# Question
Title: How to limit/throttle WiFi data speed on my Android device?
I am testing an Android application and need to understand how does the app behave on different internet speeds. An example of test case is: 1. set the maximum bandwidth to 20kbps and check how it works; 2. set the maximum bandwidth to 50kbps and check how it works... etc.

The problem is - I have no idea how to limit the traffic.

I am using WiFi and Charles Proxy. I use Charles to check how does the app reacts. Unfortunately, I am unable to throttle using Charles - for some reason Charles limits do not affect my app at all.

Anyway, can somebody assist me with this problem? Do you have any ideas on how to limit the bandwidth?

Thanks in advance.

# Answer
**FOR ROOTED DEVICE** (copied from Mansour's answer on this post)

> Checkout BradyBound. It's a system wide download speed shaper/limiter. Few things to note:
>
> * The app requires root access.
> * It works by dropping packets using `iptables`. This wastes some traffic - how much depends on the type of traffic (e.g. long running download, web browsing).
> * Rate measurement is done by number of packets instead of bytes so the speed limit won't be accurate.
> * This only limits TCP traffic (it makes no sense to drop UDP packets).
>
> Note also that I'm the author of this app.

Edit #1:

**Explanation:**

Data is divided into small parts called **Packets** to be transmitted across the network.

It can be transmitted using **TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)** or **UDP (User Datagram Protocol)**

Let's take an example:

Suppose you are the server and I am the host and I want to download a file, so first I will send you a request for it, after which you will process, and instead of sending the whole file, you will divide the large file in small packets.

Now each packet that has been created will contain information like source IP (yours) and destination IP (mine), along with some additional data (sequence no., data size, time to live, etc.)

You will send those packets and they can reach me via **routers.** It is not necessary that all the packets have to come to me via the same route. They can come to me via different available routes.

When they reach me, TCP/UDP comes in picture.

If you have used TCP for transmission, when a packet reaches me, an acknowledgement stating that the packet reached me is sent back to you.

This feature is lacking in UDP. If you have used UDP, unlike TCP, it doesn't send acknowledgements to you. That means you, as a server, have no idea whether packets are reaching me or not. In case it is lost in transmission, it is lost forever.

**Dropping Packets**

Dropping packets means discarding packets. So basically, when I will drop the packet sent by you, an acknowledgement will be sent to you (in the case of TCP) that the packet was lost in transmission, so you will have to send it again.

In this way, it wastes traffic and limits speed at the same time I get the whole file.

If I will drop UDP packets, I will not receive the whole file. That's the reason the app doesn't control UDP traffic.

And yes, root privilege is a must, since iptable can be accessed with superuser access only.
> 9 votes

# Answer
If you are under mac os x you can use "Network Link Conditioner".

You can install it in xcode from :

Xcode \> Open Developer Tool \> More Developer Tools

It will open a ressources web page from apple (you may need to login). In the resources list, search for the latest "Hardware IO Tools" and download it. Then install "Network Link Conditioner", it will add an option in your mac preference pane.

The idea is to get your mac on ethernet. Share its connection on wifi. Limit the traffic with Network Link Conditionner. And connect your android on your mac wifi.

edit : it seems squid-cache support network throttling. http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Bandwidth-Limiting-HOWTO/index.html
> 0 votes

# Answer
You can control the bandwidth with your router (if it supports it).
> 0 votes

---
Tags: wi-fi, data-monitoring, bandwidth
---


# Question
Title: Do I need CFs auto root If I can install TWRP recovery?
I am about to try and root my Samsung galaxy note 4 and install TWRP recovery. I want to avoid any conflicting issues so I would like to know If I need to use CFs auto root first and then install TWRP recovery, or if I can just install TWRP recovery and root with that. Also is v3.10.0 the latest Odin version?

Also, will rooting and installing a custom recovery affect any phone features?

# Answer
Rooting and installing a recovery are two entirely different processes which do not interfere with each other. If you can install a recovery without rooting (as far as I know, Odin can do this), I would suggest that you try that and then install a rooting .zip from that recovery, I highly suggest koush's Superuser, the zip can be downloaded from its Google Play page. That way you aren't relying on an exploit to obtain root access.
> 1 votes

# Answer
First install CF Auto-Root and **then** TWRP recovery because CF Auto-Root flashes your stock recovery after rooting.

Odin 3.10.0 seems to be the latest (the last time I flashed with version 3.09).
Rooting may or may not be recognized by some banking or enterprise software as a malicious firmware modification and will make them unable to run, but luckily there are Xposed modules like RootCloak that will hide root from those apps.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: twrp, samsung-galaxy-note-4
---


# Question
Title: Unsafe certificate protection in Android?
Maybe I'm wrong. If so, please let me know.

Here is my question. I've followed the instructions here and installed my personal certificate stored in a pfx file (PKCS#12) in my Google Nexus (ICS 4.0.4). A little problem here is that it is not listed in "User" tab in "Credentials". It works anyway.

But the big problem IMHO, is the way Android protects your certificates by default. It only requests the user to set a pattern, PIN, or password to unlock the screen. I'm missing a password-protected access to my credentials like IE does in Windows for instance every time your certificate is requested by a site.

Is there a method to enhance security of your certificates in ICS?

Thank you

# Answer
> 0 votes
Not sure if it helps any, but have you seen CACertMan (also on GitHub) yet?

---
Tags: security
---


title: Nexus - no command - after OTA update

text:
# Question
Title: Nexus - no command - after OTA update
I have an Nexus 10 device that recently offered the 5.0.1 OTA update. After the update the device would boot loop to a screen with a dead robot with an exclamation point and the message 'no command' underneath. How to recover?

# Answer
> 0 votes
### Flying dots

After trying factory reset and wiping the cache which didn't work. I finally did an update using the factory images where I would get stuck at the boot animation of flying dots. However, at this point I noticed I never performed the unlock step because the bootloader was already unlocked.

### How to determine lock status of the boot loader?

The buttons on the device are a bit counter-intuitive in terms of Up and Down volume, but by turning off the device and then holding down the `power + volume up + volume down` the device will boot into a menu that allows you to toggle using volume up and down Start, Recovery mode, and provides a list of information about the device including bootloader status. It said the bootloader was unlocked. I assume the previous owner unlocked the bootloader because I don't remember unlocking it.

To finally get the system to boot I had to re-lock the bootloader using the platform-tools provided in the Android SDK.

```
fastboot oem lock

```

Then it immediately started. I guess they are taking security more seriously and requiring the bootloader to be locked, but it would be nice if they would tell you.

---
Tags: 5.0-lollipop
---


title: Camera on Galaxy Note 3 is sideways!

text:
# Question
Title: Camera on Galaxy Note 3 is sideways!
I don't know what happens but the camera is sideways. No matter the way I hold the phone, it will always show the image and the resulting photo sideways. If I point to the computer screen right now for example, it will show me the basis of the screen pointed to the direction where the wall actually is

# Answer
> 3 votes
I had problems on my Samsung Note 2. Photos were being taken where I had to go into gallery and rotate right or left for image too be correct.

Just messed around with settings and fixed it by re-calibrating horizontal and vertical (I think). Hope this works for some of you.

# Answer
> 2 votes
There are 3 potential work arounds to try first:

* 1) Ensure screen rotate is turned on in the quick settings. Number 4 on pic below.

* 2) Reset your camera.

```
a) Open Camera

b) Click the Menu botton on the device

c) Click the third tab (with the cog on it)

d) Click 'Reset'

```

It is the third tab above. Click this guy:

* 3) Download a third party camera.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I had the same problem on my note 2. I put my phone in safe mode and here's the steps for that:

1. Power off the phone
2. then power it back on holding down the `volume down` button and the `power` button
3. once you see the samsung screen come on let go off the `power` button but continue to hold the `volume down` button.
4. When the phone boots back up then it should say "safe mode" in the bottom left corner.
5. When in safe mode check your camera and see if it works properly; if it does, the problem is an recently downloaded app.
6. Now take the battery out and power phone back up as usual to take it out of safe mode and check camera again; it should have reverted back to its normal settings. If not then you need to delete some apps and try to see what conflicting with your camera.

Good Luck it worked for me!!!

---
Tags: camera, samsung-galaxy-note-3
---


# Question
Title: My Android phone is completely reset, whats the best way to recover the deleted data?
A person at a phone store reset all the contents of my Motorola Moto G Android phone, and I did not give them permission to do so. I had many important pictures and videos, but the even more important thing were the audio recordings I had created.

Is there ANY WAY to recover this data? I know it was reset, but I'm very stressed and would appreciate a pointer of a way to effectively recover some or all of the data without comprising it in the process. I am not using the phone, and had shut it off entirely. I'm aware that the more you use it, the more it overwrites the data. I NEVER had a backup, dumb, I know.

Thank you folks!

\**Edit: I recovered most of my photos and videos just now through Google+, most of it was synced! But how can I recover my voice recordings ? That's what's most important to me. I used this app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andrwq.recorder&hl=en

Unfortunately, my phone model never supported SD cards, so there's nothing there.

# Answer
There isn't an easy way, but still, it might be possible. The keyword to it is File carving (find some more links on this topic in our data-recovery tag-wiki).

**Make sure to not have any modifications/changes going on on your device, or at least as few as possible!** Each change (written file etc.) lowers your chances of a successful recovery.

A crucial pre-condition to this is either a rooted device, or a custom recovery.

* With a custom recovery: Take a backup
* With a rooted device: create images from your storage

For manual image creation, you'd first need to figure where the partitions are that you need. Your data is usually stored in two places: the `/data` partition, and your SD card(s). Let's find where they are:

* connect to your device via (follow up to the adb tag-wiki for details if you're not familiar with this) using `adb shell`
* execute the `mount` command
* in the output, look for the corresponding entries to `/data` and your SD cards
* take a note of the corresponding device entries (usually starting with `/dev/`)

At this point it would be helpful to have an empty *external* SD card:

* still connected via `adb shell`, get root access by executing `su`
* run `dd if=<data-dev> of=/sdcard/data.img` (replacing `<data-dev>` with the device of your `/data` partition), repeat similarly for your internal SD card
* exit `adb shell` (simply type `exit` and hit the return key)
* pull the files to your computer using `adb pull /sdcard/data.img data.img`, or connect the card using a card-reader to access them directly from your computer

If you don't have an external SD card, but have a Linux computer available (I cannot say whether it works on Windows as well, but it should at least on a Mac), you can instead try the following:

`adb shell "stty raw; cat <data-dev>" > data.img`

This would create the image files directly on your computer.

