title: Magisk manager doesn't show any modules

text:
# Question
Title: Magisk manager doesn't show any modules
Android 11, Pixel 4a

I did something obviously stupid (and worse, don't remember what) and ended up in a situation that Magisk manager wouldn't respond, in the sense it wouldn't show any modules. I tried changing update channels to download another manager but no luck (this was canary manager)

Edit: uninstall option isn't available

My thought at this point of time is to side load the OTA and start afresh with rooting.

Are there any simpler alternatives?

# Answer
> 4 votes
If it were to happen to me, my preferred approach would be:

**Step 1: Clear data of Magisk Manager app**

Whatever way your Android supports, open the App info page for your Magisk manager app, force stop the app, and clear its data/storage. Reboot (optional). Now launch the Magisk Manager app. If the problem still persists, follow the steps below.

**Step 2:** **Uninstall Magisk (the boot image modifications) and Magisk Manager (the app)**

You can do so from Magisk Manager app by chosing "Uninstall Magisk" at its home page/launching page. While you're at it, also remove the Magisk files and modules saved under `/data/adb`. I don't know whether they would be automatically removed by Magisk Manager app upon uninstallation, so it doesn't hurt to purge the directory by yourself.

If the uninstall option is not available in Magisk Manager app, than manually restore the stock (unpatched, that is) boot image to your currently active boot slot. You can restore the stock boot image using a custom recovery, or using fastboot, or if `su` (root access) is still working, than using `dd`. If you don't have a custom recovery, you may find this Q&A helpful: How do you root a device with Magisk when it doesn't have a custom recovery

Whatever means you choose, do remove the Magisk Manager app beforehand. It would not make a difference if you do it later, by why wait to do it?

**Note:** if you had installed Magisk using a custom recovery earlier or had upgraded Magisk from Magisk Manager app, you would be having a backup of stock boot image under `/data/` with directory name(s) starting as `magisk_backup_` followed by some random characters. If you fail to find that backup, than search the internet to get a legitimate full OTA / fastboot image for your currently installed Android build. The boot image there is your stock boot image and can be flashed instead.

**Step 3: Patch the boot image with Magisk modifications**

Assuming that you have successfully restored the stock boot image and rebooted the device to a running Android, you need to install Magisk again. Magisk is a work in progress, and its preferred method of installation may change in future, so I suggest you follow its FAQ for installation.

If you have followed the installation steps, you should have a working Magisk modified boot image and a companion Magisk Manager app. Try launching the app to see if everything is working as you would want it to be.

At this point you should be able to install/sideload a Magisk module through Magisk Manager app.

---
Tags: troubleshooting, magisk, google-pixel-4a
---


# Question
Title: Additional SD card remounts itself as read-only
In my Galaxy SII there was everything ok for three years. All this time I used an external 64Gb SanDisk card.

Now after some uptime the card is remounted as RO. All the modifying operations on the card seem to be succeed but after reboot I see all the directories and files still there in an old state.

I didn't notice when this is happening exactly, but suspect that this behaviour appears after I run newly updated version of OsmAnd+.

Any thoughts?

# Answer
This question has been answered on Superuser.com

At some timepoint I asked similar question on both resources.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Most likely there is some filesystem corruption on the SD card. Try scanning it with a filesystem checker on your PC (e.g. `fsck` under Linux).
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 4.1-jelly-bean, samsung-galaxy-s-2, external-sd
---


# Question
Title: Can I know location of a phone if it doesn't have AGPS?
There is assisted GPS, which as I got it figures out your location only by distance from antennas. But some phones doesn't have even AGPS in their specifications. Can I see my location on maps (Google map) using such a phone?

# Answer
> 3 votes
> There is assisted GPS, which as I got it figures out your location only by distance from antennas.

I am sorry but this sentence is wrong. What you describe is not "assisted" GPS /AGPS.

AGPS or "Assistend GPS" is mechanism for GPS to minimize the initial starting phase until the first GPS "fix" (the first calculated GPS location). For doing so AGPS uses a small data (downloaded via mobile network) set which contains the info which GPS satellite uses what frequency and where in the sky it should be located roughly.

What you describe is the "Location Estimation of Mobile using cell towers." For doing so GPS is not used at all. You only use the exact geo location data transmitted by each cell phone tower plus the recipient strength for each signal.

On Android you can not enable the cell tower localization individually. It is always combined with the same, Wifi based location system and builds Android's "coarse" location system (in difference to "fine" which uses GPS assistend or not).

If you have activated it on modern Android devices all apps can make use of it. But each app has to request permission to access the location from the user.

---
Tags: gps, maps, navigation
---


# Question
Title: Android 11 - Audio on Pixel 3a wired headphones very quiet
I've just updated my Pixel 3a to Android 11 beta

and listening audio from Youtube using the original device's headphones

I noticed that, even with media volume set to maximum,

the sound is much more quieter than before.

I tried to disable absolute volume, w/o any result.

Any workaround? (I'm not gonna root my phone)

# Answer
> 0 votes
I'm a bit late to the party but I have the same issue. I installed a volume booster and it seems to be doing the trick just fine. There are a number of them on google play, not sure what the best is.

---
Tags: audio, headphones, volume, android-11
---


title: How to close Android recovery mode

text:
# Question
Title: How to close Android recovery mode
I want to wipe cache partition on android recovery mode. But I dont know how to close it. In my phone the screen is seems like this photo

After eipe cache partition what should I type to turn it off and go to my home screen

# Answer
Simply click on "Reboot system now".
> 1 votes

---
Tags: recovery-mode, cache, delete
---


# Question
Title: Is there any way to root Samsung a20e android 10 without pc?
I wanted to flash boot.img from magisk but my usb cable killed my pc. Is there any other way to root i/ And if there is any way to do something with that pc? Iys not charging after plugging usb it was okay for 10 seconds and then died.

# Answer
If you have only 1 USB port in the PC, try a PCIe USB card.

As for rooting with Magisk without a PC, unless you can find a port of TWRP for it, I doubt it. (There's no official TWRP for the A20, and flashing Magisk requires TWRP as far as I can see from everything TopJohnWu has said. You can try the one at https://mega.nz/folder/LTZlUKyI#oxxVc5zj8tP4bNQBIo8AlA \- no guarantees, and no saying how long it's going to be up there.)

If you get TWRP running, Install (in TWRP) the latest Magisk (not the manager, although you'll need that installed too - as an app) from TWRP.
Running the manager after that should tell you that Magisk is installed.

On second consideration (after thinking for a few minutes), you'll probably need a PC to install TWRP. So maybe use someone else's PC to install Magisk? (Then you can just patch a boot.img file \[that you can extract from a BL tar\] and flash it with Odin.)
> 1 votes

# Answer
Not possible. Samsung devices running Android 7.0+ or later can only rooted with Odin or heimdall. you need a PC for this (or something that can act like PC)
> 0 votes

---
Tags: root-access, usb
---


title: Upgrade keyboard to another phone's

text:
# Question
Title: Upgrade keyboard to another phone's
I've had three phones in the Samsung Galaxy Note line, a Note 3, a Note 5, and now for a few years I've been using a Note 8. I have enjoyed a keyboard on which I can draw a shape which has a vertex at each letter of the word I want to write, but I'm also perceiving that they're trying to make it smarter, to give it better capabilities faster than they can develop the algorithms that carry out the tasks.

(Some problems I can identify with the Note 8 keyboard is that it is autonomously adopting typos as new words in its dictionary, coming up with new words to suggest or interpret what I draw as, and also sometimes, when I write "something" putting down "s something", repeating the first letter.)

I would really enjoy it if I could upgrade from the native keyboard of my Note 8 to the keyboard which came with one of my earlier phones. Either would be good, though I think the first, that from the Note 3, would be best.

# Answer
1. I always use (and recommend) SwiftKey, but ...
2. On the phone whose keyboard you like, install APKExtractor (it's in Play and it's free).
3. Extract the keyboard. (It extracts as an .apk file.)
4. Copy the .apk file to the Note 8.
5. Install it. You should now have 2 keyboards. Go into Settings and choose to use the one you just installed.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: keyboard, samsung-galaxy-note-3, samsung-galaxy-note-8, samsung-galaxy-note-5
---


title: Upside down videos on BlueStacks

text:
# Question
Title: Upside down videos on BlueStacks
I use the latest version of BlueStacks as a simulator on my PC at the office. I've installed Instagram on the BlueStacks simulator to work easier when I don't have my mobile phone with me at the office. My PC is OptiPlex 9020 - i7 and I have installed the latest version of BlueStacks.

The problem is that I see the Instagram videos upside down.

Should I change any setting?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Because I had used it, just download BlueStacks with Android and Windows both set to the 64-bit version. Use the following link https://www.bluestacks.com/download.html.

It will 100% solve your problem, the only condition is virtualization on your PC must be enabled.

---
Tags: video, bluestacks, instagram
---


# Question
Title: Which allowBackup attribute is useful to understand if an app can be backup?
A user on our site wanted to backup a game. For an unrooted device, the usual route to backup is either with Google Cloud Sync, or with adb. Both depends on the attribute allowBackup in the app manifest. If it is false, it won't be backup. That was my understanding, until now.

When reading the manifest of the game, I came across two entries for allowBackup. First one set to false (line 6), and the last one to true (line 70). I am trying to understand which one should I, an end-user, be concerned with to ascertain if the game/app can indeed be backup by adb or Google? An explanation, however brief, would be nice as to why there are two allowBackup attributes, and can there be more than those two in an app/game?

Another confusing thing is that for regular apps (non-gaming apps), the attribute was always written as `android:allowBackup=<FLAG>`, but for the game here, it is `game_display_name:allowBackup=<FLAG>`. Is this convention game-specific? This part of the question is optional for you to answer.

# Answer
I don't know what tool you used for decompiling `AndroidManifest.xml` but both apktool and Jadx do not show an `game_display_name:allowBackup=...` entry.

No matter what allowBackup entries you have the only entry that matters is the one in the `<application>` tag. See Android documentation: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/application-element#allowbackup

The other one may be added by the developers because they have not read the documentation carefully.

However the game you are refferring to has a second relevant entry for backup: `android:fullBackupContent`:

> This attribute points to an XML file that contains full backup rules for Auto Backup. These rules determine what files get backed up.

