# Question
Title: Recovery partition on Pixel 2 'does not exist'
I'm trying to get TWRP on my new Pixel 2 so I can get stock android with Magisk for root. My issue is according to Fastboot (just re-downloaded) there is no recovery. When I hit tab recovery does come up still. Here's my command and results:

```
gido5731@gido-desk:~/Downloads/platform-tools$ sudo ./fastboot flash recovery ../twrp-3.2.1-0-walleye.img
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
sending 'recovery' (32768 KB)...
OKAY [  0.098s]
writing 'recovery'...
FAILED (remote: No such partition.)
finished. total time: 0.098s

```

# Answer
> 2 votes
Quoted from TWRP's landing page for Pixel 2:

> **If you already have TWRP installed:** Download the latest zip and install the zip using TWRP.
>
> **If you do not already have TWRP installed:** Download both the img and the zip. You will need to have fastboot binaries and the correct drivers installed. Power off your device completely. Hold volume down and turn on the device. Your device should now be in the bootloader. Connect the device to your PC. Open a command window and run the following command from the proper location:
>
> `fastboot boot path/to/twrp.img`
>
> This will temporarily boot TWRP on your device. Use adb to push the zip onto your device:
>
> `adb push path/to/twrp.zip /`
>
> Go to install and browse to the zip and install the zip. The zip will install TWRP to both boot slots. Installing TWRP at this time will remove root if you are currently rooted.
>
> If you accidently flash TWRP to your device using fastboot instead of temporarily booting the image, you will need to download the latest factory image for your device and reflash the boot image.

---
Tags: recovery-mode, twrp, fastboot, google-pixel-2
---


# Question
Title: Size required for install much larger than app
Using Marshmallow. I usually have memory close to full. It often happens to me that, while trying to install an app of a given size, I am request to free space for 6-10 times the size of the app, which seems very strange to me.

**What are possible causes and solutions (if there is any other than doing what is asked for) for this?**

Example: trying to install Join (for bike rides). App size is ca. 39MB. I was requested to free 290MB. After freeing some space I still have to free 190MB.

---

**EDIT**: I have found possible similar questions, but with a little less detail on the sizes involved, older Android versions, or other perhaps minor differences, so I wouldn't be sure if the questions are really rooted on the same causes (thus I wouldn't call this one a dupe). As for the respective answers, I would have to check if they apply; some of them are poorly documented or seem to be more conjectures than knowledge. For completeness, I am listing here such questions.

"Insufficient storage" when trying to install new app

Something is secretly eating up my Acer Iconia A500 internal memory and I need help finding it

Google Play: Error downloading app - insufficient space

Cannot install some apps in Android 4.1.2

What space am I running out of when trying to install an app?

Google Play asking 100 TIMES the real size of the app

*Related*: How to compute all space taken up by an app and its associated files

# Answer
Some app might use features that will be downloaded later on for example, google vision api require some space for it to able to be downloaded even if you are not installing it, but the app may need it. Apps also will caches files so this will also need somwle space. But from my development experience, the app may contains some features that require that amount of space. Even if the size of the app may be much less than the requirement size.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: internal-storage, installation, insufficient-memory, ram
---


# Question
Title: WiFi dies if phone tries to connect to it
## The basic situation is this:

* Phone tries to connect to my parents' WiFi, fails
    + The WiFi then drops shortly, no other devices can connect to it
    + A laptop connected via ethernet to the router can still access the internet
* Only way to resolve WiFi issue is to restart the router.
* Connecting to another WiFi (i.e. my dad's phone's hotspot) also fails, no connection can be made

## I have tried the following things:

### On my phone:

* Factory reset (running the latest pre-Oreo OxygenOS, OnePlus 5)
* Restore an old backup from a month ago, full NANDROID via TWRP.
* Wipe everything, again.
* The above, with various combinations of...
    + Locked or unlocked bootloader
    + Stock recovery or TWRP
* Flashing the latest LineageOS nightly.

None of the above attempts changed anything. Even during the initial setup process, trying to connect to the WiFi fails (and kills the WiFi for everyone else)

### On the router

* Factory reset
* Changing from DHCP to static IP (some forum posts suggest duplicate IP in this scenario)
* Changing the address range of DHCP from .100 - .199 to .10 - .99 to ensure all devices get new IPs

## Conclusion

I have googled all the things. I have tried everything I can think of. I have no idea what else to try.
On top of this, the mobile network at my parents' place is so bad my phone basically has no internet connectivity.
This has been going on for 3 days now.
I am sad.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Sigh...