Now, once you've got the image files on your computer, you can examine their contents using some forensics software. TestDisk would be a suitable tool, and is available for free, plus runs on most major systems. For details on this, you might wish to check One Way to Use a Linux Computer to Recover Files from an Android Device. The *TestDisk* Wiki (see previous link) also includes several articles on how to recover deleted files.
> 7 votes

---
Tags: factory-reset, data-recovery, motorola-moto-g
---


title: Samsung Kids Mode - rewrap the presents

text:
# Question
Title: Samsung Kids Mode - rewrap the presents
I didn't spot an option for this in a quick review, but my 3 year old would like for all the apps and/or all the videos in the Kids Mode application to get re-wrapped so she can open them again.

# Answer
> 1 votes
1. Go to Parental control (Adult+child icon next to open door exit icon)
2. Tap Activity at top and tap Media
3. Remove items you wish to 're-wrap'
4. Go back to the Kids mode (back arrow) and visit the videos app
5. Go back to Parental control and re-add the media.

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


# Question
Title: How to change/remove icons on LG lock screen?
I have `LG Optimus L5` with `Android 4.0.3`. When `screen is locked` there are four icons (Phone, Messaging, E-mail, Camera) in the bottom of it. If I tap on it and slide, screen unlocks and the tapped app is launched.

I know there are apps for customizing lock screen but I couldn't find any free to help me with my LG.

How can I remove or change this icons on my LG device?

# Answer
I found the solution by myself. In **Settings \> Lock Screen** you can configure your Lock Screen. There are options to change the way screen is unlocked, to change wallpaper and to change widget and shortcuts.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Unlock the screen. On the bottom left there should be a symbol with three horizontal lines.Touch that. Go to Lock Screen.Tap Shortcuts. The four options should appear. Touch which app you want to remove, the list of apps will come up, scroll until you find the app you want to use and tap on it. Do the same for other apps to remove and add. When finished press save. You can also remove the apps by tapping Delete Shortcut at the very top of the apps list
> 1 votes

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, lock-screens, customization, lg-optimus-l5
---


# Question
Title: How do I change the default SMS application on my HTC Hero?
I recently got completely fed up with the built in Messages (SMS) application and switched it out for Chomp (also looking at Handcent, haven't decided on one yet). I want to use the "Messages" icon though, as well as treat the new app as the default SMS program. I know about "Manage Applications" and clicking the "Clear Defaults" button for the app. But the "Clear Defaults" is disabled for the Messages app and it says that no defaults are set. I read on someone else's post that their AT&T provider had somehow hardcoded this as the default app and they couldn't change it. So...

Can they really do that? Is that why my HTC Hero doesn't let me clear the default? Is there a way around that?

# Answer
> 4 votes
One word. Root. I would suggest rooting as a solution to your problem. Here is documentation for how to root your CDMA Hero: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=581577

# Answer
> 2 votes
At least one partial solution for those who can't root and want to use another messaging app.

Go to the Settings of the stock messaging app and turn off notifications, now only the messaging app will notify you when a new text message arrives.

Without rooting (and most likely removing the messaging app) there's no way to replace the stock one if it's protected, but at least with this solution, it will stop bugging you!

# Answer
> 1 votes
I came across an application that eases this pain and does the required superbly. The app is called Default App Manager. You can clear you previous defaults as well as set new ones. Probably this could be useful.

# Answer
> 1 votes
The default applications that you can clear in the "Manage Applications" view are for URIs (URLs, file extensions, ...) only. **You can not set the default SMS Application by this.** There is no way to set something like the default SMS application on Android explicitly.

**There are three approaches to switch away from the stock SMS app to another one:**

1. Install the alternative SMS app and disable notifications in the stock app. Little Drawback: The SMS messages will still appear in the stock app.
2. At least Handcent and GoSMS provide a feature that blocks "duplicate messages", which prevents the SMS from show up as "duplicate" in the stock app inbox. Drawback: Other Apps, that are also listing for incoming SMS messages, e.g. because they trigger some action when magic word appears in the SMS, *won't work either*.
3. Root your phone, uninstall the stock SMS app and install another one.

I suggest you go with the first option.

Technical Background: As I sad before, you can not set the default SMS application on Android. That is because incoming SMS are propagated by the system with an so called intent broadcast. Every app can register for this SMS intent. So if you install a second SMS app, both apps, including the stock app, will receive the SMS (via the intent) and put it in their inbox. Apps can also abort the intent broadcast, which is exactly what the "block duplicate messages" option in GoSMS and Handcent does. But then no other app that wants these intents is able to receive them.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I just went into settings in Handcent app and found a setting in thier that made it the default app.

# Answer
> 0 votes
You can simply set it in Handcent and it disables the other one all together. In handcent just click: `menu -> settings -> application settings -> default messaging application`, and set it for both sms and mms. There you go. I think android does not let you unset it because then nothing would be set. It is up to a new application like handcent to set itself as that.

# Answer
> -1 votes
Just simply go settings, applications, manage applications. You then need to scroll down to viber and press clear defaults.

I'm not sure about others phone sets but for htc, its works .

---
Tags: sms, htc-hero, default-applications
---


# Question
Title: Verizon Samsung Galaxy S3...trying to change notification sound
Phone has an annoying notification sound that I cannot get rid of. Want to completely delete off my system if possible. I've gone into settings under Sound and it has a different sound than the one that plays. I have also changed to Apex Launcher and have no idea if that creates a problem. I have gone into the Contacts and also changed the message alert but that hasn't made any difference. Can you please help before I lose my mind any further?

# Answer
Just go to `Settings->Sound & Notifications->Notification Sound` and select `None` or whatever you like.
Samsung's settings application may have renamed some things but in theory that should do it.
If you don't like any notification sound **and** ring tone then you might want to set your ring tone volume to 0.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-3, notifications
---


# Question
Title: MMS (send & recieve) stopped working last month on Moto X
I'm trying to debug an issue with my wife's Moto X: **she sends/receives SMS (individual texts) just fine, but MMS (photos & group texts) fail to send or receive.**

Details

* Moto X (v1) running 4.4.4
* Used to work, and stopped sometime in November
* I've tried switching from Messaging to Messenger to see if it was related to the client app and it made no difference, so I assume the problem is

Any ideas for what to try next? Have you heard of this before? I Googled a bit but couldn't find something quite like this.

Thanks!

# Answer
Aha!

I just saw the answer to this question and it turns out to be the same thing. Somehow she (or our daughter) turned off her Mobile Data. Turning it on fixed the problem!
> 1 votes

---
Tags: mms, moto-x
---


# Question
Title: How do I root a Zte Director..can't seem to find much info on how?
I have found numerous posts on other Zte phones, but only a few (dead ends) on the Zte Director(n850l). From my research, it seems to be (somewhat) comparable to the Fury, but again, I'm not sure... I know enough to (possibly) get myself in trouble, and turn it into a paperweight...so, hoping for "easy" to follow directions (if there are any!) If anyone could help, or even lead me in the right direction, it would be MUCH appreciated! Thanks!!

# Answer
Here is the best thing I have found so far for this phone. http://www.how-to-root.club/mp3-0/zte-director-5470.html
> 0 votes

---
Tags: rooting
---


# Question
Title: Downgrade Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 from KitKat to Jelly Bean
I was using Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 for 6 months and was running on Jelly Bean. After upgrading to KitKat, it is too slow to operate.

Is there any way to downgrade my cell without rooting the phone?

# Answer
The easiest way to downgrade is to use ODIN (or the open source alternative, Heimdall). This describes the basic functionality of the buttons and checkboxes in ODIN.

You need to find the stock version of the firmware for your device. In your case, the you will want to find the JellyBean 4.1.2 version.

* Put the phone in Download Mode.

1. Turn off your phone. Wait a few seconds and then proceed to the next step.
    2. Hold volume down, home and power buttons at the same time.
    3. Keep holding these buttons until the Samsung Logo appears on the display.
    4. Release once you see the Samsung Logo.
    5. Next press volume up key once in order to enter download mode.
* Open ODIN on your PC. Once ODIN is open, you can connect the device via USB. You may need to disconnect from and reconnect it to the computer after this for Odin to see it.
* Set the files that you found that contain the stock firmware. This will be at a minimum, a `.tar` file and may have some others to include like a `.pit` file.
* Once you have that configured, and ODIN sees your device, and you follow any other instructions that you may find where you find the stock firmware, you are now ready to **start** ODIN.

*Disclaimer: Downgrading may solve your problem, for now. You may just get the same update after you downgrade because your device will indicate that you have an outdated version of Android.*

---

ODIN is a great tool. It was one of my favorite tools when I had samsung devices. I wish all manufacturers had a tool like this. I have fixed many devices that I soft bricked with ODIN and in far less time than any other manufacturer.

The best tip I can give when flashing (with ODIN or any method), get information from multiple sources. Read them a couple times, then follow those instructions while you are performing the steps.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 4.4-kitkat, downgrade, samsung-galaxy-grand-2
---


title: LG G3 Host File

text:
# Question
Title: LG G3 Host File
I recently rooted my android LG g3 phone and started experiencing problems with the Google Play Store and was getting errors like 495 and such and have been unable to download any new apps or games. I then went a researched on how to fix this, and found several YouTube videos that suggested deleting all lines in the host file except for "127.0.0.1 local host." I did that but am still unable to download apps. I then researched and removed my Google account and then tried to resign in or whatever, but got errors there like "unable to reach Google server." I finally had to do a factory reset to get my Google account back on, but am still having the same errors in the play store. What should I do? My host file now reads:

```
127.0.0.1 localhost
#127.22.3.134 android.clients.google.com
talk.google.com

```

(That last line starting with the hash tag was an idea from an article I read but didn't seem to help.)

Thanks guys!! Davy

# Answer
The line with the "#" is a comment and isn't doing anything.

The line after that is not formatted correctly.

