Style like **mm-dd-yyyy.**, like 08/09/2015 (for 9th-August-2015).

I checked the phone app's settings but could not find a way to change it to **dd-mm-yyyy.**, like 09/08/2015 (for 9th-August-2015).

Of course, I can certainly install another 3rd party app which can give an option to customize data format, but just want to check if it is possible in the preinstalled system app.

Anyone knows how to change date format from mm-dd-yyyy to dd-mm-yyyy?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Actually mm-dd-yyyy date format is used in American English(USA-style) and dd-mm-yyyy is used in British English(UK-Style) So to change date format in your device simply change language option in your device from US-English to UK-English.

**Settings-\>Language & Input -\> Language -\> English(UK)**.

I hope it would help.

---
Tags: settings, call-history, micromax
---


# Question
Title: Why 360 photo in Google Street View is supported only in phones with gyroscope?
I got few phone but all without gyroscope. In all of them, Street View app says:

> 360 photo capture is not supported on this device.

Why gyroscope is a must, are the gravity & compass not reliable to make 360 pictures?

**Update:**

Both gravity & compass have (x,y,z) components and I know both have some drawbacks:

* gravity sensor is affected by acceleration (motion).
* compass sensor is affected by metals and sometimes get locked is a direction. (move device in 8 path to free it).

Also:

* gyroscope has little drift with time (may not affect in this case)

Anyway, are these enough reasons to drop phones without gyro from 360 photo capturing?

# Answer
An accelerometer measures linear acceleration of movement, while a gyro on the other hand measures the angular rotational velocity. Basically the gyro uses the Earth's gravity to adds an additional dimension to the information supplied by the accelerometer, which measure s non-gravitational acceleration, by tracking rotation or twist.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Basically 360 photo is a set of photos on a large canvas. gyroscope tells us the orientation of phone. inside the 360 photo viewer module the orientation is mapped to that large canvas with different photos. so when we look around. gyroscope tells operating system about the orientation of mobile and displays respective photo on screen.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: camera, gyroscope
---


title: Note 7 WiFi keeps turning itself off

text:
# Question
Title: Note 7 WiFi keeps turning itself off
I really hope someone can help me, this is becoming infuriating. My Samsung Galaxy Note 7 keeps turning wifi off all on it's own. I have searched until blue in the face trying several things I've seen suggested on various forums. Nothing works. I wasn't able to track down another case of this happening on the Note 7, although I'd seen other phones from samsung as well as other manufacturers, but none of the fixes I came across worked for me.

I don't know what's triggering it, I've tried to watch it closely and see what the problem may be but can't seem to pinpoint it. Power Save mode is off, I set a static IP for it, turned off the smart switch feature which swaps between wifi and mobile network to "make sure you have the best signal", nothing works!!

Looking forward to any suggestions or fixes anyone may know of! Thank you in advance!

# Answer
**First of all: return your device, it is at risk of exploding. See this page.**

About the WiFi, Samsung has declared that it will turn off radios on Note 7s to prevent people from using them. See the post on this blog: https://9to5google.com/2016/12/07/samsung-note-7-radio-disable/.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: wi-fi, samsung
---


# Question
Title: Will flashing stock firmware also restore the stock recovery?
My phone is Asus Zenfone 2 (ZE551ML, Z00AD).

As described in another question, I was unsuccessfully trying to unlock my bootloader. In the process, I also lost the stock recovery.

I learned how to flash stock recovery to repair it.

My firmware version is **WW-2.20.40.198**. I haven't been able to find the stock recovery file for that exact firmware version. However, I **have** been able to get a hold of the **WW-2.20.40.196** stock recovery file. I was told on XDA-Developers that this would be fine, so I flashed it via Fastboot.

It seems to be working, although I haven't tried to actually flash firmware through adb yet.

I'm now unsure of which firmware to flash through adb, WW-2.20.40.**196** or WW-2.20.40.**198**.

I have two conflicting ideas.

On the one hand:

1. Since the recovery file I flashed with fastboot was **196**, then perhaps I should also flash the **196** firmware file?

Or maybe:

2. If I flash the **198** file, perhaps it will also restore the **198** stock recovery? In that case, perhaps I can just flash the **198** firmware?

# Answer
> 1 votes
# Flashing: Not the rude one, the android one!

honestly, You should flash the 198,to ensue you get the right files. You *might* need to unlock the bootloader again, but I doubt it.

Also, to answer the title: Yes, Flashing the Stock OS will Flash stock recovery. Unlike custom ROMS, Stock ROMS Re-flash the RADIO (Also known as /efs in Samsung, is responsible for mobile data, calls, WiFi, etc.) The system, the recovery, kernel, boot image.... And more!

---
Tags: adb, rom-flashing, recovery-mode, fastboot, asus-zenfone-2
---


title: Boot from sdcard

text:
# Question
Title: Boot from sdcard
I did something to my phone(Huawei Ascend Y550-L01) and now it displays:

The internal storage is probably dead. So I had this idea. Maybe I can boot from the sdcard? If it's possible, how can I do it? I'm running windows on my main pc.

Thank you, Linas

# Answer
> 0 votes
I thought I was not possible until I discovere this site. You can boot Android from an SD Card. The complete guide is from here. I warn you, you'll have headache if you're not familiar with commands :D :D

---
Tags: internal-storage, huawei
---


# Question
Title: How to use OTG (ethernet) and power on Nexus 5X using Type C connector?
I would like to both power and connect a Nexus 5X via Ethernet (using an USB to Ethernet adaptor).

Here's what I tried to far:

* a Type C OTG to USB Female adaptor: Ethernet adaptor works on it's own
* a Type C to microUSB adaptor + power OTG cable/hub: Power works, but OTG doesn't work

Is there a Type C OTG Cable that supports power/charing too, or a Type C powered USB Hub ?

Otherwise, is there a pinout for the Type C connector describing how to hack an OTG + power cable (similar to the microUSB pinouts on this page) ?

# Answer
From what I know, you'll want to get a usb c to usb a adapter that also has a power in port like this. Then you should be able to just plug in your ethernet adapter to the female usb a. If it's drawing too much power I've never had issues plugging usb hubs into otg cables so I can't see adding a powered usb hub into the mix being an issue.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: usb, charging, usb-on-the-go
---


# Question
Title: How to enable power to micro usb port to use otg devices on android?
Android does not provide enough power to usb otg devices.

# Answer
If your android smartphone does not provide **enough** to power up USB-OTG,
you can get a OTG Y-cable from **amazon** for **$7**.
You *may* need to install **custom rom** if your *stock* android *does not* support USB-OTG
> 3 votes

# Answer
The power the USB port outputs depends on your hardware. If a standard USB OTG adapter does not provide power to the USB device, your phone or tablet may not support USB OTG.

It's possible to make your own USB OTG cable with an external power source. You would basically connect the power providing wires in the USB cable to a 5V power adapter, and keep the data wires connected to the micro USB port on your phone. If something goes wrong making the cable you might break your phones USB port though!

If your phone or tablet was not designed to provide USB OTG (which is very likely if it doesn't provide power), your Android ROM will likely miss external USB support as well. The lack of software support might be circumvented by installing a custom ROM if one is available.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Some newer devices with large batteries allow you to power other devices but it's dependent on the hardware and software. Some devices are physically able to but manufacturers(and carriers) don't have it enabled. If you have a specific device in mind that you're trying to enable it for that would be helpful in finding out if it's even possible to turn it on(which would most likely require rooting your device and possibly a custom rom).

Also, some devices that do allow for power through their usb port don't send that much power. Most manufacturers expect people to buy a power bank or another battery than buy another phone to power a device, so if they do allow for power through the usb, it may only be enough to power something like a mouse, keyboard or small midi device.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: usb-on-the-go
---


# Question
Title: Google Play Services Sync problem on Android 2.3.6
I have a phone Samsung **GT-S5302** it has **stock ROM** and **root**.

---

When it connects to internet it started to sync as always (sync icon appears), but the icon doesn't disappear even after 8 hours and I can't enter Google Play Store, Google+ account, Hangouts, I get an error "Google Talk authentication problem" and it reduces all phone performance.

Then I try to freeze Google Play Services with Link2SD problem disappear: sync works fine, error disappear, I can enter to Android Play Market, download and install app... But in this case Google+, Hangouts of course don't work because they need Google Play Services to work fine.

## What I've already tried:

* I tried to erase cash, app data of the next processes: Play Market, Google Play Services, Google Services Framework and reboot device.
* I tried to erase userdata and add only my google account again with no changes.
* I tried to reinstall gapps for gingerbread using CWM unsuccessfully again.
* I tried to switch off automatic date/time settings and after reboot turn on again - no luck.
* I tried to delete Google Play Services and reinstall it with Play Market - the same problem.

---

So the question is: Is there any way to solve the problem with Google+ or may be one know where do I need to look or what do I need to do further?

# Answer
After looking through verbose log of my mobile phone I noticed that Google Play Services (GMS) can't find class "android.os.UserManager" and it has another dead codes connected with Google Play Services (gms).

And this blocks of errors apear over and over again so Google Play Services restarts them self. Class "android.os.UserManager" require API level 17; my phone has API level 10 so I decided to install the older versions of Goolge Play Services. After that I find out that problems appear with versions of Goolge Play Services greater then 8.3.0. With 8.3.0 and below there is no such problem. Google+ works fine with this version of GMS.

