# Question
Title: What's the difference between two-layer and one-layer mode on Asus Zenfone home screen?
On my Asus Zenfone 8 running Android 13, there is an option to set my home screen layout to two-layer mode or one-layer mode. (Accessed by long pressing empty space on home screen, then selecting Preferences \> Home screen \> Layout).

The description says the two-layer mode has an "All Apps button", but I don't have one in either mode. The only difference I could see when switching to one-layer mode was that my icon locations were reset. (The icon locations were restored when switching back)

What is the difference between the two-layer and one-layer modes for the home screen?

# Answer
> 3 votes
The Asus' FAQ \[ZenFone\] Change Home screen layout explains the difference.

In two-layer mode all apps screen aka app drawer screen is accessed by performing swipe up gesture on the home screen. There might be a little upward pointing arrow on your home screen as well.

In one-layer mode "all apps" screen is accessed by swiping leftward on the home screen. In other words "all apps" are shown on one of your home screens.

The source of confusion for you is that term "All apps button". All apps button aka app launcher button is a legacy, a thing of the past. It was replaced by swipe up gesture a couple versions ago in some vanilla release of Android. Asus ought to fix this annoying but harmless bug.

# Answer
> -1 votes
To amplify a bit on previous answer:

(My previous Android experience was YEARS ago, back on Android 7.x, and now I've been transported from Android 7.x to Android-13: Wow...my world has REALLY CHANGED!)

Two weeks ago, I bought a new Android-13 based phone (Samsung Galaxy-family). To summarize, I've struggled getting home-screen(s)? and app-screen(s)? arranged to my satisfaction, and have had to do 'factory-resets' a couple of times in the interim, due to what I'm calling 'bugs' (to be honest) and calling 'anomolies' (to be kind). Today, I learned some history: that my new Android-13 phone comes with a built-in 'skin' known as "One UI" (version 5.1, to be exact).

Let's talk about this (new?) 'two-layered' arrangement of 'icons'. In two-layered mode, it seems that all pre-installed icons are in alphabetical order. (Notice however that when you install more apps, they just get inserted into the next empty slot at the end, thus breaking any initially alphabetized ordering.)

At any rate, I think that these DRAWERS refer to levels. So, left-right swiping is staying within either the HOME-DRAWER (level) or the APP-DRAWER (level), and each drawer has its own separate series of 'dot-counts' (near bottom of the page) that indicate how many screenfuls of icons there are, and which position-relative horizontal screenful of icons that you're currently looking at.

So 'app-drawer' screens can be identified by fact there is only a 'search' field at the very top, and the 'dot-counts' at the very bottom...remainder of page is a full matrix of icons.

Whereas, 'home-drawer' screens can be identified by the fact that, at top of the page appears the "time/temperate/city-name" line of info, and near bottom are the 'dot-counts' and at very bottom are a single row of your favorite/most-frequently-used icons.

But now I've got to add what I REALLY think: This is a PISS-POOR initial design/layout they begin with!!! What they SHOULD HAVE DONE is to have the built-in wallpaper for the HOME-DRAWER (aka the 1st-floor) be 'light-yellow' \[day-light metaphor\] and DIFFERENT colored-wallpaper for the APP-DRAWER (aka the basement) be a'dark-ish' gray \[night-light metaphor\].

(Damn...wish I could figure out some way to ACHIEVE that background coloring, but so far, that doesn't seem possible !!!)

The 'show-stopper' in this whole mess is that their decision to even allow a SINGLE-LEVEL layout concept is a FLAWED idea!

Because, notice that there's even an additional setting to have 'hidden' sub-group of app-level icons. As it turns out, even if you knowingly never explicitly turn on 'hiding', their algorithm being used when you choose to switch from two-level mode to one-level mode, they will just DISAPPEAR some icons on you, leaving you totally in 'MUMBLE-MODE', and deciding to return your 'broken' phone rather than resorting to 'factory-reset'!

Don't fall for it...STAY in two-level mode, as though your life depended on it!!!

My 2-cents worth. Hope this helps.

---
Tags: settings, home-screen, android-13, asus-zenfone
---


# Question
Title: Can't chat with Google Assistant while recording screen
I wanted to record some of my conversations with Google Assistant, and I used the AZ Screen Recorder app to record. However, when I start recording and open up Google Assistant, it gives me the "Can't reach Google at the moment" error, although my internet's working fine.

Also tried with the Mobizen app and some other apps, same connectivity error. When I'm not recording the screen, the Assistant works as normal.

Has anybody else experienced this and how should I fix it?

# Answer
This is because AZ Screen Recorder is using your microphone and Google Assistant uses your microphone to reach your voice.

Go to phone settings, open the app and its permissions, and remove microphone permission from it, and Google Assistant will work perfectly.

The video recorded after that from AZ Screen Recorder will be with no sound (silent video).
> 1 votes

# Answer
Completing the other response:

From architecture perspective, Android restricts the microphone access to only 1 app at a time.

So do not try any other app to make it work, it won't.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: google-assistant, video-recording
---


# Question
Title: I saw "StarHub Hybrid ..." media notification on my Android phone
I saw a notification on my phone with media buttons (pause, forward, backward, etc...) that said "StarHub Hybrid ..." and some other stuff. I accidentally swiped the notification away immediately.

Does this mean that someone managed to connect a smart TV or something else to my Android phone, without me doing anything? I don't even use that Android phone as my primary phone, it's connected to my Mac all day, just sitting on the table, I'm using it to debug my Android app.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Smart TVs or TV "boxes" don't connect to Android phones, it's the other way around.

StarHub indeed has one of those devices. They typically can be controlled or cast to from smartphones but they don't actively seek devices in the network for that purpose.

Considering you mentioned "media buttons" then it's reasonable to assume your phone is casting to a Starthub device. Knowing that such situation never happens without user intervention then we must conclude that either you or someone else with access to your (unlocked) phone must have started the cast. It can happen as easily as tapping the Youtube's cast icon and then the TV or StarHub receiver.

Another possibility is what @AndrewT. mentioned in a comment:

> The Android device will show the media control even if the Android device is not casting anything, but acting only as a remote control.

---
Tags: notifications, android-tv, media-player
---


# Question
Title: Export accounts from Microsoft Authenticator
I have Google Authenticator and Microsoft Authenticator. I want to move both off my main phone and onto two backup phones, mainly in case my main phone is ever lost or stolen. Walking around with all my security and bank accounts on my main phone makes me feel vulnerable to a 5-dollar wrench attack.

Google Authenticator seems fairly painless. You export the sites you want to export.

I can't see how you can do it with Microsoft Authenticator. I tried installing it on another phone and restoring it, but then the first phone ended up being blocked for about 15 minutes.

How can I do this with Microsoft Authenticator?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Unfortunately, it can't be done, at least not through regular means. MS Authenticator doesn't let you see the secret or export it. But, it gives you the chance to recover them on a new device (if backup was already set up on the old one). Moreover, one wrong step while recovering and the whole backup could be overwritten.

---
Tags: backup, microsoft-authenticator
---


# Question
Title: How do you download an internet radio stream given by URL?
I tried by downloading using Chrome when I see a link in a Web page, but I don't see the file anywhere and if I choose cancel, it apparently removes any recording.

# Answer
In Cloud Radio you can add new channel by URL and schedule at most 23 h 59 min continuous recording, and you can set the recording repeat on given weekdays.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: audio-recording, internet-radio
---


# Question
Title: How to download old app using Play Store?
I want the old version of a particular software from the Google Play Store.

Is there any way to get the old version of that software?

# Answer
Maybe you should check Aurora Store which is an open-source alternative to Google Play Store with privacy and modern design. You can check your software with this program.
> -1 votes

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


# Question
Title: How to get file currently set as notification sound?
I just changed my phone - migrated everything and it works great.

One thing that grinds my gear and that I cannot manage to work out is: **how to get file currently set as notification sound** on my first Android phone to copy to another one?

What I tried:

1. I know, that files that are possible to set as notification sound are supposed to be **in a special Notifications folder, but file is simply not there**. In Settings the file is visible as currently set, but when I try to change the file for notification, it's not on the list.
2. This **file WORKS** (sound of notification works fine with this file), although **searching for it with special (SolidExplorer) or integrated file managers does not give any results** \- file not found.

**My phone**: Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018), Android 10 (newest software possible for me), not rooted or anything (work phone that I cannot mess around with).

This is driving me crazy. Looks like file was "cached" somehow and works (so it must exist somewhere in memory), but it's unsearchable. After restart - notification sound still works with this file.

Any help would be appreciated.

Adam

# Answer
> 0 votes
So, unfortunately, it seems that **it is not possible to get this file the easy way** (requires additional software or rooting the phone, connecting to PC with additional programs to go through files, trying different paths to check if file even exists etc.).

I had to return the phone and never figured it out.

It was a very specific situation, when the file was not listed among other notification sound files anymore.

---
Tags: samsung, notifications, file-system, android-10, media-files
---


# Question
Title: NoxPlayer Android Emulator sometimes opens Google Play Store but sometimes the only option is a game store
NoxPlayer Android Emulator sometimes opens Google Play Store but sometimes the only option is a game store.

For example, a lot of the time I get this appeared.

The options like the little Google Play icon at the top of this window or the search bar aren't bringing up the actual Google Play Store.

From time to time, the Google Play Store has come up, but I'm not sure what I've clicked to bring it up.

How can I ensure it opens the actual Google Play Store, not the games store?

# Answer
looks to me like you have to double click the nox assist icon on the desktop, rather than the nox icon , that will open up a different executable.. and the google play there is normal

NoxAsst is a shortcut to `"C:\Program Files (x86)\Nox\bin\MultiPlayerManager.exe" -shortCut`

Nox is a shortcut to `"C:\Program Files (x86)\Nox\bin\Nox.exe"`

By clicking NoxAssist, then you get the NoxAsst window

And the google play icon there (in the NoxAsst window) works
> 3 votes

---
Tags: noxplayer
---


# Question
Title: How to get rid of Chrome's 'Continue browsing' link without visiting it?
There is no sensible way to get rid of Android Chrome's 'Continue browsing' link when it appears, if one does not wish to visit the site in question again. Are there any workarounds?

(In our above example image we show Wikimedia's Upload Wizard site page as the site that we don't want to visit again.)