The format of the `hosts` file is

```
    IPADDRESS    HOSTNAME

```

The point of the `hosts` file is so the device does not have to ask a DNS Server what the IP Address of a host is.

You may be getting that error because it finds the host name in your hosts file, but there is not an IP address to go along with it.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: root-access, lg-g3
---


# Question
Title: How to enable international (roaming) data, but disable international calls?`
While android has some settings as far as disabling roaming completely, I would simply like to disable only calls (due to their expensive nature), and allow MMS/data via roaming - is there any way to do this?

# Answer
You can block the calls, but I dont know if there's a way to disable them.

Avast has one such built in tool to block calls by pattern i.e. wildcard characters. e.g. block all calls with +1800\* ( i.e. block all calls starting with +1800)
> 2 votes

---
Tags: calls, mobile-data, roaming
---


# Question
Title: Phone number shown as unknown in galaxy tab
I have a samsung galaxy tab 2 gt-p3100. My problem is somewhat similar to this issue, but I notice this when I go into my settings: Settings \> About Device \> Status \> My phone number ... it is listed as unknown phone number.

Question is how to set the phone number for my device so that it shows up in the above mentioned path.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Well @RyanConrad yes this device supports voice and video calling I have been using tab2 from a while but like OP said the number doesn't appear over my device too. So, I would say this might be happening because our service provider doesn't supports this service and you can't manually set the phone number over their !

---
Tags: settings, privacy
---


# Question
Title: I want to display the sender's name rather than their contact photo within a text message conversation
I want to display the sender's name rather than their contact photo within a text message conversation. I don't have everyone's contact photograph memorized and I have multiple people with the same contact photograph. My old Android (version 4.0.4) did display the name within the conversation bubble, my new one (version 4.3) displays a small contact photograph next to the conversation bubble instead of the sender's name. One friend has some random cat wearing sunglasses as her contact photo....I certainly don't associate that with her and when she changes her contact photo then there will be some other random thing I don't associate with her. I would prefer to see her name rather than a random cat. For people who don't have a contact photo or for whom I don't have a photo, it displays a generic outline of a head.

# Answer
I recommend installing an alternative SMS app. Once you have it downloaded you won't need any Internet connection. From your comment

> "Apps work great when you have a good connection to 4G, 3G, etc."

you are obviously concerned about Internet speed, but this isn't an issue for an app that sends SMS. It will send and receive your text messages in place of the app you are currently using. *I do not mean an Instant Messaging application like Kik or Whatsapp*, I mean a dedicated SMS app. The current app you use is provided by whoever made the device (e.g. Samsung or HTC or Sony) and it works in its own way.

By way of an example here is a shot of Google Messenger where you can see the name at the top of each conversation.

**Note:** This won't be compatible below Android 4.1 JellyBean so will not suffice in this specific instance, but may be of use to others on the site.

Another good SMS app is Go SMS Pro which is also free on the Play Store.

Google Hangouts can also be used for SMS. There are many great SMS apps on the store, and I'm sure at least one of them will suffice.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: sms
---


# Question
Title: Zooper: How do I change the font in part of a Rich Text element?
I want to make part of a Rich Text item in a Zooper widget a different font. For instance, making the hours on a clock Roboto Black, the colon Roboto, and the minutes Roboto Thin. However, I don't see anything in the BBCode samples that can do this. **Is this possible?**

# Answer
> 1 votes
If it isn't in the BBCode Reference, then it's probably not supported. I would suggest contacting the developer instead.

# Answer
> 1 votes
It can not be done in one Rich Text block. Try making three separate blocks for hours, colon and minutes which are text-aligned right, centre and left respectively and position them next to each other.

---
Tags: app-widgets, customization
---


# Question
Title: Enable Developer Options on Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4
I'm having trouble enabling developer options on my Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 tablet. I click the build number 7 times and get the toast telling me it's enabled, but it doesn't appear in the menu items.

As you can see, developer options are unlocked but it's not listed in the menu items.

**UPDATE:**

So it turns out this is a problem with the latest version of Android on this device, Samsung were not aware of this bug but are now and it will be fixed in the next release!

# Answer
This is a bit of a desperate idea, but try rotating your device between portrait and landscape. It doesn't seem likely, but it's possible somebody at Samsung may have accidentally left out the Developer Options item from the layout or changed something that caused it to remain invisible.

If that doesn't work, try installing an app from the Play Store that acts as a shortcut to developer settings (like this one). It's not the most elegant solution, but it should be enough to get you there.
> 1 votes

# Answer
According to OP who supposedly asked Samsung's Support channels directly,

> So it turns out this is a problem with the latest version of Android on this device, Samsung were not aware of this bug but are now and it will be fixed in the next release!
> 0 votes

---
Tags: settings, samsung
---


title: How to change search engine language?

text:
# Question
Title: How to change search engine language?
I'm a native Hungarian speaker, a few months ago I moved to Germany, and I have a problem with the Google search, I installed the Google chrome on my android device but the default search engine is German(google.de), it's so annoying when I would like to get English results, but instead of that I'm getting Germany results. How can I change that?

# Answer
Set yor language by clicking on 'Einstellungen' or navigate directly to the english localized version: http://www.google.com/preferences?hl=en to set it there (you can switch the 'hl=en' for english to hl=hu for hungarian or any other you want in the link).

Setting your start page is not what you want: This will not affect searches from the widget or from the omnibox (the auto completion, aka instant search).

Edit: Seems like the keyboard language sets the default... switched from en to german and back.
> 3 votes

# Answer
Your search settings are tied to the location where you first installed and ran Chrome. Currently, it's not possible to adjust the language or country domain. This is a known issue in the current version, and we are working on a fix.

As a workaround, go to Android Settings \> Apps \> Chrome \> Clear Data to reset your location. (Note: Enable Sync first to keep your browser settings.)
> 0 votes

---
Tags: languages, google-search
---


title: Can't use smart update (Delta update)

text:
# Question
Title: Can't use smart update (Delta update)
I have questions about delta update:

* Is delta updates world wide?
* What version of Android work with delta updates?
* Are all apps supported for delta updates?
* Is there any work to do to activate this feature?

I ask this question because I can't use this feature and still have to download whole size of app for updates

# Answer
Delta updates work with every *file* that have a valid delta file for it to update. The binary `delta2exe` applies that delta file on your old file and updates it to the newer one.

All you need is that *delta* file which you can get (and is applied directly) with the app *CyanDelta* which works for all **official** releases of *CyanogenMod* and *OmniROM*.

If you have the old and the new file you can easily create your own *delta* file by following the tutorials on how to create *delta* files: eg. for xDelta
> 2 votes

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


# Question
Title: Can't flash recovery via fastboot - tf300t
I have a asus tablet TF300T and I am trying to flash CM11 rom. I am following procedure from official CM pages http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install\_CM\_for\_tf300t, but I am stuck with flashing custom recovery (TWRP or CWM) using fastboot

I have switched to bootloader using

> adb -d reboot-bootloader

I see RCK, android and wipe data icons but no USB icon which should be the one which I need to choose.

I tried to load custom recovery by following commands:

```
$ fastboot erase recovery
erasing 'recovery'...
OKAY [  1.905s]
finished. total time: 1.909s

$ fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.8.3.0-tf300t.blob
sending 'recovery' (6838 KB)...
OKAY [  2.617s]
writing 'recovery'...
FAILED (remote: (InvalidState))
finished. total time: 5.049s

```

or

```
$ fastboot flash recovery recovery-jb.img
sending 'recovery' (5644 KB)...
OKAY [  1.601s]
writing 'recovery'...
FAILED (remote: (InvalidState))
finished. total time: 4.488s

```

Tablet is running on 4.2.1 android with WW\_epad-10.6.1.27.5-20130902 bootloader. It has been unlocked using official Unlock\_v8.apk from asus pages. Am I missing something? Is there any other way, how to flash own recovery?

# Answer
I probably found the cause of this issue. It seems that device was not properly unlocked. Despite Unlocker\_v8.log file which said that device has been unlocked it wasn't.

The unlock app v8 from official asus support pages did not work for me. I tried entire process (link is in my very first message) but tried unlocker v7 which is the second latest.

I passed password verification against my gmail account (it was blocked due to security reasons on gmail server) and device was properly unlocked.

Calling

```
fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.8.3.0-tf300t.blob

```

from fastboot mode was successful without any errors and the rest of procedure also.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: clockworkmod-recovery, fastboot, twrp
---


# Question
Title: "Mediaserver" under Power management / Battery usage (xperia ZL)
I have a Sony Xperia ZL running Android 4.2.2 . There's a background process named "Mediaserver" which uses most of my battery, while the phone is on standby. If I charge it to 100% and leave it alone, the "Mediaserver" process by itself will account for some 30% of all battery usage after 8 hours or so... Mediaserver manages to have "Keep awake" CONSTANTLY!

I've spent quite a lot of time searching about this, and went around many ideas, including that this excessive battery usage could be caused by some corrupt media (audio/picture/video) file stored on the device. But, despite having flashed several stock ROMs from around the world, without even having any kind of media (or even any app but the stock ones), the problem persists!

I have also tried the apps "Rescan Media Root" and "Mediaserver Killer" from the Play store (of course, I do have root access). For my misfortune, they were not useful.

As a fairly advanced user, who likes to be in control of things, I've tried to find "Mediaserver" under Settings / Apps hoping to stop it but it's not there. I'm believing to have found it under /system/bin/Mediaserver (no extension), but how can I stop it from running all the time? It seems to me that deleting/renaming this file isn't really a good idea.

Ps: I also tried a few Task Managers, but still couldn't find/stop the running process.

Any ideas on this will be appreciated, including possible some more information on how to manage built-in background processes on Android. Anything, really, I don't care if it envolves turning to ADB or running commands from Terminal Emulator.

Thank you everyone!

# Answer
> 1 votes
It could be that it's not a particular file that's corrupt, but the filesystem itself. I've had a similar problem on a Galaxy S3, and the culprit was a filesystem error on the SD card. Removing the SD card and scanning the filesystem for errors from a computer fixed the problem.