I wiped everything and installed the OxygenOS Oreo beta through adb sideload and now it works.

Hell do I know why this works now, but not even a complete OS switch to LineageOS worked.

---
Tags: wi-fi
---


# Question
Title: Google Ads removed by uninstalling com.google.android.gms
Recently, I'm testing with my Android 6.0 phone and ADB tools. I list all applications with `pm list packages`. After installing and uninstalling (i.e. trial and error) some of the applications, I find that if I uninstall these two applications, other applications does not shows any type of advertises. Then I copy those APK files in SD card and execute these two commands with `adb.exe shell` to uninstall those two application.

```
pm uninstall --user 0 com.android.vending.apk
pm uninstall --user 0 com.google.android.gms.apk

```

Though I'm pleased with removing all advertises, I saw that Google Play Store and Google Account vanished from Home Screen. But I reinstall them from the APK files and it works properly.

**Question:** Is Google Play application responsible for all those advertises in other apps? Can I remove those Ads providing links between apps and Play Store?

N.B: I'm new to this site. This question may be duplicate. I didn't find appreciable answer in other questions.

# Answer
As pointed out in comments, ads come from two sources -apps and targeted ads by Google

For the latter removing GMS Services doesn't help, rather creates problems as you discovered , since GMS

> Google Mobile Services (GMS) is a collection of Google applications and APIs that help support functionality across devices. These apps work together seamlessly to ensure your device provides a great user experience right out of the box

Better ways to get rid of apps :

* Follow steps mentioned in Google support \- not very effective
* Sign out of ads when you set up your Google account
* Use an ad-blocker app which takes care of ads from both sources. Adguard is one good app if your device is not rooted. If it's rooted, your choice widens and is more effective

PS : I am not associated with Adguard but properly configured , it's great a way to get rid of apps and also have firewall

Also see this for more information Where is data of Google Play Services located in device? Can I safely delete it?
> 1 votes

---
Tags: google-play-store, adb, ads
---


# Question
Title: When clearing my androids cache should I go into my settings and do it manually myself or can I rely on an app to to clear it properly?
Google playstore offers many phone cleaning, cache cleaning apps but I noticed that after I installed one app in particular, I went back into my storage just to check out the levels and they were not cleared. Could this just be a faulty app or are they pretty much useless?

# Answer
> 2 votes
Clearing cache is not something you need to do regularly. You do that when some app is misbehaving.

As a thumb rule it's better to do things manually rather than using apps - ads, malware, unreliability are some of the reasons.

If at all you want to install a *phone clearing* app make sure it is from a reliable source and doesn't infect your device. Google about the app in question !

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


# Question
Title: What will happen to purchased apps if I log out of my Google account
I'm in the process of moving to a new Google account. Most of the free apps I have, I've already uninstalled and re-installed. However, the purchased apps I'll have to take little by little, because I have some expensive ones, and my budget isn't big enough to do them all at once.

So basically if I log out of the old account, or even delete it, what will happen to the non-free apps? Will they continue to function as long as I do not uninstall them, or will they stop working altogether? I'm assuming I won't receive any updates until I re-purchase them with the new account, I'm fine with that.

I'm eager to delete the old account, but some of the more expensive apps are important to me, so I need to make an educated decision on how to proceed. I'm doing this because I recently changed my surname, and the old Google account is the last remnant of my old name.

# Answer
> 7 votes
* When you sign out of the account from which you purchased apps , they will stop working as licencing checks are carried out in the background. Thanks to Izzy who pointed out in comments that this valid only for apps having `vending.CHECK_LICENSE` active and running. Apparently , all purchased apps don't have this permission running
* I have not personally tried this but you may like to give it a shot. Set up a family account . Instructions here. I don't know if you need different billing address / payment method
* Another alternative is to add the new Google account to your phone and only use that for mail, Calendar etc. In this case the apps would continue to work but not be updated as explained in Google help

---
Tags: google-play-store, google-account, paid-apps
---


title: su doesn't give root acess

text:
# Question
Title: su doesn't give root acess
I have an HTC Sensation and I'm using Linux on my workstation. I would like to switch S-Off on this phone.