I install all programs that I need using Play Market and after that I delete all data and updates of Play Market to prevent updating Goolge Play Services (I find out that Play Market respones for updating Goolge Play Services).
> 1 votes

# Answer
I too had this problem. I think you too have noticed that the *Google Play Services* app crashes as well. So I firstly uninstalled it.

Then after rooting my phone, I factory-resetted everything (lot o f times) and after that, now it works smoothly. And no problem in synchronization either.
> -1 votes

---
Tags: 2.3-gingerbread, google-play-services
---


# Question
Title: how to recover back the pictures from my nexus 5x after factory reset?
i am facing some issue with google playstore( it cannot download or update any application) so i did all possible methods to make it function normally and at last with no other way left out i tried hard reset even then the problem is not resolved and all data is erased.. Dear experts kindly help me to recover the pictures and also to fix the play store issue..

Device model : LG-Google Nexus 5x Andriod Verision : N

# Answer
> 0 votes
It's essentially impossible to recover data from a phone once it's been factory reset, especially since the Nexus 5X is encrypted by default. If you had Auto Backup enabled, you may be able to find them on Google Photos, but otherwise they're probably gone for good.

If you want help on another topic (e.g. fixing the Play Store), I suggest asking a new question and including as many details as you can about what exactly doesn't work.

---
Tags: google-play-store, data-recovery, restore, hard-reset
---


# Question
Title: How can I root Remix OS running in Virtual Box?
I have Remix OS beta running in Virtual Box. I've made a virtual drive which I've formatted as ext4 and installed Remix OS on.

How can I get root access?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Remis Os comes pre-rooted from the the box. If you feel thats not the case please specify the type of (version) of remix Os you have been using.

---
Tags: rooting, android-x86, virtualization, virtualbox
---


# Question
Title: Is editing build.prop enough to change model name?
I am trying to change the model name on my Android device by editing `build.prop`.

**Code:**

`ro.product.model=Nexus S`

**My code:**

`ro.product.model=Nexus One`

Settings still shows `Nexus S`.

Edit: I edited the fields @GokulNC suggested, but screen still shows `Nexus S`.

can someone help?

Thanks in advance.

# Answer
As it turned out, I was using a homemade device and was not editing as root.

I also had to completely shut the device down, then turn it on.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 2.3-gingerbread, stock-android, stock-rom
---


# Question
Title: why can't I download apps with 29 gigabytes of free memory on sd card
I have 29 gigabytes of free storage on my sd card yet when I try to download more apps I get the insufficient storage message. All apps that I am able to move to sd card are. No matter how many apps I download the amount of free storage on sd card remains at 29 gigabytes.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Your android device has internal and in your case external storage.
The external storage is, in this case, your SD card with 29GB of free memory.
However most of the android apps get installed on your internal storage. You can check if your internal storage is filled up by going into "**Settings -\> Storage**" and looking at the internal storage.
If it is filled up try to move apps to your sd card by going to "**Settings -\> Apps -\> Manage Apps**" and you will see a list of installed applications.
Click them one by one and in the menu you'll see an option "Move to SD Card" for some of the applications.
You can alternatively root your device (or update to android V6.0+) and move all of your apps to your SD card using an app on the Google Play Store called AppMGR III.

# Answer
> 0 votes
All internal memory can not be used for installing apps. I think android allot a part of your internal memory for installation of apps. When that money is full, you start receiving lie memory error message. You can try following:

1. Uninstall some Apps
2. Move apps to external storage or money card. You can do that by going to app settings. You may be able to move some apps by app settings option.
3. If you're still getting low memory issue, then you use This app. This is only app I found on play store which can move those apps to SD card which android app settings couldn't. But to use this, you need to be **rooted**.

---
Tags: insufficient-memory
---


# Question
Title: Install multiple apk packages with a single apk file
I've noticed that some system android apps (or packages) contain more than one apk. For example, with the following command you can see that the LG's bluetooth app contains two apks:

`adb shell pm list packages -f com.android.bluetooth`

> package:/system/app/BluetoothMidiService/BluetoothMidiService.apk=com.android.bluetoothmidiservice
>
> package:/system/app/LGBluetooth4/LGBluetooth4.apk=com.android.bluetooth

My question is, is there any installable .apk on the Google Play Store or third party stores that allows to do such a thing, either for fresh install of the app of for an upgrade?

# Answer
These are two separate packages. `pm list` shows both of them because both the package names **contain** the text you searched for, `com.android.bluetooth`. It's not two APKs in one app.

There's no way to have a package consisting of multiple APK files. This doesn't make any sense. The only similar thing is when packages contain both an APK file and an OBB file containing extra data needed by the package. This feature is used primarily for games, where the assets needed by the game make it too big to fit in a single APK file.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: apk
---


# Question
Title: What happens if i flash a custom ROM on locked bootloader?
i want to know if i can flash a custom ROM without unlocking the bootloader if this impossible then what happens to the phone if i do that? Thanks.

# Answer
Most phones with locked bootloaders with prevent this as they need a custom recovery such as CWM or TWRP to flash a custom rom which cant be installed unless you unlock the bootloader and root your device.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Generally speaking, you can't. A locked bootloader prevents flashing.

On some devices you might be able to gain root temporarily while the device is running, and could "live" flash a ROM. Some bootloaders will refuse to boot the device at all at that point, whereas others will let you proceed after trying and failing to restore the original. (Or, if you didn't remove the backup image, the restore will succeed.)

The best advice is to avoid attempting any of this with a locked bootloader, unless you want an expensive paperweight.
> 2 votes

# Answer
Go for it. The locked bootloader can't do anything if you succeed. I've used custom Roms on a locked xt912 for years
> 0 votes

---
Tags: rom, bootloader
---


# Question
Title: Galaxy Tab 4 8.0 frozen after rooting with Kingoroot
I rooted the tab successfully with Kingoroot and installed Droidproxy and everything was fine until I did a restart to see if that would send app traffic through proxy.

It powered down and came back up until the Verizon logo screen where it froze. After sitting there for several hours, I found the power + volume down trick to get it to do SOMETHING, but still can't get it to boot.

Have tried the factory reset boot option, and everything else I know to try, but still no luck. I'm new to Android, but familiar with IT from a Windows perspective, so any help from simple to complex would be appreciated!

# Answer
> 0 votes
This state is called a soft brick easily solvable by flashing stock firmware through a flasher: Odin for Windows systems and Heimdall for MAC OS.

You can find a complete guide + download links in this **thread** from **XDA Developers site**. There's a safe rooting process also described there. And you can learn interesting stuffs ;)

*Side effects*: Loss of personal data (Photos, musics, apps).

Good luck.

---
Tags: root-access, 5.1-lollipop, boot
---


title: Medion P4501 freeze on brand image

text:
# Question
Title: Medion P4501 freeze on brand image
I have a Medion P4501 phone. After the battery died, i start charging but it frooze on the Medion-brand. I was looking for a long time how to solve it but nothing worked.

The problem is:

* the power button + volume up/down doesn't work: after more than 20 times, turns up only the Medion brand
* Fastboot (power button + volume up and down) gives an error: 'failed to open file/mmcl/p4501.v1/CONF/P4501.xml with error no -1'
* Usb debugging is turned off i believe. When i plugged in the phone, i couldn't find it in the microsoft divice manager.
* Adb didnt work because it didn't find my phone
* the phone isn't rooted

I hope someone can help me with this. I cracking my brains on it for a few weeks.

# Answer
Flashing a stock firmware should solve your problem.

Firmware download links from here. Additional instructions, guide from here
> 0 votes

---
Tags: adb, recovery-mode, fastboot, usb-debugging
---


title: How to View System Apps in 4.2.2

text:
# Question
Title: How to View System Apps in 4.2.2
How are the System Apps viewed in 4.2.2? There is not a More, or Show System Apps that I can see,

I'm answering questions for a Samsung support person (Print spooler Version?) about Samsung Print Service Plugin problems.(it works on a 4.2.2 Tab & 6.0.1 Tab, not on a Galaxy S5). Only Downloaded, SD Card, Running, and All apps are listed under 4.2.2 apps.

Any help appreciated.

# Answer
The system does not provide such option, apps are not filtered, all apps are listed in **All tab**. You can filter apps by type using an app such as **ES Explorer**.

Open the app, touch the android logo labelled APP, then touch the dropdown menu and select system apps.

Click image for larger version
> 0 votes

---
Tags: printing
---


# Question
Title: Make the internal SD card storage act like normal Ext4 storage (with file system permission management)
Some people have apparently managed to get Ext4 formatted SD cards to work in their Android devices, allowing them to get `file system permission management`. I don't have an SD card in my phone, but I want to be able to manage the file permissions on the emulated SD card that all Android devices have.

The problem I see with the current implementation is the fact that apps which can access one file on your SD card (or emulated SD card) can access every single file on your SD card. There is no way to limit access to a single folder.

Now I'm wondering how I can change the emulated SD card in a way that I can specify which app can access which file.
Btw from what I've read, every app has it's own Linux user so in theory it should be as simple as setting permissions with `chown`/`chmod`.
But people say that Android has a special implementation for the emulated SD storage, which has been accomplished by using FUSE.

I am aware that apps may not work correctly when they don't have permissions to read or write form that storage. But that shouldn't really be a problem if you manage the permissions with `chown`/`chmod`.
I also know that I might lose the ability to use MTP to access that storage from a computer.

I'm using CyanogenMod 13 on a OnePlus One at the moment. Rooted and custom recovery etc. I will upgrade to Android 7 soon (CM14). (also running microG instead of google play services.)