When I look at this XML file I see the following content:

```
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<full-backup-content>
    <exclude domain="sharedpref" path="appsflyer-data" />
</full-backup-content>

```

From my understanding of this file format that means that the file(s) in `/data/data/com.ironhorsegames.idlewasteland/shared_prefs/appsflyer-data*` are excluded from backup.
> 4 votes

---
Tags: backup
---


# Question
Title: Are the Ip address of a website and the android app equivalent the same?
So recently i wanted to block website. So i found out the ip address of the website using ping command and blocked it using the ip filter on my router configuration page eg: 192.168.0.1 for D-Link.

But again after some time i also found out that that website also has an equivalent android app like facebook.com and facebook android app and my question is when i blocked the ip address of the website will it automatically block the app from using the wifi also or the ip addressess of website and android app different? if they are different how to find that out and block that ip also and make sure that app dosent connect to the internet?

Don't ask me why are you even installing the app on your phone if you want to block that badly. The thing is i want to stop my family members also from using that app through wifi ip block because as usual they don't listen to me. And the website and app are bad like Really bad.

# Answer
Large services like Facebook have own servers for web-site and mobile apps. Other services have one (API) server for both. Therefore there can be a relationship between the server of the website and the server used by the Android app but does not have to be.

The large services even have multiple servers distributed around the world that share the same DNS name. Therefore if you want to block something on IP level your filter list will soon be very long.

An relative simple way to get all IP addresses an app communicates with is sniffing it's traffic. Even if the traffic will be mostly HTTPS and therefore encrypted the destination IP is always visible in plain text in each IP packet.

There are apps like PacketCapture that allow you to get the complete IP addresses an app communicates with. After identifying a few IP addresses I would re-run the app while sniffing it with PacketCapture to make sure there are no alternative addresses the app just switche to if the main IP is not accessible. Also keep in mind that you have to periodically check the IP addresses again as they will change from time to time.

Keep in mind in the times of cloud services the IP address of a service can change at any time and your block may also block other services that are running by coincidence on the same server.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: applications, wi-fi, internet, proxy, ip-address
---


title: Free up space problem

text:
# Question
Title: Free up space problem
My android device is lava v2s. I have sufficient space of 5.67 GB on my SD card and even of 263mb but, still, when I want to download any app from Google Play Store, it is saying to free up space. It's really very much disappointing. please try to solve my problem and give me a quick solution.

# Answer
Try to go to your settings, find "Storage", then set your default storage to "SD Card", if you still have problems download a new version of Google Play from
> 0 votes

# Answer
Move part of data on the phone to SD card in settings, or you can delete some useless data on the phone to get more space to install app.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Go To Application Manager From Settings and move your apps to External Storage (Some Apps Are Not Supporting This Feature) Try To Disbale And Clear Data Apps Which You Don't Use And Bloatwares.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: google-play-store, sd-card, insufficient-memory, downloading
---


title: Mark all messages as read in Gmail

text:
# Question
Title: Mark all messages as read in Gmail
Using Gmail version 86.0.04240.198 on my Samsung Galaxy A30s with Android 10.

From the documentation we can read

> You can't mark all messages as read from the Gmail app.

I know this is a task that can be done in a computer but that's not an option for me ATM.

I tried going to gmail.com and from there activate "Desktop mode" but I was getting a responsive view with less functionality.

# Answer
The way I've solve it was to

1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Activate Desktop mode.
3. Navigate to Google.com.
4. Search for Gmail.

5. Click in the Gmail. In my case was the first item in the result list.
6. Once in Gmail, click in the select all button which then opens up a message saying to select all (note that the image from this step was taken after the one in step 7, that's why you don't see a number of unread messages in the Inbox which shows up slightly in red)

7. Click in that message to select all, then go to the three dots and "Mark as read". Once it's done, you'll get a snack bar in the bottom right informing it's finished.

Now there's no unread messages

*Note*: in my case then going to the Gmail app I could see that the emails were all marked as read even though the browser wasn't showing right away.
> 2 votes

# Answer
Another workaround can be using Outlook's app.

All one needs to do is configure the email in Outlook, according to one's requirements, in order to have access to the email account in Outlook.

Then, access that email and filter the mails by pressing the button on the top right

Filter by `Unread`

This will only show the unread emails

Now select all the emails and a top menu will appear

Press the three dots in the top right corner and select `Mark Read`
> 1 votes

---
Tags: samsung, gmail
---


# Question
Title: Files app (com.android.documentsui) crashes on Recent tab
I have a Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 with Android 9. There's this factory app called "**Files**" (which is **com.android.documentsui**) that's not working properly anymore.

I have some apps on my phone like AutomaTag to change the tags of my songs and Sticker Maker to make WhatsApp Stickers. Both of them use this Files app when I have to select an image. Unfortunately, the app is not opening, and when it's opening, it just crashes or doesn't respond at all after a few seconds.

I tried deleting data for that Files app and for both my apps, but it didn't work. So, the next thing I did was installing an app that created a shortcut to that Files app, and surprisingly, it opened and worked! Slow, but it worked, except when I try to open the "Recent" tab, that one crashes the app.

Okay, that's fine, so I just have to avoid that Recent thing. Except, *every time "Files" opens, it opens on that Recent thing, so it crashes every time.*

I also deleted the cache and when I open the app, it worked. But when I tried to select something, it crashed again.

What do I have to do? Can I delete that app? And how do I do it? Do I need to replace it?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Enable Developer options. Go into Developer options \> Running services \> Cached processes. Stop all Google service or process you see there.

---
Tags: file-management, system-apps
---


# Question
Title: Is there a way to capture HTTP requests from an installed Play Store app?
I'm developing a search aggregator service so I'd like to get the endpoint of some of the stores that, currently, doesn't expose their API. So I'd like to now if there's a way to do this with my cellphone.

# Answer
Yes, you can do it on your phone alone. I use HttpCanary App with root access. It works without root as well but only a few apps that don't use certificate pinning.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: applications, google-play-store, https
---


# Question
Title: SP Flash Tool | Error. Status_preloader_invalid
I am trying to write a custom recovery (TWRP) using SP\_Flash\_Tool but I get a Status\_preloader\_invalid error. The device is "OPPO F1S" with chipset MT6755.

Here is a screenshot of the error and the scatter file I am using. https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1nyQQKPbYot\_YxWwHN5lScNAEq84h-o3A

I tried to create the scatter file using Mtk\_Droid\_Tool but the creation button was greyed out (MT67xx is not supported) so I found a scatter file online

# Answer
> 1 votes
The problem was the scatter file. Using a correct one fixed the problem.

---
Tags: twrp, flashtool
---


# Question
Title: "no valid slot to boot" on locked bootloader
Using the Google Factory Image of Android 10 for the Pixel 4 (flame), I ran into trouble: the device does not boot with the following reason:

```
no valid slot to boot

```

I hence tried to flash another OS image but unfortunately, the bootloader is locked. Even Google's own Factory Images don't flash.

```
$ fastboot flashing get_unlock_ability
(bootloader) get_unlock_ability: 0
OKAY [  0.093s]
Finished. Total time: 0.093s

```

Is there any way to flash the factory image anyway?

```
$ fastboot getvar all
(bootloader) product:flame
(bootloader) serialno:99051FFAZ006PC
(bootloader) variant:SM8 UFS
(bootloader) max-download-size:0x10000000
(bootloader) slot-suffixes:_a,_b
(bootloader) version-bootloader:c2f2-0.3-6863466
(bootloader) version-baseband:g8150-00075-201008-B-6891495
(bootloader) secure-boot:PRODUCTION
(bootloader) secure:yes
(bootloader) hw-revision:MP1.0
(bootloader) is-userspace:no
(bootloader) slot-count:2
(bootloader) current-slot:a
(bootloader) unlocked:no
(bootloader) nos-production:yes
(bootloader) off-mode-charge:1
(bootloader) slot-retry-count:a:0
(bootloader) slot-unbootable:a:yes
(bootloader) slot-successful:a:no
(bootloader) slot-retry-count:b:0
(bootloader) slot-unbootable:b:yes
(bootloader) slot-successful:b:no
(bootloader) battery-voltage:4258
(bootloader) battery-soc-ok:yes
(bootloader) snapshot-update-status:none
(bootloader) storage-vendor:MICRON
(bootloader) storage-model:64GB-UFS-MT
(bootloader) storage-rev:8QSP
(bootloader) citadel-fw:0.0.3/brick_v0.0.7758-a9dacb5c9 2020-01-15 21:24:
(bootloader) auto-shutdown:0
(bootloader) partition-type:ssd:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:ssd:0x2000
(bootloader) partition-type:persist:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:persist:0x2000000
(bootloader) partition-type:misc:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:misc:0x100000
(bootloader) partition-type:keystore:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:keystore:0x80000
(bootloader) partition-type:frp:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:frp:0x80000
(bootloader) partition-type:boot_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:boot_a:0x4000000
(bootloader) partition-type:boot_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:boot_b:0x4000000
(bootloader) partition-type:modem_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:modem_a:0x6000000
(bootloader) partition-type:modem_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:modem_b:0x6000000
(bootloader) partition-type:klog:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:klog:0x800000
(bootloader) partition-type:metadata:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:metadata:0x1000000
(bootloader) partition-type:vbmeta_system_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:vbmeta_system_a:0x10000
(bootloader) partition-type:vbmeta_system_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:vbmeta_system_b:0x10000
(bootloader) partition-type:super:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:super:0x245800000
(bootloader) partition-type:userdata:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:userdata:0xC7FFFB000
(bootloader) partition-type:xbl_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:xbl_a:0x380000
(bootloader) partition-type:xbl_config_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:xbl_config_a:0x20000
(bootloader) partition-type:xbl_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:xbl_b:0x380000
(bootloader) partition-type:xbl_config_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:xbl_config_b:0x20000
(bootloader) partition-type:ALIGN_TO_128K_1:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:ALIGN_TO_128K_1:0x1A000
(bootloader) partition-type:cdt:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:cdt:0x20000
(bootloader) partition-type:ddr:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:ddr:0x100000
(bootloader) partition-type:aop_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:aop_a:0x80000
(bootloader) partition-type:tz_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:tz_a:0x400000
(bootloader) partition-type:hyp_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:hyp_a:0x84000
(bootloader) partition-type:abl_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:abl_a:0x200000
(bootloader) partition-type:keymaster_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:keymaster_a:0x80000
(bootloader) partition-type:cmnlib_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:cmnlib_a:0x80000
(bootloader) partition-type:cmnlib64_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:cmnlib64_a:0x80000
(bootloader) partition-type:devcfg_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:devcfg_a:0x20000
(bootloader) partition-type:qupfw_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:qupfw_a:0x14000
(bootloader) partition-type:vbmeta_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:vbmeta_a:0x10000
(bootloader) partition-type:dtbo_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:dtbo_a:0x800000
(bootloader) partition-type:uefisecapp_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:uefisecapp_a:0x200000
(bootloader) partition-type:imagefv_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:imagefv_a:0x200000
(bootloader) partition-type:apdp_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:apdp_a:0x10000
(bootloader) partition-type:msadp_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:msadp_a:0x10000
(bootloader) partition-type:multiimgoem_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:multiimgoem_a:0x8000
(bootloader) partition-type:aop_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:aop_b:0x80000
(bootloader) partition-type:tz_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:tz_b:0x400000
(bootloader) partition-type:hyp_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:hyp_b:0x84000
(bootloader) partition-type:abl_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:abl_b:0x200000
(bootloader) partition-type:keymaster_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:keymaster_b:0x80000
(bootloader) partition-type:cmnlib_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:cmnlib_b:0x80000
(bootloader) partition-type:cmnlib64_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:cmnlib64_b:0x80000
(bootloader) partition-type:devcfg_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:devcfg_b:0x20000
(bootloader) partition-type:qupfw_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:qupfw_b:0x14000
(bootloader) partition-type:vbmeta_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:vbmeta_b:0x10000
(bootloader) partition-type:dtbo_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:dtbo_b:0x800000
(bootloader) partition-type:uefisecapp_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:uefisecapp_b:0x200000
(bootloader) partition-type:imagefv_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:imagefv_b:0x200000
(bootloader) partition-type:apdp_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:apdp_b:0x10000
(bootloader) partition-type:msadp_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:msadp_b:0x10000
(bootloader) partition-type:multiimgoem_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:multiimgoem_b:0x8000
(bootloader) partition-type:devinfo:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:devinfo:0x1000
(bootloader) partition-type:spunvm:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:spunvm:0x800000
(bootloader) partition-type:splash:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:splash:0x8000
(bootloader) partition-type:limits:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:limits:0x1000
(bootloader) partition-type:toolsfv:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:toolsfv:0x100000
(bootloader) partition-type:logfs:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:logfs:0x800000
(bootloader) partition-type:storsec:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:storsec:0x20000
(bootloader) partition-type:uefivarstore:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:uefivarstore:0x80000
(bootloader) partition-type:secdata:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:secdata:0x7000
(bootloader) partition-type:ALIGN_TO_128K_2:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:ALIGN_TO_128K_2:0x1A000
(bootloader) partition-type:modemst1:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:modemst1:0x200000
(bootloader) partition-type:modemst2:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:modemst2:0x200000
(bootloader) partition-type:fsg:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:fsg:0x200000
(bootloader) partition-type:fsc:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:fsc:0x20000
(bootloader) partition-type:system_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:system_a:0x30FFC000
(bootloader) partition-type:system_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:system_b:0x173E000
(bootloader) partition-type:vendor_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:vendor_a:0x2DBC3000
(bootloader) partition-type:vendor_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:vendor_b:0x0
(bootloader) partition-type:product_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:product_a:0x7D6CA000
(bootloader) partition-type:product_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:product_b:0x28DAC000
(bootloader) partition-type:system_ext_a:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:system_ext_a:0xE9A1000
(bootloader) partition-type:system_ext_b:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:system_ext_b:0x0
all:
Finished. Total time: 0.296s