I found documentation, but when I type su in adb I don't have root access:

```
shell@android:/ $ su

255|shell@android:/ $ id
uid=2000(shell) gid=2000(shell) groups=1003(graphics),1004(input),1007(log),1011(adb),1015(sdcard_rw),1028(sdcard_r),3001(net_bt_admin),3002(net_bt),3003(inet),3006(net_bw_stats) context=u:r:shell:s0
shell@android:/ $

```

Thanks for helping.

# Answer
> 1 votes
When a device is rooted entering `su -` in the terminal would result a root access acquiring process, which usually pops up a window asking for root permission; granting root would let `su` to go on (it will wait for the response, or rather wait for the operating system to allow or deny the request) and provide uid0 for you.

If your device is not rooted su cannot gain root permission since you don't have the means to allow it: root requests are automatically rejected.

I would guess your device is not (properly) rooted.

---
Tags: adb, root-access
---


title: Can't unlock bootloader

text:
# Question
Title: Can't unlock bootloader
I'm trying to unlock the bootloader of my tablet for hours now.. There's no solution out there that worked for me. I've already tried:

* **fastboot oem unlock** (the tablet responses with a question screen where I can select "yes, unlock bootloader" and "no, don't unlock bootloader", but when I select yes it responses with an error "Unlock failed - Err:0x7000")
* **fastboot oem bootloader unlock** (this command stucks at "...")

I also tried to flash custom recovery so I could get around this but now I'm stuck in a bootloop.. I have a backup of the stock recovery, but I can't flash it either..

**fastboot flash recovery recovery\_stock.img** responses with:

```
sending 'recovery' (10240 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.417s]
writing 'recovery'...
FAILED (remote:
Security deny - Err:0x2017
)
finished. total time: 0.430s

```

I know that `Security deny - Err:0x2017` is because of unlocked bootloader...

**Tablet-Information:**

Name: Medion Lifetab S8312

Processor: Mediatek MT8392

# Answer
> 1 votes
**Generic answer**: The errors in the unlocking process (and especially security errors like yours) generally mean that *the device vendor does not allow unlocking*. Some device vendors allow it by personally issuing unlock codes (through individual support requests), but it's getting rare nowadays.

Unfortunately the only way is the "old" way, which is to "break into" the device, which usually requires a specific bug on a specific version of Android ROM using a specific program. Since people hardly play with such exploits nowadays and your device seems to be a rather unpopular one your chances to unlock it are sadly very low.

You may try to contact the vendor, if they still exist.

---
Tags: fastboot, bootloader
---


# Question
Title: SMS messages notification on my desktop computer?
Is there any way (application or other) to have PC receive notifications about text messages on Android phone (ability to reply is also welcome)? I don't want to have my messages uploaded to the cloud due to the privacy concerns, so it is preferable to have messages sharing only when using the same wifi network.

I tried using AirDroid and PulseSMS - however both are cloud-based as far as I can tell. I also tried Samsung Flow but did not like it very much (it uses bluetooth instead of wifi for communication).

Please note that this question differs from this one, as I do not want to have my messages cloud-synced.

EDIT: Forgot to add, I have Samsung Galaxy S8 as a phone and use Windows 10 on desktop. Cortana is unavailable in my language.

# Answer
After extensive research I found two programs that seem to offer the desired functionality, that is Samsung SideSync and MyPhoneExplorer. For the time being I have decided to settle down on using the former, as the latter seems to suffer from stability problems (crashes, freezes).

Update: I use Your Phone now.
> 0 votes

# Answer
I'm not sure about windows based alternatives, but KDEConnect works locally. You need to be on the same WiFi connection to make it work. Alternatively you can take a look at this app and some suggestions in this thread
> 1 votes

---
Tags: samsung, sms, remote-access
---


# Question
Title: Android phone doesn't pops up with "USB connected" message
We have a Samsung GT i5800 with Android 2.1update1.

When I put a memory card in it, it recognizes it, great!

But: When I want to connect the phone via USB to my PC: this picture DOESN'T comes up:

And I can't see my memory card through my phone from my PC!