# Answer
You seem to be missing the point. Actually a few of them:

* Emulated SD Card storage has nothing to do with the lack of physical SD card support by some devices.
* It is a public storage area by design.
* It is implemented via `FUSE` \- it is not an actual block device and you can not simply reformat it to any filesystem you want.
* Being able to share files via `MTP` depends on the current implementation and the change like you are suggesting would break it.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: sd-card, file-system, linux, internal-sd, ext4
---


# Question
Title: How do I go about installing 7.1.1 in my nexus 5x?
My question pretty much says everything. I have a nexus 5x with 7.0 rooted and (nougat) installed. I have also flashed kali net hunter image on it. I have google assistant installed. Now, I would like to update my phone to 7.1.1. I want my phone rooted along with google assistant. Nethuneter is not necessary because it consumes a lot of my memory and storage. For my recovery, I have TWRP installed. Kindly suggest me the best way to deal with this.

# Answer
> -1 votes
http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/orig-development/wip-aosp-nougat-nexus-5-t3446875

This is what you're looking for..

---
Tags: rooting, rom-flashing, 7.0-nougat
---


# Question
Title: Seeing the full text of a long notification
I've got a notification on my phone where the length of the text exceeds the width of the screen and it doesn't wrap, just wanders off the edge. How can I see the full text of the notification?

I've seen a suggestion here that long pressing for ~5 seconds shows it however all this does is bring up the `App Info` menu. Maybe on older versions of Android that didn't have the `App Info` menu this worked? Ideally looking for an answer that works on Ice Cream Sandwich and above (since I think that was when the `App Info` came about?) but I have a Nexus 4 running Jelly Bean 4.2.2 phone.

Here's the notification that I received. Hypothetical: *Why did I lose data connectivity? What did I do!?!*

# Answer
In 4.2.x Jelly Bean you can pinch-zoom or two-finger glide in order to toggle between base and expanded \[notification\] layouts. Not all notifications can be expanded, however. The next time the notification appears try using two fingers to "pull" the notification down into an expanded layout.
> 6 votes

# Answer
You can expand it by touching the notification and dragging down. The touch part of the gesture is very brief, so it feels like a single, quick gesture. This works on Android 7.1, I can't confirm for earlier versions myself, but would be interested I hearing if it works in earlier versions also.

Android 7.1 also shows a little caret (arrow) pointing down to the right of the notification time in the title area. Clicking the title area expands and collapses the notification, and you'll see the caret switch from pointing up to down.
> 2 votes

# Answer
Not sure if this works for all notifications, or 4.x as originally asked, but I am using Lollipop (5.0.2) and just double-tapped a notification (from Google Play Store, about not being able to update an app because of insufficient storage space). It came up as a dialog box with the full text.
> 1 votes

# Answer
On my Samsung Galaxy S4 with Android 5.0.1 I can just "pull down" the notification (using one finger) or pinch-zoom it (using two fingers) to see the full text:

* first, pull down the notification bar
* then pull down the single notification, where the text is cropped

I don't know whether this is specific for Samsung's TouchWiz or if it's a standard Android feature. I just tried it with various notifications from Spotify, Gmail, etc.
> 0 votes

# Answer
In addition to other answers, if pinch zoom and two-finger glide din't work, try to rotate screen to landscape mode by switching on the auto-rotate feature and read the notification in Landscape. It may help you read the notifications most of the times. Because clicking the nofication will open the specific app and you wont be able to read it until it shows up next time by itself and long press can show menus to turn off notifications compeletly. So the auto-rotate worked in my case(Not all the times but most of the times in my Lollipop).
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, 4.2-jelly-bean, notifications, notification-bar, 4.3-jelly-bean
---


# Question
Title: How to force load desktop version of website (changing user-agent doesn't work)?
Some webpages **forces mobile version even I change user-agent**. I changed user-agent in built-in browser and "Dolphin Browser HD", I am checking it on page www.user-agent-string.info

Main problem is engadget.com, always in mobile version. I tried to clean cookies, restart browsers etc.

This is my results:

1. in built-in browser, user-agent - "desktop"

* (allegro.pl) **doesn't work**, redirects to mobile version
2. in "Dolphin Browser HD", user-agent - "desktop"

* (NSFW: redtube.com) **doesn't work**, redirects to mobile version
    * (allegro.pl) works fine
3. in "Dolphin Browser HD", user-agent - "IPad"

* (engadget.com) **doesn't work**, redirects to mobile version
    * (allegro.pl) works fine
    * (NSFW: redtube.com) works fine
4. in "Dolphin Browser HD", user-agent - "custom": *Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; rv:7.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/7.0.1*

* (engadget.com\]) **doesn't work**, redirects to mobile version
    * (NSFW: redtube.com) **doesn't work**, redirects to mobile version
    * (allegro.pl) works fine

Maybe this pages using "adobe flash" user-agent detection ?

(I'am using Asus Transformer TF101, Android 3.2.1, Adobe Flash Player 11)

# Answer
This might have nothing to do with the UserAgent – but rather use other means of responsive design. Take my Android site for example: I don't evaluate the UA at all. Try the site with your mobile device, play with UA and Cookies all you want – unless you change your screen resolution, results will always be the same.

```
@media (max-width: 600px) {
  // adjustments for small screens go here
}

```

That's a snippet from my site's style sheets. You see, as soon as screen width (that's not the physical width of the screen, but the width of the browser window) drops below 600px, special CSS will be applied: to keep the content readable and focused, for example the tabs go from the left to the top (or bottom, depending on how the browser interprets the CSS), and several other things.

Which means: For such sites, the only way to "force the desktop variant" would be to play with screen density – which requires root and might have some unwanted side-effects (set the density too high, and you cannot read anything anymore as the fonts get too small, just to name a rather harmless example).
> 5 votes

# Answer
Some IP blocks or other header information can be used to identify requests as coming from phone carriers. In an attempt to over engineer the user experience, some web designers could to extreme lengths (such as using this info instead of the user agent) to force what they consider the optimal experience to be on the user.

You can get around this by using WiFi instead of your mobile data plan, but I suspect that's not the answer you're looking for. Other than that, there is zip I know of that you can do about it except complain to the website operators.

For what it's worth, some sites have a link in the header or footer to allow mobile users to view the standard page (like Facebook), but that's the exception rather than the rule.
> 2 votes

# Answer
**Note:**

* This answer is meant to address the bounty's note (bounty offered by Abhishek Anand) only, hence, may not be much relevant to the original-cum-historical question.

Bounty note

> There must be a better way to \[do\] this. If a web server disregards user-agent value and looks at screen size, there must be a way to fake screen size too.
* As of now, this answer is relevant only to users of Firefox Browser for Android.

---

Izzy's answer explains us that the issue is most likely the responsive design of the website, a design which can disregard the user-agent and ultimately, the choice of the user too.

The responsive design adjusts the UI of the website based on the dimension of the browser's window. That is, on desktop, if you open www.cs.princeton.edu/research/areas or android.izzysoft.de/articles.php (both website uses responsive design) in a new window and adjusts the size of the window using mouse or shortcuts, you will witness the transition of the design from Desktop-to-Tablet-to-Mobile.

This behavior implies that the website considers the dimensions of the browser window to be the true dimension of the screen.

In Firefox, the remedy from this behavior is to change the value of the key `layout.css.devPixelsPerPx`. You can do so by typing `about:config` in the URL bar followed by searching `layout.css.devPixelsPerPx`. The default would be set to -1.0. Double tap on the value to edit it.

Per Arch wiki's Firefox Tweaks and this answer by jscher2000 on Mozilla Support , changing the value to 1.0 would be equivalent to having a screen of 96 DPI (your POV may differ), a DPI often found in monitors. Tweak the value to 1.0 or 2.0 or even from a range of -1.0 to 1.0. **Be very cautious** when using a value to less than 1.0 on fullHD or ultraHD smartphones since the font size may become illegible.

I found 1.0 for my 5.5" fullHD decice and 0.4 for my 5.0" non-HD device the best values for Desktop mode.

Example screenshots:

* First image: default value to -1.0
* Second image: value to 1.0 for my fullHD device
* Third image: value to 0.4 for my non-HD device

(Click image to enlarge)

### Drawbacks

* The effect of the tweak is universal, hence, every site would show up in Desktop layout or the layout you chose to, until you revert the value to -1.0.
* Some websites may rely on the user-agent too, hence changes in both may be required.

---

# Ease for rooted devices

If you constantly need to access some particular websites with responsive design, but only in Desktop mode, to-and-fro to `about:config` can be pretty much tiresome.

In that case, you can use these flexible commands:

(Requires BusyBox installed)

* Change the layout to Desktop

```
am force-stop org.mozilla.firefox; sleep 1; sed -i '$auser_pref("layout.css.devPixelsPerPx", "1.0");' /data/data/org.mozilla.firefox/files/mozilla/*.default/prefs.js; monkey -p org.mozilla.firefox 1
```

Here:

+ `am`: activity manager; is force-stopping the Firefox, otherwise, the changes wouldn't take effect
    + `sleep`: wait for *n* seconds before further execution; needed for some old and slow devices, like mine
    + `sed`: a stream editor; is adding the configuration that would set the layout to Desktop. `1.0` should be replaced by the value you ended up in last section.