# Answer
Go offline. Now, yes, tap the 'Continue browsing' link to "visit the site" (safely offline). You will get a choice where you can finally **cancel** the pending future visit.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: chrome-for-android, offline
---


# Question
Title: How can I use LINE on a second cell phone?
Is there a way to use the same LINE account on an **additional** Android cellphone?

# Answer
Yes. Install e.g., the Kiwi browser, within which you can install the LINE Extension from the Chrome Web Store, just like on Desktop.

Sure, it's not like the full-fledged LINE app, but it's better than nothing.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: accounts, multiple-devices, line
---


# Question
Title: Will Samsung's auto-restarts feature disable your alarm?
I'm using the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G on Android 13. It has a feature to auto-restart the device.

I noticed auto-restarts close all background apps on the restart and was wondering if this affects your basic clock alarm app wake-up sound. Will it disable it?

# Answer
> 1 votes
In my experience, when my phone restarts in the night, the "Sleep as Android" app doesn't restore properly, but I am woken at the correct time by a default alarm app that I believe comes from the Android OS. YMMV though, so I recommend enabling auto-restart on a rest day first.

---
Tags: samsung, reboot, alarm
---


title: Use phone interactively with TTS

text:
# Question
Title: Use phone interactively with TTS
I am speech impaired and trying to find a way to use my phone using TTS and have an active conversation without having to go through a 3rd-party. There are plenty of apps for the TTS, but I have not been able to find one that I can incorporate into actually speaking (me texting) to a live person.

Currently, I am using the "TALK" app from Google Play Store just to use my phone and TTS and communicate with someone I am face-to-face with, but would like to do the same thing via phone.

If anyone knows of such an app or a way I can accomplish it with multiple apps, any help would be appreciated.

# Answer
> 0 votes
This feature is called TTY (Teletypwriters) or RTT (Real-Time Text) and can be enabled directly via the Phone by Google app. The following instructions are for the default Phone by Google app, but may vary depending on your phone model, app, and carrier.

The instructions below are detailed on the Google Support pages for Enabling RTT and Change phone settings -\> Use TTY or RTT with calls.

## Using RTT

* Turn on RTT in Phone app settings
* Dial a number or select a contact and tap `RTT` to place the RTT call
* After the other person answers, the text you enter is visible in real time as you type

## Using TTY

* Turn on TTY in Phone app settings
    + To hear and speak on the phone with no text support, tap TTY Off.
    + To use typed text in both directions, tap TTY Full.
    + To type text and hear the other person reply aloud, tap TTY HCO.
    + To speak aloud and read the other person's reply as text, tap TTY VCO.

---
Tags: accessibility, text-to-speech
---


# Question
Title: Trying to buy an app on a degoogled device. Why is the app "not compatible with your device"?
I have a degoogled lineageos phone. I'd like to be able to play "A dance of fire and ice" and "cytus" on this device.

If I have previously purchased these apps, I think I should be able to install them through the aurora store (Or worst case, extract an apk from another device and install it). The only problem is that I don't actually own any android devices with gapps to purchase these apps on, and the play store web interface doesn't let me purchase an app if I am not logged in on any eligible devices.

Therefore I decided to set up a waydroid install with gapps, to try and get this stuff to work. However, after having done this, and navigating to the store page I see: "This app won't work for your device", and when I go to the web interface, I see the following:

Of course android is being its usual opaque self, and not actually telling me why it "won't work on my device".

I think I might be able to fix this by setting up waydroid in such a way that the playstore thinks that my device is in fact compatible with this app, just that I have no idea what it wants me to do for it to accept this app. Is the screen resolution wrong? Wrong android version? Something else entirely?

I already purchased a play store gift card which I can't return anymore. Therefore there is no use in giving up because something might not work. I was willing to take the gamble when I bought that card in the first place anyways

# Answer
Robert's comment seems to have fixed it (I used the emulator built into android studio, which I happened to have already installed, with a device that has the play store installed). I guess the reason waydroid didn't work is because it was on an x86\_64 device, like Andrew T. mentioned.

Either way, I managed to couple that emulated device to my phone, and I was then able to purchase a dance of fire and ice through the google play web interface. After doing this, I could just install the app through aurora, on which I am logged in with my google account. This works, and I am now happily playing a dance of fire and ice on my degoogled device. Though I wouldn't be surprised if not all apps allow you to just run them like that without gapps.

update: tried cytus II as well, this one didn't work.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: google-play-store, emulators, compatibility
---


# Question
Title: How to hide system message white transparent popup on Android screen
Some app generate an error and phone shows transparent popup, which looks like system popup because it is persisted across all apps and even hide system buttons or keyboard.

Example of messages in the box:

> Resource has been exhausted (e.g. check quota)

Is there a system setting to move notifications to notification area instead? Or complete hide it...

# Answer
With the help of **Andrew** I launched the command:

```
adb shell "pm list packages -f"

```

to get the list of packages and then scanned for their properties (Bash script):

```
list='com.google.android.youtube com.viber.voip'
mkdir -p dump
for i in $list; do
  adb.exe shell appops get $i |& tee -a dump/$i.txt
done

```

Then I searched for the keyword `TOAST_WINDOW`. for Youtube app it was:

```
Uid mode: COARSE_LOCATION: ignore
LEGACY_STORAGE: allow
VIBRATE: allow; time=+7h31m46s232ms ago; duration=+27ms
TAKE_AUDIO_FOCUS: allow; time=+28m45s847ms ago
WAKE_LOCK: allow; time=+1h13m24s504ms ago; duration=+9s138ms
TOAST_WINDOW: allow; time=+1h12m25s632ms ago; duration=-24855d3h14m7s312ms
START_FOREGROUND: allow; time=+82d1h9m54s814ms ago; duration=+2m34s513ms
USE_BIOMETRIC: allow; time=+40d0h55m4s406ms ago

```

The line:

```
WAKE_LOCK: allow; time=+1h13m24s504ms ago; duration=+9s138ms

```

probably tells that last toast was 1h ago with duration of 9s. It looks like what we experienced!

So I disabled the privilege:

```
# adb shell appops set com.google.android.youtube TOAST_WINDOW deny

# adb shell appops get com.google.android.youtube
...
TOAST_WINDOW: deny; time=+1h23m2s506ms ago; duration=-24855d3h14m7s312ms

```

I hope this solves the problem. IDK if an app upgrade resets user settings...

**UPDATE** this UI element is called Toast.

Seems the duration of a toast is hard-coded in Android sources:
> 0 votes

---
Tags: system-error, application-error
---


title: Getting keypress sound file

text:
# Question
Title: Getting keypress sound file
How can I go about obtaining the default Android keyboard button press sound file? If it is not readily obtainable, how can I obtain a similar 'click' sound effect?

-Thanks

# Answer
> 2 votes
You can download them directly from the AOSP source repository: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/master/data/sounds/effects

---
Tags: audio, keyboard, custom-sounds
---


# Question
Title: ZIP files with name "soda-en-US-v1001-1.zip" appearing on their own on Android 11
I have .ZIP files appearing on my Android 11 phone on their own. I don't know why they're there, and I don't know where they're coming from. Their located under Google, Download cache. 24 files named as follows:

soda-en-US-v1001-1.zip

All file names are the same except for the number at the end. All files are 50.05mb. If I try to open them, it says "unable to open archive. File is either corrupt or an unsupported format." I didn't create these files, nor have I downloaded anything.

Why are these files being created on their own?

# Answer
For me this approach worked: force stop download manager, then clear its data and cache, and then restart the phone.
> 0 votes

# Answer
The automatic downloading of soda-en-US-....zip files stopped when I deleted one of my old, useless Gmail accounts that I used to sign in to the Twitter website in old days. So when I deleted that Gmail account from my Android, the soda-en-US-v1001-1.zip file's downloading also stopped.

Also, I disabled automatic downloading in the Google setting account icon in the Google app - Settings - Voice - Offline speech recognition - Automatic download using WiFi - Off.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: files, zip
---


# Question
Title: How can I change the default camera app (on lockscreen)?
I would like to uninstall the default camera app and instead use the FOSS Open Camera. And I would also like to access the camera from the lockscreen.

How can I do this in Android 6?

# Answer
> 4 votes
While uninstalling the pre-installed camera app can be difficult as others have mentioned, it should be relatively easy to change your default camera app to Open Camera (or whatever camera app you prefer). I prefer Open Camera as well, so I also wanted the same thing.

To make Open Camera the default (or any camera app other than the pre-installed version), follow these steps:

1. Download camera app of choice (in your case, Open Camera)
2. Wait until it installs.
3. Turn off screen with power button (don't turn off phone, just screen), turn screen back on but stay on lockscreen (don't unlock phone).
4. Select camera from lock screen (Image 1 below).
5. Unlock phone if it requests for you to do so.
6. A pop-up should appear. Choose your desired camera app in the list.
    * IF you have the ability in this menu, select "Always." (Image 2)
    * IF you do not have the ability to select "Always" for the preferred camera app, still select desired app, let app open, go back to lockscreen. Repeat process, the second time you can choose "Always" for your preferred camera app. (Images 3 and 4)
7. Your phone should launch your preferred app now by default.

Caveats: sometimes when either camera app updates, you have to do the process again. Usually it doesn't happen too often, only when big changes occur to the apps. Hope that helps!

---

---

# Answer
> 3 votes
* Default camera is a system app, which requires root to uninstall default camera app. You can use Titanium Backup like app to remove system app (N.B: Removing system app will be harmful to your device).
* Settings-\>Security, under device security, tap on settings icon near screen lock. Select Lock screen shortcuts. Tap on any left or right default icons, prompts to choose action: tap on select application. Tap on Apps on top, and select your required camera app(These setting is on Lineage 14.1 android nougat)

# Answer
> 0 votes
Android keeps changing how you can remove an app that's been set as the default for an action. Currently my phone is using Android 11; here, you need to go to:

1. Preferences
2. Apps and notifications
3. See all apps
4. Camera
5. Advanced
6. Open by default
7. Clear defaults

There are also some apps that will show you the default app for all the various categories and skip you to this spot in preferences directly, which I find more convenient so I don't have to remember this long navigation tree.

Once you've done this, you can open the camera app via your normal shortcut (eg pressing power button twice on my phone) and you'll get the dialog that asks which app you'd like to use for that action in the future.

# Answer
> 0 votes
If you would like to do this without rooting your device, then I may have an answer (that has worked for me) on Android 12. So, you cannot uninstall the default camera app, but what you *can* do is disable it. And really, that's all you have to do in order to use another camera app as the default one (and I would guess that it works only if you don't have other camera apps.) This has worked for me when using ProShot on Motorola Moto G stylus 5g (2022).