On other phones, the memory card is OK. (tried another android phone).

The USB cable is good, tried it with another phone.

What could be the problem? Are there any settings that I missed?

# Answer
You should check your USB connection mode. This can be found in `Settings -> Wireless and network -> USB Settings`. This should be set to `Mass storage` to access the memory card. Alternatively, you can use the debugging mode by selecting `Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB debugging`. After this plug your phone in to the USB, open the notification bar and tap the USB debugging notification to get to mount your drives.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Check `Settings -> Applications -> USB Settings` or `Settings -> About Phone -> USB Settings`, rather than the network settings.

I would also try a different USB cable, just to make sure, as well as a different USB port and a different computer if you can. You can try wiggling the connector in the device as well and see if it makes proper contact intermittently.

As Al notes here this sort of problem seems to come up pretty often with Sasmsung phones, so you might just be out of luck. If all else fails, though, I would try a factory reset.
> 2 votes

# Answer
I had the same issue with 2 Galaxy Mini. No matter what I tried, the USB notification did not appear when connecting the USB cable to 3 different ports in 2 PCs.

Solution:

1. Settings -\> Applications -\> Development -\> USB debugging: enable
2. Changed the USB cable; maybe it had good fabric, but it was faulty.

With a new cable and the point 1., the USB notification now appears like a charm, as usual.

For me, SOLVED.

HTH
> 1 votes

# Answer
Changing the USB cable did it for me. I had forgotten that there are two types of USB cables:

1. charging only, no data lines
2. charging AND data, has additional wires

If you are using the charging only cable, you will never see the USB notification.
> 1 votes

# Answer
HTC Incredible 2 (*Android 2.3.3*):

> Settings -\> Connect to PC -\> Default connection type.

Where you can choose from

* Charge only
* HTC Sync
* Disk drive
* Mobile Broadband Connect
* Media sync
* Internet pass-through

> Settings -\> Connect to PC

Also has an option

> **Ask me**
> *Ask me about USB connection type whenever I connect my phone to a PC*

When connected to a PC there is also a message in the notification area, that provides quick access to the `Connection type` settings.
> 0 votes

# Answer
This might happen if you have faulty USB cable, try using a different cable.

Sometimes the cable might appear to work because the "charging" lightning icon will appear at top, however it will work only for charging and won't work for data transfer.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Go to Settings → Storage and you will see a USB symbol. Tap it → select Media and now you will be able to transfer file.
> -1 votes

---
Tags: usb, samsung-galaxy-apollo
---


# Question
Title: Where do I find a picture I sent from messages app as MMS?
I took a picture of a tracking number receipt and sent the text message. Now I can't find the picture of the receipt. How do I find it? It's not in gallery.

# Answer
If you're using the Google messages app, then the picture wouldn't automatically be saved to your gallery app, rather, it stays in the messaging app.

Open the messaging app, find the person you sent the message to, and the pictures should be there. If you deleted the picture, then it's fully deleted and the only way to recover it, would be by using some picture recovery method.

If your phone is rooted, you can double check in the directory where all SMS/MMS are stored, it might still be there. This would be under /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
> 0 votes

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


# Question
Title: LG G6 camera - ways to improve photo quality?
I was under the impression that the photos on the g6 were supposed to be *fantastic* because it had 2 cameras instead of one (depth or something like that?) but I find that the photos just generally suck. Not sure how to explain it. But I know that iPhone photos generally blow mine out of the water.

Are there any explanations for this? I don't have an SD card (it's coming in the mail) and once I put it in maybe that will change some default settings?

# Answer
> were supposed to be fantastic because it had 2 cameras instead of one

Having 2 cameras doesn't mean anything, Pixel 2 takes better photos than a "Dual camera" iPhone X

> Are there any explanations for this?

The hardware isn't good enough. The software post processing isn't good. And the screen on which you look at pictures plays a big role too. A bad iPhone image might look good on Pixel screen but not vice-versa. This Verge Video explains this quite in depth.

> don't have an SD card (it's coming in the mail) and once I put it in maybe that will change some default settings?

Nope, it won't change anything.