    **Note** that mentioning `/data/data/org.mozilla.firefox/files/mozilla/*.default/prefs.js` will cause the changes to take place in every Firefox profile. To make the command profile specific, replace `*.default` with the name of the profile directory.
    + `monkey`: while meant for stress testing an app, it is helping us to launch the launcher activity of Firefox
* Back to default mobile layout

```
am force-stop org.mozilla.firefox; sleep 1;  sed -i '/.*layout.css.devPixelsPerPx.*/d' /data/data/org.mozilla.firefox/files/mozilla/*.default/prefs.js; monkey -p org.mozilla.firefox 1
```

We're simply deleting the line having the layout configuration.

---

# Real world usage

How you would practically use the two commands from last section is completely up to you.

I can recommend:

* LMT Launcher. It has the option to assign a script to a Pie (see example). Under the script you can copy-paste the whole command. It can also assign an app shortcut to a Pie, so you can use it with Tasker or MacroDroid or Secure Settings. The latter apps can execute your commands.
* GMD GestureControl. Use gestures to control the device, or for our case, execute our commands. For basic details and usage, see my answer here and here. You would need a third-party app like Tasker or Secure Settings for the command execution part.
* All in one Gestures. This app can also control the device using gestures. Alike the last app, third-party support is required for command execution. If needed, see my answer for very basic info.
* GravityBox. A magical box perhaps. You can use it to show a Pie which would execute your command on tap, or add a custom tile in the Quick Settings bar (see example). For usage, see the first section of my answer here.
* Overlays - Float Everywhere. Reminds me of this example (Image source) where you can add stuff into a global, hidden but on-request available, sidebar. Again, you would need a third-part app to execute your commands. For usage, see the official website or my answer here.

---

**Note:**
> 2 votes

# Answer
I'm using Dolphin For Pad, and it loads the desktop version of Engadget with the default settings. Won't try RedTube since it's NSFW. Give it a try! :)
> 1 votes

# Answer
Some sites may be swapping CSS based on screen size. There's not too many PCs out there running at phone resolutions. Disabling Javascript might work around that along with a useragent change.
> 1 votes

# Answer
I had the same issue with watching full episodes of daily show on my android. Turns out I visited the site as mobile first and had to clear my cache and put it in desktop mode first.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Check out the answer at Web browser - how to pass true native resolution to prevent sites from serving up mobile responsive design

It requires using a specific browser, but at least it's a big name one like Firefox.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: browser, asus-eee-pad-transformer, 3.2-honeycomb, dolphin-browser, user-agent-string
---


# Question
Title: how to delete old account and credit card info by
How do you delete some one else's account off your Android phones play store there is no credit card on it but it makes me have to go and find me and then I can see my info if not it goes to the lady I bought my phone from

# Answer
> 0 votes
*Settings \> Accounts \> Google* then select the account which you wish to remove.

*Settings \> Accounts \> Google \> select the account which you wish to remove \> More \> Remove account*.

PS: You'll need to stop Syncing first.

On older versions (1.5 \> 2.3.5) there is no way to remove an account, only by resetting the device to the factory settings.

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


# Question
Title: Why does this ad keep showing up below my notification bar and how do I stop it?
I keep getting an ad that shows up BELOW my notification bar. It is NOT in the notifications, nor on the homescreen, as far as I can tell.

I am using CyanogenMod 12.1 nightlies on a HTC M8. Screenshots below.

How can I get rid of this thing? It just showed up one day. I don't remember installing anything new (although I have autoupdate on for apps, and some update very often) right before it started. I tried ad scanners, but they haven't been much help.

I would rather not factory reset.

I can close the ad by clicking the small "x". If I click on the info button in the lower left corner, I can give feedback on the specific ad and ask not to see it again. If I click on opt out, it asks for my IMEI, which I'm not really comfortable providing.

The ads are all in Hungarian and Romanian. I live in Romania, close to the Hungarian border, so I'm guessing that is why.

<sub>(Click image to enlarge)</sub>

Opt out page:

# Answer
> 12 votes
There are many complaints about the Premium Wallpapers HD app, which apparently started to show ads looking like this after its latest update.

In general, an Android app can draw anything over other apps if it has the “Draw over other apps” permission, so you can check which of your installed apps have this permission.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Those ads are shown because of some installed apps in your phone, like Applock. These apps are always run in background and, after some interval of time, the ad is shown again. First find the app(s) which show those ads. Then uninstall those app(s).

# Answer
> 1 votes
The above two answer are correct but 1."Draw over other apps” may be but didnt stop the ads for me. 2.we know some apps at the background ruuning the ads but how to find that app?

For me the ads came on whatsapp which is the only opened app at front end but i know the ads are not from whatsapp.

To find the ads respective app use network connections monitoring app.while you got the ads open the network app and from list try to figure out the culprit and uninstall those app.pls note some important app will always run and we need to use our guess and trial error resolve this ads problem

---
Tags: applications, ads
---


# Question
Title: Is 4.0+ Disk Encryption compatible with Custom Recovery/KitKat ROMs?
There is a prior question that answers this for Android 3.0 but some stuff I have read elsewhere has said that installing TWRP will not work with encryption in more recent versions of Android, so I wanted to double check and see if anyone here knows for sure.

I plan to unlock the bootloader on my device (Droid Razr HD xt926, there's an exploit and I'm rooted, frozen at 4.1.2 with the proper system version to do this) in order to flash a custom ROM (probably CM11 to start) and breathe some new life into this tiny computer.

I understand most of the concepts involved in this process as far as using adb and fastboot to flash the custom recovery/ROMs onto my device and have found a tool on another site to flash the KitKat firmware directly in order to use 4.4-based ROMS. However, I have not gone ahead because I want to make sure first that I will be able to encrypt my data again, since I know that the unlocked bootloader is kind of a security hazard.

In my understanding (verified by the link above in reference to Honeycomb devices), it should not be an issue so long as the external SD card is not encrypted so that software can be pushed and installed by the custom recovery, because this isn't true FDE and only a partition with your data is encrypted, not the entire disk. Has this changed?

I do not expect to be faced with a very sophisticated attacker, so I am not that worried about someone taking advantage of the unlocked bootloader in order to dump everything and bruteforce my PIN. It's more that I just live in a place where mugging and phone theft is not uncommon and I don't want a "regular" thief to have easy access to my messages and accounts and such.

So: Will the 4.4 disk encryption scheme work with a custom recovery? With all custom recoveries? And do I need to seek out particular ROMs that have fde available, or is it a standard part of Android that remains regardless of other developer tweaks and theming?

# Answer
> 0 votes
As to my experience, TWRP 3.0.2.4+ works fine with Android 6+ disk encryption. TWRP prompts for disk encryption password when booted into recovery.

* TWRP 3.0.2.0 and older do not work in this issue.

---
Tags: 4.4-kitkat, custom-roms, recovery-mode, encryption
---


title: How do I delete a symlink from /sbin?

text:
# Question
Title: How do I delete a symlink from /sbin?
I wanted to remove a symlink from `/sbin/` directory. The link is `swapon` which is linked to `busybox` binary on the same directory.

While trying to remove first-time, it said "Read only filesystem". So, I remounted `/` with read-write using this command

```
mount -o remount,rw /

```

Then I was able to remove it. I checked with `which swapon` as well as using `ls`. All fine. Now, when I rebooted the phone, the link appeared in the same location magically!

Am I missing something? What's happening here? How do I remove this link?

Here is the output of `mount` in case it is required

```
~ # mount
rootfs on / type rootfs (ro,relatime)
tmpfs on /dev type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,relatime,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,relatime,mode=600)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,relatime)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,relatime)
none on /acct type cgroup (rw,relatime,cpuacct)
none on /sys/fs/cgroup type tmpfs (rw,relatime,mode=750,gid=1000)
none on /sys/fs/cgroup/memory type cgroup (rw,relatime,memory)
tmpfs on /mnt/asec type tmpfs (rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000)
tmpfs on /mnt/obb type tmpfs (rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000)
none on /dev/cpuctl type cgroup (rw,relatime,cpu)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000)
/dev/block/mmcblk0p6 on /modemfs type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,errors=panic,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,nomblk_io_submit,data=ordered)
/dev/block/mmcblk0p10 on /system type ext4 (ro,relatime,errors=panic,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/dev/block/mmcblk0p11 on /data type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,errors=panic,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,journal_async_commit,nomblk_io_submit,data=ordered,noauto_da_alloc)
/dev/block/mmcblk0p12 on /cache type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,errors=panic,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,nomblk_io_submit,data=ordered)
/dev/block/vold/179:97 on /mnt/media_rw/sdcard1 type vfat (rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,uid=1023,gid=1023,fmask=0007,dmask=0007,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/fuse on /storage/sdcard1 type fuse (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other)
/dev/block/vold/179:14 on /mnt/media_rw/sdcard0 type vfat (rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,uid=1023,gid=1023,fmask=0007,dmask=0007,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/block/vold/179:14 on /mnt/secure/asec type vfat (rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,uid=1023,gid=1023,fmask=0007,dmask=0007,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/fuse on /storage/sdcard0 type fuse (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other)
/dev/block/dm-0 on /mnt/asec/com.zodinplex.naturesound-1 type ext4 (ro,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noatime,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1)

```

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

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

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

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

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

> **Update:** or, like you did, you could just change the init script that calls `swapon` to call a different one.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: boot, mount, delete, busybox
---


# Question
Title: How to explain SSL cert validation discrepancy between Chrome and WebView on a modern Android?
*(original title: Do some Android vendors ship their own SSL stack implementation?)*

We've been having *(in production)* a peculiar HTTPS-related issue lately in our Android app.