```

# Answer
> 3 votes
Since OEM unlocking is not enabled in Developer options, and the bootloader is not unlocked, your options a limited.

The first (although not preferred option in most cases) is to contact Google support for an RMA on your device to get a replacement. This is usually a simple thing and they usually handle it quite well. You can find information on this to check the status of your warranty and start a claim here.

The only other alternative you have at this point is attempting to flash an OTA image manually. An OTA image is what is sent to the device for an Over The Air update, and is usually pretty safe to install, but we are going to do it manually. Note that flashing an OTA image is not the same as doing a full firmware image flash, so some things on your device need to be in place even if the device is not in a bootable state. I don't know these exact items, but if they are not there the updater script will fail. I am also going to assume that you have Android Platform Tools installed and working (as you have output of fastboot working, it appears so).

The details and files are supplied by Google for Pixel (and older Nexus devices) on their developer site in the full OTA section for Pixel devices linked here, but just make sure you select the correct device you can see this on the previously linked page if you know your model such as Pixel 4 or by performing a `fastboot getvar all` and looking at the `(bootloader) product:` field... For you with a Pixel 4 it will be "flame".

Here are the essential steps, more detailed information is in the links above:

1. Download the OTA ZIP file from the above page, and know where it is located but do NOT unzip the file. Note you should always select the newest one listed for your device which will typically be at the bottom of your device section.
2. Boot your device into fastboot mode and connect the USB cable
3. Select Recovery from the menu and press POWER to select it. Wait for the Android logo with a red Exclamation mark to appear on the screen
4. Access the recovery menu with POWER+VOL UP
5. Select `Apply update from ADB` from the menu and press POWER
6. Test your USB connection with `adb devices` which should output your device with `sideload` next to it. If the result is anything else, you need to troubleshoot your USB connection or software installation before continuing.
7. Enter `adb sideload ota_file.zip` where *ota\_file.zip* is the full path and filename of the OTA ZIP file you downloaded previously
8. The device will download and verify the file, then flash it to your device, then make that software "slot" active. If all goes well, after several minutes a success confirmation will be displayed and you will be presented with a menu.
9. Select `Reboot system now` and wait for the phone to boot up fully.

---
Tags: factory-reset, bootloader-lock, android-11, google-pixel-4
---


# Question
Title: I can't open or close any tabs on my Android tablet in Chrome
This is a tablet I've had for years, and suddenly it decided that tabs in Chromes cannot be selected, exited, or added (The only change I can do is the new tab button option on the 3 dots, but I can't switch back from it, or I close out of Chrome and reopen it, then I can do only one of those things, but not more).

# Answer
I had this issue too on my Galaxy Tab A. I found a workaround. It's not the fix just a workaround. Please enable rotation of display btw. landscape and portrait. Each time you encounter this issue so you cannot close any Chrome Tabs any longer just rotate your display. That's it!

Regards and stay healthy! Markus
> 3 votes

# Answer
Do you have Samsung Note 4?? Follow this..

## 4 Ways to Fix Can’t Close Tabs in Samsung Note 4

1. Firstly, go to Settings in your Samsung Note 4 and head over to Developer Options. Then click on Input and uncheck show touches. After doing this, try again and this time you will be able to close tabs on Note-4.
Note: If you don’t have developer options, you can get them by going to the Settings page and heading over to About Phone and then tapping Build Number 7 times.
2. If you are using Chrome, head over to Chrome settings and then turn off combine tabs. This step will restart Google Chrome and you will be able to tap on the number box and close the tabs.
3. Another great fix to solve the can’t close tabs in Note 4 problem is to Go to Settings -\> developer options and unchecking ‘allow mock locations’. This will fix the issue and you will be able to close all the opened tabs.
4. Go to Developer options and go to the Apps section. Here, you will see an option “ Do Not Keep Activities” Uncheck this box and you will be able to close tabs in Samsung Note-4. If that doesn’t work, you can also check this box and then try again.

Source
> 0 votes

---
Tags: chrome-for-android
---


# Question
Title: Titanium Backup "insufficient free storage space" error
Because of my external SD card issue, I thought I should factory reset my phone then reinstall the firmware on it. Before I'd do that though, I'd have to back up my apps and their data so that I can restore it afterwards. For that purpose, I had been relying on Titanium Backup Pro, so I entered the app, changed the backup directory to `/storage/emulated/legacy/TitaniumBackup` (as the external SD card was unavailable) and attempted to backup all user apps and system data. A progress dialogue appeared and was stuck at 0% for about 30 seconds until it close and Titanium Backup displayed the notification 'Batch backup interrupted: Insufficient free storage space' despite having 7 gigabytes left on `/storage/emulated/legacy`.

I tried searching on Google for a solution - the only one that came up was to remove `/data/app/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup-1.odex` but the file did not exist on my end. How can I fix this issue?

**Clarification**: My copy of Titanium Backup is a Pro version activated by a Pro key obtained from the Google Play store. There is no need for any external patchers, cracks or keygens.

# Answer
> 52 votes
This is due to the 'Mount namespace separation' setting in **SuperSU** being turned on (by default). Untick that, reboot and try your Titanium Backup operation again.

This happens because the permissions to app-created folders are restricted in newer Android versions, I believe. Ironically, I didn't have this issue on Marshmallow-based CM13, but I did face it in the Lollipop-based OxygenOS for the OnePlus One.

# Answer
> 6 votes
This happens due to some service change in kitkat. Some research on google showed that there is an app available to modify the platform.xml file. The app once run, prompts the user to allow it to go ahead and make the modifications to the above file. Everything works fine after this.

NextApp SDFix

# Answer
> 5 votes
At TB's startup it always displayed a warning that SuperSU's namespace separation feature "might not work reliably on some platforms".

Well, I never faced any problems until a recent SuperSU update...

So disabling that option in SuperSU and rebooting solved the "insufficient space" on my OnePlus One/CM12.1.

This was the obvious solution before fiddling around with permissions etc.

# Answer
> 3 votes
In recent versions of Android, paths under `/storage/emulated/legacy` only work for the apps that created them. If the OS doesn't know that TB created `/storage/emulated/legacy/TitaniumBackup`, then you'll get this error.

Try using TB to create a directory, then use that for your backups. Alternatively, use a path that doesn't start with `/storage/emulated/legacy`, like `/data/media/0/TitaniumBackup`. Either should work.

# Answer
> 3 votes
(Titanium Backup)batch backup interrupted: insufficient storage space this solution work for me any one can try see if it work. I have a fix. I did a little research and found that you can edit /etc/permissions/platform.xml and add a group to WRITE\_EXTERNAL\_STORAGE

Original:

Add the media\_rw group:

Done. Doing a TiBU right now to my external card. This *may* fix other apps that have issues writing to the card, I personally didn't find any.

Suggest that you do an adb pull of the file for safekeeping before doing this. If you pull the file, edit it, and push it back make sure the permissions are set to 644.

# Answer
> 1 votes
just go to super user-settings-untick "mount namespace separation" and reboot done!!

# Answer
> 1 votes
If you are using Magisk as your superuser manager, go to `settings` \> `mount namespace mode` and select `isolated namespace`. Hope this helps someone!

# Answer
> 0 votes
Open Preferences of your Titanium Backup. Then look for an option called **Backup app external data** in *Backup Settings*. Make sure it is NOT Enabled. Rather set it to 'Enabled if smaller than a chosen size' and set the size to 35 MB.