As for answering your original question, yes you can improve your camera to make it a lot better. Easiest way is to install a 3rd party camera app (I recommend Google's Camera port found here). The difficult but sure shot way of improving is to capture images in RAW format and then post process them yourself later on. In a gist, RAW photos will give you unadulterated photos without any of the shitty software processing done by LG. You can then tweak the photos to whatever style you like the most (see it as Instagram filters but on steroids). This is how most professional photographers actually create their stunning images.

If you want to tweak them on your phone, Snapseed and Lightroom are the best apps. You can look at some introductory tutorial online and its very easy once you get to know what every setting is doing.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: camera, photos, lg, lg-g6
---


# Question
Title: How can one create a file shortcut inside the Android file system?
I don't want to create a file shortcut on the desktop, I want to create a shortcut inside the Pictures folder to the DCIM folder. My mom is able to handle tech stuff, she used to work for HP. But she's getting forgetful and keeps forgetting that I have told her multiple times that her photos are under DCIM and not Pictures. If I have to root her phone to make this work, that's not an issue, I have plenty of experience with that, and have already researched how to root her particular model of phone. I believe the version of Android on the phone (AT&T LG V20) is 7.0 Nougat. Thanks for any help you can offer!

# Answer
What you are looking for is called symbolic linking

`ln -s` command is your friend. Now depending on your device and the file manager you use, this process can differ. I don't think you'll need root for this, but if your device doesn't come with symbolic linking by default, you'll need root to add this.

And like the other comment said, it's better to use a Gallery app for photos rather than doing this.
> 3 votes

---
Tags: 7.0-nougat, file-system, home-screen-shortcuts
---


# Question
Title: Mobile Data only working when used as hotspot
I recently bought a HTC One. Everything worked fine including mobile-data and Wifi. Until I once used my phone as Hotspot for my laptop.

The whole time while using the hotspot I had working internet on both my phone and laptop. But the next day (hotpost disabled), I couldn't get the mobile-data to work.

I don't get an error, it just doesn't load.

Wifi connections still work.

Now I tried reenabling hotspot and to my surprise it works. I now have internet on the laptop but NOT on the phone.

It seems that somehow the mobile-data will only work when the phone is used as hotspot.

What have I done wrong?

Android 4.2.2

# Answer
Somehow there was a proxy set up in the APN settings …

Edit: To change the proxy you have to go to the settings and click on mobile data. Select Access point names, select the active APN (or the one you're having problems with) check/reset the Proxy/Port settings.
> 11 votes

# Answer
If you're using Android 8, follow the Path Setting -\> Network & Internet -\> Mobile Network. Change to the tab the represent your active cellular SIM (in case of dual-sim phones) -\> Access Point Names -\> \[3 dots icon\] on TOP RIGHT -\> Reset to default. Worked perfectly for me right after reset.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: wifi-hotspot, mobile-data, htc-one
---


# Question
Title: If all file sharing apps like shareit, xender and SuperBeam uses wifi technology to transfer files, why their transfer speed differs?
I've downloaded several file sharing apps like shareit, xender and SuperBeam. They all use wifi technology to transfer files. Then why does their speed differ too much. I've noticed that shareit takes 3-4 seconds while SendAnywhere takes about 30-35 seconds to transfer a same file on same devices. What makes ShareIt efficient over SendAnywhere?

# Answer
> 0 votes
How reading the file from the file-system can affect performance. Often there are various ways to read a file in a programming language.

The physical transfer that uses everything below OSI layer 6 can't be different, as those apps all use Androids default APIs to achieve that.

Then how saving the file into the receivers file-system also affects performance. There are various ways to save a file in a programming language.

---
Tags: applications, wi-fi, file-transfer, wifi-direct, shareit
---


# Question
Title: Pin Keep Reminder to notification shade?
How do I pin my todo list (which is a reminder so that it appears on my calender) from keep to the notification shade?

# Answer
> 2 votes
There's no native way in Android to do it unless the app itself implements it. However, some hacky ways to achieve it-

1. Using apps - Boomerang Notifications and Pin Notifications
2. Using Tasker - https://www.reddit.com/r/tasker/comments/4orcfg/make\_notification\_persistent/d5h8ln9/
3. Xposed Module - https://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/4-1-pinnotif-pin-notifications-to-avoid-t2765095 (Not updated in a while, will be incompatible with latest versions of Android)

---
Tags: google-keep
---


# Question
Title: Old files not showing up on PC. Suggestions for Workarounds?
I'm trying to transfer files from one phone to another. I connected both of them to my computer with usb. However, files that are older than 6/15/17 do not show up on the computer. I can see them in my file manager app, but not on PC.