# Answer
> 0 votes
The media server application indexes all your media on the phone. Its common that if you transfer media files to your phone that the power consumption of the media server will go up but only for a short period of time. This is necessary, otherwise app's won't be able to find your newly imported media.

But in your case, since you seem to be having troubles with the media server app constantly consuming battery. I think that you may have a/or several corrupt media files in the phone or on your SD card. Causing the media server app to constantly trying to index files.

Just to do a quick test, try to copy all your important media and other files to your computer then delete them from your phone or do a format on your storage memories and check if you still experience this.

If you don't, the problem is as I suspected a broken or corrupt media file. The hard part is to figure out which one.

Source: http://talk.sonymobile.com/

# Answer
> 0 votes
Try to FORCE STOP applications that use your camera such as snapchat and skype. I did and it worked. Good luck!

# Answer
> 0 votes
I have the same problem. (Xperia running 4.4.4) It happened to me when I plugged my phone in to my car USB (ironically to charge the battery). The car system must request a list of media for it to play (I hope it is clever and doesn't ask for photo's too.) From then on my phone started to heat up and my battery started discharging rapidly. This went on for a few hours, long after I had disconnected the phone from the car. Even turning the phone off and restarting it did not clear it. In the end I just looked for running apps, found two processes being run by media. I closed these and the drain stopped. I reckon what is happening is that media keeps trying to handshake with the USB port (or something like that). Some sort of bug in the program keeps it looping when it should close.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I had the same problem on my Samsung Galaxy S5. I deleted LOST.dir and the Android map from my SD card, and it fixed the problem.

---
Tags: 4.2-jelly-bean, battery, media-scanner, sony-xperia
---


title: HTC One M8 Charging Issues

text:
# Question
Title: HTC One M8 Charging Issues
I just wanted to check if my HTC One M8 is working fine, I just got it and it's brand new but the battery runs out in 4 hours of non stop use and mobile data usage and when I charge it, it charges at about 1% every 5-10 minutes, is this normal? And if not how do I fix it?

# Answer
The charging issue may be caused thanks to some app which is running on background and a lot burdens CPU.

```
Try to kill all apps before/while charging to decrease CPU consumption

```

That 4 hours of nonstop usage are normal I think. If you were playing games or something like that you should be happy for 4 hours. :) So answer is: Yes, It's normal.

Look at this guide
> 0 votes

---
Tags: battery, charging, battery-life, htc, htc-one-m8
---


title: Internal SD card as default storage

text:
# Question
Title: Internal SD card as default storage
I want to install apps on internal sd card but instead all apps get installed on phone storage which is low in memory

# Answer
> 0 votes
You need root. If you have root, you can use Link2sd app, which switch internal and external storage.

---
Tags: storage
---


# Question
Title: Samsung Galaxy S2 new battery dying too quickly
I'm trying to figure out if the new battery is faulty or if there could be something else causing the battery to charge the whole night and then die after half a day.

If I take out the charger while the phone is off it will keep lighting up and showing the charging battery animation even though it's not charging. If I try to turn it on while it's doing this then it won't turn on unless I put the charger back in.

I'm not sure if there's a way to test if it's the battery or something else though?

# Answer
> 1 votes
I dont know if you overclock you CPU or something like that.. Or if you have custom rom or stock..

> If you have root, you can use battery calibration app which remove batterystats.bin file and your OS generates new one.

**It will help.**

Your phone thinks that you have still the previous battery. Calibrate it.

I had same issue on my Galaxy S3

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-2, battery, charging, battery-life
---


# Question
Title: My new phone came with super user but I didn't root it
I've just got a new Samsung Galaxy Y from Unique Mobiles (http://www.uniquemobiles.com.au). The package was still intact when I picked it up and the "don't accept this if this sticker is broken" sticker was still good as new. Now I'm new to the Android operating system (coming from an iPhone) and when I got my phone it had superuser already on it. I had no idea what it was so I just left it alone. Until a friend from school asked if I had rooted it, I didn't have a clue to what he was saying. He said the only way I can get it is by rooting it. I haven't given my phone to anyone to do anything with it, I've been the only one to use it and I'm 100% sure I haven't rooted it.

Now my big question is **How did it get there?** What does it do? Has anyone else had the same thing happen to them?

I was also just wondering about some more information on superuser, rooting and ways that it could have gotten onto my phone.

# Answer
I'd check with the operator, and see if they root their phones by default (it's a perfectly valid thing to do, it's just that the big operators tend to be control freaks). If they don't know what you are talking about, worry and ask them for help figuring out what's going on.

I'd also go into SuperUser and check it's preferences. Since you don't know how it got there, you don't know what apps might be doing. Turn on it's logging (if not already enabled) and set 'Automatic response' to 'prompt'. That way you'll have a log of what's using it, and you'll be prompted for anything that wants to do things with root access. The idea is that if something asks for root access and you don't know why, just deny it and see what breaks - very few apps should need root access, so it shouldn't come up very often.

If logging is already enabled, then you can review the log to see if any apps have been using root access.
> 2 votes

# Answer
There are several 'root checker' apps on Play Store which do nothing but check to see if your phone is rooted or not.

The simplest thing to do would be to try one (or more) of those and find out whether or not the phone is rooted or if you just have a copy of the SuperSU app on the phone. Just because it is there doesn't necessarily mean your phone is rooted.

If it is that's fine. Root isn't a bad thing. It provides alternatives which are not otherwise available.

The larger carriers don't like it because misuse can make a phone much harder to diagnose if it screws up for some reason, at least for their techs. That's why it tends to be a warranty issue.

If the people who sold you the phone are the ones who rooted it then they shouldn't have any issues with warranty.

If the phone isn't rooted after all then just uninstall the SuperSU app. It isn't doing anything.
> 1 votes

# Answer
It's nice to have a phone rooted (Geeksphone and maybe others do this by default?), you can use firewall apps and Titanium backup, and other system apps.

Superuser lets you restrict what apps can be root.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 2.3-gingerbread, rooting, hardware, samsung-galaxy-y
---


title: Force an SMS to use an Area Code

text:
# Question
Title: Force an SMS to use an Area Code
My brother's phone number requires an area code to send an SMS. I keep getting a message back to use an area code, but I can't find any way to force Android to use it.

I'm using 4.2.2

# Answer
From what I read, there's some caching that makes this difficult, but basically you need to add +1 Area code. Here's the exact steps I do to make sure this works, it's a pain to do it when you run into a number that's bad, but I'm too lazy to preemptively fix up my address book. But maybe I should.

1. Delete all messages related to the person, if it was a phone call, I'd delete the call log as well.
2. Hit your home key button to get to your home screen
3. Hold down your home key button to open a list of running Apps (Some carriers disable this I think)
4. Close all of your apps dealing with contacts, dialing and messaging.
5. Go into system Settings \> Storage (I get there by hitting the menu key from the home screen)
6. Clear all of your cached data, there's a button on the storage screen.
7. Go back in to your contacts and edit the contact you just dialed.
8. Add +1 Area Code before the number (i.e. +1 555 555 5555)
9. Go back and try dialing by looking them up in the Address book

This works for me. There is some caching that happens, which is why I do it in this order. Hope it helps.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: sms, 4.2-jelly-bean
---


# Question
Title: How to get Paste menu to show in textarea on Chrome?
When typing in a textarea on Chrome for Android (such as when asking this question), I can't figure out how to get the Paste menu to show. If I long press, Chrome wants to highlight. Of I double trap, the blue cursor just shows.

Occasionally, the Paste menu does show after repeated taps and holds, but I have found no reproducible actions that get it to show.

This might be a system-wide problem, but Chrome seems to be where I notice it. I'll reply back if I find the issue in other applications.

I'm on Chrome v39 on Android 4.4.4 (Moto Turbo).

# Answer
> 1 votes
As my question indicated, long pressing in a textarea (i.e. the multi line html input box) will highlight the word (or the nearest word/whitespace), and double tapping does what a single tap does: shows the blue cursor button.

The trick I was missing is that once the blue cursor button is showing, I tap this button to get the Paste menu to show. Once the Paste menu is showing, clicking around will move the cursor and the Paste menu.

---
Tags: chrome-for-android, copy-paste
---


# Question
Title: Connect physical Android Wear watch to emulated phone
I have found many tutorials that explain how to pair an emulated Android Wear watch to a physical phone. However, I would like to do the opposite. Is it possible to create a Bluetooth connection from the pc to the watch and then tell ADB to make the phone emulator use this connection?

# Answer
> 2 votes
It seems this is possible by putting the Android OS on a generic emulator like VirtualBox and using a computer Bluetooth LE dongle. For more infos, see here: Bluetooth Low Energy on Android Emulator

# Answer
> 3 votes
You can't is the short answer. The emulator does not support testing at all.

See the Google Developers post on Using the Emulaor

The important line is near the end:

**Emulator Limitations**

The functional limitations of the emulator include:

* No support for placing or receiving actual phone calls. You can simulate phone calls (placed and received) through the emulator console, however.
* No support for USB connections
* No support for device-attached headphones
* No support for determining network connected state
* No support for determining battery charge level and AC charging state
* No support for determining SD card insert/eject
* **No support for Bluetooth**

# Answer
> -1 votes
As far as I know, the Android Wear service on the handset integrates many services to make connecting a watch to the Android handset easy. If you want to connect the watch to your computer, you'll have to replicate this code on the PC. As far as I know, Android Wear is not completely open source, so making that work might be impossible.

---
Tags: bluetooth, android-emulator, android-wear
---


# Question
Title: Camera starts on boot after L upgrade - Nexus 10
I upgraded my wife's nexus 10 to L. Since then the camera app runs in foreground after every boot. (It was fine in kitkat). Why would this be? How do I fix it?

# Answer
When you unlock how are you swiping?

If you swipe to the right, that will open the dialer after you input your pin.

If you swipe to the left, it will open the camera after you input your pin.

If you swipe up, it goes straight to the home screen after you input your pin.

(https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/nexus/TkooKgxhgmg)
> 2 votes

---
Tags: camera, 5.0-lollipop, samsung-nexus-10
---


title: Can't get GPS Lock on HTC M8

text:
# Question
Title: Can't get GPS Lock on HTC M8
Currently I have an HTC M8. I bought the AT&T version and converted over to GPE without a hitch.