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

Some apps have a hefty amount of external data (stored in `/sdcard/Android`/data), particularly games which may span over several gigs. This option disables backing them up as they can be downloaded again.

# Answer
> 0 votes
As @Izzy said, this was an XY problem - I could have looked for another backup solution instead of insisting on using Titanium Backup. And I did - I used the `adb backup` feature (which worked when I rebooted my phone). In the end, I didn't have to restore the backup at all, but that's a different story altogether.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Go into Titanium Backup settings

* Backup Folder location
* Storage provider
* Select "DocumentProvider storage"
* Allow access to \____

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/titanium-backup-insufficient-storage-root-with-magisk.3806051/#post-76858004

# Answer
> -2 votes
I have also faced this weird situation. I don't know whether it will work or not. But for me it works.

Install lucky patcher. It will automatically remove the odex file and you will be able to install Titanium Backup.

---
Tags: insufficient-memory, titanium-backup
---


title: How to set bash as default shell?

text:
# Question
Title: How to set bash as default shell?
When I adb into a device with Cyanogenmod, I'm presented with a nice bash shell, color prompt, and bashrc. I don't see a symlink from /system/xbin/bash to /system/bin/sh. How do they set the default shell to bash instead of sh? I looked through rc files, but didn't find anything. I'd like to do the same on my Android build, which isn't Cyanogenmod.

**Update**

After re-installing from scratch with CM7, I'm taken to sh instead of bash. Now the question is how to set bash as default.

# Answer
> 8 votes
When `adb shell` is executed, the Android side also launches adb which then executes `/system/bin/sh -`. This path is hard-coded in `system/core/adb/services.c`:

```
347 #if ADB_HOST
348 #define SHELL_COMMAND "/bin/sh"
349 #define ALTERNATE_SHELL_COMMAND ""
350 #else
351 #define SHELL_COMMAND "/system/bin/sh"
352 #define ALTERNATE_SHELL_COMMAND "/sbin/sh"
353 #endif

```

If you want to change this to bash, you will have to recompile it.

It is possible to execute some commands from file when running the interactive shell. As written in `system/core/sh/main.c`, `sh -` (note the `-` for interactive mode) reads from the following files (in this order):

* `/etc/profile`
* `.profile` (relative to current directory, this is `/.profile` for `adb shell`
* `$ENV` (environment variable `ENV` should point to a file)

As `/etc/` and `/` are read-only, the only way to get something loaded was by setting `ENV`. You can probably create a symlink from `/etc/profile` to `/data/profile` by mounting `/` read-write (exercise for the reader).

# Answer
> 4 votes
I didn't have my Android with me right now to test, but with the Android Terminal Emulator if you go to the menu, you might be able to use the "Command line" or "Initial command" option.

# Answer
> 3 votes
This is an old question, but I was recently curious about this myself. I found a method that doesn't require recompiling `adbd`, however it does require `su` (I'm using Chainfire SuperSu 2.45).

Assuming `bash` is located at `/system/bin/bash`, and `su` is at `/system/xbin/su`, it's essentially something like this:

1. `adb shell` (use an interactive shell. Invoking this process as a one-liner could cause ADB to cease working if there is a problem)
2. `mount -o remount,rw /system`
3. `mv /system/bin/sh /system/bin/sh.bak`
4. `echo -e '#!/system/bin/bash\n/system/xbin/su -mm -l -s /system/xbin/bash' > /system/bin/sh` Note that your paths may differ; use `which bash` and `which su` to be sure.
5. `chmod 777 /system/bin/sh`
6. Test the shell before you exit: `/system/bin/sh`. If you get an error, fix the error or revert by restoring the backup: `cp /system/bin/sh.bak /system/bin/sh`.
7. Optionally remount /system; most devices will do this automatically: `mount -o remount,ro /system`

And you're done.

Simply symlinking BASH to SH doesn't work because bash emulates SH when invoked this way.

However, having a look at strace, it does seem to look for a `bashrc` when a symlinked BASH is called as 'sh --login'. While this could conceivably be used to "chainload" shells via script, as mentioned above the way `adbd` invokes SH is hardcoded.

If there is a problem and you have removed (or moved) `/system/bin/sh` ADB wont have a shell to give you to fix the problem. If this happens, you have a few options:

* Reboot into a recovery that has `adbd` (such as CWM or TWRP) and open an adb shell to it, to copy /system/bin/sh.bak over to /system/bin/sh again.
* Use adb to copy the backup: `adb root; adb remount; adb shell; adb pull /system/bin/sh.bak; adb push sh.bak /system/bin/sh` Note that this won't work on all devices; some refuse to allow adb to remount /system rw in this way.
* Use a terminal emulator that can be set to run a different shell; note that several will try /system/bin/sh first and force close.

# Answer
> 0 votes
On your PC, get a bash binary and overwrite `/system/bin/sh`. I have one here.

Feel free to copy this code:

```
git clone https://github.com/SuperDethByte/Bash-for-ARM.git
cd Bash-for-ARM
echo "Make sure your phone is plugged into your computer."
sleep 5s
echo "Remounting /system partition as r/w..."
adb shell mount -o remount,rw /system
echo "Making A Backup..."
adb shell cp /system/bin/sh /system/bin/sh.bak
echo "checking if backup was made..."
if [ adb shell 'ls /system/bin/ | grep "sh.bak"' ]; then
echo "pushing bash binary to android..."
adb push bash /system/bin/sh
echo "Remounting /system partition as r/o..."
adb shell mount -o remount,ro /system
echo "DONE"
else
echo "Backup Failed"
echo "Remounting /system partition as r/o..."
adb shell mount -o remount,ro /system
fi

```

# Answer
> 0 votes
Found the proper & simple way from a Linux box, even in 2021 and :

```
adb shell -t bash -i

```

You logon directly via in interactive way.

To not having to remember this command all the times, I personally use an alias, simply add this to your `~/.bashrc` on Linux box:

```
alias adb_shell='adb shell -t bash -i'
source ~/.bashrc

```

Then all is configured, simply run

```
adb_shell

```

and enjoy all `bash` features like tab completion and anything. \o/

---
Tags: cyanogenmod, bash
---


# Question
Title: Why is Copy+Paste of text a once only operation - I have to keep Copying for the next paste
As per the title, I used to have an Android (v5) where I would copy some text once, and keep pasting to wherever;

On my new phone (Android v10 - Samsung Galaxy A51), clipboard text disappears after a paste; Is there a setting to allow retaining last copied text ?

\[cannot create samsung-galaxy-a51 so using samsung-galaxy-a5 instead\]

# Answer
> 2 votes
Although Android itself shouldn't be rule out, you should first check the issue is not related to your keyboard. If possible, try to install another keyboard app for example GBoard. Set it as the default keyboard app, enable its clipboard, then try to copy and paste. Verify if the problem persists or not.

---
Tags: copy-paste, samsung-galaxy-a5
---


# Question
Title: Is there a workaround to use of bash via adb on LineageOS17?
I try to login in my device directly vith

```
adb shell bash -i

```

It kind of partially works, because I'm logged with , but the terminal loose completion.

The error I get:

```
$ adb shell bash -i
bash: cannot set terminal process group (-1): Not a typewriter
bash: no job control in this shell
mydevice / #

```

Is there something possible to do it properly without errors ? I don't have `su` installed.

# Answer
> 1 votes
The error is expected. `adb shell` by default doesn't allocate a TTY (terminal) which is required for interactive session. Instead use:

```
adb shell -t bash -i

```

---
Tags: adb, shell, bash
---


# Question
Title: Can't switch/close tabs in the Chrome browser on my Android tablet
I just recently purchased a cheap tablet (DigiLand DL701Q 8gb), as my first foray into Android.

I've been using the pre-installed Chrome browser but I can't figure out how to switch tabs or close them. I've searched for hours and all I could find was that the little square icon with numbers in the top right is the tool for tabs, but tapping it does nothing.

I've tried double/triple tapping and swiping, but it still does nothing. Tapping and holding on it opens a popup message with the phrase "open tabs" but tapping that also has no function. I've tried every combination and method I can think of, but nothing works. Only one time did I manage to switch to a different tab and then quickly close it, but this was a result of me desperately mashing the square icon in frustration and I haven't been able to replicate it.

I currently have 7 tabs open and I have no idea what they are or how to view them or how to close them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

# Answer
Click the three dots, choose "Settings", then turn off "Merge tabs and apps". Now tabs will work like they used to.

(This solution was improperly proposed as an edit by an anonymous user.)
> 7 votes

# Answer
Much more recently I ran into a very similar problem using Android Chrome. Going backwards to recent prior versions did not fix this. Chrome Beta is working correctly.

Problem: I could not

* Click/tap on a tab,
* Click on the X that closed the tab,
* Click on the plus sign that opened a new tab, Etc.
* Open the menu in the upper right corner (that only opened a new tab)

I was able to

* Click on and edit the URL area of the screen, and
* Click on items within a page.

Not-solutions

* Backing up to recent versions of chrome did not fix this.
* Resetting tap duration in Android settings temporarily fixed my problem. \[See image.\] But after adding more tabs problems returned.
* Closing down Chrome and restarting it also seemed to help, but only temporarily.

Solutions:

* Using Chrome Beta appears to have fixed this.

---

* Samsung tablet SM-T860
* Android ver. 10
* Chrome ver. 87.0.4280.101
> 1 votes

# Answer
I had the same problem. I was never able to find a way to exit those tabs so I just went to Settings → Apps → Chrome, then deleted data. Nothing bad happened, and those 8 tabs I couldn't remove are no longer there to annoy me.
> -3 votes

---
Tags: chrome-for-android
---


# Question
Title: my battery charge indicator is continually flashing on and off
My battery charge indicator (the screen info saying % full), flashes on/off/on/off, etc. sometimes.

I've switched the battery to a spare to see if that helps but it didn't.

When it does happen, this seems to happen at all the different wall sockets where I am. It happens a lot in cafe's.... perhaps not surprising... but also in my office building which seems pretty solid for such business services.

The only place it doesn't happen is at home.

My original theory was that it was due to too many people using the same circuit and reducing the amps too much. However the more places I see this behavior in, the less I think it is likely.

Any idea how to address this?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Have you tried using a different cord/charger?