# Answer
> 0 votes
You can use Airdroid to transfer files over local WiFi connection or use adb to pull all files.

1. Install adb on your PC
2. Turn on USB debugging from Developer settings
3. Use `adb pull` command to copy everything

---
Tags: usb-connection-mode, data-transfer, mtp
---


# Question
Title: How to take small-sized-(~50KB) good quality screenshots using overlay button?
I'm using Screenshot Capture to take screenshots using an overlay button (shown in the image).

The problem with it is that it creates somehow large big size screenshots (around 1MB each). Unfortunately it doesn't provide settings to control the JPG quality of saved screenshots like Snagit does (on Windows, shown in image).

I'm looking for being able to take screenshots using ***hover button***, and also able to control quality settings like *JPG Subfile type and Quality* in order to make screenshots ***smaller*** (~50KB).

---

Note: I know that I can use image converter apps and tools to convert large produced images into smaller. But I'm looking for a direct way to take screenshots directly small (Because often I become away of my laptop, also I don't want to consume time and mind to bother with screenshots size regularly).

My Anrdoid version: 6.0.1

# Answer
> 3 votes
Touchshot is an app I use which has both you are looking for

* Hover button (overlay)
* `JPEG / PNG` \- JPEG quality 80 /90 /100 and resolution can be varied from 640 x 360 , 1280 x 720, 1920 x 1080

Minimum size by manipulating these is still around 100 kB and not as low as you want. There may be other apps that offer size you want but not with overlay function. As an additional feature , you get date and time stamped screenshots

---
Tags: 6.0-marshmallow, screenshots
---


# Question
Title: TWRP 2.8.7.0 -> How secure does WIPE erase your personal data
I need to mail my Sony z3c smartphone to a repair shop.

It is rooted and I have a recent TWRP backup that I moved to my PC. I removed the sdCard and booted into recovery.

If I go to `wipe -> factory reset` is this sufficient enough to prevent a nosy repair shop employee from reading out my sensitive data.

I could not find any information about how the wiping process erases your data. Does it just delete the partition table or does it write new data over every single bit.

Does anyone have some information on what commands will be executed when using TWRP to wipe the phone ?

# Answer
> For instance, if you're getting ready to sell your device, then it's a good idea to wipe everything on the device so that the new owner doesn't get your private data. Note that these wipe options **may not be completely destructive**. If you store especially sensitive information on your device or are really concerned about your private data, then you may need to look into other options to ensure that your data is fully destroyed.

So, TWRP wipe isn't the best way of you are especially sensitive to personal information being captured

* Recommended way is to *encrypt and factory reset*. A factory reset by itself is supposed to overwrite information but it has been shown that it is not 100% true always - some parts of storage are marked as overwritten but in reality aren't. If the phone is encrypted

> ....If the phone's hard drive is encrypted, any unerased data will be scrambled and effectively useless

This was established in a study two years ago , details here

**Edit** Thanks to Izzy who pointed in comments another important aspect of FRP(Factory Reset Protection)- make sure you are signed out of your Google account before doing factory reset. Else, this protection will kick in and you will have major issues at hand. Also refer to tools in his curated collection linked in the comment for *secure deletion*
> 3 votes

---
Tags: twrp, encryption
---


# Question
Title: Want to sync data (music) to sdcard on Android 7.0
I'm looking for something that would allow me to keep a folder (music files) in sync between a main folder on a PC and a folder on an external SDcard in a (not rooted) Android 7 phone. Would prefer wireless, but at this stage would be happy with USB connection as well.

My attempts so far:

* Run SSHDroid on android and rsync from PC.

SSHDroid lets me see everything, but any time I try to write to the external SD card, I get permission denied. I can write to internal memory only.

* Run network server from ES Explorer.

Same problem to SSHDroid. Can't seem to write to the external SD card.

* Mount phone on windows via USB and use PC sync tool.

While I can see the folders in Explorer (and can copy files to them), I can't seem to access them from any other windows app. When I do "Save As..." in an application, I can't see the phone in the list of devices that I can save to. So I can't seem to point any of the windows sync tools to it. With Cygwin-based rsync, I don't have a drive letter to access.