Lately I've noticed my GPS apps have not been working. So, I did some research and downloaded GPS ToolBox to try and refresh the A-GPS Data. When loaded, I noticed that it would not lock on to any GPS satellites. It could see 15+ (which i think is pretty decent.)

I did a complete restore after making a backup to no avail. I am not sure what could be the problem, is there a best route in order to troubleshoot this?

I can provide further detail if needed.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I have identified same problem with the stock firmware 4.4.4 even after a factory reset. This seems to be an issue with the stock ROM.

Other info: I contacted HTC. First I was told that my phone would be replaced, now I am told it is a known issue and they are working on it. But I have found very few reports of this problem online. I would think that it would be affecting a lot more people.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Ok I had the same issue! I noticed this occurs when the phone is on the fringe or outside cell tower range in a remote location. The symptoms present, as location reporting becoming very inaccurate and often jumps miles from the actual position. The M8 was purchased mid-December and fully updated to 4.4.4, it seemed there was a serious bug with the way the phone detects and prioritises GPS correlation with respect to other forms of location fixing until....

I did some further research and found the M8 had reverted (after upgrade) to battery saving mode under location sources in settings (some how I had passed over this setting when looking for a fix) which references wifi and cell networks for rough location fixing. After changing the setting to High Accuracy the issue was resolved so to do this choose Settings--\>Location--\>Location Sources--\>Mode & choose from the 3 options and you are good to go.

---
Tags: gps, htc
---


# Question
Title: Does Nexus factory Images work on all android devices other than Nexus devices
Hi I would like to know if the factory images for the Nexus found on this link Nexus images can also be flashed onto other devices other than the nexus devices only maybe other LG phones or SAMSUNG phones

# Answer
Short answer, No.

Nexus images are built for the specific hardware in the device. This is true for all devices, even variants of the same device. For example, You may not be able to install a ROM that is for the LG G3 D855, the international version of the device, on the LG G3 D851, the T-mobile version. Even though the D851 and the D855 are very close to being the exact same device. They are even closer than the D850 (AT&T version) and the D851 are to each other.

Even the slightest hardware differences requires different drivers and configurations. For this reason, it requires the manufacturers (or ROM developer) to build specifically for a device.

See can I flash nexus factory image to any tablet as it is related as well.
> 4 votes

# Answer
No they wont work on devices other than nexus because nexus uses pure android while OEMs uses modified android.
> -1 votes

---
Tags: rom-flashing, stock-android, images
---


title: Updating android version

text:
# Question
Title: Updating android version
I have Gigabyte GSmart Tuku T2 and it runs 4.0.4 version of android. I don't have update software option in my settings. Is there any way to update my android version to jelly bean?

# Answer
I believe the option to look for updates (if the carrier has pushed any) is usually under "About phone". I don't have that phone, but under "About phone" there should be a "System Updates" option.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: updates, operating-system
---


title: lost memo app. data

text:
# Question
Title: lost memo app. data
I was unable to use my password protection on this app. I foolishly stopped and cleared.data under the apps setting thinking it would allow me to access my needed memo. Is there a way to get the memo data back as I seemed to have cleared everything?

# Answer
Unfortunately, if you do not have a backup of your data, no.

Some apps do sync their data with Google Cloud Data services. I am not sure if this app does this as I don't know what app you are talking about specifically. From the looks of it, I would say it doesn't.

You may want to look at something like Google Keep for future use. It will keep memos and such, and the data is sync'd with google services, so clearing the data out you should still be able to access the memos. And you can access from multiple platforms.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-3
---


# Question
Title: How to connect more than 1 device using tcp connection with ADB over wifi
I have 5 devices.No one is rooted. I want to connect 2 devices using USB and 3 using tcp over wifi with ADB at same time. Please help me.

Thanks

# Answer
> 3 votes
You can connect multiple devices via USB. You just need to specify that device when you connect with adb by calling commands like this

```
> adb -s _device_serial_number_ [adb-command]

```

you can also connect multiple devices over wifi by using the following command

```
> adb connect xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:5555

```

this is the IP address and Port of the device that ADB is listening on. Now you setup your connections on your PC.

```
> adb connect 192.168.1.51:5555
> adb connect 192.168.1.52:5555
> adb connect 192.168.1.53:5555

```

check if they are all connected.

```
> adb devices
> 192.168.1.51:5555 device
> 192.168.1.52:5555 device
> 192.168.1.53:5555 device
> _device1_serial device
> _device2_serial device

```

---
Tags: 4.4-kitkat, 5.0-lollipop
---


# Question
Title: XT1064 - 5.0.1 - Rooted - Issues with writing to /sdcard
I just rooted my Moto G 2014 XT1064 running 5.0.1.

I used this article to do the root process: http://maktechblog.com/how-to-unlock-the-bootloader-and-root-the-motorola-moto-g-2nd-gen/#Root Which evolved unlocking the bootloader (which caused data to be erased, of course), installing TWRP, then copying SuperSU.zip over adb, then going back to TWRP recovery and installing SuperSU through TWRP.

Since then, /sdcard seems to be acting like its mounted as read only. I cannot seem to get anything written to it. I've tried to adb push files to /sdcard, but I keep getting the same "Permission denied" error. Taking screenshots don't work either, I get a "Couldn't capture screenshot" error. And I've also noticed the Twitter app is unable to display profile pictures nor pictures inside of tweets.

I've tried numerous things, but I'm stumped.

I've tried to see if its mounted as read only. Via adb shell, and su to get root, and mount to view the mounted file systems. Everything dealing with /sdcard, /storage/emulated/legacy, and /data/media are all mounted as rw (Read & Write, of course).

Remounting them doesn't produce any errors, but has no effect.

The file system for /sdcard seems to be just fine, as I can adb shell in, and use ls /sdcard/, from either regular shell or root. And via TWRP, it was able to successfully save a recovery.log to the /sdcard/ file system, indicating nothing should be preventing things from being written to the file system.

I am also unable to copy files to it via Windows, it tells me "Cannot copy \[file name\] ... The device has either stopped responding or has been disconnected", and OS X still doesn't seem to recognize it at all despite installing drivers from Motorola, which has happened before I rooted it.

What I found particularly weird is that I can download and install apps still. I installed a root checker app just after rooting it, and it worked, and I wanted to screenshot it, and then I noticed the issues happening.

And I've even tried a free app from Google Play which uses SuperUser permissions and attempts to fix the sdcard file system and make it mount right. Still, I am unable to write anything to it.

I've also tried to see if restarting adbd as root via the 'adb root' command would work, only to be disappointed because it doesn't work on production phones, despite my phone already being rooted.

I'm pretty new to android in general, including rooting, but I've definitely gotten a good feel for how it works, when I installed 5.0.1 onto it a few days ago (It came with 4.4.4 and didn't have an OTA update yet). But now I'm really confused about why this happened after I rooted, and after a bunch of googling to find nothing helpful, I have to ask here.

Any suggestions?

Edit: Just to be clear, Settings also reports I have 2.4 GB available space, and the file I am trying to copy over is far less than that.

# Answer
I don't know if it will solve your problem or not, because I never actually had issues "writing" to the sdcard, but apps seem to have problems sometimes. here is what I did.

I am suggesting this method because you said you use TWRP as your recovery.

Get the TWRP manager and open it.

If you don't have the version of BusyBox they use it will complain. I am not sure if it will work with any other version. I have CM12 installed, which comes with busybox, but the TWRP app complains, so I use the one they recommend. The one they use does update busybox (automatically if you have the pro).

It will then tell you that it can't write to the sdcard, and they can fix it. Click "yes" it will take you to the setting of the TWRP manager. Click on the option that says "Apply SD Card patch". This will reboot your phone.

Note that mine is disabled and says "Already applied or not needed". This is because I have ran the patch already.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: root-access, 5.0-lollipop, file-system, file-transfer, internal-sd
---


# Question
Title: Is there a good index of pre-installed apps? If so, where is it?
I have had a few errors on my phone that generate error messages that name the app that failed – but the error message dialog box names the failed app by process name, not by the app's common name.

To clarify with an example, I asked "Unfortunately, the process com.sec.ims.android has stopped." What does this error message mean? a couple of days ago. The error message said that "com.sec.ims.android" was the process that failed, but that name doesn't make it very obvious that it's a pre-installed Samsung app, let alone indicate *what* pre-installed Samsung app it was.

So, is there some list that explains the process names like this?

```
"aaa.*" processes are native parts of Android.
"aaa.xxx.*" processes are native to a particular section of Android.
"mmm.*" processes are installed by this or that phone manufacturer.
"mmm.yyy.*" processes are parts of manufacturer app "yyy".
"ccc.*" processes are installed by this or that cellular carrier.
"ccc.zzz.*" processes are parts of carrier app "zzz".
And so forth.

```

# Answer
These names are created by the developer. Some are by google, some by samsung, some by independent developers.

The may not necessarily have a "grouping" to them. Especially ones like "installed by carrier". The name is called a package name. There is no actual restriction of the package name, except there cannot be two packages with the same name.

To actually compile a list of all the packages, even just the ones installed by Android OS, would be massive, and not maintainable as they can, and likely will, have additions and removals with each release. Not to mention the additional packages that are created by other manufacturers for their hardware. Even different devices, that have essentially the same version of Android, from the same manufacturer, may have additional packages, or less packages.

In most cases, you may be able to tell what the package is for or who created it. But that may not always be the case. Take this package name. `com.facebook.katana` you can obviously tell it is made by facebook, but what is it? Well, it is the actual facebook app. And `com.amazon.venezia`, again, we can tell it is amazon, because they do follow the de facto standard, but they don't have to. This is the name of the package name for their app store.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: processes
---


# Question
Title: Two-finger swipe 'breaks' heads-up notifications on Lollipop?
I have a Nexus 7 (2013) and a Moto X (2014) running Lollipop. On both of these, if I get a heads-up notification (i.e., those that show up on top of the screen when the device is unlocked) and swipe down on it with 2 fingers, it 'breaks' further heads-up notifications:

* I can't tap on them to open the responsible app
* For, e.g., an incoming phone call with 'answer' and 'dismiss' buttons, tapping the buttons does nothing. I can't answer phone calls anymore!