It seems as if it isn't related to a specific location, so I would suspect that the cable has gone bad.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Maybe the voltage supplied is too low for your tab to boot up with a completely drained battery. My suggestion is to try using original tab chargers or try charging your tab with a car charger. Using a JBL tab charger might work.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Mine does this ONLY when i use it in the garage, and I have an overloaded power strip, too many things plugged-into one outlet. It's not getting full power perhaps?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Flashing battery indicator can mean that the battery is overheated

# Answer
> 0 votes
Was not the cable in my case. Turned out to be the ac to USB adapter from the wall. Switched my OEM ac to USB adapter yesterday to an apple ac to USB is when my problem happened today, switched back to OEM shipped with my tablet and everything is back to normal.

Hope this helps some of you.

# Answer
> -3 votes
This may be a symptom of NSA eavesdropping. Another sign of NSA eavesdropping on your calls is quick battery drain within 1-2 minutes. I Suspect being monitored as Im constantly questioned each time I come into the US. Mail being redirected and opened, then delivered, etc. Good luck

http://www.iiiweb.net/blog/5-signs-a-spy-might-have-control-of-your-mobile-phone/

---
Tags: battery, charging
---


# Question
Title: My Google Pixel 2's touch screen suddenly quit working--how can I fix it?
My Google Pixel 2's touch screen suddenly stopped working. **The screen itself works fine and shows everything perfectly, but the *touch* sensor is not working *anywhere* on the phone screen!** It cannot detect my touch gestures. I was actively using my phone and noticed the battery was at 1%, so I quickly plugged it in. I was too late, however. As I plugged it in, it started to turning off due to low battery, and it did an automatic soft (proper) shutdown. With it now plugged in and charging, I turned it right back on and attempted to type my unlock password. No luck. The touch screen wouldn't respond!

I held down the power button for like 10 seconds or so until it automatically did a reboot and I saw the "Google" name in color on the screen again, indicating it was turning back on. The touch screen was still totally unresponsive. I did this about 9 or 10 more times over the next 45 minutes--each time unresponsive.

**How can I make the touchscreen work again?**

# Answer
> 2 votes
I got it to work again!

## What DID work for me: *press down on the screen with both thumbs* to ensure the *screen connector (circled in yellow below) is in firmly*, and the *capacitive touch grounding strip (circled in cyan below) is in good contact* with the phone's ground plane.

I am a DIY kind of person. I replaced my battery and screen myself a few months ago, following these battery replacement instructions, and these screen replacement instructions.

When I was done, my phone worked perfectly with zero problems until today. After many hard phone reboots by holding down the power button, with no success to get my touch screen working again, I remembered this image:

...from this tutorial. This is what the phone looks like just underneath the screen and touch panel under the screen. Notice the connector I circled yellow in the image above, and the rectangular grounding strip I circled in cyan underneath it. The yellow-circled item is the connector for the screen and touch sensor to connect to the phone, and the cyan-circled one is the grounding pad for the capacitive touch sensor. The connector has a plate/cover on top of it (shown here) which screws down to hold the connector in place, so it is unlikely to move or lose contact, but perhaps may. The cyan-circled grounding pad is likely very critical to the phone's touch sensor operation, since personal electronics experience making capacitive touch sensors work with Arduinos (ex: see the touch lamp video at the top of my website article here) teaches me that capacitive touch is *very sensitive* to grounding issues.

**I thought maybe pressing on that connector and grounding pad would help (truth be told: I actually was just thinking about the connector, and had forgotten about the grounding pad until *after* I had done this). So, I pressed firmly but carefully down on the top of the screen near that connector, and then near that grounding pad. I then repeated this process, pressing with both thumbs, moving down the screen lower and lower from on top of that connector and down, until I reached about 1 inch from the bottom of the phone. I couldn't remember where the connector was exactly at the time, so I pressed in these several places, with both thumbs at once. Then, I tried the phone again. Voilà! Magically it worked! Touch sensor seems fine now.** It must have just re-seated that connector better is all, or: even more likely: regrounded the metallic strip from the capacitive touch sensor to that grounding pad circled in cyan/bluish. *I hypothesize that the adhesive-attached grounding strip connected to that pad had come loose, so that the instant I touched my charge cable to the phone to charge it, the electrical potential of the phone's ground got altered (charged or discharged) by the charge cable's ground, causing the capacitive touch to quit working. Re-grounding the capacitive touch grounding cable to that ground pad underneath the screen must have fixed the capacitive touch sensing system (I think)!*

If this doesn't last long-term, I'll buy this replacement screen again for $40 (same one I bought before and have on the phone now) and replace it again (note: I used this iFixit toolkit and this iFixit iOpener heating pad--this heating pad is waaay safer and better than a heat gun!).

If this "pressing on the center of the screen trick", followed by another screen replacement, doesn't last, I'll upgrade to the latest brand new Google Pixel. But, I really hope to hold off for 2 more years or so to get the full life out of my current one (goal is to replace my phone only every 4 years).

## Other notes (ex: the phone can be used withOUT the touch screen, using a standard keyboard and mouse)

### 1. Use the phone withOUT the touch screen by using a USB OTG adapter and standard computer mouse (and optionally: keyboard too)

Note: if you need to use the phone until you can replace it, I was able to plug in a standard mouse into the phone with an OTG (On The Go) USB adapter and continue to use it just fine, albeit it was a pain of course.

Here's some good OTG adapters that will work. You can plug in a standard USB hub into the USB port on the OTG adapter if you want to use both a computer keyboard and mouse at once. Once you plug in the mouse and begin moving it, a cursor will show up on your phone just like on a regular computer. I was able to type with the mouse too just by clicking on the visual keyboard in place of touching it. A keyboard, of course, would be better.

1. USB C OTG adapter with charging port AND USB plug, $12
2. Standard USB C OTG adapter, 3 pcs, $8
3. Or, if you have a micro USB OTG adapter already on-hand, you can convert it to USB C with one of these: micro USB to USB C adapter, 8 pcs, $7. This is what I did.

### 2. Try rebooting into "safe mode" too to see if the touch screen problem is somehow software-based

Once I had my mouse plugged into my phone so I could click around, I was able to reboot into safe mode to see if the problem might have been software-based and due to an interfering app or something.

Here's how I rebooted into safe mode, again, using my computer mouse and OTG adapter to click on the phone since the touch screen wasn't working:

1. Press and hold the power button until the power/reboot screen comes up.
2. Tap (click with the mouse) and **hold** the power off icon until it gives you a safe mode reboot option.
3. Choose the safe mode option and wait for the device to reboot.

Safe mode didn't fix the touch screen problem, making me think it was probably a hardware issue. That's when I found the "fix" above by pressing on the center of the phone screen to jostle the hardware and apparently re-seat the connector, or (more likely) re-ground the capacitive touch sensor to the phone's ground, or something.

## Other References:

1. Once I figured this out, I also put it on my website here: https://gabrielstaples.com/google-pixel2-touchscreen/.

---
Tags: hardware, touchscreen, google-pixel, google-pixel-2
---


# Question
Title: How can a bookmarklet be ADDED on mobile Chrome without copying and pasting?
On my Android phone, how can a user add a bookmarklet to my Chrome bookmarks, *without needing to use another device, and without copying and pasting?*
I have a bookmarklet on my website that I want *other people* to add to their bookmarks, so I'm looking for a straightforward method.

Bookmarklets are bookmarks, but of which contain Javascript code instead of a regular web link.

Bookmarklets can be added to Chrome on the PC very easily in many ways.

* However, on Android, if the bookmarklet is displayed as a link on a page, it cannot be "dragged to the bookmark bar" as with a PC.
* If I try to open it in a new tab, the address bar will not contain the Javascript, so the user can't use the bookmark button.
* Tapping the link to the bookmarklet will not put the code in the address bar either.
* The only way I've been able to add a bookmarklet on my phone has been to tap and hold on the link, then tap "Copy link address", then edit a *pre-existing* bookmark's link and pasting in the bookmarklet code, then renaming said bookmark. But that's a pain, and trying to explain it to non tech savy folks isn't happening.

Is there a more simple method?

Note that I have a particular bookmarklet that even when added on my PC, does NOT sync to my Phone's bookmarks. I believe it may be due to the length (It's over 9000 characters!). This is why I need an easy method for users to save this bookmarklet.

# Answer
> 16 votes
You can add (and execute) bookmarklets entirely in Android Chrome.

The caveat: it takes more work than just drag-and-drop in the desktop counterpart.

### Save a bookmarklet (Android Chrome)

1. Long tap the desired bookmarklet
2. Select *Copy link address*
3. Go to Menu (three dots) and tap the Star (bookmark)
4. BEFORE IT DISAPPEARS, tap **EDIT**! (at the bottom)
5. Erase everything in the **URL** field, and type `javascript:`
    * *Side note:* If the url of the page is really, really long, you might want to long tap the url contents: the keyboard will appear, and then start typing immediately.
6. Long tap at the right of the `javascript:` and then tap `PASTE`
7. If you did it right, the begginning of URL should look somewhat like:
> `javascript:(function(){lots-of-code-here...`
>
> *(The `:` is still in `javascript:`)*
8. Change the **Name** to something useful (you'll use it later, see below)
9. Optional: Pick the destination **Folder** where you want your bookmarklet stored.
10. When done, press the back button.
11. You might want to test the bookmarklet. Read below:

### Execute a bookmarklet (Android Chrome)

From How-To Geek (the link you sent):

> In mobile Chrome, you’ll need to launch the bookmarklet from the location \[address\] bar. Open the web page you want to run the bookmarklet on, tap your location bar, and start searching for the name of the bookmarklet. Tap the bookmarklet’s name to run it on the current page.

# Answer
> 1 votes
If I understand your question correctly, you want to:

1. Let users add bookmarklets from your own website in Chrome for Android. To achieve this, you could use JavaScript to add a bookmark from here: https://gist.github.com/oilvier/70abd45d1f2ffc98b568

If this does not work, you could use JavaScript to copy the bookmarklet into the user's clipboard. Not really the solution you're looking for, but it removes one step in the user guide mentioned below.
2. Let users add bookmarklets from any website:

1. Long press on the bookmarklet and select "Copy URL"
    2. Press on the 3 dot menu on the upper right and touch the star.
    3. 1. At the bottom, there is a small popup where you touch "Change"
        2. If the popup disappeared too fast, repeat step 3 which brings you to the "Change bookmark" screen too.
    4. Long press on the text field below URL and then choose "Insert"
    5. Hit the arrow pointing to the left.

Solution (2) is very similar to your current solution, but you don't need a desktop or a pre-existing bookmark as it creates a new one. 5 easy steps for average users, especially if you use screenshots to help them understand where to touch.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Chrome Android doesn't let you run Bookmarklets the traditional way, But, there is a workaround, you can call Bookmarklet from the address bar,

First, you have to manually create a Bookmarklet by editing it,

For example, `javascript:alert('foo');` and name it.