* MyPhoneExplorer.

This is a client/server app for the PC and the phone. It's easy to configure access to the SD card and can sync data back and forth. So this seems perfect, except the file sync portion doesn't like large folders. Small syncs succeed, but when I ask it to sync my music folder (over 15GB and 9000 files), the program crashes while trying to analyze stuff before the transfer starts.

Any other solutions I should be trying (or anything I might be doing wrong with the previous attempts)?

Actual phone is LG K20 V

# Answer
If you really want to keep the entire directory (and possibly its sub-directories) in sync, so that their content is "mirrored", FolderSync would be a good candidate. It's an app running on your Android device that can communicate with a plethora of protocols:

<sup>*FolderSync* Screenshots (click images for larger variants)</sup>

As you can see in the first screenshot, it not only supports many clouds and FTP, but also Samba/CIFS (Windows PC, second from bottom). SSH can be used as well (that's how I use it with my Linux machines). *FolderSync* also allows you to schedule syncs, even limit that to when you're connected to your home WiFi. The paid version also has support.

I'm not affiliated with the product or company, but I'm using the paid version happily for years on multiple devices :)
> 1 votes

---
Tags: sync, external-sd, file-transfer
---


# Question
Title: Where can I find the Xposed Framework for Nougat and Oreo?
I have a OnePlus 5 running stock Android 7.1.1. I'm planning to upgrade to 8.0 when it's available.

However I'm a huge Xposed fan and I use a lot of modules, so the availability of Xposed Framework is a great concern to me.

# Answer
> 1 votes
### Last Updated: March 30, 2018

You can follow the Xposed Framework to monitor) community on Google+ so you can keep up to date with the news.

### Update 3

Xposed for Oreo 8.0/8.1 is available in beta.

### Update 2

Official Xposed v89 for up to SDK 25 (Android 7.1) is available as of December 17, 2017. A new version of Xposed Installer is available as well. *rovo89* says the Xposed for Oreo is ***almost complete***:

> 95% of the code are ported, basic functionality is working on Genymotion. The remaining 5% are obviously those parts of the code which are more difficult to port. I literally just upgraded my primary device to Android 8.1, so I can hopefully start some real testing soon.

### Update 1

Official Xposed v88.1 for SDK 24 and 25 (Android 7.x) is available as of October 10, 2017.

---

### Original Answer:

An **unofficial** build of Xposed Framework is available from XDA. I have tested it with my OnePlus 5 and it worked almost perfectly, except for some small bugs (random reboot aroung 3:00 AM when I'm sleeping, requirement for `/data` decryption).

The XDA newsfeed article is here and the thread is above.

> **Important Notice**
> If you are using your stock ROM, make sure your `/data` partition **is decrypted**. If it's encrypted, you may have to format it. Be sure to back up your data carefully before proceeding. Also you should flash a "DM Verify and Forced Encryption Disabler" package.

---
Tags: 7.0-nougat, 7.1-nougat, xposed-framework, 8.0-oreo, 8.1-oreo
---


# Question
Title: Why would I automatically share usage and diagnostics data?
In my Android settings (Version 6) I have the option to activate "to automatically share usage and diagnostics data".

I suppose that this will help certain developpers - and of course Google - by getting statistics of my battery states and usage (as the title says).

But appart from getting "more wonderful and stable apps" in later versions, is there any specific advantage for me? I am asking this as a user and as a developper (who has noticed that many users have this option turned off). In our part of the world (Africa) we are still paying for data, so providing this information will cost me and other users real money.

Do you know about any more direct incentive? Like "better status" in the Play Store? Brownie Points with Google?

Or - at least - **can I have access somewhere and see what Google is collecting about my own usage and my own battery performance**? That would be an incentive indeed. I might find that I spend much more time with my phone than I think (or maybe that way I discover that my baboon is using it when I leave the room...).

Please do not hate this question; I have started investigating this subject today, because some of our apps have just started giving crash-reports on the Play Console, so am collecting any information I can - from the dev-side and from the users-side. Thank you.