All calls to our domain from within a WebView fail in our Android app, due to an SSL certificate validation issue. But this happens only in *very specific combination of circumstances*:

* only on Androids (desktop browsers, iOS are fine with our cert)
* only inside a WebView (works fine in Chrome, default Android browser, and when doing `HttpsURLConnection` from Java code)
* only on some devices (Samsung Galaxy Edge S6 with Android 6, HTC One M8 with Android 5); other devices (Sony/Android 4.4, Lenovo/Android 4.4, Motorola/Android 5, Huawei/Android 6, Nexus/Android 6) are not affected

Other important info:

* note that the issue happens on Android 5/6 which have an auto-updating WebView. For example, I reproduced issue in a fully up-to-date Samsung Galaxy Edge S6 (non-ISP-branded), Android 6.0.1 with security patches from 1 October 2016. **The webview is very modern (Chrome 53)**
* note that **I checked the CA store and the root cert that signed our cert is in the store of the affected devices, with the same name and sha1 fingerprint.**
* I used to have custom (user) CA certs (generated by Fiddler and installed manually by me to be able to decrypt HTTPS for debugging) on my devices, but for the sake of test, I removed them, and now the user CA store is empty on all devices, but issue persists
* I tested some 60 high profile websites, and the issue is reproducible for *several* of them too (including `https://www.amazon.com`) on the two affected devices (the set of websites rejected by Samsung and HTC is overlapping, but not exactly the same). Some of those affected websites have the same VeriSign cert as the root cert of the chain as we do, but *this root cert is present in the CA store* of the device as mentioned previously.
* Our SSL cert is quite good according to SSLLabs, and the issue happens on amazon.com which apparently has very good server/cert config (click)
* While we reproduced the issue in our device lab, we also got quite a few negative Play Store reviews that look like the same issue (all from Samsungs, but this correlates with our user base). However the app works fine for most of people, as we get mostly 5 star reviews every day.

Next steps that we're taking:

* We're trying to embed the cert inside the Android app and make Android explicitly trust it, but since `WebView` and `HTTPSUrlConnection` behave differently, we're not sure if this will work
* If this doesn't work, as a last resort we'll also probably try to override `WebViewClient.onReceivedSslError` with a custom implementation which will inspect the cert and trust it if it has the same fingerprint as our cert
* *any better options?*

Theories:

* some Android shipping customized SSL stack in their versions of Android? (but why Samsung and HTC would exhibit a very similar behavior)
* does Chrome have separate CA store than the Android device?
* some other apps installed on the affected Android devices that mess up with the WebView in my app?
* *anything else?*

Edit:

I reproduced the issue on the following websites:

* www.microsoft.com (Symantec cert)
* www.amazon.com (Symantec cert)
* mail.ru (GeoTrust cert - Symantec subsidiary)
* two others with Symantec or GeoTrust certs
* www.theguardian.com (cert doesn't seem to be Symantec-related)

So most probably the issue comes from webview bug that EricLaw pointed. Guardian case seems to be some another issue however.

Edit 2:

I confirmed the issue was due to the bug mentioned by Eric. We changed our SSL cert provider and it solved the issue.

# Answer
My bet is that the CT log expired. See https://www.chromium.org/developers/androidwebview/webview-ct-bug and https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/m/#!topic/net-dev/d3bHcocG-NM
> 3 votes

# Answer
In case of the traffic generated by the Facebook application, you will find a custom implementation, called Zero, and

> "they really want 0-RTT, but tls 1.3 is not here, so they modified QUIC crypto to make it happen on top of TCP: it's called Zero."

Source here

This traffic can be captured with any up-to-date iOS or Android device running Facebook App. A pcap is available here
> 0 votes

---
Tags: certificates
---


# Question
Title: How can I safely test custom ROMs on an obscure device?
I have a ZTE Blade A1 with pre-installed malware. I'm only able to identify and remove some of it. So, I want to delete everything on the phone and install a custom ROM. Unfortunately, I cannot find any ROMs which explicitly support the ZTE Blade A1.

I've decided to try putting CyanogenMod on the device (or possibly something else), as it *does* support older versions of the ZTE Blade. My plan is as follows:

1. Create a backup of the existing ROM using ROM Manager
2. Run the device in recovery mode (using the default Android system recovery - CWM or TWRP do not explicitly support the Blade A1, so I won't risk using them)
3. Use the fastboot commands `fastboot -w` and `fastboot update rom.zip` to install the custom ROM
4. Restart the phone, and if it has stopped working, repeat steps 2 - 3 using the backed-up ROM from step 1

I've read up on using custom ROMs, but have found a lot of conflicting information. So, my question is: *Will this replace the pre-installed OS with a custom ROM? Is there a risk the phone won't be restored to its original state?*

**Update:** I haven't been able to confirm whether the phone can be irreversibly bricked by installing a custom ROM. However, if anyone comes across this question wanting to remove malware from the ZTE Blade A1, I have posted a solution here.

# Answer
> 1 votes
To answer your question installing a new custom rom will erase the phone and yes their is a custom rom available and working here is the link Downloaded this rom http://forum.flymeos.com/thread-6638-1-1.html to root of sd card.I installed and works great any question on installing just ask

# Answer
> 0 votes
I had exactly the same problem with my ZTE blade A1. Although I was able to find a stock ROM that suited the phone and contained no adware(or at least less aggresive). I'd say you give it a try. This is the link(I downloaded the first option): http://chinagadgetsreviews.blogspot.it/2016/05/download-latest-android-lollipop-51\_77.html

I must say that I wasn't sure about installing it since I didn't know the source, although i had no other option. My phone was already bricked :S.

---
Tags: rom-flashing, custom-roms, fastboot, zte-blade
---


# Question
Title: How to retrieve photos from stolen phone
My phone got stolen last Friday. I never used to backup my photos or anything like that. Is there any possible way I can retrieve my photos?

# Answer
If you never backup your photos online, the only place those are stored is Phone storage which is stolen. So, the only way to retrieve those photos will be get back the phone with the storage. Otherwise, its a *No*
> 1 votes

---
Tags: samsung, gmail
---


# Question
Title: My device is soft-bricked after some system errors
Welcome!

Edit: the phone is =\> Prestigio Multiphone 5451 DUO, android version is 4.2.2

In the past days, I decided to download the larger Messenger app, and removed previously installed "lite" messeger app, and installed facebook lite app, and previously installed the larger FB app. And my phone stuck in a boot-loop. :(

After that, I browsed websites with Google Chrome app, then my phone started freezing with some org.android messages, then accidently the stock launcher is stopped too. I restarted the device, then a message showed up =\> "encryption unsuccessfull" like in this image

I unfortunately pressed the "reset phone" button, but it don't did anything so I unplugged my battery. Now, when it boot, it stuck in the logo.

Only thing I can do is to boot into stock recovery mode(vol\_up, power and Home), and factory mode(vol\_down and power)

I can "sideload" with ADB in Recovery Mode, but can't flash due to android signature? .. //edit: but PC sees the device. I tried by listening adb on boot with both linux/windows, but they can't detect it..

I think someone can help me, I don't want to throw away a whole phone, because others fight with famine and so on. :(

Cheers, LeFizzy.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Flashing the phone should solve the issue but you'll lose all your personal data.

Download the stock firmware here, Click on Support tab.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Flashing the stock firmware / ROM to your device would solve the problem, but your device needs to be rooted, in order to install a custom recovery, which would allow you to install custom ROMs (the ROM that you will install is a stock version.)

You should install the ROM that is appropriate for your device.

---
Tags: boot, system-error
---


# Question
Title: Whatsapp on android device: PlayStore error code -11, parsing error when trying manual install
if this the completely wrong place for tech support stuff I am sorry and would really appreciate it if someone would point out where to ask this question.

I already tried contacting Whatsapp's customer support, but they were less than helpful so far.

Since I already explained my problem to them, I'm going to post my e-mail exchange so far.

> Dear Whatsapp support
>
> Yesterday evening Whatsapp encountered a problem and asked me to reinstall the application. Trying to do so, I uninstalled the app via the PlayStore and, when trying to reinstall it, encountered error code -11. I originally thought this might be a problem with the PlayStore, but now I'm not so sure anymore.
>
> Things I've tried so far:
>
> 1. Manually remove all remaining files associated with Whatsapp from my phone.
> 2. Cleared PlayStore data and cache.
> 3. Uninstalled and reinstalled all PlayStore updates.
> 4. Reset my phone to factory default.
> 5. Tried manually installing an older version of Whatsapp.
>
> Lastly I tried to manually install the latest version of Whatsapp. When I try this I get a parsing error. I downloaded the APK twice to make sure the download wasn't corrupt. This leads me to believe it might be problem with the APK and my specific device, and not the PlayStore.
>
> The device in question is a Samsung I9070 Galaxy S Advance running android version 2.3.6.
>
> If you require any more information I gladly provide them.
>
> I apologize for any grammatical errors, English isn't my first language.
>
> Best regards Marco

And their less than helpful reply, which is the reason I'm posting here, instead of trying to get help out of a robot, or a person acting like one.

> Hi,
>
> Thanks for contacting WhatsApp. Your request has been received.
>
> Please understand that we prioritize reports of issues with the application and provide a comprehensive FAQ to solve most other questions.
>
> Based on what you wrote in your message, we think that one of the following may be helpful for you:
>
> To set WhatsApp to a different language
>
> If you want to change your keyboard language or auto-correct settings
>
> Additionally, if you wish to change your input language, we recommend using Google's input apps available in Google Play Store. For all other language related questions, please check our FAQ If our FAQ does not help, make sure to go to our website on your phone's browser to download the latest version and then reboot your phone.
>
> -- WhatsApp Support Team
>
> Take a look at our FAQ!