I can still swipe to the side to dismiss the notifications, and they still disappear on their own after a few seconds. I haven't been able to find a way to get the correct behavior back aside from a restart.

Yeah, the obvious workaround is to not two-finger swipe on them, but it's second nature as that same gesture expands notifications in other contexts.

I'm guessing the problem is generic, but I've triggered it on Hangouts and Phone notifications.

Do others experience the same thing? Any known 'fixes' aside from restarting?

# Answer
This is a bug, and it has been reported on AOSP Issue Tracker #79583.

As of current writing, the issue carries on to 5.0.1 Lollipop, reproduced on a Nexus 5. One claimed that the issue has gone on 5.0.1 (but didn't mention the device), and the rest still reported the same issue on it.

If you are interested in the follow-up, you might "star" the issue (I have done it myself).
> 3 votes

# Answer
I also posted this in the bug report thread, but if you are rooted, running `pkill systemui` will fix the problem (until the next time you try to do a two-finger swipe).

I created a small APK that runs this command as root (if your phone isn't rooted, I don't think there's any way to restart systemui): https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=95864024717072257
> 3 votes

---
Tags: notifications, 5.0-lollipop
---


# Question
Title: Media scanner ignores .nomedia on external sd card
I have my music on the external SD card on my phone, and use FolderSync to automatically sync podcast files to the same SD card from my computer. There are .nomedia files in the podcast folders (they are synced from the computer), but not in the music folders. When I start SongBird, both music and podcast files show up. Why? What can I do to fix it?

If I wipe the media cache, SongBird shows no music and no podcasts. When I run rescan, it only says "Scanning /storage/sdcard0" (internal SD) but afterwards the media files on the external card (/storage/sdcard1) show up in SongBird.

I use DoggCatcher with virtual feeds (watched folders) to listen to podcasts.

Phone: Samsung GT-i9000 running CyanogenMod 10.1.2-galaxysmtd

# Answer
This question is a little old, but I will post my findings on it.

This seemed to be a bug in Android 4.0. There was an issue in Media Scanner that it ignored the `.nomedia` file in most instances. If you cleared the Media Scanner cache, it would re-index and then honor the .nomedia file.

According to the bug report, it was fixed with this changeset.
> 3 votes

---
Tags: cyanogenmod, external-sd, media-scanner
---


title: Rooting an unbranded tablet

text:
# Question
Title: Rooting an unbranded tablet
I bought one of these simple cheap Chinese no-name tablets: HDMI, Bluetooth, HD display, dual-core CPU. Unfortunately, it came without official Google apps such as Market and Gmail. I tried different ways to install these apps. Every time I got a Force Close error.

I'm using Ubuntu as my workstation and looked with adb for the device. Found one, good! The command `lsusb` gives me

```
Bus 001 Device 031: ID 18d1:4e22 Google Inc. Nexus S (debug)

```

I've tried obtaining root access on this device, without any success. Information about the hardware is attached as a screenshot, made with Quadrant Benchmark.

I have tried these tools:

* SuperOneClick
* UniversalAndroot
* EasyRootICS

BusyBox is installed but without su. Cannot remount /system, because its not permitted.

Cannot login with adb root, it fails with the following message

```
> adbd cannot run as root in production builds

```

# Answer
> 3 votes
If you don't know what device you have, it's hard to get any assistance.

Without any warranties of success, and without assuming any responsability by what may happen to your device, I can suggest that you visit UnlockRoot, known to work with tons of devices, may became a solution for yours.

The process is done with three steps:

> 1. Your device must be in USB Debugging mode. Turn it on, go to Settings-\> Applications-\> Development and check the box.（Look Here
> 2. Connect your device to your PC, Run UnlockRoot.exe.
> 3. Click "Unlock Root", enjoy!

And it's reported to work quiet well, see last entry labeled "What are the Risks of Rooting?".

The FAQ section is also quiet useful.

## Read the documentation from the website and proceed at your own risk.

# Answer
> 1 votes
You will really struggle finding a way to root a tablet running ICS, especially a 'no brand' one.

I have had the same issue with an Arnova Gbook.

Unfortunately, the answer to your question is that it would be very difficult, and maybe even impossible, unless a *new* ICS root exploit comes out, as Google patched the main one in Android 4.0.

# Answer
> 0 votes
try using VROOT, i've purchased a unbanded phone, (actually locally branded). Using VROOT i was able to get it rooted, now i am looking for a method to install CWM Recovery, and you just gave me a idea.. Thanks and i hope it works for you too !!

---
Tags: rooting, tablet
---


# Question
Title: Cannot use keyboard in Google Chrome app
**Update (20/10/2014)**

After a routine update of installed apps everything seems to be working as expected. I suspect that updating the LG Keyboard app (which came with the phone) did the trick.

**Original**

I have a rooted European LG G3 32 GB on KitKat 4.4.2. Up until a day ago I could happily browse the internet using the Google Chrome app. However now I am able to do everything but typing using the keyboard.

I can press on links, go into settings and use voice control to browse but I cannot type anything. When I press on the search bar, the keyboard shows up as usual but it is completely inresponsive. And if I keep on pressing the keyboard the app freezes. I had to press the back/home buttons over ten times to leave the app.

I have tried clearing both cache and app data, force stopping the app, reboot, uninstall updates and reinstall updates but no joy. Next I tried Chrome Beta, but it's all the same.

I have also tried the stock android browser and Dolphin, those two do work. So my issue seems to be concerning the Google browsers only.

What could I do to fix this malfunctioning?

# Answer
This may have something to do with using and uninstalling a third party keyboard. Installing Google Keyboard seems to fix it.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 4.4-kitkat, browser, chrome-for-android, google, lg-g3
---


# Question
Title: Can I safely downgrade my Sony Xperia SP?
I just upgraded my Sony Xperia SP (C5306) with Sony's horrible tool from 4.1.2 to 4.3 (build 12.1.A.0.XXX to build 12.1.A.1.207), but my phone now runs worse, and I don't like the changes at all! Unfortunately, it seems there is no legal/official way to revert.

I am not computer illiterate, but have no experience with rooting and such, and everything I read warns about possible bricking and whatnot, so I am a bit weary of jumping into something and breaking my phone.

Is there something I can do that is safe to return to the old OS? I'm so bummed as I seem stuck with this OS and I've deleted all my stuff when I tried doing a factory reset. :(

Thanks for any help!!!

# Answer
> Is there something I can do that is safe to return to the old OS?

Easy answer: No, there is not. You should flash it manually using, for example, flashtool (you don't need root).

Here is great guide which may help you.

*Chance, that you hard brick your phone is really small If you flash right firmware.*
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 4.1-jelly-bean, 4.3-jelly-bean, downgrade, sony-xperia-sp
---


# Question
Title: Nexus 7 (2013) stutters while playing games
My Nexus 7 device runs smoothly, until I try to play games with it. Whenever I try to play games such as Real Racing 3 or Riptide GP 2, it runs somewhat smoothly, but stutters randomly.

I ran some benchmarks for the device and nothing seems to be terribly wrong with my scores...although they seem to be slightly lower than average. (5-10% lower)

I'm guessing that the stutter has something to do with background processes....but there was over 1 GB of ram when I checked. (not playing the game) And I know its not a wifi issue because it stuttered with WiFi off.

Any ideas?

# Answer
> 0 votes
> Try to clean cache, clean memory using some task manager. If it doesn't help, the stutters while playing games may be caused by lack of optimization of the games.

Also you can try factory reset.

---
Tags: graphics
---


# Question
Title: How to prevent applications from discovering my phone as being Rooted
I have to install an application that has discovered my device to be rooted.

So this is a two part question.

1. How did it discover in the first place that my phone has been rooted
2. How to prevent the application from discovering my phone as being rooted

# Answer
> 19 votes
To detect rooting status of device, an app issues `su` command. If exit status is `0`, it means device is rooted.. otherwise, not.

To prevent this, you can simply `Deny` the root access using SuperUser's pop-up (Provided its allowed from SuperUser settings, a pop-up appears when an app issues `su` command). After this, the app will get `non-zero` exit status & it can't determine rooting status.

**Update:**
Some apps can use other ways to check root status (like checking the `su` binary file existence). I'd like to admit that none are perfect methods without false-positive result, but sometimes they are successful with luck.

The best universal method to prevent detection: Restrict the permission of app's daemon. I can't suggest exact permission limitations because I don't know functions of the app. It can mess up with app's functionalities.

In the last, I'd like to say: Technically, there's no way to prevent detection by 100% success rate. In case of permission limitations, the app can still suspect that something is wrong.

# Answer
> 6 votes
I use OTA Rootkeeper, which includes a feature to backup `su` and temporarily unroot the phone. Once temporarily unrooted, it can re-root by restoring the `su` backup.

(In addition it also attempts to preserve root when you apply an OTA update from your wireless carrier, which is a really nice feature.)

# Answer
> 4 votes
Here is what worked for me:

1- You need to have Xposed framework installed, you can install it from here: http://repo.xposed.info/module/de.robv.android.xposed.installer, Xposed is a framework for modules that can change the behavior of the system and apps without touching any APKs.

2- Download the Root Cloak xposed module from here http://repo.xposed.info/module/com.devadvance.rootcloak and enable it.

3- Add the app your trying to hide the root from.

Reboot will be required a couple of times within the process.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Superuser already has a temp unroot tickbox, works fine, tested

# Answer
> -1 votes
This question has already been asked and answered:

To summarize, look for the application called "SuperUser" (as one suggestion).

-edit- Per suggestion should the link go down:

How can I disable root on a modded device?

> If you install SuperUser you can control which apps are allowed root access. By default it blocks all requests and asks you what you want to do. You can give an app access indefinitely and revoke it at any time, or allow only specific requests with a timeout. Most rooted ROMs come with it pre-installed, including CyanogenMOD, and many rooting methods will install it for you as well.
>
> As an alternative, you could remove the su binary and Busybox from your device to effectively un-root it.