---
Tags: lock-screens, camera, default-applications, open-source
---


# Question
Title: Android on a stretched display (1920x480)?
I'm trying to run the unofficial android os on Raspberry Pi on a screen similar to this one.

Before buying I wanted to know that if the android (in tablet mode) will adapt to the screen ratios? And if not, will there be anything that I will be able to do by editing the os?

I'm familiar with the screen dpi but that's not what I'm asking

# Answer
> 2 votes
From: https://konstakang.com/devices/rpi4/LineageOS19

> **Working**
>
> Touchscreen/multi-touch (official 7” touchscreen, USB touchscreens, Waveshare SPI touchscreens)

> **Q: My display is not working. I can only see the rainbow screen but no Android boot animation. What should I do?**
>
> A: This build only supports HDMI displays that report supported resolutions using EDID. 1920x1080 resolution is used by default with this build. **You can change value in /boot/resolution.txt to use a different resolution that your display supports.** Removing /boot/resolution.txt will use the preferred resolution of your display.

The link to the similar display does mention

> * If the monitor has a touch function, the USB cable needs to be directly connected to the USB interface with data transmission function of the Windows system host. At this time, the USB cable transmits power and touch signals.

And there is a section in the display link for Raspberry Pi operation:

> **Connect to Raspberry Pi:**
>
> When used on Raspberry Pi, you need to modify the "config.txt" Add the following code to the config.txt file:
>
> max\_usb\_current=1
>
> hdmi\_group=2
>
> hdmi\_mode=87
>
> hdmi\_timings=400 0 100 10 140 1280 10 20 20 2 0 0 0 60 0 43000000 3
>
> Note: If it is Raspberry Pi 4, you also need to comment out dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-V3D.

There may be different settings for different displays. The ROM link indicates that you can make changes to /boot/config.txt

---
Tags: screen
---


# Question
Title: Secure phone against a custom firmware being flashed remotely
My phone restarted extra long for no reason and now the firmware is different. It shows up as generic android device not moto g pure. Can I encrypt the hardware to prevent this in the future?

# Answer
> 1 votes
We can't tell without knowing how this happened, so if you had for example some kind of virus, removing that would solve this.

If you haven't rooted your phone, secure boot should prevent anything like this though, have you rooted yours?

Unless this is an actual update from Motorola that auto installed.

TLDR you need to work out what caused it before you can start to find a solution.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I don't know if this was a deliberate question or you are just confused on what you did.

Entering `*#*#4636#*#*` in the Phone app brings you to this Testing page where you can check all sorts of info regarding your phone like Wifi, NFC, Usage, Phone info, etc.

> Here are some other codes you can try
>
> 1. Phone information *#*#4636#*#*
> 2. IMEI Info \*#06#
> 3. Calendar *#*#225#*#*
> 4. FCM Diagnostics *#*#426#*#*
> 5. Engineering Mode *#*#2486#*#*
> 6. Regulatory information \*#07#

Source

---
Tags: security, rom-flashing
---


# Question
Title: How can one determine the full model number of Samsung A13 phone from the unit itself?
Looking at the Galaxy A13 label on rear *(as advised by Samsung, pictured below)* or Settings \> About phone, gives SM-A137F/DSN for two different models, one of which (light blue) is I believe SM-A137FLBVEUB and the other (black) ... who knows.

Where else should I look to find the full model number?

# Answer
> 2 votes
I don't think that is possible because most of the phones are manufactured and assembled at defferent places. Also the hardware is same for all the variants (color) it's just outer casing that is changed while assembling.

Also anyone can buy another color of chassis and apply that. So it doesn't really matter.

PS. That is the full model number you are asking for. However, if you want to go deeper you can look up the lot number on Phone's box or invoice (which already has the color lol) and talk to the Phone's company if they still have stored the record and willing to help you regarding this. Again it is futile and a lot cumbersome.

---
Tags: samsung, android-12
---


# Question
Title: Removed apps and users, Android OS uses too much data
I've noticed that Removed apps and Users uses too much data on the background. But dont know the reason.

In this photo I can see that Removed apps and users, and Android OS uses too much data. How to reduce this usage?

I know that Removed apps and users are use by my uninstall apps, disabled apps in the session. But if I use the uninstall apps then why this photo shows the the data used in foreground not in background .? Then how to reduce usage of Removed apps and users, and Android OS

# Answer
@Andrew T. is right. This is showing the history. To see today's data usage you will have to select the range as `Todays date` \- `Same date one month later` from the dropdown menu
The range of one month is default

I know this question is old but just to remove it from the "Unanswered Questions Section"
> 0 votes

---
Tags: mobile-data, background-data
---


# Question
Title: Can I disable the hardware 'Search' button?
I'm teaching my 85 year old mother to use her first phone. Her first ever bit of computing. The first use is texting and I've removed all the apps from the main screens except for the messaging app, and after a few days of casual instruction she's now texting and replying to texts very well.

I've only taught her two other buttons so far:

Home (she insists on calling it the 'Hut' button so if I call it the 'Hut' button she knows what I mean).

Back/Undo button

If she gets into something that she doesn't understand her instructions are to hit 'Hut' or 'Undo' and that will cure most things.

However she still gets caught out pressing the search button which brings up 'the internet' and that's currently really confusing, too much for her to handle :-)

This is a Samsung I5503T so has a physical 'Search' button on the lower right. It's right beside the undo/back button so gets hit by mistake (a lot). Is there any way to disable the physical 'Search' button or reassign it so it does nothing.

I'll eventually add more apps but starting slowly (since I live in a different town so most support is by landline phone :-(

# Answer
It is very late to answer this now but just to remove it from the "Unanswered Questions Section"

You can use these light weight apps:

1. Remap buttons and gestures
2. Button Mapper: Remap your keys
> 1 votes

---
Tags: hardware, buttons, search
---


# Question
Title: Nandroid Phone Backup Using TWRP for ROM Hopping
I want to switch ROM for testing purpose. Before that I want to make a NANDROID backup of current ROM so that if anything goes wrong with the new ROM, I can restore the backup to remain at the same point at which I made the backup. I had been doing this before when I had phone with Android 4.1 (jelly beans) with TWRP. Now the system is:

* Phone: Redmi Note 10 Pro
* Android 13
* MIUI 14
* TWRP 3.7

Can we still make backups and restore then as we do in older Android versions?

Best Regards

# Answer
By definition full NANDroid backup means exact image of the phones NAND storage.
TWRP backup never included emulated Internal Storage and is technically no full NANDroid backup. The short answer is NO.

Long answer

TWRP main purpose is backup of ROM, apps and settings.

**Backup of firmware** depends on how the TWRP maintainer predefined selection of partitions for this phone model. Having a look into specific twrp.fstab the file only has 28 lines.
Providing the average user the power to backup and wipe all the partitions can be considered as dangerous. Furthermore we can download firmware elsewhere, backup of firmware via the TWRP backup menu is therefore not desired. That's why some maintainer's exclude firmware partitions from menu.
Advanced user can backup all partitions manually from `adb pull` as TWRP provides full access to raw partitions.

**Backup of ROM** is still functional but the backup method has changed. the system partition is no longer a tarball archive containing files, but a partition image.
TWRP can backup dynamic partitions inside super partition since v3.7.0

**Backup of Data** requires the userdata partition decrypted. Backup does not include /data/media aka /sdcard Internal Storage. Therefore one must backup pictures manually via USB MTP or adb.

```
adb pull -a /sdcard

```

**Android Keystore** and apps that rely on security cannot backed up due the nature of Replay Protected Memory (RPMB)
This concerns some crypto or banking apps, screen lock credentials and FBE file-based encryption.

**Adoptable Storage** encryption rely on phone encryption. encryption keys cannot backed up and therefore all data on MicroSD card becomes unrecoverable. manually backup of decrypted files is possible.

**island/work profiles/parallel apps** cannot backed up because TWRP cannot distinguish between encryption profiles, only user 0 is decrypted by default.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: backup, twrp, nandroid
---


title: How to trigger mouse-over in Android

text:
# Question
Title: How to trigger mouse-over in Android
I visit sites where some features like pop-up menus and tooltips are invoked by placing the mouse cursor over an item. I would like to use all the features while using my Android tablet. So, I'm looking for a way to simulate the mouse-over event in Android browser, especially in Android 4.1.2

# Answer
The long-click is basically the same as a right-click which brings up context menus.

Things for mouse-over such as viewing titles, and link urls can be accomplished with bookmarklets. I have examples bookmarklets to view all titles, and all href links, see "href:", "href-x:" and "parentips" on for instance my dolphin gestures page. You can invoke example by clicking on one of those boxed bookmarklets links.

To learn more about bookmarklets, if you are not familiar with them, I would suggest starting at http://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Long-press the item (to open its context-menu), then hit the "back" key (to leave the menu). Works on most devices. Explained e.g. here, scroll down to "Smartphones".
> 4 votes

# Answer
Going necro on this since it was the most relevant thread I found when searching for a solution to this issue.

Based on the answer from @dmcritchie, I found the following works quite well to see tooltips when using Chrome on Android, which you'd normally only be able to see on mouse-over/hover when using Chrome on a laptop/desktop (Mac or PC).

1. When viewing this page on Chrome (Android app), open the menu, press ☆ to bookmark the page, then click "edit" on the notification that appears at the bottom of the screen to edit the bookmark.
2. Copy/paste the following to replace the name of the bookmark: **πParenTips: Turns tooltips (title attributes) into parenthetical phrases. (https://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/sitespecific.html#paren\_tips)**
3. Copy/paste the following to replace the URL of the bookmark:

```
javascript:(function(){ var z=[],N,title,tc,j; function r(N) { if (N.title) z.push(N); var C=N.childNodes,i;for(i=0;i<C.length;++i)r(C[i]); } r(document.body); for (j in z) { N=z[j]; title=document.createTextNode("("+N.title+")"); tc=document.createElement("span"); tc.style.color="green"; tc.style.background="black"; tc.appendChild(title); N.parentNode.insertBefore(tc,N.nextSibling); N.parentNode.insertBefore(document.createTextNode(" "),tc); }})();

```
4. Hit the left arrow ← at the top to finish editing the bookmark.
5. The next time you're viewing a page in Chrome on your Android device and want to see all of the tooltips that you'd normally only be able to see on mouse-over when using a desktop browser, click in the address bar, type πParenTips (case insensitive), and click the bookmark you just saved/edited (it should show a ☆ before it). The javascript saved as the URL of the bookmark will reveal the tooltips in parentheses after every object on the page that has one.