Then, on the page you want to run this, search for the bookmarklet name in the address bar, and click on it.

Below Tutorial might be helpful.

https://paul.kinlan.me/use-bookmarklets-on-chrome-on-android/

# Answer
> -1 votes
Here is an easy solution.

1. Save the bookmarklet on Chrome on your desktop give it a name, say, BM1
2. Turn sync on the chrome browser in both desktop and mobile Chrome browsers. When the sync is on, all the bookmarks and bookmarklets gets transferred to the mobile phone as well.
3. Now, this should make our bookmarklet accessible in the mobile chrome browser. Here is how to execute the bookmarklet: Type the name of the bookmarklet BM1 in the search bar. And, google chrome will give you suggestion based on what you type on the address bar and there will be your bookmarklet. Now, simply click the bookmarklet once you see it.

---
Tags: chrome-for-android, bookmarks, javascript, bookmarklets
---


# Question
Title: How do I close all, or many at once, Chrome tabs on Android on a phone?
I'm on Google Pixel 2, Android 11, Chrome 87.0.4280.101.

I have 494 open tabs, as I explain in my answer here on how to count them. I need to selectively close about 450 of them, or just close all of them then re-open about 20 to 50 of them.

How do I mass-close many or all of them at once?

The last time I mass-closed hundreds of tabs manually I sat there for like 30 minutes swiping until they were all closed. I don't want to do that again. That was ridiculous. (Compared to full computers, phones are garbage. :))

This tablet-specific answer doesn't seem to apply to phones, or to apply anymore to the latest versions, so it does *not* contain an answer that works for me: How do I close all tabs in Chrome for Android?.

Here's what I see in my Chrome menu when I click on the 3 dots in the top-right corner:

This is in French. Translation:

> New Tab
> New Incognito tab
> Favorites
> Recent tabs
> History
> Downloads
> Translate
> Share
> Search on the page
> Add to welcome screen
> Version for computer
> Settings
> Help and Feedback

# Answer
Closing all tabs in Chrome is very simple with the recent version and works on smartphone and tablet:

First press the button that shows the tab count:

Then open the three-dots-menu

And finally select "Close all tabs".

Tested with Chrome 87.0.4280.101.
> 2 votes

# Answer
Update: Better answer: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/232571/121619

---

I couldn't find a good solution, but here's what I did, and it was really irritating I had to do this, but it worked:

**Solution: Uninstall the Chrome app, then reinstall it:**

1. First, go to here *in Chrome on your computer* (`chrome://history/syncedTabs`) and open up *on your computer* any tabs (that you see open on your phone device) that you'd like to send back to your phone later to essentially "keep open".
2. *From your phone*: Uninstall the Chrome app from your phone: Play Store --\> click 3 horizontal bars in top-left (sometimes called the "hamburger icon") --\> "My Games and Applications" ("Mes jeux et applications" in French) --\> "Installed Applications" ("Applications installées") tab --\> scroll down to Chrome and tap on it --\> click the "Uninstall" ("Désinstaller") button.
3. When done, reinstall it. This seems to have worked. All tabs are now closed in Chrome, and it shows I have `1` tab open!
4. *From your computer*: "Restore" the few tabs you wanted to keep open by simply right-clicking the tabs on your computer you wanted to send back to your phone, and selecting "Send to your devices" --\> "Google phone". On your phone, a notification will pop up. Click it to open the new tab in Chrome. You have to do this once per tab you'd like back open on your phone. I did this for about 10 of my 494 tabs I had open on my phone. So, now I'm back to 10 open tabs on my phone.

How dumb I had to uninstall the entire app to close all the tabs at once. ~~***GOOGLE/CHROME, PLEASE FIX THIS! MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE!***~~ Update: do this instead. See the comments under that answer too (*nevermind, an admin deleted them--just be sure to click the number of open tabs icon BEFORE clicking the 3 dots icon is all, as doing that step first causes the 3 dots menu to change*).

---

Note that prior to uninstalling the Chrome app on the phone I also cleared all of its cache and storage data on the phone. This did NOT close all the tabs by itself. The complete "Uninstall" process was required. I'm not sure if doing these two things prior to uninstalling the app had any effect on the uninstall/reinstall process, but in case it did, I'm mentioning it here. I don't think it did.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: chrome-for-android, browser-tabs
---


# Question
Title: Get Android 7 do not disturb features back?
Do not disturb in Android 8 is now awful

1. No way to tell it to Do Not Disturb for an hour
2. No way to tell it to turn off DND after an alarm goes off (unless you specify a rule sets your phone to DND at a specific time every single night)

Any way to get the DND of Android 7 back? I used these features all the time. I have a Pixel XL

# Answer
I have the same options on my Nexus 6P as I did on Nougat however, they are accessed slightly differently. If you click the 'Do not disturb' text in the notification panel you should see the options you're after. I get the 1 hour option and (when within 12 hours of an alarm) the option to turn off at next alarm.

This article on Ars Technica demonstrates a few other changes to the quick settings pane (see image below too).
> 7 votes

# Answer
Found an app called Timed Silent, which takes care of part 1. Also I just noticed that you can snooze notifications in Google Hangouts (shutting Hangouts up is mostly what I used the timed DND for). So that takes care of part 1
> 0 votes

# Answer
On Android 11 this is still an issue. A long click on DND icon will open up a settings dialog. click Advanced -\> Duration for quick settings -\> Ask every time.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 8.0-oreo, do-not-disturb
---


# Question
Title: Utilizing an old Android as a security camera and saving footage to HDD
I would like to create a small security camera network utilizing devices I already have, namely Android phones. All phones can have a constant sources of charge, as well as be attached to my wifi network, which has a custom NAS attached. I understand there are already apps that will stream to a Google Drive, however my lack of bandwidth makes this quite unappealing. Are there any apps that will allow me to do this that I haven't found, or are there any recommendations for creating an application that will allow me to do this.

# Answer
> 2 votes
You could try using IP Webcam, installing the computer driver on a computer on a LAN, and then using PC webcam software that points at your NAS. Not sure on how to write directly though. If your NAS allows you to host an FTP server from it, however, you could write directly.

On the topic of FTP, you could use Filezilla Server on a Windows computer, and point it at your NAS, if you didn't want as much overhead, although if you are usiing the lite version you will get a watermark in this mode.

---
Tags: security, camera
---


# Question
Title: Latency spikes regularly spaced on a OnePlus5 phone, reproducible on both ATT & TMobile
I'm seeing latency spikes consistently spaced. I'm using packetlosstest.com to check latency (also experiencing the issue with real-time apps). Normal latency is ~100ms, at regular intervals I experience latency spikes from 2-5x (200-500ms latency).

I have not noticed this problem before today, the most recent change is that I added a 2nd ATT SIM, so I now have two SIM cards (ATT & TMobile). I experience the same result on both networks. A restart of the phone made no difference.

Since I can reproduce the problem on two networks, the problem seems likely to originate on the phone. Is this familiar to anyone?

The results of the latency test are shown in the accompanying image.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Root cause identified: Having two sims in the phone causes the problem. When I removed the 2nd sim, no reboot even needed, the problem disappeared. Wow OnePlus, wow.

---
Tags: networking, internet, mobile-network
---


# Question
Title: Unable to communicate to a local WiFi with mobile data enabled
I'm developing an app that should work on a private WiFi network without Internet access. It's a controller for an interactive digital sculpture. The IP address of the server it should talk to on the private network is hardwired into the app.

I found that the app is unable to talk to the server on the WiFi as long as mobile data is enabled. As soon as I turn it off, everything works as expected. I guess for some reason it still tries to contact the server on the mobile data interface.

Here's the kernel IP routing table when both the WiFi and the mobile data is connected and the app doesn't work:

```
10.229.237.220/30 dev rmnet_data0 proto kernel scope link src 10.229.237.221
192.168.26.0/24 dev wlan0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.26.102

```

With mobile data disabled and the app working correctly:

```
192.168.26.0/24 dev wlan0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.26.102

```

This seems all correct to me.

Are there any special settings (default gateway, nameserver, etc) I need to add to my network configuration so that the traffic from the app is routed to the WiFi interface? Any other ideas why it's not communicating with the server?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Android has an option to switch to cellular data if the wifi connection is low speed/signal. I suspect that the same mechanism triggers when the WiFi network does not have a default gateway defined, so all outgoing connections by default choose the source IP corresponding to the cellular interface.

To ensure you can talk to WiFi hosts where there is no internet connectivity, first query for the WiFi IP address then use it explicitly as the source IP in the app.

If you leave it default, ougoing connections would happen with the cellular IP address which then would go to the cellular gateway.

Alternatively, if you can root the device, you can then copy the tcpdump binary and capture the traffic over the WiFi and cellular interface to confirm the source IP of packets sent by your app. Instructions for this fall out of this question scope but here is a good how to: https://www.andreafortuna.org/2018/05/28/how-to-install-and-run-tcpdump-on-android-devices/

---
Tags: wi-fi, mobile-data
---


# Question
Title: The phone is stuck in download mode and gives error verifying vbmeta image. The device is a205f samsung
The phone had magisk pre installed and I tried to flash a stock rom and after that I manually locked the bootloader from the download mode. Phone is stuck on download mode, odin unable to flash any firmware. It just gives re partition fail error. Device is A205F. Please help?

# Answer
> 1 votes
you should extract ap file and out recovery.img.lz4 and change it to recovery.img.tar,at first flash pit file then flash recovery.img.tar (uncheck reboot) then go to recovery and reset factory your device. it works for me.

---
Tags: samsung, odin, magisk
---


# Question
Title: Android 11 update for Samsung Galaxy S10 devices
When will an update come to Android 11 for Samsung Galaxy S10 devices?

Currently Android 10 is installed.

# Answer
> 0 votes
The update is currently in preview on this devices. The update is planned starting in January 2021 (this month)\_ and will be the second update of the OS.

---
Tags: updates, samsung-galaxy-s-10, android-11
---


title: How to list my recently updated apps

text:
# Question
Title: How to list my recently updated apps
I would like to be able to see a list of my apps sorted by the date the app was last updated. Descending order is preferred, but honestly I'll take anything.

One use case: Earlier today I had two apps show they needed an update. Neither was one that I use daily, but both were important enough to me that I knew I wanted to update. Unfortunately, my phone crashed shortly after the update and thus the notifications are gone. I cannot for the life of me remember what both apps were. (I blame my advancing age. I remembered one of them.) I know I wanted to check out the changes, but since I've no idea what app it was, I don't know where to look.