# Answer
> -3 votes
Rooting is reversible. So if you unroot your phone, the applcation will not see anything.

---
Tags: root-access
---


# Question
Title: Permission denied when accessing file pushed using boot insecure into my Nexus 4 with Android 5.0.1
I have a Nexus 4 with Android 5.0.1. I copy a file doing the following:

1. I reboot to bootloader
2. Boot using insecure boot.img: `fastboot boot boot.img`
3. Pushed a file: `adb push IMG_20140710_105128.jpg /sdcard/DCIM/Camera/`
4. Set permissions and ownership as the other files using `adb shell chmod ...` and `adb shell chown ...`.

See sample:

```
-rw-rw-r-- root     sdcard_rw  2033519 2014-07-10 10:51 IMG_20140710_105128.jpg
-rw-rw-r-- root     sdcard_rw  2684444 2014-12-04 16:08 IMG_20141204_160833.jpg
-rw-rw-r-- root     sdcard_rw  2271545 2014-12-06 16:14 IMG_20141206_161444.jpg

```

I reboot normally and go to a Terminal Emulator and type `ls -la` in the same directory. I get "Permission denied" when trying to list the file I copied (IMG\_20140710\_105128.jpg) and is unreadable under all programs.

```
lstat './IMG_20140710_105128.jpg' failed: Permission denied
-rw-rw-r-- root     sdcard_rw  2684444 2014-12-04 16:08 IMG_20141204_160833.jpg
-rw-rw-r-- root     sdcard_rw  2271545 2014-12-06 16:14 IMG_20141206_161444.jpg

```

What is happening? Why is this doing this? I have root access to modify everything by using the boot insecure method. Are permissions changing when I reboot normally? Any ideas? It happens with all files I push. It doesn't matter the partition where I put it. I tried to do `ls -la` as root after rebooting normally and I got the same error.

# Answer
> 1 votes
During recovery mode, adb will be running as root so any file you push will have root as owner and group. Once your device boots up, you cannot see those files because they are not under media\_rw and sdcard\_r.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I fixed it by pushing the files into /sdcard/DCIM/Camera/ not as root

---
Tags: adb, nexus-4, 5.0-lollipop, shell, file-permissions
---


# Question
Title: Can I undo the encryption on my Samsung Ace Style?
I want to keep my info private, but I don't want to mess up accessibility or have trouble answering my phone when I'm driving.

Can I undo the phone encryption after I have applied it?

# Answer
No, you can't decrypt an encrypted device. You can only remove the encryption by doing a factory reset.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: 4.3-jelly-bean, encryption
---


# Question
Title: Why can't I link2sd the Play Store and Maps apps?
Yesterday I rooted my phone successfully (Samsung GT-S5570-Android 2.2.1), I created a second `ext2` partition on my 8 GB SD card and installed the `Link2SD` app.

The reason for doing this, was due the continuous and annoying messages about full internal storage capacity.

I was able to move and uninstall some apps, but when it comes to `Maps`, `Play Store` and `Samsumg Apps` I keep getting a failure message similar to the following

> FAILURE
>
> PKG:/DATA/APP/COM.ANDROID.VENDING-2.APK FAILURE \[INSTALL\_FAILED\_INVALID\_INSTALL\_LOCATION\]

What does this message mean and why does this error occur? How can I successfully move those apps in my SD card?

# Answer
The author of an app can set a flag in its *manifest* (the package description) to say whether it can be moved to external storage or not. If you try to install a package to external storage, and its manifest says it cannot be installed there, you get the error code you describe.

Google's developer documentation provides a list of kinds of apps which should set the flag to prevent themselves being installed to external storage, because of undesirable side-effects if the external storage is removed.
> 3 votes

# Answer
The previous answer has a lot of incorrect information, so I feel compelled to answer this old question.

First of all, Link2SD works by creating a soft-link which is completely different from the built-in Android feature "move to SD". The link that Link2SD create is transparent to most of the Android OS itself, and the manifest option that controls if an app can be moved to SD bears no influence on its ability to be linked.

Now coming to the error the OP received, my best guess is that OP used the "Move to SD card" option in the Link2SD app instead of the "Create link" option. As per my experience, I have linked Play Store and Google Play Services successfully and didn't come across this error, so it is certainly possible to link them, though I don't recommend using that option on critical apps/services such as Google Play Services, unless it is absolutely necessary.

Regarding the OP's question on clearing the cache, Link2SD has an option to do this for all apps, and there are also a number of dedicated apps that can do this.
> 3 votes

# Answer
The following process worked for me:

1. Select the option "all" on the top left in link2sd and uninstall that app from the phone.
2. Install the app again.

You should now be able to move it.
> -1 votes

---
Tags: link2sd
---


# Question
Title: Is there any way to give phone rating according to its ram and processor data ? except benchmarks
I am trying to cluster phones of similar specifications together ie phones that have near about same performance i have only data of processors and ram associated with each phone , is there any way i can calculate which phones will have near about same performance ?

# Answer
If the amount of RAM and the CPU's specs (no. of cores, clock rate) is about the same (+/-200MHz for clock rate) then you can assume they perform about the same.
Some manufacturers have inbuilt "Benchmark detection" that boosts up the CPU for instance to gain higher listings but practically you are unable to notice and use that.

> **Conclusion:** As long as the amount of RAM and the CPU power is about the same, they all perform the same. Currently there is no major performance boost by other architectures, CPU models etc.
> Look out for different storage rates. A faster internal storage makes a phone perform way better in normal use.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: ram, processor
---


# Question
Title: HTC ONE - USB No longer recognized (but is charging)
I have a HTC ONE Google Edition on 4.3. I was in the middle of transferring some files to my phone over USB when Windows 8 locked up and stopped responding. Once I re-plugged my phone into the computer, the battery indicator is charging, but the USB connection never happens.

I've rebooted both the PC and the Phone. I factory reset the phone. I plugged the phone into another windows PC and then my Linux box. On the windows boxes, I get absolutely *nothing* -- no complaint of bad drivers. Nothing in device manager.

In all cases, same thing. A charge, but no connection. Linux shows nothing on a `lsusb` command. `adb devices` returns nothing as well.

Ideas? Thoughts? Help? I'm fearful the USB connection in the phone went bad somehow. Not sure how to debug the phone itself... As I cannot get to it's drive.

# Answer
Probably this is not your case, but I've found an HTC ONE S with similar behavior (no USB sign of life, even in `dmesg` and `lsusb`) and the problem was the cable. It was like an USB cable but it was not a USB cable, only a power cable!

All the four pins were there but only two of them were connected, and instead of the USB logo it just had a lightning logo on both ends.

Now the question is: why does such a cable exist? How much can be saved not connecting the two data pins of a USB cable? 1 µ$ per cable?
> 1 votes

# Answer
There are "charging only" USB cables. Sounds like you might have one of those.

Also, try plugging into a different USB port. Sometime on Windows, this will re-initialize the drivers.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: usb, usb-connection-mode, 4.3-jelly-bean, htc-one
---


# Question
Title: What are Cyanogenmod's profiles good for?
I just installed ICS CM9 on my Galaxy Note and I am puzzled by the "Profiles" setting. It seems to allow me to set-up different profiles (home, work, etc) and associate settings with them, eg enable Bluetooth and disable GPS at home.

But I didn't see any way to automatically change profiles according to, for example, presence of a given WIFI network. So, my question is: *what are those profiles for?* Should I manually switch profile from work to home when I come back home? This make no sense!

I searched but didn't find anything relevant, maybe because "profile" is a very generic noun.

# Answer
Yes, you'll have to manually switch to Home profile when you come back home. Its what you can find in classic mobile phones.

If you want to automate it, there're plenty of apps for that: Tasker+Profile4Tasker (paid), AutomateIt (free), Llama (free), Locale+Profile4Tasker (paid)
> 8 votes

# Answer
As listed in http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/EndUser.Profiles (already mentioned), the only support for automatic switching provided out-of-the-box with CyanogenMod is via Clock (Alarms) application. Each alarm can also trigger a profile change.

For WiFi-, location-, etc- based changes you'd have to use other options. Some of them are also listed on the above wiki page.
> 3 votes

# Answer
I was looking for the same answers on the same question. This post from the CM team had all the answers I was looking for:

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/EndUser.Profiles
> 1 votes

# Answer
When updating to 10.1.3, the Google Maps icon becomes visible at the bottom of the profile being edited. There, you can select triggers based on joining a certain Wi-Fi network, etc.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Actually with no additional applications, they can switch automatically say on a particular WiFi connection/disconnection, but discovering that feature is hiding in a most non-intuitive location.

At the bottom of the profile edit page hiding near your home button you will see a "Google map" placemarker icon.

Click on it. That takes you to the trigger page, where you can set the profile to automagically activate/deactivate on WiFi or Bluetooth and I think NFC though I've never used that particular tech "feature" looking for a useful purpose.
> 0 votes

# Answer
the Google maps icon leading to a triggers page is definitely present in CM11 (KitKat).

This allows you to set certain features based on events such as WiFi networks / NFC tags, etc.

I can't recall having seen it before, but as stated - it isn' the most intuitive of locations, I only stumbled on it because I thought my phone was changing\* profiles due to some sort of GeoTagging.

\*the profile change was actually caused by the clock (alarm), which can be used as a timed profile change every morning (e.g. force your phone into default with your morning alarm clock).... bizarrely, these timed changes are NOT visible/accessible from the profiles config page.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: cyanogenmod, profiles
---


# Question
Title: Unlock android phone with forgotten password and attached gmail account details too
Unfortunately My android phone Sony Xperia Go with got locked. I gave this to a friend for use and he gave this to his friend. Now the problem is no one have any idea which gmail account is linked to this. Neither any one is taking the responsibility... well that's other problem.

I am writing here for help. If anyone can help in this.

The phone is not allowing to enter pattern now. It is asking for gmail account details or security question answer and don't have any of these.

I hope anyone could help me this.

# Answer
If you don't worry for the data of your phone the everything will be easier.First of all turn off the device.Then open it again, wait 3 seconds and then press the power button and the volume up or down(the reboot may differ from phone to phone) Then, at the reboot you will be able to use it only with the up and down volume buttons.Reset the phone and everything will be deleted (even the password) For more information check here : http://www.greenbot.com/article/2458403/how-to-perform-a-factory-reset-on-your-android-phone-or-tablet.html
> 0 votes

# Answer
The only way to solve this, because you don't know what account it is tied to is to perform a factory reset.

The steps here are for Xperia P, which I think is the Xperia Go. If it's not, these steps may still work for that phone and other Xperia devices.