If you want to take this a step further (which I did), you can and the javascript into a macro, and add it into the MacroDroid drawer. Then, rather than needing to remember the name of the bookmark, you can just slide open the drawer and click the macro to execute the functionality.

Here's the code for the macro. If you use MacroDroid and want to import it, just save this using a text editor as `ParenTips(tooltips).macro`.

```
{"localVariables":[],"m_GUID":-7639397451296706360,"m_actionList":[{"m_option":1,"swipeAreaColour":0,"swipeAreaHeight":45,"swipeAreaOpacity":50,"swipeAreaOption":0,"swipeAreaVerticalOffset":50,"swipeAreaVisibleWidth":10,"swipeAreaWidth":10,"m_SIGUID":-7094001615827768492,"m_classType":"MacroDroidDrawerAction","m_constraintList":[],"m_isDisabled":false,"m_isOrCondition":false},{"m_delayInMilliSeconds":500,"m_delayInSeconds":0,"m_useAlarm":false,"m_SIGUID":-8018690266470723056,"m_classType":"PauseAction","m_constraintList":[],"m_isDisabled":false,"m_isOrCondition":false},{"action":0,"uiInteractionConfiguration":{"clickOption":2,"contentDescription":"","longClick":false,"xyPoint":{"x":300,"y":220},"type":"Click"},"m_SIGUID":-7967589745354417308,"m_classType":"UIInteractionAction","m_constraintList":[],"m_isDisabled":false,"m_isOrCondition":false},{"m_delayInMilliSeconds":500,"m_delayInSeconds":0,"m_useAlarm":false,"m_SIGUID":-8261751054593356492,"m_classType":"PauseAction","m_constraintList":[],"m_isDisabled":false,"m_isOrCondition":false},{"action":4,"uiInteractionConfiguration":{"forceClear":false,"text":"javascript:(function(){ var z\u003d[],N,title,tc,j; function r(N) { if (N.title) z.push(N); var C\u003dN.childNodes,i;for(i\u003d0;i\u003cC.length;++i)r(C[i]); } r(document.body); for (j in z) { N\u003dz[j]; title\u003ddocument.createTextNode(\"(\"+N.title+\")\"); tc\u003ddocument.createElement(\"span\"); tc.style.color\u003d\"green\"; tc.style.background\u003d\"black\"; tc.appendChild(title); N.parentNode.insertBefore(tc,N.nextSibling); N.parentNode.insertBefore(document.createTextNode(\" \"),tc); }})();\n","useClipboard":false,"type":"Paste"},"m_SIGUID":-5907160346063321222,"m_classType":"UIInteractionAction","m_constraintList":[],"m_isDisabled":false,"m_isOrCondition":false},{"m_delayInMilliSeconds":500,"m_delayInSeconds":0,"m_useAlarm":false,"m_SIGUID":-7595853986867803473,"m_classType":"PauseAction","m_constraintList":[],"m_isDisabled":false,"m_isOrCondition":false},{"action":0,"uiInteractionConfiguration":{"clickOption":2,"contentDescription":"","longClick":false,"xyPoint":{"x":980,"y":2100},"type":"Click"},"m_SIGUID":-4895727888846778703,"m_classType":"UIInteractionAction","m_constraintList":[],"m_isDisabled":false,"m_isOrCondition":false}],"m_category":"Bookmarklets","m_constraintList":[],"m_description":"Turns tooltips (title attributes) into parenthetical phrases. Details:\nhttps://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/sitespecific.html#paren_tips","m_descriptionOpen":true,"m_enabled":true,"m_excludeLog":false,"m_headingColor":0,"m_isOrCondition":false,"m_name":"ParenTips(tooltips)","m_triggerList":[{"fakeIcon":2131231023,"m_SIGUID":-8670230100873968551,"m_classType":"EmptyTrigger","m_constraintList":[],"m_isDisabled":false,"m_isOrCondition":false}]}

```

If it doesn't seem to work on your device, you may just need to edit the coordinates for the `UI Interaction(Click [x,y])` actions: (first one) to click the address bar in Chrome, and (second one) to click the enter/go key on your phone's keyboard.

Lastly, if you want to get rid of the parenthesized tooltips, just reload the page.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: browser
---


# Question
Title: Where can I find the Google Assistant "Use screen context" on/off switch?
Despite this:

https://support.google.com/assistant/answer/7393909?hl=en-GB&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid

this Samsung does not show this on/off switch. Instead, "Use screen context" is a button which goes to a page of switches, none of which have this label.

So, where can I find the "Use screen context" on/off switch?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Within the assistant settings, the **Use screen context** option takes you to a settings page titled **Digital assistant app**. If you disable the *Use text from screen* toggle, this will have the effect you're looking for, and you'll notice the two following toggles are disabled to show the entire feature has been turned off.

Example:

---
Tags: android-12, google-assistant
---


# Question
Title: unlocking bootloader in ZTE blade 7 lite
i installed all drivers and also extracted adb and fastboot in my system so i enter `"adb reboot bootloader"` code in cmd after changing into adb folder and then when i enter `"fastboot oem unlock"` it respond back `"waiting for any device"` but nothing happends then

also what seems weird is my phone enters to "Meta Mode" and not "Fastboot mode" or something more relevant

# Answer
**To exit Meta mode**, you would hold the power button down for 10 seconds to force the phone to turn off and then hold the power button to restart the phone

**To enter recovery mode**, press and hold the Power and the Volume Up buttons at the same time then navigate to Fastboot mode by volume keys and enter using power key.

It's not recommended to root if you are a beginner. And even if you attempt to you should stick to a tutorial like THIS one. Or you may follow some other tutorial.

Use may Magisk it's better than SuperSU. See the link
> 1 votes

---
Tags: fastboot, bootloader, bootloader-lock, zte-blade, zte
---


title: Galaxy A71 stops charging

text:
# Question
Title: Galaxy A71 stops charging
My A71 will after sometime stop charging. Rebooting it fixes the issue for awhile. Anyone else experienced this and found a solution?

# Answer
> 1 votes
I've seen this issue before. For him it was the battery. Use a Battery Health Checker app to see what the issue is. Replace the battery everything should be just fine

Oh and before buying a battery maybe try using a different adapter and try cleaning the charging port. Just for the safe side

---
Tags: charging
---


# Question
Title: Can I get back an image that displayed momentarily in the camera finder?
I had someone take a photo for me with my phone. I didn't verify the photo but I took the phone back and put it into sleep (pushed the power button to turn the screen off without switching off the power) with the camera app still open.

Some hours later when I woke the phone up, the camera app displayed and in the finder there was for a split second the image that the person had taken for me. The finder then switched to what was currently in front of the lens.

The photo doesn't seem to be saved. It's not in the folder where photos normally end up. However since the image did show up in the finder for that split second well after the fact, the phone must have saved it somewhere at least temporarily.

I've seen this phenomenon before, on multiple phones. In this kind of case, might the image still be somewhere that I could retrieve it, and if so where?

# Answer
Most likely the preserved image you saw after unlocking the phone was still saved somewhere in RAM by the graphic driver.

Waking up the camera takes a few milliseconds so you could see the old image in RAM before it was overwritten by the new live image from the camera.

Thus I don't see a chance to recover that image as it had not been saved to flash storage.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: file-system, camera, media-files, temp-files
---


# Question
Title: Android 13: system language mix with english
My friend just bought a new phone, Samsung S23.

He wanted to have the system language set to his mother language (Hungarian), but the phone didn't offer this language during initial setup so he selected English.

After the setup completed (again this was a brand new phone, he opened the box), he installed Hungarian in Settings/General management/Language.

Now he has mixed language: menus on Android in general are in Hungarian, but for example, the settings application is still in English.

Can I help him to do something to have a fluid 100% Hungarian menu everywhere?

# Answer
> 1 votes
You just installed the language. You have to change the app languages too

* On your Android phone, open your Settings app.
* Tap System and then
* Languages & input and then App languages.
* Select the app you want to change.
* Choose a language.

(Correct me if im wrong. I havent looked it up. Its what i remember what i did the last time i did it)

**EDIT:** Settings \> System \> Languages you should see English and Hungarian here numbered as

1. English
2. Hungarian

Drag the Hungarian to 1. position pressing and holding the two small dashes (like = sign) beside it. Language should change right away.

---
Tags: languages
---


title: How do I back up Google Authenticator?

text:
# Question
Title: How do I back up Google Authenticator?
I'm starting to use Google Authenticator for more and more things now, but I've just realized that if I lose my phone, or if I need to wipe and restore it to install new firmware, I will lose all of my codes.

Is there anyway to back them up please? Or some kind of fallback that means I can restore it to a new device?

# Answer
> 30 votes
You don't need to back up the Google Authenticator app/data as you can create a list of 'Backup codes' which you can use to log in without requiring a authentication code on the same page that you configure 2-step authentication.

> **Why print or download backup codes?**
>
> Backup codes are especially useful for people who travel, have problems receiving SMS or voice calls, or cannot use the Google Authenticator mobile app.
>
> Recommendation: You should print or download backup codes

Store these in a safe place (or print them out) and if you lose your phone you can use one of these codes to log into your account and set up a new device with the Authenticator app.

Whilst this applies to Google's 2-step-authentication, any other sites you have configured to use the Google Authenticator app should offer a similar option, or another way to receive codes (e.g. Facebook supports Google Authenticator, their own app and sms as methods to receive codes).

# Answer
> 92 votes
The following method will only work rooted Android devices.

Linux:

`adb pull /data/data/com.google.android.apps.authenticator2/databases/databases /AFolderOnPC`

Windows:

`adb pull /data/data/com.google.android.apps.authenticator2/databases/databases C:\AFolderOnPC`

Note that the folder on the PC has to already exist.

This will copy the authenticator database files with the main keys, from which the One Time Passwords are generated, to the PC. The file can then be restored to the same location, on Android devices, or read with an sqlite database viewer to extract the keys.

# Answer
> 27 votes
It turns out that original tokens (usually represented to the user as QR codes) are stored in the SQLite database inside the `/data/data/com.google.android.apps.authenticator2/databases` folder and can be extracted from the device.