So, yeah, this is where I'm at. I really hope you guys are able to help, or at least point me in the right direction.

# Answer
> 6 votes
From my own experience the actual WhatsApp 2.16.382 version is not running anymore on devices with Android version lower than 4.0 (officially 2.1 and 2.2) since they launched the video call feature.

It seems like they have dropped the support for those devices as they did for Windows 7 - 7.5 phones, Symbian S40-S60 and Blackberry OS 7 and lower according to their blog.

You should try version 2.16.225 or 2.16.259 (find the apks) which worked for me.

---
Tags: google-play-store, whatsapp-messenger
---


# Question
Title: Do you get your warranty back after rooting, flashing then unrooting your device
I have a Honor 5X which I am planning to root so that I can flash Cyanogen MOD 13 as EMUI isn't up to my expectations(NO OTG and Adoptable Storage). Is it possible to flash the ROM then unroot my device to retain the warranty and have access to banking apps? Thanks!

# Answer
When you unlock the bootloader on a Qualcomm device it blows a fuse (an irreversible procedure). It does not matter if you even root your device afterwards - the *damage* is already done and the warranty is already void.

Then it all depends on on how strictly and diligently the customer service people follow company policy. For example once the device is unlocked it could be flashed with a ROM specifically modified to report its status as "never tampered with" - that could fool some less experienced folks.

As for the banking apps - it depends on the implementation. If done right the device would lose all its pre-provisioned crypto keys.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: cyanogenmod, rooting, rom-flashing, usb-on-the-go
---


title: SONY Red Led notification not working

text:
# Question
Title: SONY Red Led notification not working
I have a SONY XPERIA Z5 Premium . The problem is the tiny LED notification light doesn't show red light. i have tried various led light management applications from the play store but still ain't working. What may be causing this? Running Android 6.0 Marshmallow

# Answer
Have you tested the LED through the service menu?

To enter the service menu go to the dialer and paste in the following code

```
*#*#7378423#*#*

```

Select

> Service tests

and then

> LED/Illumination

The LED should start to blink in green then blue then red. If your led is not blinking red I would suggest your LED is broken.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 6.0-marshmallow, notification-led, sony-xperia-z5
---


title: Update from external storage disabled

text:
# Question
Title: Update from external storage disabled
I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (N910a), and the WiFi doesn't work. I think it's because it has an old firmware version, so I tried to update it, but when in recovery and trying to update from the SD card, it says "Update from external storage is disabled." the same thing happens with adb.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Try flashing the stock firmware with Odin. This should work. Stock firmware download here Odin flasher download here

* Open Odin
* Unzip the firmware zip file
* Click on APP and browse to where you extracted the firmware zip file
* Boot the phone to Download mode (Volume down + Power button)
* Connect the phone and click Start.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-note-4, rom-update
---


title: ADB does not see connected Samsung S4

text:
# Question
Title: ADB does not see connected Samsung S4
I'm on Windows 7 and have developer options including USB Debugging enabled. I have opened Kies and it recognizes the S4. However when I try `adb devices`, nothing to be found. It works perfectly fine with my Nexus 10.

I've also tried `adb kill-server`, `adb start-server` and then `adb devices` to no avail.

Anyone else have this issue?

# Answer
> 7 votes
Re-install these official Samsung drivers.

1. Uninstall current drivers by going into Device Manager. Make sure to check off the delete drivers option if given.
2. Reboot.
3. Reinstall the given drivers above without connecting the Galaxy S4
4. Reboot.
5. Go ahead and connect phone and verify that in device manager Samsung ADB Device or equivalent is shown.
6. If it shows an exclamation mark on it or other problem, then in device manager right click on the driver, update, let me choose from a list and choose the correct android adb driver.

# Answer
> 6 votes
The fix for me was using a different micro-usb cable. No software change, no drivers to update, just the usb cable. Apparently they aren't all created equal.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Changing the USB cable worked for me. I was using a cheapy old one that was laying around. When I replaced it with a newer one that I had, adb devices showed my Samsung Note 4 easily.

---
Tags: adb, samsung-galaxy-s-4
---


# Question
Title: Can I prevent tethering from using cell/mobile data?
I have been using USB tethering to connect my laptop to a wifi and am scared I might lose connection to wifi and begin using mobile data without noticing

Ideally an app that lets me react to USB tethering being active and turns off mobile data would be great unless there is a setting that accomplishes this somewhere?

Thank you

# Answer
If your mobile connection is properly deactivated, there is no chance to switch from Wifi to Mobile Data.

You can use the tiles in the status bar to do so (if you don't have it go to Settings \> Status Bar \> Tiles), or you can just go to the Settings menu and switch off Mobile Data from the main Settings panel.

If you want to switch automatically from Mobile to Wifi AND deactivate Mobile when you use Tethering, you can use apps such as Tasker to automate this.

If you have the "Developper" menu activated on the Settings, there is a option there that forces Mobile when Wifi is weak. If the option is activated, just switch it off.
> 0 votes

# Answer
If your phone has a feature called *Smart network switch*, then you should disable it because it switches between WiFi and data connection whenever your Wifi connection is unstable.

To disable it: **Settings \> WiFi \> More / Options \> Smart network switch**
> 0 votes

---
Tags: settings, mobile-data, tethering, usb-tethering
---


title: Unlock Note 5 phone

text:
# Question
Title: Unlock Note 5 phone
I was using my thumb print to access my phone, restarted my phone, and then it asked for my password; my thumb print would no longer work. I was driving so I input my password about an hour later and it did not work. It started out, try again in 5 minutes and now up to try again in an hour. I went to Android manager to try to lock the phone to get a new password and it worked but a message came back to me saying my phone was already locked and the new password would not work. So, I need Android manager to unlock my phone. I have been locked out since September 2016. I do not want my phone wiped cleaned because I have valuable files on the phone.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Samsung devices, if you’ve logged into the device with a Samsung account, you can go to the Samsung Find My Mobile, log in with the same Samsung account, and use the “Unlock my screen” option to remotely remove your device’s lock screen. Other manufacturers might potentially offer similar features if they have a device-tracking website if you’ve signed up for.

Hope this works for you! Good luck!

---
Tags: lock-screens
---


# Question
Title: Annoying functionality of suggestions in newer version of Google keyboard
I recently updated my version of Android on my Nexus 4 and this is a really annoying thing I noticed.

In previous versions (I was on 4.0), the word that was typed displayed as the middle suggestion. This was ideal, as I never had to advert my eyes from the soft keyboard (I use the swipe typing, so this makes a **big** difference.

The newer version does not do this; instead, it displays three possible alternates. It's far less efficient and extremely annoying.

There's no specific setting I can find to change this. Is there any way to change this back or some obscure commination of settings that will cause this functionality?

# Answer
> 0 votes
I downloaded an older version of the Google Keyboard app, which gives the preferred functionality. For reference, it's 4.1.22063.1974169

---
Tags: keyboard
---


# Question
Title: Moto g 2nd gen, lollipop bootloader unlock issue
I have just bought Moto G 2nd generation smart phone with 16 gb internal memory. To root device, I tried to unlock bootloader. But it didn't go smooth. When I hit command `fastboot oem unlock <key>`, I got success message with status `Device unlocked. Status 3`.

But what the heck this `status 3`?. I am not getting any info about this.

Google search is showing that, at time of unlocking bootloader, few messages are shown like `unlocked` then `restarted` and device restarts. But this didn't happen with me. So I manually restarted my device for custom recovery. And flashed rom using `TWRP2.7.1.1-titan-motog-2014`. This command also showed me success message. Before this I copied `UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.02.zip` in device.

But after restarting and hitting recovery, device is not showing any thing and just black screen and then turning off.

Apart from this device is working fine, with normal boot.

P.S. `RootChecker` is showing that `Root access is not properly installed on this device`.

So what is the way out to root the device again properly?

Thanks in advance.

# Answer
> 0 votes
```
Device Unlocked. Status 3

```

This means that your device has it's bootloader unlocked. So, all you have to do is just reflash the latest `Update Superuser V___.zip`. And,you have the recovery installed which should make this a easy process.

Hope this works. Good luck!

---
Tags: rooting, root-access, fastboot, motorola-moto-g, superuser
---


title: Syncing photos across Android devices

text:
# Question
Title: Syncing photos across Android devices
What is the best way to ensure that the photo album is synced on a daily basis between my 2 Android devices (Samsung Galaxy S5 phone and Samsung tablet)?

# Answer
The best way in my opinion is via Google Photos, since its allredy built into android. https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6193313?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en
> 1 votes

---
Tags: sync, photos
---


title: Android Nexus5X suddenly died

text:
# Question
Title: Android Nexus5X suddenly died
My LG Nexus5X has randomly died this morning(it had ~70% battery). I have tried to leave it on charging for 1 hour straight and then tried to turn it back on. It worked. But then it randomly died again while being fully charged. It hasn't turned on ever since.

After shutting down for the second time I have also managed to enter the `Fastboot` menu (clicking Power Button+Volume Down button), although I get the menu to show and I can scroll through the options, when I click `Recovery mode` or `Start`, I get a screen with just saying `'Google'` on it and then dies again. For Start my understanding is that it should turn on and as for the Recovery Mode this is not a normal behaviour as I should be seeing an Android Robot as described here. I also tried the `Power Off` option, left it there for an hour charging and then tried to turn it back on, this time it went past the `'Google'` page to the `colorful spinning/loading circles page` but the animation stuck and it turned off again.