To boot into recovery :

1. Power off the phone
2. Wait for about 10 - 30 seconds after the device is off.
3. Power the phone back on and the time when you see your phone's LED notification changes to a color, start pressing either the Volume UP or Volume Down button a couple of times to make your phone boot into recovery mode. *If it doesn't go into recovery here, turn off and try again.*
4. Once in recovery, use the volume up and volume down buttons to navigate to the Factory Reset option. Use the power button to select the item.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Do you have home button at your phone. If you have try to do the same but with power button and hone button.
> -1 votes

---
Tags: locked-out, google-account
---


# Question
Title: How do I sync only "My Contacts" from Google on Samsung Galaxy S?
Is there any way that I can limit my Galaxy S to only download & sync contacts from the google account that are in "My Contacts"? Right now, it downloads everything, in particular, contacts in the "Other Contacts" group which has people that I've only emailed one time (or responded to). This takes my contact list from \<200 up to 500+. On the other side, any way to use the groups that I've included in my google account?

I'm not opposed to using a separate application to manage these. It seems to me that Samsung's contact implementation is just poorly thought out, and I really hope that they make drastic changes to it for the 2.2 update.

# Answer
> 11 votes
`Contacts | Menu | Display Options | Choose contacts to display (account)`

Make sure only "System Group: My Contacts" is checked. Or whichever groups you actually want to see. (More specifically, make sure "All other contacts" is **not** checked.)

# Answer
> 1 votes
al-e is right, but keep in mind that the menu changes depending on which tab/icon you have selected. Be sure that the "contacts" icon is selected from within the contacts app. Here are the steps I used for the Galaxy S4, including the step if you have multiple gmail accounts.

1. Open contacts app
2. Be sure contacts tab is selected at the top
3. Hit the menu button and select "contacts to display"
4. Press the "customized list" gear button
5. Select the dropdown for the email acct that you are synchronizing
6. Uncheck everything but "My contacts"

# Answer
> 0 votes
**Filtering Contacts** : You can filter contacts from particular group.

```
Contacts | Click - Menu Button | Filter | Click - Google (account) | Select - System Group: My Contacts

```

# Answer
> -1 votes
Try Groupy

---
Tags: contacts, samsung-galaxy-s, sync
---


# Question
Title: Do I have to backup Titanium Backup's keys?
I just bought Titanium Backup and set up a scheduled encrypted backup of user+system apps and data, followed by Dropbox sync. Assuming I remember the passphrase, is all the data required for restoration backed up? Or do I have to manually backup the private key and encrypted symmetric key?

# Answer
> 6 votes
The FAQ of Titanium Backup about crypthography states that you just need the passphrase to recover any backup. That **must** mean that the private key file is stored along with all of your backups, because it could never work in any other ways. The big problem with that FAQ is that it should states this explicitly IMHO so to make things clearer for us users.

I took a peek at the first bytes of some backupped file (I am talking about the application data here, because Titanium Backup does not backup apks period), guess what I saw?

I found the very same ASCII sequence in the first lines of the backup files: those files are named *something.**gz*** but they are actually *not* gzip files (because of the key that has been put in front of them. Gzip files begin with hex codes 1F 8B 08. Those files do not).

If you run Linux and want to check it out, download two of your backups on the PC and try this command, that shows the first four lines of the file:

```
$ head -n 4 cgeo.geocaching-20130919-000250.tar.gz

```

My output is:

```
TB_ARMOR_V1
0w5AkcCA9rGtSy3Ecrag19p/FYQ=
BNpyGZq/PQYmpDXkXwji2lQGIQY=
MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA5GNADCBiQKBgQDWLUH3i295TA9XwPgbzwXEk/0eqowW2xcoxbOQo7NYeqGvctC7dNM33CEh+az25Wj2iTo+kzdIpwM7Y6o5vjW+D/yBCv9nDV1+HLNyut3GDQon84yR6BlgbQJT5QoIra5f6FN+wtqF5/ifW88nzuia2fUOv/IqRVQhHxIY7LPkMQIDAQAB

```

Quite odd for a binary file, isn't it? By the way that must be, yes, my TB private key enciphered with my passphrase. I don't give a thing about sharing it because you would need my backup files *and* my passphrase as well, to get anything useful out of.

Now, if you run run the same command on a different backup file:

$ head -n 4 com.amazon.kindle-20130919-000004.tar.gz

Guess what? You'll get the same s\*it!

```
TB_ARMOR_V1
0w5AkcCA9rGtSy3Ecrag19p/FYQ=
BNpyGZq/PQYmpDXkXwji2lQGIQY=
MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA5GNADCBiQKBgQDWLUH3i295TA9XwPgbzwXEk/0eqowW2xcoxbOQo7NYeqGvctC7dNM33CEh+az25Wj2iTo+kzdIpwM7Y6o5vjW+D/yBCv9nDV1+HLNyut3GDQon84yR6BlgbQJT5QoIra5f6FN+wtqF5/ifW88nzuia2fUOv/IqRVQhHxIY7LPkMQIDAQAB

```

This simply could not be a coincidence. :) From a certain point onward everything in backup files finally becomes binary. This behavior makes a lot of sense because that would mean that we can only share the backup files and forget about everything - with the passphrase, we can recover our backups, period.

Still, I really think that the developer should document a procedure about how to recover our own legitimate data (we know the passphrase, so it's us!) from any computer with a decent crypto tools set (read: OpenSSL).

# Answer
> 4 votes
As @Dakatine hints, the master key is pre-pended on the file, which is then concatenated by encrypted content.

I didn't bother researching the TB\_ARMOR\_V1 file format, because someone already has made a python command line tool https://github.com/phyber/TiBUdecrypter

# Answer
> 1 votes
You only need to remember the passphrase. I've done this before.

If you're worried, you could always create a nandroid backup of your entire system, then wipe and install a custom rom. Install TB, and try to restore an app with just a passphrase. If it needs something you lack, then you have your answer and can go back to recovery and restore the nandroid. But as I said, I have done this process already and know that the password is all that is needed.

---
Tags: encryption, titanium-backup
---


# Question
Title: What is this Phone/Eye Icon in my notification bar on LG Volt?
This icon appears seemingly at random, especially on my lock screen but not always. I can almost guarantee it pops up if I make a screenshot but I am not sure. I am on an LG Volt phone from Boost Mobile, and I was able to (finally) screenshot this icon after wondering about it for over a month.

A screenshot of the image is here:

Any guesses or preferably solid answers to what this could be are very much appreciated! It only appears for a brief moment (sometimes not even a second) before it disappears again.

I want to reiterate I see it most on my lock screen, but there could be other times it happens that I am not noticing.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in identifying what this is!

# Answer
> 4 votes
This icon seems to be some "user is active" icon that notifies you when the device captured you looking at the phone, but not *actively using* it.

There is a similar icon I know from my Samsung device that is meant to do this. It will prevent the display from becoming dark/locking the device so you can read your article, book etc. without tapping on the screen to keep it bright and unlocked.

If you like you may be able to disable that feature (active camera uses quite some battery) in the **Display** settings under **Smart Screen**.

Reference: How to Enable Smart Screen on LG G2

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Tags: lg, notification-icons
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# Question
Title: OpenGL apps not responding to touch on Xperia M2
I have a Sony Xperia M2 (not rooted, on stock 4.3 Jellybean). When installing some apps, I noticed they won't respond to touches. After installing a few more apps it became apparent that the apps that didn't respond to touches all used OpenGL. Other apps work perfectly, but ones with OpenGL get stuck.

The apps aren't frozen because any background animations they have still work fine.

With developer mode visual touch feedback enabled, my touches show up on screen, so I know android still registers them.

What's going on, and how do I fix this?
Also, will updating to KitKat affect this in any way?

# Answer
> 0 votes
I updated to 4.4 KitKat and the problem seemed to have been solved. All OpenGL apps now work like normal.

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Tags: 4.3-jelly-bean, touchscreen, sony-xperia
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title: Kindle Fire Freetime Wifi Password

text:
# Question
Title: Kindle Fire Freetime Wifi Password
I bought my kiddo a Kindle Fire HD 7 Kids Edition for a present. I've set it up with a child profile and an adult profile. My problem is that no matter what settings I change, it always asks for the adult password when we tap the Wifi button when using the kids profile. Since the device is fairly non-functional without wifi, this is going to be a big problem when kiddo visits the other parent.

Settings I've tried:

* Parental Controls -\> Off and On makes no difference
* Parental Controls -\> Password Protect Wifi -\> (Off) makes no difference, always asks anyway

I'm at a loss for what other settings to try changing, or if there is a way to make it ask for the parental controls password instead. It seems like it should ask for it by default, but it only accepts the lockscreen password for the adult profile. Which is really not in any way ok when she visits the other parent.

# Answer
Add another Adult Profile for another parent. This way another parent can assist your kid with her own password.
> 0 votes

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Tags: wi-fi, password, amazon-kindle
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title: wifi issue on samsung- galaxy-s-duos

text:
# Question
Title: wifi issue on samsung- galaxy-s-duos
My mobile device doesn't detect any Wi-fi signal even though there is an active network available in the area. Can anyone help me to find a solution to this problem?? Device: Samsung galaxy-s-duos. android version: jellybean

# Answer
> 0 votes
The best thing to do is to try to restart your phone. Check your settings and make sure everything is on in the wifi settings.

Keep in mind that if the wifi network is hidden, it won't show up - you have to manually enter its name and password to be able to connect.

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Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-duos
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# Question
Title: How to logout from Skype to relogin under other name?
How to logout from Skype to relogin under other name?

I mean skype for pad-sized computers.

If I press avatar, then I have "exit" entry at the bottom. But if I click this entry, then Skype just closes. If I open it again, then it enters under old name again.

I want to logout so that it ask password.

Is it possible?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Click on the avatar button on the top right of the app. Once you click there click on the option menu (three vertical dots) and click on sign out. It works pretty much the same for every single Skype UI (iOS and Windows client).

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Tags: skype
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