I automated and explained the recovery process here: https://github.com/dchapkine/extract-google-authenticator-credentials

This project extracts original tokens, then generates a web page with QR codes you can rescan on a new device.

Feel free to contribute.

# Answer
> 23 votes
Titanium Backup (link to Google play store) will backup any android app, including Google Authenticator. However, you must root your phone for this to be a viable option.

I would also recommend printing the Google backup codes too. This isn't quite backing up the Google Authenticator app, but they would allow you to reset the authenticator if necessary. This would only help for regaining access to your Google account though.

Backing up the app with Titanium Backup is the most complete option, in my opinion. It's saved me on a number of occasions.

# Answer
> 21 votes
The easiest way to handle this is to take a screenshot of the QR code whenever you setup a new Authenticator for a site and save it in an encrypted location.

If you need to reinstall or add the Authenticator for that site to another phone, simply add the account in Authenticator by scanning the QR code in the screenshot just as if you were setting up a new site.

Before you negativoids say this won't work, yes it does, and you CAN have the same Authenticator on multiple devices.

# Answer
> 16 votes
Try Authenticator Plus, it supports backup/restore functionality with sync across devices. If you have a phone/tablet, this app syncs all accounts between them flawlessly. It even supports Android wear. It has logos support too.

# Answer
> 9 votes
You can save the QR codes when you setup or renew your 2FA. You can save the QR by making a screenshot. Or using the context menu 'save image as' but this is not always available. (Make sure to give the images a corresponding name with the account and backup in a secure location). For restoration just rescan the QR codes in Google Authenticator.

# Answer
> 7 votes
As a preface this is an approach for configuring MFA ahead of time so that it is always backed up, not recovering or backing up existing codes.

I just went through this process after my Nexus 6P stopped connecting to data and I had to setup all my MFA again on a Pixel. I realized that if I lost my phone or did the factory data reset I'd have been totally borked.

The simplest solution I came up with is to ignore the QR code based setup and just use the token based setup itself (it's the "manual" option in most authenticator apps). Every service I've used so far allows you to opt for the token-based setup rather than QR.

Rather than going through the trouble of taking screen shots of the QR codes, labeling them appropriately and then GPG encrypting them and securely storing them somewhere I just store the tokens in an encrypted vault and setup my MFA manually.

I verified that you can setup clones of the authenticator using the same key on independent devices running simultaneously. Thus, so long as you securely control the tokens, you can configure MFA on any device.

I'm satisfied with this result as I didn't have to do anything more than reconfigure MFA (I had to do this anyway in my circumstances) and simply add all the tokens to lastpass. Now I'm covered in the case of phone loss and can configure other devices if need be.

# Answer
> 6 votes
There are a lot of advice for rooted phones. But it isn't recommended to root your device if you don’t want to make it vulnerable. Two-factor authentication provides an additional layer of protection and by rooting you bring it to naught since different viruses could get an access to protected memory areas.

Only small amount of services offer backup codes (particularly Google). For these services, you should save backup codes.

The best solution is to save the QR codes (or the secret keys) in the moment of token enrollment and keep them in some safe place. Then if you lose your phone you could restore tokens in Google Authenticator on your new device.

Also, you can use hardware tokens. They can be in the form of key fob or credit card. Have a look at this article on the blog of Protectimus (the company where I work) to get more information how to backup Google Authenticator: How to Backup Google Authenticator or Transfer It to a New Phone.

* **Disclosure**: I work for the website linked above.

# Answer
> 4 votes
Here is a link to simple Python script on my website: http://usefree.com.ua/google-authenticator-backup/

You just paste your code and run them in Python environment.

How it works:

During setting up and configuring two-factor authentication with Google Authenticator, it is possible not only to scan QR-code, but get the code, for example, for Google Mail we get: `csnji4rfndisoh323fdsioah3u2iodso`. For generating TOTP on your computer with Python IDLE your can define this function:

```
def totpgen ():
    import time
    import hmac
    import hashlib
    import base64

    ### TOTP-key for Google
    #secret = base64.b32decode("csnji4rfndisoh323fdsioah3u2iodso", True)
    #totp for btc-e
    #secret = base64.b32decode("DHSJHDW89E8DFUS98RIO23J390EFU234IR90WEUIF903DMSKAKDS====")
    ### Calc counter from UNIX time (see RFC6238)
    counter = long(time.time() / 30)

    ### Use counter as 8 byte array
    bytes=bytearray()
    for i in reversed(range(0, 8)):
      bytes.insert(0, counter & 0xff)
      counter >>= 8

    ### Calculate HMAC-SHA1(secret, counter)
    hs = bytearray(hmac.new(secret, bytes, hashlib.sha1).digest())

    ### Truncate result (see RFC4226)
    n = hs[-1] & 0xF
    result = (hs[n] << 24 | hs[n+1] << 16 | hs[n+2] << 8 | hs[n+3]) & 0x7fffffff

    ### Print last 6 digits
    return str(result)[-6:]

```

Insert into line

```
secret = base64.b32decode("csnji4rfndisoh323fdsioah3u2iodso", True)

```

your code instead of `"csnji4rfndisoh323fdsioah3u2iodso"`

uncomment line, and call in IDLE

```
totpgen ()

```

You will get your TOTP!) For service btc-e try to use line

```
secret = base64.b32decode("DHSJHDW89E8DFUS98RIO23J390EFU234IR90WEUIF903DMSKAKDS====")

```

For other services - like described above.

# Answer
> 4 votes
# ***2020.04.23†:* Update the app, then go `Settings > Transfer Accounts`.** (then breathe)

**Takes me one second to scan QR codes between two phones,** took us years to agree it was a feature worth coding even despite it's inherent security risks, meaning be careful, **if you can scan in one second then so can someone else.**

**I believe https://android.stackexchange.com/a/224962/238005† first spotted there is now (after 2020) an official feature/ability to backup/export your list of accounts in a reasonable fashion, which is mentioned inconspicuously at https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1066447 in the middle of nowhere.** Sadly, am I really the first answer with this (official update) in this whole question thread? I fear for our life's data if this idea took this long to think of, and I had to learn through here. Because the option was hidden in a toolbar, and not even a Push Notification for this issue that actually matters.

# Answer
> 4 votes
Originally, when this question was asked, there was no simple solution: people would need to extract the data from an internal sqlite database that wasn't available unless your phone was rooted.

Fortunately, since the first half of 2020, the Google Authenticator app was updated:

> WHAT'S NEW
>
> * Added the ability to transfer accounts to a different device, e.g. when switching phones
> * Refreshed the look and feel of the app

## How you can export the codes from your Google Authenticator

1. Tap on the ⋮ ellipsis at the top right (AKA overflow menu).
2. Tap on **Transfer accounts** at the menu.
3. Choose **Export accounts**.
4. Unlock your phone (use the pin, pattern, password, biometrics…). *(Sidenote: Your phone has this protection, right? You shouln't leave your phone totally unlocked.)*
5. Choose the accounts you wish to export. By default all accounts are already selected.
6. Tap **Next**. A QR code will be generated.

After exporting the accounts, Google Authenticator app will display a banner at the top: "Accounts were recently exported"

Additionally, it will warn the user with a notification, a few hours later.

## Intermission: understanding the QR codes

When a website shows you a QR code for enabling 2FA, the code encodes a URI like this:

```
otpauth://totp/Example:bob@example.com?secret=…&issuer=Example&…

```

However, when you export the codes from Google Authenticator, the URI in the QR code is different:

```
otpauth-migration://offline?data=…

```

“The data parameter is a base64 encoded proto3 message (Google Protocol Buffers).” \[citation\] That message contains all the exported codes.

However, as you can see, the exported URI is formatted completely differently than the initial URI to setup 2FA. This means many 2FA apps won't be able to scan such QR code, because they won't understand the message.

## How to use the exported QR code

Now that you have the QR code, you can use a second device to scan it. You have a few options.

### ① Import into Google Authentication on another device

At the **Transfer accounts** screen, choose **Import accounts** and scan the QR code.

### ② Import into another 2FA app

Aegis is an open-source 2FA app that allows importing data from multiple apps, and also allows exporting its own data (in an optionally encrypted JSON file). It can even show a standard `otpauth`-style QR code from any of its codes, making it trivial to export to any other app. It is available on both Google Play and F-Droid.

When using Aegis, just try to scan the QR code normally, as if you were doing a first-time 2FA setup. Aegis has native support for scanning `otpauth-migration` URIs from Google Authenticator.

There might be other apps with a similar feature, I'm just not aware of any of them.

### ③ Manually decode and extract the data

You can use a plain QR code scanner to decode the `otpauth-migration` URI from the QR code. Then you can use scito's tool or digitalduke's tool to extract the secrets and generate the appropriate `otpauth` URIs that can be imported into any app (after encoding them to QR codes).

## References and acknowledgements

# Answer
> 3 votes
The following method will only work on rooted Android devices. This method is more useful for the not-so tech savvy people or the people like me \> who don't want to waste time installing Android SDK + JDK from scratch just to run the adb command.

So here it is:

1. Download and install any "Root explorer" app from Google Play store. I use the popular and free FX file explorer with its free FX root access addon. You can use others too. This app makes it possible for us to access the Android system as a root user.
2. Once you open the file explorer in System root \> Click "data" folder \> Click "data" folder (inside the other data folder) \> Copy the folder named `com.google.android.apps.authenticator2` \> Exit System root folder \> Open normal Main storage / SD storage space and Paste the Folder here.
3. Connect your android device to a PC and Backup the folder to a secure USB / external HDD.

That's it. Now, whenever you need to reinstall your firmware/ buy a new phone just follow the steps above and copy that folder to the exact same directory once you've installed the Google Authenticator app.

OR, you can use a free Open source SQLite GUI editor like "SQLite Database Browser Portable" to open the "databases" file inside the "com.google.android.apps.authenticator2" folder. In the "Browse Data" tab, you can see the key and name corresponding to the key so that you can manually enter the key into the Google Authenticator app.

# Answer
> 3 votes
On a rooted phone, you can use the Amaze File Manager app.

1. Go to the root `/data/data/com.google.android.apps.authenticator2/database` directory. Open the database file as a database.
2. Select accounts. You will have 3 columns `_id`, `email`, and `secret`.
3. Copy the `secret` value.
4. When you need to restore just add, select "Enter a provided key", give it a name, and paste in the value.