I *could* open up every one of my apps in the Play Store and look at the updated date, but I've get well over two hundred apps on here and that is impractical.

Do you have a technique or know of an app that would help me?

# Answer
> 7 votes
As of version 4.3.10, the Google Play Store now has a "Recently updated" section under "My apps", which is ultimately what I wanted.

# Answer
> 2 votes
You could try Elixir 2.

If you go to `applications`, you could sort it by update time.

Elixier screenshot (click image for larger variant)

# Answer
> 1 votes
List My Apps does this. Though you might need some script-fu to sort the output by date.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Since most of the answers here seem partial or outdated, I suggest to try Total Commander app - where you can find the `Installed Apps` section, and order it by date:

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


title: Apps won't close on Huawei MediaPad M5

text:
# Question
Title: Apps won't close on Huawei MediaPad M5
Usually on Android, there is a button to show what apps are running the background - this isn't a list of system processes (nor system apps), but user started applications (games). After we press the button to see the list of apps, there is often a button which closes all open apps. This should be familiar to everyone who uses Android!

The problem I have is, my daughter's Hawaei MediaPad running Android Version 8.0.0 doesn't persist the close. When we press the square button, we can see all running apps. If we close each individually or one at a time, return to the home page and then press the square button again, all the apps remain.

I tried with an app called Advanced Task Killer from the Play Store. By clicking boost (which means close apps), a progress bar was displayed showing it was killing each task, but again as soon as I open the list of running apps, instead of seeing an empty list which is what I expected, I see the same list of applications.

The only thing that kills the list is a restart of the machine.

Is there anything we're doing wrong?

**Update**

I've played with this tablet a little more. Some times when I choose to kill all, they all disappear. If I return to the list, it remains empty (great). if I start another app and return to the list, instead of having only that recent app, it is listing all of them!

When I kill the apps, it sometimes shows a message showing how much memory I've freed up.

I also should point out, this machine is my daughters and as such has Family Link. I'm not sure if that has made any impact.

**Edit**

When I say it still running, I mean, with state. If it were a list of recently used apps, then when I clicked on one, I'd expect the application to start (restart). In this case, the application is able to resume.

For example, I open a game and get half way through level 1. I then press the square icon to show all running apps, click the bin icon to shut all running apps. Now, I press the square button again and I can see the list of the recently closed apps. I click on the game, and it resumes from half way through level 1

The game:

All running apps and the option to close all

All apps have cleared (apparently)

Press the square button again and see the apps are still running

Click the game and note the game is still in progress

(sorry, with a 2mb limit, I can't upload a 7mb animated gif showing the issue in an animation)

**Edit 2**

Force close does what I expect it to do. It makes the app close. Even though it still appears in the background tasks (I'd guess that's expected), when I click on the app from the list of background tasks, the app starts from the "beginning", it does not resume. This means, I have a work around but this is not ideal.

# Answer
The applications that are available on the Play Store will not kill Apps as they use the permission GET\_TASK which is deprecated from API 26 (Android 5.0) and there is no equivalent for recent Android versions unless if it's a system App (came installed with the phone not from the Play Store).

The solutions to kill the background app is to use an app that came with Huawei system or simply use developers options which can let you kill the background services and processes.

For the second solution, please follow the steps bellow:

1. Go to Settings \> System \> About phone on your phone.
2. Keep tapping Build number until the message "You are already a developer" is displayed.
3. Go to Settings \> System \> Developer options \> Running services.

You can find a list of third party apps running services. You can click on the App that you want to kill then select "Stop" this will definitely kill the app until you open it again. If the wanted App does not appear in the list you can click on "SHOW CACHED PROCESS" (Top right corner which is not recommended unless you know what are you doing) and it will list all the services and processes.

References:
> 0 votes

---
Tags: applications
---


title: Motorola Z Play having unusable screen

text:
# Question
Title: Motorola Z Play having unusable screen
I dropped by Moto Z play a few days ago, and when i dropped it, the touchscreen just stopped. I can see everything that is happening on the screen, like the time, notifications and other things on the lock screen, but the touchscreen, as well as the fingerprint reader, is dead. I have tried accessing my data in multiple ways, but nothing has worked. If anyone can help, please i would appreciate it.

Thanks in advance, and regards.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I found out that if i get a dongle, and attach the dongle to the USB-C, and attach a mouse to that dongle, then i can operate the phone a bit hard, but it works!!

---
Tags: touchscreen, broken-screen, motorola
---


# Question
Title: Prevent any Android app from changing WiFi state
At some point in the last year I noticed that my Android device (HTC 10, Android 8.0.0) WiFi would turn on even when I had it turned off. I found out there is a permission called `CHANGE_WIFI_STATE`, which allows apps to enable/disable WiFi on my device.

I don't want this to happen. I want to be in full control of the WiFi state, for several reasons including the desire to avoid using bad WiFi without forgetting the access point name and key.

Is there **any** way I can achieve this without uninstalling the guilty apps? Ideally, I'd like to revoke access to the `CHANGE_WIFI_STATE` permission for all apps present and future, but I would be OK with doing it per-app too.

# Answer
> 1 votes
You can use Android's native permission manager (appops) to debar apps from using that permission. While you can use appops command using adb, it can become a pain because you need a PC to get that job done, unless you have root access. As an alternative, there are third-party GUI frontends for appops in Play Store, of which, I use App Ops - Permission Manager. It can work with both rooted and non-rooted phone, although, it would still be relatively painful in non-rooted mode.

The app shows tutorial at initial startup, to setup the mode to grant it the requisite privilege. After that, you just find your app in the list, and toggle that permission listed with the title "Connect and Disconnect from Wi-Fi".

Under App Ops app's settings, you can setup a template (allowing or debarring a permission) which would apply on all the newly installed apps.

# Answer
> 1 votes
The possible problem might be that the protection level of permission became lower. The category of CHANGE\_WIFI\_STATE permission moved from "Dangerous" to "Normal". The link for Google Git. This means that permission to change the state of WIFI is granted automatically to application, and app doesn't need to ask for permission during running time to turn it on or off.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Go to settings -\> permissions -\> modify system settings and disable all apps' access to the same.

In your device you might find this setting at slightly different location.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Although you mentioned using Android 8 *(You can get unofficial LineageOS on your HTC 10 device - at the expensive cost of failing SafetyNet verification - so you can choose android 9, 10 and even 11)*, the following applies on Android 9 and up:

Since Android 9, the setting for allowing or denying apps access to change wifi state is found under: **Settings** \> **Apps & Notifications** \> **Special app access** \> **Wi-Fi control**.

You would have to deny access one by one, manually.

---
Tags: wi-fi, permissions
---


title: Redmi note 9 brick

text:
# Question
Title: Redmi note 9 brick
i tried to install unofficial twrp for redmi note 9. But ended up bricking my phone. -The pc can recognise phone(there is windows sound, every 10 seconds) -Phone is not showing anything -MiFlashTool v1/v2 cannot see my phone, i used v2 to turn into fastboot but later couldnt reinstall global rom. I just need to get into fastboot so I will install official rom, but I need to turn fastboot from computer

# Answer
According to xda-developers.com the Unofficial TWRP works only for Redmi Note 9 (merlin) without NFC support. If your device is the NFC version you can not use this TWRP.

Furthermore it is necessary to disable AVB before doing any modifications. The flashing instructions are incomplete. Before flashing `magisk_patched.img` or `twrp.img` make sure to flash "empty" vbmeta images

```
fastboot flash --disable-verity --disable-verification vbmeta vbmeta.img
fastboot flash --disable-verity --disable-verification vbmeta_system vbmeta_system.img
fastboot flash --disable-verity --disable-verification vbmeta_vendor vbmeta_vendor.img

```

---

fastboot is relatively safe for flashing, however unlocked bootloader is required. therefore when flashing in *fastboot mode* do **not** flash with flash\_all\_lock.bat, do not try to re-lock bootloader.

---

when flashing in SP Flash tool observe the golden rules:

* **never** use any **scatter file** that does not match your current partition layout/device/ROM
the file name MT6769\_Android\_scatter.txt is no guarantee. even the Redmi Note 9 MT6769V/CZ comes in two different versions 128/64GB.
`fastboot getvar all` may give some partition related information.
WwR MTK v2.51 is the safest way to **create** own scatter file
* always **un**-tick preloader checkbox
we do not want to flash preloader as this is the most imporant area in EMMC\_BOOT responsible for receiving flashing instructions. if the preloader is broken, the only way to recover dead phone is from Engineering mode via KCOLO test point
* flash in ***"Download only"*** mode only
other modes will erase your emmc which destroys secure boot
> 0 votes

---
Tags: xiaomi, redmi
---


title: Wi-Fi hotspot and internet connection

text:
# Question
Title: Wi-Fi hotspot and internet connection
I bought a few days ago a Hauwei P30 lite, which comes with Android 9. In my case, I often connect to the Internet via the mobile network. When I configure the smartphone as a Wi-Fi hotspot (tethering), the smartphone apps are not allowed any more to the Internet (while the external devices exploiting that same hotspot for Internet connection are). In other words, If I use the smartphone as a mobile 4G+ modem, then no Android app has Internet connection. For example, after enabling the hotspot, my laptop connects flawlessly to the Internet through the smartphone hotspot, so I can open for example WhatsApp web, but I cannot use it because the WhatsApp app on the smartphone is not allowed to the Internet. I find that rather silly. My old 3G smartphone with Android 4.2.1 provides a hotspot while at the same time allowing Internet navigation from the smartphone, so that the WhatsApp scenario described above works flawlessly. The new smartphone with a 4G+ modem does not allow that. ???? For the record, I am settled in Italy.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Well, one of the system updates has upgraded my smartphone OS from Android 9 to 10. And that has fixed the problem. Now my smartphone can work flawlessly at the same time as a Wi-Fi hotspot for external devices while maintaining Internet connection for itself. Well done! I hope some of the next system updates will not revert the situation. :-)

# Answer
> 0 votes
from reddit user PiGeek\_314

> Go into Settings \> Wireless & Networks \> Mobile Network \> Access Point Name \> and Delete the "Hotspot APN"

or this for AT&T

* Enable developer mode (Go to Settings -\> System -\> About phone, and click on the build number until the developer mode is enabled).
* Enable USB debugging under Settings -\> System -\> Developer options
* Connect the device with a USB cable to a computer with the Android SDK platform tools installed
* Start an adb shell
In the adb shell, type the following:

```
adb shell
settings put global tether_dun_required 0
settings put global tether_dun_apn "APNDUN,n.ispsn,,,,,,http://mmsc.mobile.att.net,proxy.mobile.att.net,80,310,410,,default,dun,mms,supl,hipri,fota,xcap"

```

another method is to edit `build.prop`

```
net.tethering.noprovisioning=true

```

Note: you need a rooted device for this

I am not sure how this solves your problem with losing internet connection. i have just copy & pasted this. other Huawei users claim this works. basically reason could be that different APNs exist and device (or just the app) is choosing the wrong entry

---
Tags: huawei, wifi-hotspot, tethering
---


# Question
Title: Dangers of modifying a manufacturer firmware
I have a device that uses UBIFS instead of YAFFS, and the system partition is truly read-only. As a result, I can only modify the system partition by completely reflashing it. My device is also not fastboot-friendly, so the only way I can flash it is to modify the manufacturer firmware.