After the above failure, my goal was to enter the Recovery Mode through my PC(I use Windows10): I have attempted to set up the drivers for `adb` and `fastboot` like described in this guide. The only time I get my Android to show up in the Device Manager so I could setup the drivers is when the phone itself is in the fastboot mode and it shows up as `Kedacom USB Device->Android Bootloader Interface`. Since I could not see my Android under `Other Devices` like the guide says I tried to setup `adb/fastboot` one at a time for the `Kedacom USB Device->Android Bootloader Interface` entry. In the command line when I type `adb devices` my device is not showing up `fastboot devices` this shows up: `0167ca36eedbc1ef fastboot`. Also, when I type `adb reboot recovery` I get `error: no devices/emulators found` .

I have ran out of options and everything I tried does not seem to work. What is the solution to bring my Nexus5X back to life?

# Answer
> 2 votes
You should try flashing the factory image for Nexus 5X in Fastboot.

* Download Nexus 5X (bullhead) Factory image Android 7.1.1 here or Android 6.0.1 here. And unzip the file.
* Setup all necessary drivers
* For commands to succeed, you should unlock the bootloader: `fastboot oem unlock` or `fastboot flashing unlock`. The device will show a confirmation screen. (This erases all data on the device.)
* Open a terminal and navigate to where you unzipped system image previously downloaded.
* Execute the `flash-all script`. This script installs the necessary bootloader, baseband firmware, and system.

Hope this helps you out.

If the above don't work, you should try instructions detailed on this thread.

---
Tags: adb, recovery-mode, fastboot, nexus-5x
---


title: Phone wont unlock bootloader in adb

text:
# Question
Title: Phone wont unlock bootloader in adb
So Ive tried to unlock my bootloader but its not working, ive followed the steps from this site to unlock it but its stuck on the unlock bootloader screen. I have two options to choose from yes or no I click yes but it doesnt work, yet I click no and it takes me back to choose from fastboot, recovery and normal. My phone is a Alcatel Pixi 4.

I have enabled developer mode enabled usb debugging. I also have confirmed the RSA fingerprint for the computer. Also I have enabled OEM unlock in dev settings. This is what my cmd prompt window loooks like. I will also take a photo of my alcatel frozen on bootloader screen.

```
C:\Users\Dan\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>adb devices
List of devices attached
5HQGTCEQCAVS7TTS device

C:\Users\Dan\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>adb reboot-bootloader
C:\Users\Dan\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>fastboot oem unlock
...

```

This is what my phone looks like that im stuck on:

does anyone know why this is happening or know how to fix?

# Answer
issue has been resolved the bootloader is unlocked by default.
> -1 votes

---
Tags: applications
---


# Question
Title: Can't Restore Samsung Galaxy S3 To Factory Firmware
I installed CyanogenMod on my Samsung Galaxy S3 (SGH i747), and now I need to re-install factory firmware to network unlock my phone. Heimdall seems to be able to successfully image the firmware package onto the device, but after imaging, it won't boot. I can still get to recovery mode and download mode, but nothing else. This is the command I'm using to image:

```
heimdall flash --SYSTEM I747UCDLK3_I747ATTDLK3_I747UCDLK3_HOME.tar.md5

```

This is the output:

```
Heimdall v1.4.1

Copyright (c) 2010-2014 Benjamin Dobell, Glass Echidna
http://www.glassechidna.com.au/

This software is provided free of charge. Copying and redistribution is
encouraged.

If you appreciate this software and you would like to support future
development please consider donating:
http://www.glassechidna.com.au/donate/

Initialising connection...
Detecting device...
Claiming interface...
Setting up interface...

Initialising protocol...
Protocol initialisation successful.

Beginning session...

Some devices may take up to 2 minutes to respond.
Please be patient!

Session begun.

Downloading device's PIT file...
PIT file download successful.

Uploading SYSTEM
100%
SYSTEM upload successful

Ending session...
Rebooting device...
Releasing device interface...

```

I tried factory resetting before and after imaging the ROM via ClockworkMod, but it didn't help.

**How do I fix this?**

---

**NOTE**: I am using Linux.

# Answer
> 1 votes
`.tar.md5` file is used by Odin (another firmware flashing tool), but AFAIK it cannot be used by Heimdall. Please make a backup of this file.

# Remove md5sum

Run `md5sum` on any file to see what is it's output like. Something similar will be appended to original `.tar` file. Assuming you can open the `.tar.md5` file in a text editor, remove the md5 sum from the end of file (and probably you'll have to remove last `new line` character). Then rename this file to `I747UCDLK3_I747ATTDLK3_I747UCDLK3_HOME.tar`.

# Extract partitions

You should be able to run `tar -xf I747UCDLK3_I747ATTDLK3_I747UCDLK3_HOME.tar`. It should create a new directory with similar name and this directory will contain images of boot, cache, fat, hidden, recovery and system partitions (and maybe more):

* boot.img
* cache.img.ext4
* hidden.img.ext4
* system.img.ext4

# Flashing

You should make sure that partitions on your device have the same names as I've written below (APPS, CACHE, HIDDEN, SYSTEM). You can do it be running `heimdall download-pit --output <filename>` and then `heimdall print-pit --file <filename>`. Finally, here's the actual flashing (you may want to add `--no-reboot` to the first command):

```
# heimdall flash --APPS boot.img --verbose
# heimdall flash --SYSTEM system.img.ext4 --CACHE cache.img.ext4 --HIDDEN hidden.img.ext4 --verbose

```

# Re-flash recovery (added later)

In case your phone boots to recovery instead of system, you should flash your recovery (doesn't have to be stock) image again.

---
Tags: heimdall, factory-image
---


# Question
Title: In superuser app what does force user do and what are there meanings
I'm using a Samsung Galaxy tab Pro 10.1

I have rooted my device and I have general knowledge but I am not an expert on tablet settings and controls so I would like to ask the following question's.

In the Superuser Pro App, what is "Force user" and the following actions mean.- : Nobody, Net\_BT, Net\_Raw, Net\_BT\_Admin, Inet, Root, Radio, cache, shell, Media, Install, ADB, Compass, Graphics, Camera, Mount.

What are they used for, or does it depend on what app the superuser is granting access to? Some of the abbreviations I know, like Install means Install an app, or Camera means use camera, but the rest I don't know there meaning and what they do,or when they should be enabled in " Force User "

Could anyone please explain what the meanings are and when you should use these actions in "Force user"?

# Answer
> 0 votes
**Net\_BT**, **Inet** and so forth, are special users called **AIDs** (**Android IDs**). Those users are each in charge of a particular component of your device. The **Force user** option, when coupled with one of the abovementioned AIDs, lets an app act as one of those, granting it full power over the AID's specific domain.

If you think about the AIDs as kings, and **root** as a god, then there's usually no need to impersonate one of the AIDs, for root has power above each of their domains.

---
Tags: superuser
---


title: Cant connect Oneplus 2 to Mac via USB

text:
# Question
Title: Cant connect Oneplus 2 to Mac via USB
Ok, I have Oneplus Two, with the latest OxygenOS 3.0.2 (android 6.0.1), not rooted. First sad thing is that there is no option in "Developer Options" to do "ADB over network", seems like developers removed it, which is really frustrating for me, because I have a lot of trouble connecting the phone to my Mac.

By lot of troubles I mean I cannot do it. I tried everything that google offered, hell I spend whole day trying to figure it out and nothing. Literally nothing happens when I plug in the phone to Mac (phone is charging).

system.log dump: `kernel[0]: 006676.874534 HS01@14100000: AppleUSB20XHCIPort::resetAndCreateDevice: failed to create device, disabling port`

`adb devices` yields empty list of devices, android studio same.

I checked my `adb_usb.ini`, it cotains this id 0x2a70. I can't even root my phone to use 3rd party adb over wifi to start developing.

Anyway I can get the usb connection to work with my Mac?

# Answer
> 0 votes
To enable Developer mode, go to *Settings*, then *About phone* and click on *Kernel* or *Build number* several times until you will become a developer.

Now you should have *OnePlus Drivers* mounted where you can find Mac app for file transfers and shell script for ADB configuration.

If you still having trouble connecting via USB, try to use the original cable.

---
Tags: root-access, usb-debugging, oneplus-two
---


# Question
Title: What can you do with Samsung Kies for Android phones?
I only recently managed to connect my Galaxy S with Kies via USB. And I've upgraded it to Froyo 2.2. What can you do in Samsung Kies other than upgrading your firmware. I've seen the interface and there doesn't seem to be a lot of interesting that you can do with it

# Answer
As you noted, you can upgrade the device software. You can also back your contacts, text messages up, and you can sync photos or videos/movies both ways.

You can view movies from your phone on your pc directly, that goes both ways; watch from cell on pc and from pc on cell. I believe you also can download apps from kites onto your cell but that doesn't work anymore because of google's market policies. Apparently, you also can make your cell work as a modem, but I didn't try that so...

Anyways, as edelcom and mru said before me it still needs some work to live up to what it should do and to keep up with handset itself.