# Answer
> 1 votes
As I have experienced same just some time before. When you would be signing in to your account you will get page for key to put 6 digit code. At this place you can change second key and get in phone number if you have any number verified already. And for more backup you can choose an other computers as trusted. So, they won't ask second step code on those computers.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Fast forward to April 2023, **Google Authenticator now allows the user to sync the entries to their Google Account.**

As reported on Google Security Blog - Google Authenticator now supports Google Account synchronization,

> We are excited to announce an update to Google Authenticator, across both iOS and Android, which adds the ability to safely backup your one-time codes (also known as one-time passwords or OTPs) to your Google Account.
>
> \[...\]
>
> One major piece of feedback we’ve heard from users over the years was the complexity in dealing with lost or stolen devices that had Google Authenticator installed. Since one time codes in Authenticator were only stored on a single device, a loss of that device meant that users lost their ability to sign in to any service on which they’d set up 2FA using Authenticator.
>
> With this update we’re rolling out a solution to this problem, making one time codes more durable by storing them safely in users’ Google Account. This change means users are better protected from lockout and that services can rely on users retaining access, increasing both convenience and security.
>
> \[...\]
>
> To try the new Authenticator with Google Account synchronization, simply update the app and follow the prompts.

---
Tags: backup, google-authenticator, 2fa
---


# Question
Title: How can I turn off "Brighten with HDR" dialog when viewing photos in Google Photos?
I'd like to turn this off:

I haven't yet found from where. Would anyone know?

# Answer
In short you cant. It's a proprietary app and there's nothing you could do except request for it.

But but but if you are willing to take the pain of decompiling and understanding and tweaking the code you could do so.

I knowwww how annoying those dialoges are
> 0 votes

---
Tags: google-photos
---


# Question
Title: Anyone know what rooting an android device actually does?
I am wondering about what rooting my android device actually does. I know quite a lot about linux and android, so I think it just uses an exploit to install a `su` binary onto the android rootfs. I'd like to know what it actually does to make sure that I actually want to root my android.

# Answer
> 3 votes
I am not an expert but I can tell you what I know. It depends on what method of rooting you use. You can have a system root or a systemless root. Basically the only difference is that a system root modifies the system partition to obtain root access.

All rooting does is either use an exploit or a third party bootloader to gain root access to then install binaries that can then grant other processes root access. I find flashing a custom bootloader a bit more invasive to the system and I'm not sure how easy it is to get the stock bootloader back.

You can always revert a rooted device to it's original state by flashing the original image provided by the manufacturer. Installing the original software should not affect the data on the phone, only the system. Just make sure to use the correct version, you can find information on your system and model version in settings.

---
Tags: linux, root-access
---


# Question
Title: Delete Files from Directory that are Older Than a Given Time
I've been searching for this for several hours but couldn't find any solution. I have a folder (Call\_Rec) which contain thousands of files and I want to delete only those files that are older than a given date. It seems like a basic feature or requirement but I'm unable to find any solution for it. How can I do so in Android? Is there any app or way to achieve this?

Best Regards

# Answer
Have you tried using a regular file manager and choosing to sort the items on their modified date? I would recommend using Solid Explorer because I know with it you can long press a file, then scroll and long press another file and it automatically selects all files between the two selected files. That way you can choose from what date to what date you want to delete.

Another option is to plug your phone into a computer and use the computer to sort on date, then click the start file and shift click the end file to select all within a range.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: files, delete, date-and-time
---


# Question
Title: "Close all" does not always close all on Samsung's recent apps list
I have noticed something peculiar regarding the "Close all" option, that appear when you press the three vertical lines (recent apps list) in the lower left corner:

Often, all visible apps slide upwards, and everything close as it should.

But sometimes all apps slide sideways off the screen, always to the left, and disappear. However, none of them are closed down, and reappear when pressing the three lines again.

Can anyone recognize this behavior, and explain what happens and why?

This is a Samsung Galaxy A21s, Android version 12, and I have not seen this behavior on any previous phone (all Android).

# Answer
> 0 votes
This question does really not have much attention, but nevertheless, today I found out (by accident) what the difference is:

When the three lines are pushed (show recent apps), there appear a button saying 'Close all'. If I hit that button precisely, all apps closes as they should.

But if I am not careful, and hit the top part of the button (which technically is above the button) or the area between the button and the listed apps, then they go left, blanking the screen but without closing any of them.

I still doesn't know why this difference is there, but now I at least know how to make a 'close all' that closes all every time...

EDIT: Aaand, for everybody who have followed this so far, poking the screen besides the showed open apps (and **not** hitting the 'Close all'-button), I have found out this just cancel the 'Show all' function and return to the main screen - by sliding all open apps to the left...!

Mystery solved!

---
Tags: samsung, android-12, recents-screen
---


# Question
Title: "NFC Service has stopped" dialog repeatedly popping up
Phone: Cubot KingKong 5 Pro Android 11, Security Update July 5.

A couple of days ago the phone "crashed" and restarted itself. It does that from time to time, at worst it did it once per week or so, now less, like once in one or two months.

After it was back up, I've been getting a "Nfc Service has stopped" dialog, like every 30-60 seconds. If I close the dialog, a new one appears soon. It makes using the phone quite hard as there is constantly that dialog blocking the screen.

App Info says the culprit is "Nfc Service", go figure. I have already disabled it, but that dialog seems to come anyway. I don't use nor need NFC (as far as I know).

If I go to Android Settings -\> Connected devices -\> Connection preferences -\> NFC, I see only "Advanced settings", and clicking on it does nothing. Does this mean NFC is already disabled?

As said, I am fine if NFC is completely disabled, as long as those irritating notes go away. Is there anything I can do, besides resetting the whole phone? I'd rather try to avoid it because I have some apps I have to backup & restore manually, like a VPN token software (it has to be set up again whenever I either change phone or reset the phone), Whatsapp and MapFactor navigator POIs.

# Answer
> 2 votes
I had the exact same problem with my Armor phone. I contacted the importer, and they replied that a bug in an online banking app (S-mobiili) was the culprit and that deleting it until they got it fixed would do the trick. And it did! Hope it fixes your problem too.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I had the same problem on my Unihertz Jelly 2, also with Android 11. I contacted the manufacturer, and they instructed me to install an OTA update available from their website (the System Update under Settings said that no update is available). After installing the update, the problem went away. I'm not entirely sure if it was a new version or just reinstalling the latest update. In any case, I was able to do it without having to reset my phone to factory settings, although I did do a backup beforehand just to be sure.

Some additional details: In my case, the NFC stopped working after the phone ran out of battery during normal usage. I similarly had popups every minute or so, and also the battery was draining extremely quickly (100% to 0% in around 5-6h even if I did nothing with the phone). After the update, both issues were fixed.

(Sorry if this is not helpful for your case, but hopefully someone else benefits from this.)

---
Tags: android-11, nfc
---


# Question
Title: Copied old phone WhatsApp stickers to new phone, but WhatsApp doesn't recognize them
I had a few hundred WhatsApp stickers on my old phone (that is still operational) now copied into my PC. The stickers weren't into categories, but added all of them to fav (don't know if this matters), but they were all in the `WhatsApp Stickers` folder without any subfolder structure.

I have copied all the sticker files to the `WhatsApp Stickers` folder of the new phone but they aren't being recognized from the WhatsApp app. I'm not using Google Drive backup because I only care for the stickers and because I try to not be too much googlelized.

Which should be my next step? Why WhatsApp isn't recognizing the new stickers?

# Answer
WhatsApp doesn't just take images from the stickers folder and use them. It keeps a database of what stickers are registered, together with the emojis linked to each sticker and other metadata like the name of the stickers, the creator, the pack it belongs to and sometimes a link to the app they came from. You can use a local backup if you don't want to use Google, you can turn off Google Drive backup and then choose backup now to create a copy of WhatsApp, then move the files to your new phone and recover from the local backup.

Otherwise you may need to create a backup of WhatsApp on the new phone and modify the backup, but that's a bit too complicated of a process. I suggest if you can't move the data from the old phone to the new, you may be able to send all stickers to a friend from your old phone, have them forward them back to you on your new phone and select all the messages and add a star to them. The last option is just obtain all the stickers the same way you obtained them first, by going in the same groups or installing the same sticker apps.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: whatsapp-messenger
---


# Question
Title: App tries to open an URL with a custom protocol/scheme, browser protests
This app tries to handle logins through the browser with a custom "protocol"/scheme in the URI, i.e. instead of `https://...`, it tries to open `dbnavigator://idm_auth/login?...`, but the browser (Google Chrome) says "Web page not available", "net::UNKNOWN\_URL\_SCHEME".

How do I help the app explain to the browser how to access that address?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Before `dbnavigator://idm_auth/login?...`, an URL like `https://...` briefly flashed on the screen, so I managed to quickly tap it and then tap "Copy" or "Cut", then pasted it into Firefox on the phone and proceeded in the browser. After a few steps in Firefox, the app appeared and worked.

---
Tags: applications, google-play-store, lineageos, url, authentication
---


# Question
Title: Body Sensor Permission? What all kinds of information could it get of our body?
How is the Body Sensor Permission utilised by the apps?
I'm aware that it uses hall sensor and proximity sensors to detect human presence. I want to know how exacty it detects specific people? I'm talking of the smart lock: On-Body Detection. It used to be fairly inaccurate but hall and proximity sensor cannot distingusih between bodies (i think, correct me if I'm wrong)
So is there something I'm missing?

Can it read my ("vital signs") respiration rate or heartrate or body temperature (as it says on the screenshot)? I'm particularly interested because Google has it and Google has made it just for itself?? I've not seen any app request for this permission

.

Googling shows body sensor is used to detect physical activites but it's not. The dedicated physical activity sensor is used for that.

# Answer
> 5 votes
Based on the information provided by Google's support page on the topic, it sounds like they're using almost exclusively accelerometer data. The things they mention for Pixel devices (and are most likely identical or at least similar to other phones running Android) are:

* Your phone will learn the patterns of your walking and may lock if "another walk pattern" is detected
* Your phone will lock when set down on a surface (completely stationary)
* Your phone *may not* lock when using transportation that's inherently shaky, such as planes or boats

That being said, Body Sensors are separate from this process and mostly have to do with fitness tracking and wearables. For instance, my smart watch and companion app needs the Body Sensors permissions to track heart rate and oxygen saturation, as well as to collect step and sleep data. I haven't found a comprehensive list, but if you install the Health Connect Beta app, you can use it to view, enable, or disable which apps have access to which Body Sensor data. In your case, if no app has asked permission for this, then nothing on your phone has access to it.