Naturally, I would like to root it this way.

If I modify the manufacturer firmware, **test it in an avd**, and it **WORKS**, and then flash it to my device using stock recovery, what are the risks/chances that something will go wrong?

# Answer
The risks involved by reflashing a firmware are : In case something went wrong during the flashing process (You should have to be very careful while it is flashing tho), The phone will be PERMANENTLY RENDERED unbootable, or you might PREMANENTLY brick your phone. I strongly suggest you to not to try to do anything above if your device has a warranty from it's manufacturer, otherwise, You may confirm trying to attempt that.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: rom-flashing, recovery-mode, stock-rom, rom-update
---


title: Turn off PIP for calls

text:
# Question
Title: Turn off PIP for calls
On my Motorola One and under Android 10, whenever I exit Call app during an active call, a picture-in-picture mode for this app is enabled:

This is super-annoying. How can I disable or turn-off this behavior?

I tried the usual way, i.e. by disabling this feature in Picture-in-picture section of Settings. But there is no sign of Call app there.

Is there any other way to achieve this?

# Answer
> 1 votes
"Display over other apps" is the setting you must look for when some app (in the form of bubble in your case) is floating on other app.

PIP and "Display over other apps" are 2 different settings. Latter is mostly non-obtrusive until user interact with it. PIP in contrast takes up screen space to show something informative. Only common thing is they can be moved anywhere on the screen and can be dismissed by dragging towards bottom of the screen.

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Tags: calls, android-10, motorola
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# Question
Title: Physical Bluetooth Keyboard is not able to access to chats (Whatsapp, Telegram) in Android 10
I have a very strange situation that I have not found yet something in the internet that could lead me to solve this issue.

I paired my physical bluetooth keyboard (**Keychron K2**) with my phone (**Huawei P30 Lite with Android EMUI Version 10.0.0** which I think is Android 10) and I have found the way to control almost everything, but when I access to a chat application like WhatsApp, I am able to select the available chats in the application but when I type Enter to go into selected chat, it does not go to that chat, it highlights the chat like it was selected but not with the intention to go into it...

If I leave the enter pressed, this will show me available options/actions that I could use with that specific chat like delete the conversation, pin message, etc. This behavior occurs also with Telegram.

Is there any body with some hints regarding how I could be able to access to an specific chat selected to start chatting with my keyboard without having to use the native touchscreen control to start using the application?

Thank you!

# Answer
I don't think that is possible with a physical keyboard yet. I tried every key and many combinations too.. failed..
Then i tried remapping the key(one and only relevant function available is select/enter which does not work for selecting chats).. failed again..
I downloaded a physical keyboard helper(nothing helpful in it).. it failed too..

I think you'll have to tap the chats on the phone everytime you want to open any from the app.. OR you can create chat shortcuts on homescreen but that will be too weary adding every contact and messing up your homescreen.

**An efficient solution will be to use a cursor (controlled from keyboard)**
> 0 votes

# Answer
you can use key mapper app (free and open source) to map a bunch of functions, including tapping the screen.

or you can get termux and do everything from CLI. (warning: might be a huge learning curve ahead)

both options are very tech-savy, in exponential quantities, but they mostly work for your case (and mine, i use both).

as i said on the other comment, still looking for the ideal solution (that should be possible) of getting a list of every possible action on screen after pressing some trigger button. something a bit like ctrl+alt+m on termux.

sadly, almost every single app are really not made to work well with keyboard, but luckily a lot of them are simple enough that they do work anyway (like delta chat).
> 0 votes

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Tags: applications, whatsapp-messenger, bluetooth, external-keyboard
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# Question
Title: How to disable SMS notification during phone call?
I call somebody, or somebody calls me, we are talking. Now, during the call I got SMS and I cannot hear anything because the SMS notification is playing.

So how to disable this notification when call is active? Thank you in advance.

*Samsung Galaxy Ace 2, Android 2.3.*

Note: I am interested in setting this once and for good. Not something I have to remember to switch off each time I make/get a call.

# Answer
> 6 votes
Since this is of the Samsung Galaxy family, the following may help you:

On my Galaxy S3, the setting is controlled as 'Alerts on call'.

See: Dialer\Call Settings\Call Alert\Alerts on call - uncheck this and calls will not be interrupted with notifications.

# Answer
> 2 votes
We have the same issue with our Wileyfox Swift running stock Android 7/Nougat.

The default/AOSP messaging app plays the received alert through the earpiece during a call, which with our chosen tone was severely deafening let alone annoying.

It seems the default/AOSP messaging app somehow gets around or ignores the "Override Do Not Disturb" setting as shown in the attached screenshot below.

Depending on your firmware the solution may be to simply to toggle the alert options for the app (which has already been kindly pointed out).

If on the other hand this still does not work - like in our case - then another solution is to disable the AOSP Messaging app and install another one.

If you like to keep things standard then Google Messages is worth a try:- Google Messages

Hope this helps.

(Tap to enlarge)

# Answer
> 1 votes
I have a Note-5 and one must go to Settings/Device/Applications. Then select "Phone" then "Call Alerts" and then set "Notify during calls" to OFF.

# Answer
> 0 votes
For LineageOS 16, I had to go into the Phone app, then Settings -\> Sounds and vibration -\> Enable Do Not Disturb during calls.

The Do Not Disturb settings can be managed from the device settings (just search for 'do not disturb').

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Tags: sms, calls
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title: All apps deleted

text:
# Question
Title: All apps deleted
Please help, I was trying to power on my Android phone, it took longer time than usual but when it eventually Powers on all my third party apps had been deleted but my files are still intact, what caused this and can I recover my phone back?

# Answer
Sounds like you may have booted up in SAFEmode on your Android device. When you boot into SAFEmode all 3rd party apps are organically disabled to allow for more accurate troubleshooting of the device. You will know that you are in SAFEmode by looking at the bottom left corner of the device, If it reads SAFEmode than that would be your issue. In the event that is not the issue please let me know
> 1 votes

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Tags: applications, battery, reboot, delete, tecno-n3
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# Question
Title: Do all android phones store videos with rotational metadata?
Do all android phones store videos with rotational metadata?

For example, I just recorded a video on my 'phone', holding it in portrait, and using the front-facing camera (used the front facing camera so I can easily see what I am recording, with me on the same side of the 'phone' as what I am recording).

```
C:\blah>mediainfo VID_20210106_215520866.mp4
.....
Rotation                                 : 90°
....
C:\blah>

```

There's rotational metadata there so instructing video players to rotate it 90 degrees clockwise for it to be oriented the right way up.

I'd rather a phone that records it the right way without rotational metadata.. so I was wondering if it was phone specific or something to do with Android.

I thought the problem may be unique to my Moto G7 Power, as I asked somebody else that had the same 'phone' and they claimed that they didn't have that with theirs(though I doubt their claim). Then I got another 'phone', an Oppo. And it too did the same thing.

I then ran into this webpage which suggests that it's actually an Android feature.

Do all Android phones place rotational metadata on videos they record with 'phone' in portrait position?

While I normally get that so eg if it were recording a person, then their feet on the right, their head on the left.(hence 90 degrees clockwise rotation required), funnily enough i've also had videos come out oriented 90 degrees the other way and so have rotational metadata of 270 degrees e.g. if it were recording me then my feet on the left my head on the right, requiring and having metadata instructing 270 degrees clockwise / 90 degrees anti-clockwise rotation.

# Answer
> -1 votes
Videos recorded using mobile devices contain a lot of metadata. One piece of such data is the rotation metadata. This data is used by browsers such as Chrome and Safari and by video players like VLC and QuickTime to display the video the way it was shot: portrait or landscape. The rotation metadata is stored as an integer, it represents degrees, and has 4 possible values: 0, 90, 180 and 270. Here are the values for each device orientation for both iOS and Android:

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Tags: video
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# Question
Title: Android 11 supports creation time (crtime/btime) for local folders and files?
is there a way on Android 11 (OnePlus 8T) for file manager to display creation time for local folders and files?

Is there in recent years the support?

Because have an iOS 14 device and use macOS 10.15 devices and the Files app and Finder shows here for local folders and files the creation time (crtime/btime). Just like my KDE neon 5.20 and Linux Mint 20.

Are there any improvements in mtp protocol under Android 11, because so far I have heard that it is very sluggish from the user's point of view. For example, if a user copies a large file to computer (Windows 10) and at the same time copies another large file in parallel to computer, it does not work. It comes a message that you have to wait for the first copy process.

# Answer
This problem exists since the first Android version. I can confirm on Android 11 there is no such support. I asked Google a few years ago why they can't add it. I think it is a problem with Android system design. On Linux itself it is possible and there are already Linux distributions that show it by default in their file managers. By the end of 2021, all Linux distributions with GNOME (Nautilus) should display it. That means Ubuntu will soon display created date by default.

Android needs root rights or something similar for this to work (without root) and Google developers would have to do a lot of customization in Android system to use Linux kernel functions for user space programs. I think in the future Android system will support this and Google developers will add it. Maybe in Android 12 or Android 13.

Windows XP (2001) for example supports created date in Windows File Explorer for a long time and displays it by default e.g. by right click action on a file.

Just like Apple desktop systems. I know myself the System 6 (Macintosh System Software 6) from year 1988 the "Finder" (standard file manager on Mac devices) supports created date. Most likely the predecessor version of System 6 already support this.

Since iOS 11 (2017) the Files app has been integrated and shows created date for files and folders by default for users.

If you want a Linux smartphone that already supports created date then you can use a PinePhone. It uses Plasma Mobile (mobile version of the KDE Plasma Desktop) and since 2019, Dolphin (standard file manager of KDE) shows the created date.
> 1 votes

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Tags: file-system, file-transfer, file-management, mtp
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