Lastly, in samsung defense, kies isn't just for androids, it's their software for the whole cellphones lines, and many users are happy with it, obviously not us, android handsets' owners.
> 4 votes

# Answer
I think you are correct . At least I don't use KIES for anything apart from upgrading the firmware.

Lately it's better, but I think that the KIES software is far from the quality of the Galaxy phone and it's operating system.
> 3 votes

# Answer
Basically you are right. You may use it for synchronizing your data between the mobile and the computer, but nobody really wants to do so with such crappy kind of software.
> 3 votes

# Answer
I had to install kies because i needed the samsung-win7-usb-dirvers, that are neccessary to connect laptop to internet via cellphone via usb. found no other source where i can get the drivers.
> 1 votes

# Answer
This software may be used for:

* Data backup
* Data transfer (between a Windows or Mac PC, and a Samsung mobile device), limited to certain media file formats
* Multimedia (audio, photos, video, etc.) management, but limited to certain file formats; for example, Kies does not recognise .avi files
* Purchase/acquisition of additional or special device features
* Device firmware and operating system (OS version) upgrades

**Source:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung\_Kies
> 0 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s, samsung-kies
---


title: Unwanted Background and Auto-start Apps

text:
# Question
Title: Unwanted Background and Auto-start Apps
My android device is 4.4.2 and it’s rooted.

To manage auto-start app, I installed Clean Master and allowed it for root access. Also I stopped many apps that start automatically.

To manage start-up app, I installed Boot Manager Xposed. Apart from these I installed other apps also for controlling auto-start and start-up app.

However, I see many unwanted background running apps and auto-start app.

Please go for screenshot. Whenever I close any apps, I remove them from Recent Apps also. And I keep Recent Apps empty/clean. However, most of time I see closed apps are still in Running Apps.

I do End Process for all unwanted apps manually every time from Running Apps which is ridicules for me.

In screenshot, some apps like **My Airtel**, **Clean Master**, **Facebook**, **OneDrive**, **ET** News, **Practo** for health, **Fox** News, **Hindustan Times** News, **Flipkart** Shopping, **SuperBattery**, **Outlook** Email start automatically and very frequently. There are other user apps also that run in background automatically without tapping them.

Till the time, I don’t call/tap any apps, I don’t want see them in Running Apps and once I close any app, I don’t want to see them again in Running Apps.

Please let me know to control them.

Regards GNS

# Answer
> 1 votes
Android doesn’t manage processes like Windows does. Properly behaved apps running in the background aren’t actually doing anything, they’re just remaining in memory and using no CPU or other resources. When you access them again, they’ll quickly open, as they’re waiting in memory for you to return. If they were removed from memory, they would take longer to reopen as their data would have to be transferred from system storage back into RAM, in this way, a task killer can actually slow things down.

Android is made to manage apps automatically and intelligently for better performance! No need to manually stop them, they will be started again and again.

You should know that some apps needs their processes and/or services to run in the background!

Ex: Facebook needs some services and processes to fetch new messages or notifications.

So process killers will only drain the battery and consume storage.

You may need to read this article on why you shouldn't stop a background process using task killers.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Also it it just the fact that they are running, or are you more concerned about battery life? You could look into greenify app that hibernates selected applications or it can be manually triggered. It can take some experimenting to find out which to hibernate or not. If you are concerned about missing notifications as mentioned above.

---
Tags: auto-start, background-process
---


# Question
Title: Is it possible to schedule closing a named app
Is there an app (or other way) to schedule the closing of only one named application at a particular time each day? My situation is I use the Night Mode app at night to reduce the screen brightness but if I forget to turn it off when I go out the next day the screen is so dark to be unusable in daylight. So I'd like to schedule to kill Night Mode at 9 am every day (but not other apps).

(I've found ones that turn off the speakers after a configurable time for listening to music as you go to sleep, or general task killers with auto killing of background apps, but nothing to kill just one app at a set time.)

# Answer
> 1 votes
Get a free app called automateit then once you know how to use it, you can create a rule by using the time trigger and set it to 9 am, use the kill app action to kill whatever then you name the rule and set it to be active every time, save it then your done!

---
Tags: task-management
---


# Question
Title: How can I disable the Samsung Galaxy s4 standard calendar?
Please help. I've spent several hours on this and cannot figure it out. I see that the best answer to this issue is to go to the menu and change settings. If you see the screenshot, there is no menu option as far as I can tell. I have tried using the hidden menu button. Am I missing something?

I have also tried to disable the app in the app manager menu and continue getting double notifications. Any suggestions?

Thank you!

# Answer
You can try deleting all data and cache related to the calendar app.

Go to Settings \> Apps \> All apps \> Touch the app for which you want to clear data \> Clear data

**For disabling** :

* Activate USB Debugging in Settings \> Developers Options. If you can't find it, go to Settings \> About device \> Tap 7 times to bring the Developers Options.
* Download Debloater from here and install it
* Connect the phone to the computer (need Samsung USB drivers installed)
* Open Debloater, click on READ DEVICE PACKAGES
* Find and select the email package (read carefully)
* Click on block. Now the app will not be longer available.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: samsung, samsung-galaxy-s-4
---


title: Xperia Z3 bootloop after TWRP

text:
# Question
Title: Xperia Z3 bootloop after TWRP
Xperia Z3 D6633

I followed the very many tutorials (pick any on google) saying to flash (in fastboot) the file bootZ3monxtest01.img

```
fastboot flash boot bootZ3monxtest01.img

```

Now I have a bootloop around the sony logo.

No system, only recovery (TWRP) available

I can also reflash the whole system through Sony's Flashtool, but it kills the point, as a custom working recovery is required for later rooting

Obs. 1: Needless to say that the "usual" is to flash recovery onto recovery partition. I tried that. Nothing happened

Obs. 2: KingRoot rooting method worked, but I fail miserably to replace it by SuperSU

Obs. 3: It's my third attempt

:(

# Answer
> 0 votes
I found another method (buried lightyears deep on the net):

http://squidstech.com/2016/11/27/root-z3-23-5-a-1-291-d6603-d6633-d6653/

It flashes the recovery via ADB (requires a prior kernel change, though, that can be restored after)

---
Tags: boot-loop, twrp, sony-xperia-z3
---


title: Headphone problem

text:
# Question
Title: Headphone problem
I have this problem with my headphones. They were working fine up until today, where the music sounds like it's coming from the background and the jack needs to be facing a certain direction and in a specific position to work normally. Anyone know what could be causing it?

# Answer
> 0 votes
It's more than likely the headphones instead of the phone.

---
Tags: music, headphones
---


# Question
Title: Simulate a keypress on Android tablet without a keyboard
This is a follow-up question to this question here.

This YouTube tutorial here outlines the process of installing Windows 10 on an Android tablet with an x86-based processor architecture. However, a crucial step of the process involves initiating boot mode on the tablet with F11 in order to select boot from USB as an option, and hitting F11 requires connecting the tablet to a USB keyboard via a USB OTG cable.

Since I don't have either an OTG cable or a USB keyboard, I'm wondering if there's a *SuperUser* (read: geeky and resourceful) way to bypass the need of the USB keyboard and OTG cable entirely (or failing that, just the USB keyboard)? Something like auto-running script on a USB device that could simulate the pressing of the F11 key on the Android tablet during boot for that one instance?

# Answer
In addition to my comments

ADB CONTROL INPUT COMMANDS

---

```
adb devices
adb wait-for-device
adb shell input keyevent 141
adb kill-server

```

> 1. check devices
> 2. wait for device to be found
> 3. run the key event of F11 "141"
> 4. kill the adb server

I know this wont help, but i hope it can help someone actually running android !
> 1 votes

---
Tags: usb, boot, bootloader, windows, usb-on-the-go
---


title: How To Root Samsung A510F?

text:
# Question
Title: How To Root Samsung A510F?
I have tried Framaroot, Universal Android Root, IRoot, Z4Root, TowelRoot and obviously, kingroot. I also attempted to try chainfire's auto root but could not find a compatible file to flash for my device. Here's the link to chainfire's list of compatible devices Chainfire Auto Root

Here is the screenshot of my device software info

# Answer
> 0 votes
You should try rooting with TWRP.

* Download TWRP Odin flashable here
* Download Odin here
* Boot in download mode with POWER + HOME + VOL DOWN
* Connect the phone
* Flash with Odin 3.10.7. Select the downloaded file using the AP slot. Uncheck Auto-reboot.
* Reboot to recovery immediately after flashing using POWER + HOME + VOL DOWN, as soon as the screen goes blank change to VOL UP whilst still holding the other buttons.
* TWRP should now boot
* Flash the file below in twrp. DO NOT LET TWRP ROOT YOUR DEVICE WHEN IT ASKS FOR. USE ONLY THE FILE BELOW: Root Chainfire SU

NOTE 1: FLASHING CUSTOM STUFFS VOIDS YOUR WARRANTY. AND THIS WILL TRIP THE KNOX FLAG.

NOTE 2: ENABLE OEM UNLOCK FIRST OR YOU MAY ENCOUNTER 'BLOCKED BY FRP LOCK' WHEN FLASHING. *Settings \> Developer Options \> OEM Unlocking*

---
Tags: rooting, samsung
---


# Question
Title: USB modes, for transfering files with AFT
Why do I have to go into the phone (Galaxy S7 Edge) everytime I connect it to my Mac and manually switch the USB option from charging to MTP??

This is annoying and a hassle, why can't the phone detect that its plugged in and switch modes itself?

I dont want to have the phone in developer mode all the time, i just disabled it because its not applicable to me but now I have to turn it on every time I want to transfer files onto my phone.

There has to be a better way to do this. Any explanations?

# Answer
You have to change it every time because of security changes in Android, and there is no easy way around it without root on a stock device.

The reason is so anyone can't just connect to your phone without screen being unlocked, it is purely a security enhancement.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: usb, macos
---