---
Tags: permissions, sensors
---


title: Can't copy image URL on Google Chrome

text:
# Question
Title: Can't copy image URL on Google Chrome
I have a Samsung Galaxy Avant with Android 4.4.2, and up until a couple of days ago, I've been able to copy image addresses with Google Chrome, but now I don't see the option anymore.

I've tried it with several different websites that I have copied from before. I am thinking it's part of an update although I didn't ever see an update notification. It's really annoying because I used that feature a lot.

Is there any way to fix this?

# Answer
> 2 votes
For those looking here in 2023 and onward, this option has been moved and is difficult to find, but is still present. When viewing a picture in Google Chrome, first long-press to get the menu shown in the original screenshot and choose **Share image**.

When you get the Sharing dialog, there should be a "broken link" icon in the top right, and tapping it will (1) include the link if you decide to share the photo itself and (2) enable a "Copy link" option in the share menu.

Screenshots to visualize:

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


# Question
Title: How to turn off the beep sound when pressing volume up/down buttons on Lenovo s660?
Here is the sound on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H5ZOVelLEw

*The sound video was uploaded by a person who has the same problem as me, though he has a smartphone of another model. In general, there are not few people asking the question but the solution still has not been found. I would like to place the links to the people's questions but I don't have enough reputation to put more than 2 links here.*

I checked the /system folder and **/system/media/audio/ui** folder particularly and found the sound fallbackring.ogg only in the latter. But this is not the sound produced by the volume buttons (as I have learnt it is an input call sound playing when the Bluetooth is turned on and used).

Then I have found the page http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2378177 where the screen unlock system sound is replaced. The sound is situated in **/system/framework/framework-res.apk**. So I copied the framework-res.apk file and all the .apk files from /system/priv-app (as in the folder there are .apk files whose names sound like system: SystemUI.apk, Settings.apk, IputDevices.apk and etc. on my smartphone) to my PC, converted them to ZIP and searched there for any .ogg, .mp3 and .wav files. I have found some .ogg and .mp3 system sounds but not the volume button system sound and I have also found files like open.wav, open\_bluetooth.wav, success.wav and failure.wav but I managed to play them with VLC media player neither on Windows nor on Linux and, still, their names have nothing in common with the volume button.

So here is my small investigation. Could someone, please, give me a tip where the annoying beep sound can be kept? Or, maybe, is it produced with hardware of the smartphone? I will appreciate any help.

# Answer
Just some clarification, the tone is not a media file that's played. It all done programmability as seen here: https://github.com/CyanogenMod/android\_frameworks\_base/commit/3c786740240d8cc3b7615e36b6fad698bf79a825

After looking at your device, you probably won't be installing Xposed & Gravity Box as I couldn't even find TWRP available for the S660. Upload your SystemUI.apk and I'll have a look at it.
> 0 votes

# Answer
If it's not a configurable setting through the frontend userspace, you may still be able to find it under your device's settings.db files. In order to access and edit these, you'll need to use an application such as SetEdit. Note that you may need to grant SetEdit some permission via ADB (the app description in Play Market tells you which ones) before you can edit values within certain tables.

Individual volume levels should all be listed towards the bottom of the System table; however, if you can't find it among the entries there, it's still possible that it's located elsewhere, so expect to comb through the tables if that becomes the case.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: audio, volume-control, custom-sounds
---


title: Control Android TV with Android phone

text:
# Question
Title: Control Android TV with Android phone
I have a new Kogan TV (KALED39SMTWA) that has Android 4.0.3 installed. I would like to control the Android system on the TV from my Android-based phone. I have tried the following applications.

* XBMC - Has a great remote and good interface, but I would like to control the whole Android system, not just an application.
* DroidMote - Has a server application that will only run as root. (Yes, I could root the TV, but that's effort)
* TeamViewer - Only offers remote control through view and click.

I understand that sending keypresses and controlling the Android system may require root due to the need to interface with the Android system, but I'm sure there would be a way to do this without root and Android to Android should be very compatible.

Suggestions?

# Answer
> 3 votes
I just briefly read through the manual for your television found at Kogan's website, and as far as I can tell, the only available connection interface other than the typical IR used by remote controls is network-based. That means whatever application you use has to be supported both by the serving device (i.e. your TV) as well as use the local network protocol, much like the Netflix application has recently built in.

From what I read about DroidMote, it's going to be similar to TeamViewer, however you have the added downside of needing root, which I understand you're attempting to avoid.

I'm not necessarily presenting a suggested solution here, but I did want to call out some of the limitations I've spotted while digging. I think you've listed the best out-of-the-box options thus far, so I'm afraid I have no additional suggestions beyond.

Good luck.

# Answer
> 2 votes
If your device supports Google TV, you could try the Google TV Remote app.

# Answer
> 2 votes
There are a number of apps, like RemoDroid, DroidMote, Tablet Remote, and even a number of VNC servers, most of them requiring root access, and those that don't require root access have fairly limited features.

# Answer
> 0 votes
You can also use ADB? This doesn't require root, though you will need to have DevOps enabled and USB Debugging enabled. You can send keystrokes or even directly call intents/deeplinks/activities through ADB; here is a generic list of commands. Note that this is much easier to use on a PC as you can bind these to shortcuts or hotkeys (e.g., through AHK and/or RainMeter), but it's still possible to invoke through an Android mobile device. I've never looked into it, but it's possible there may be an application or other method to bind these to shortcuts within Android OS as well!

EDIT: Also, note that some devices (e.g., Samsung Note 4) come with an IR blaster on-board, and there are also dongles that cost around $10 on Amazon as well.

---
Tags: remote-control, android-tv
---


# Question
Title: Running testMyFoo binary within adb shell
I figure this question comes up often, but here goes: I have a testMyFoo binary that

1. Is installed on the phone's `/data/local/tmp/` path
2. has appropriate execute permissions
3. requires a series of shared-object libraries (one of them being libc++\_shared.so)
4. set the LD\_LIBRARY\_PATH variable with the required search paths
5. is built with the correct toolchain+sysroot for the phone (arm64-v8a/android33)

So when I try to execute `./testMyFoo`:

1. It seems to execute
2. It finds my dependent shared-object libs
3. It fails to load libc++\_shared.so

I get this error:

```
CANNOT LINK EXECUTABLE "./testMyFoo": couldn't map "/storage/emulated/0/MLZ/mlz-libs/libc/libc++_shared.so" segment 1: Permission denied

```

From what I've read online, it seems I have to run this through an Android studio project. I would like to avoid that (for now), and just run my program directly. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Charles.

# Answer
Usually the shared internal storage `/storage/emulated/0` is mounted with no execute restriction.

It seems this does not only affect executables but also libraries loaded by executables and thus you get an `Permission denied`.

You should better copy the libraries so that they are located in the same directory as your binary. libraries not together with the binary in `/data/local/tmp`. Then loading the libraries should work.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: adb
---


# Question
Title: Simple documentation frameworks on android (like local HTML help)
I´m facing the challenge to transfer a long-grown (local) HTML documentation to Android.

As you probably know, all Android web browsers refuse the usage of local links inside the Android file system for security reasons. As the documentation will be used in field work, the upload to a web server is not an option. Even the experiments with local web servers on Android were unsatisfying. They are either unstable (due to the internal handling as a standard user app), lead to peculiar issues in the presention in browser and do not support links to HTML sites in folders, other than the site you are coming from.

Do you have any recommendations for the rebuilding of a local linked documentation? Is there any simple generic framework or app to accomplish this task? The writing, linking and management of the help documents should likely be done in Windows like before. I still did some research on this topic, but I couldn´t find any satisfying solution.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Thank you for your ideas!

In the end, I see the solution in using Markdown in combination with the edit/viewer app Joplin. It´s possible to arrange and link the different \*.md documents like the HTML-Files before (and even use them on Windows). In case of complex formatting, I´ll use links to PDF documents.

---
Tags: html, documentation
---


# Question
Title: How to Find Where an App Is Installed? Find an App's Install Location
Usually, Android apps are installed in:

```
Internal shared storage/Android/data/app/com.example.MyApp/

```

However, I've been looking for a while but can't find where CapCut (the video editing app) is installed. Anyone know where CapCut is installed or how I can find its installation directory?

# Answer
Apps on the internal storage are stored under /data/app/. Apps on external storage are stored as .asec files under the .android\_secure folder. System apps are stored under /system/app/. The asec files are mounted under /mnt/asec but it may all vary a tiny bit depending on the version. Try looking in each of these folders.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: applications, file-system, file-management, folders
---


# Question
Title: Touch screen doesn't work inside TWRP on Xiaomi Redmi 9C
I have a Xiaomi Redmi 9C on which I try to install a new ROM. My problem is that when I launch `fastboot reboot`, it tries to reboot, I see Redmi displayed, but it keeps rebooting.

So once I switch to bootloader, I run `fastboot reboot recovery`, I get to TWRP (3.5.2), but my touch screen doesn't work, I can't do anything. When the screen turns off, I can't even swipe to unlock it.

I also used Orangefox to see if it works better, no, I have the same problem. The recovery launches well but I can't do anything. The touch screen doesn't react.

What is the possible cause and how to fix it?

# Answer
> -1 votes
We are the same, I also have a Redmi 9c, I just waited 123 hours before unlocking the bootloader. What I can tell you is that you did wrong. You used TWRP on Redmi 9c even though it is not yet supported by TWRP.

The only supported models on Redmi are 1 to 7 while Redmi 9c is not yet. So that's the reason why your screen doesn't work. I have sent a message to TWRP members to support our Redmi 9c devices.

The solution is to format it, there are many software available so that you can use it again.

---
Tags: twrp, xiaomi, touchscreen, redmi
---


# Question
Title: How can I reverse the order of the downloaded list on the YouTube app?
When I download a video on the YouTube app, it gets placed at the top of the "Downloads" playlist. So when I play it, the queued video is at the top instead of the bottom. I want the opposite behavior so when I play an older downloaded video, the newer ones play next.

# Answer
This is something that is not natively supported by YouTube. And since YouTube is a proprietary app there's nothing really you can do about it except requesting for that feature.

I would, however suggest you to use New Pipe. Ir's ad free and open sourced. You can download it via its github page
> 0 votes

---
Tags: applications, youtube
---


# Question
Title: Error installing Aircrack in Termux (E: Unable to locate package aircrack-ng)
An error is occurring when I try to install aircrack-ng in Termux.
**E: Unable to locate package aircrack-ng**

When I try to use `apt` or `pkg` to search for aircrack, it doesn't find anything either. Here are the outputs:

The error

```
~ $ pkg install aircrack-ng
Checking availability of current mirror:
[*] https://packages-cf.termux.dev/apt/termux-main: ok
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package aircrack-ng
~ $ apt install aircrack-ng
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package aircrack-ng
~ $

```

When I search for the package

```
~ $ pkg search aircrack-ng
Checking availability of current mirror:
[*] https://packages-cf.termux.dev/apt/termux-main: ok
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
~ $ apt search aircrack
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
~ $ apt search aircrack-ng
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
~ $

```

I thought it wasn't finding the package, so I decided to use `git` to clone the aircrack repository on GitHub and install from there, but I don't even know if there's a way to do that or how to do it.

Note: I'm quite a beginner so I apologize if something doesn't make sense.

# Answer
> 0 votes
You first need the repository that has aircrack-ng

```
apt install root-repo

```

Then do

```
apt install aircrack-ng -y

```

More on this here

---

However, I would suggest you to install aircrack on linux running on termux. There are many apps to achieve this but I personally use AnLinux

Being a beginner is not bad.. we all start somewhere :)

---
Tags: applications, installation, termux
---


# Question
Title: Disable Encryption without wiping data in Custom Rom
Does it possible to disable encryption in **Android10+** without wiping data partition to access personal data? (unlocked bootloader)

In other words, Can I trust custom roms to **protect** my data?

# Answer
No, it's not possible. Formatting userdata partition to remove encryption is mandatory.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: security, custom-roms, encryption
---


# Question
Title: Detecting screen content changes and simulating touch commands accordingly
Say there is an app that shows a red color rectangle. If the app is kept open, the color of the rectangle changes to yellow after some time. When this happens, I want to detect that a color change happened, and simulate a touch on the rectangle.

Is this possible?

# Answer
> 1 votes
You can use Automate app. (docs)

To detect changes and interact with the UI:

It's pretty self explanatory. You can record interactions and save it right away. Also it's one of the most optimised and light weight automation app I've seen so far.

---
Tags: screen, automation, touch
---


# Question
Title: My phone's touchscreen is damaged. Is it possible to control it remotely?
I have an Android 5-based smartphone that I like a lot but it's an old phone and the touchscreen is damaged. The screen works perfectly but there's no user input available. The battery was changed recently and I suppose the technician did a good job fixing the backing side but broke the front part containing the touchscreen.

**Is there an option to access it somehow and make it controllable remotely?** If I use a USB cable, is possible to install TeamViewer or some other remote control software to still use it?

The phone has no other remote control software preinstalled. Its touchscreen broke before I was able to install anything for remote control.

The point is to use its camera and mic functionality, and still use its sensors to do something useful like a remote camera or something similar.

# Answer
Use an OTG mouse and keyboard.

From a thread:

> I can confirm that using an USB OTG adapter a wireless Logitech mouse and keyboard combo works for me without problem using Fairphone Open OS 17.03 (Android 5.1).
> 9 votes

# Answer
If you can manage to get usb debugging working, try scrcpy.

> Its features include:
>
> * audio forwarding (Android \>= 11)
> * recording
> * mirroring with Android device screen off
> * copy-paste in both directions
> * configurable quality
> * Android device screen as a webcam (V4L2) (Linux-only)
> * physical keyboard/mouse simulation (HID)
> * OTG mode
> * and more…

(from its README)
> 5 votes

# Answer
If you want to use it connected to a computer, you can use Vysor. It's a program that lets you view and interact with your device from your desktop. It looks like the minimum Android version required for it is 4.4, so you should be good to go with Android 5.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: broken-screen, touchscreen, usb-on-the-go, remote-control
---


# Question
Title: What is scrcpy OTG mode and how does it work?
In scrcpy documentation an OTG mode is mentioned. How is that working without adb and what can we do with that?

# Answer
**Which version of scrcpy OTG mode supported**

It appears that version 1.24 is when it became available, but the latest version of `scrcpy` is probably preferred.

From: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/issues/3654#issuecomment-1369369005

**How does scrcpy OTG mode work**

From: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/issues/3662#issuecomment-1374404072

> Nope, HID events are generated on mouse events received by SDL from X11/Wayland/…

So a desktop environment is required for operation.

Additionally,

From: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/issues/4341#issuecomment-1754765403

> Scrcpy uses HID over Android Open Accessory, so there's no way it can work on iPhone.

Some more details are in the HID-OTG docs:

https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/master/doc/hid-otg.md

**Beware that Windows may require certain USB driver configurations**

As called out in: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/issues/3654#issuecomment-1369295011 and https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/issues/3654#issuecomment-1369372860

The summarized version is that you may need to uninstall other ODM usb drivers and install Google's USB driver package.

**What about mirroring the display without `developer mode`?**

Display mirroring **requires** `developer mode` to be enabled as `scrcpy`:

> The application executes a server on the device. The client and the server communicate via a socket over an adb tunnel.
>
> The server streams an H.264 video of the device screen. The client decodes the video frames and displays them.

From the authors blog post: https://blog.rom1v.com/2018/03/introducing-scrcpy/

Without `developer mode` enabled, the PC can't copy the video server binary to the Android device.

More details on the scrcpy developer page

**So what does this mean for devices with broken screens?**

If you can get the Android device to connect over USB (i.e. driver issues with Windows) you may be able to use `scrcpy --otg` to enter pin / enable `developer mode`. While you will have a better chance if it is just the screen capacitive touch sensors that are damaged so you can see what is being enabled, if the screen is completely broken, it is the same problem with plugging in a keyboard/mouse as you are blind to what is going on.
> 5 votes

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Tags: usb-debugging, usb-on-the-go, scrcpy
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# Question
Title: Problems getting rid of Google Mail Archive entries on Outlook for Android
I have my Google Mail account set up in Outlook on both Android and Windows. On Android there is an Archive folder, on Windows there is not; the Android one appears to be local (though it is not in any way labelled as such).

I have created an ArchivedItems folder in my Google Mail account, and I select all items in the Google Mail Archive from time to time, move them into ArchivedItems, and they then pop up on Outlook for Windows where I can move them to my main Archive folder which lives in another email account.

All well and good, except that the items have a tendency to reappear at some later point in the Google Mail Archive folder on Outlook for Android - not every time, this seems completely unpredictable.

I can see no reference to this problem anywhere on the web.

# Answer
One thing you can do is sign out and sign back in and the archived items should update within the app. Another you can do is re-archive the items on a device that you are able to archive (by un-archiving and rearchiving) and then sign out and back in on the troubled device.
> 0 votes

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Tags: gmail, outlook
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# Question
Title: Android desktop: How to suppress the new message counter bubble on launcher icons?
Specifically on Whatsapp and Messages....

I want to completely suppress the message counter. For it to never, ever, appear.

I have played with a number of options, restarted, and can't seem to nail it.

Android 12 on a Sony Xperia phone.

# Answer
> 1 votes
They are called app icon badges.

If you are on Android 12 there must be an option in `Settings > Notifications > Advanced Options > App icon badges toggle`

Also if you `long press the app icon > app info > notifications > App ion badges`

That's that but I'm not sure about Sony Xperia specifically but as Firelord said and from this thread, I am inferring that you will need to change the launcher.
Personal suggestion: use Square Home

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Tags: notifications, whatsapp-messenger
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# Question
Title: How to take screenshot using Power button only?
I find using `Power` \+ `Vol -` extremely cumbersome.

Is it possible to change this to holding `Power` Button? I'm on Android 10.

# Answer
As you are looking for a solution to take screenshots without pressing `Power`+`Volume Down`, then you can Edge Gestures, to setup a gesture that will take the screenshot.

If your phone shows a menu when pressing the power button and the menu include taking a screenshot, you can set Edge Gestures to display the menu, then you click press on `Screenshot`.

If your phone doesn't show a menu when pressing the power button, you can, as an example, set its `Swipe left and hold` from the right edge of the screen to take a screenshot as shown on the image below.

Another solution is to use Macrodroid (or any other automation app such as Automate, Tasker, etc). Create a macro and set it up as shown on the image below. If you press the power button four times, it will trigger the action to take a screenshot. You have the choice to configure when pressing the power button either three, four or five times.

**Disclaimer:** I am just a user of the aforementioned apps.
> 1 votes

# Answer
You cannot remap power button without root however, remapping any hardware button is possible without root.

There are many options available like Button remapped from XDA or Magisk Module or Xposed Module (named Physical Button Master Control)

For remapping any other hardware button, I will suggest you to use Button Mapper
> 0 votes

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Tags: buttons, screenshots
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# Question
Title: Can I report phone numbers as NOT spam callers?
I have the opposite situation as this question. I received a call which Google marked as Suspected Spam Caller, but it was a legitimate call from a company I do business with. Can I report to Google that this is not spam so others are not confused? I selected the call in my history, and there is an option to report as spam, but not an option to report as **not** spam.

# Answer
You missed seeing this Report a mistake in spam protection

> If a call from someone you know is marked as spam, you can report the mistake.
>
> * Open your device's Phone app phone.
> * Tap Recent calls Recents.
> * Tap the call mistakenly labeled spam.
> * Tap Not spam.
>
> Future calls from this number won't be marked as spam.
> 4 votes

# Answer
I do not have a "not spam" option either. I added the phone number to my contacts and it removed the Blocked Potential Spam label and let the call come through
> 1 votes

# Answer
Slight change to newer Android:

1. Go to the Phone app
2. Missed or recent calls
3. Tap the call in question
4. Tap the "i" for info
5. Tap the "Report" option
6. Choose "Not Spam" and "OK"
> 1 votes

# Answer
Another way to resolve this if the call is "potential spam" but does not show up with in red with an exclamation point and does not have the option to make as not spam, aside from adding the number as a contact, is just to simply call the number yourself!

I just had this issue, and tried adding it as a contact and removing it, but it became potential spam again immediately.

However, I then tapped the phone icon next to the entry in my calls list to dial the number, and after hanging up I noticed that did the trick and now the number in question shows normally!
> 0 votes

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Tags: phone-app, spam
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