Edit: Since the first answer is questioning my mention of battery-information in my initial question, I will paste here a short summary from a Google Android Account Help page which does mention battery-level:

> **What information is shared with Google** If you turn on usage and diagnostics, your device sends information to Google about what’s working and not working. For example, your device can send information like battery level, how often you use your apps, and the quality and length of your network connections (like mobile, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth). None of this information is used to identify you.

# Answer
> 10 votes
> can I have access somewhere and see what Google is collecting about my own usage and my own battery performance?

Yes. Click on My activity to see what information is collected by Google regarding your app activities (if you didn't disable it). The data is just about how many times and when you used an app (unless Google chose not to reveal all the data captured). I don't know how this can help in improving app stability or performance

What it does with this information is not transparent and I never saw any information being recorded about your battery statistics

If you click on the hamburger menu and go to activity controls, you will see what it *benignly* tracks with seemingly useful goals (if you missed the sarcasm , see How Google is secretly recording you through your mobile, monitoring millions of conversations )

Bottom line - all your activites are being monitored to improve user experience etc but at a cost. Folks disable these not just because of data consumption but privacy concerns. Smarter folks manage to have minimum Google components - See Android without Google courtesy Izzy

**Edit:**

1. Thanks to OP for pointing out that Google does collect battery information as claimed here. This was new to me but I couldn't find any way this information is available to *end users* ; developers seem to be able to see it in Android Vitals and maybe elsewhere
2. Note that you can't *disable* monitoring, you can only *pause* ; this means it *would* be reset to default if you factory reset your device or change your device and *could* be reset sneakily by OS update or Play Store update. It's better to keep checking periodically if your settings hold

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Tags: settings, battery-life, diagnostics
---


# Question
Title: Google play store reviews: For an older version
Whilst reviewing a certain application on Google play store I came across an odd comment "For an older version" which seemed to have originated from several users and this confused me whether all the users had posted the same comment complaining the "old version was better" or it means something else.

It is specifally from users of maybe has something to do with the developer, but either way this still remains vague to me. I just wish to know what exactly do they mean with such a review comment?

# Answer
It simply means that the comments posted by reviewers pertain to older version of the app , immaterial whether they are good or bad

Other comments which don't have this comment are for the current version, so that's what you need to pay attention to (Bugs in older versions may have been fixed as is usually the case)

As clarified in this SO question, there can be only rating for app by a user , irrespective of the versions. Hence the need to differentiate old reviews from current version reviews

Seeing wbogac z's comment, found this blog which mentions that their is a separate versioning that is not visible to the users and older reviews are likely based on that.

**Edit:** See this for versioning details from a developer point of view App updation- Google Play Store wants to update an older version of app when latest version is already installed?

Requesting developers to confirm or correct
> 3 votes

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Tags: google-play-store
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# Question
Title: Is there a log of permission requests/grants?
Does Android keep a log of permission request from apps?

# Answer
I don't know whether a hard copy is stored somewhere in system but the one in memory can be looked by this command:

```
adb shell dumpsys appops

```

This would give a dump of apps (recognized by package name and UID) having granted or rejected runtime permissions requested by them.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: permissions, logging
---


# Question
Title: How do I send an SMS to a contact that only has an e-mail address?
I can start a conversation in Google Messages to an e-mail address. When I send the message, it appears to go through an SMS to e-mail gateway, and I (or whoever owns that e-mail address) can in fact reply to the e-mail and it gets routed back through the gateway and I receive an SMS.

This all works well and good, but the e-mail address is random letters and numbers and I want a nice description instead of that. So I created a contact for the address. However, now I can't send a message because Messages doesn't find the name when I search for it. Oddly enough, if I happen to remember the entire e-mail address and type it in up to the "@" character, suddenly it "happens" to remember that there is a contact with that name and lets me select it. However, this is pretty much useless when I have to remember a 12+ character string of random numbers and letters to get an auto-complete!

How do I get the contact to show up to send an SMS when it is only an e-mail address? I have tried editing the contact and pasting the e-mail address as a phone number, but it strips out all the non-numeric characters this way.

# Answer
I just tested the issue with a few different messaging apps, and I came to the conclusion that the app was simply not made to do that. In both Google messages and textra, I had the issue you describe, but as soon as I tried it in Samsung's messaging app it worked perfectly. As soon as I started typing the name, it gave me the email address as an option.

That's why I conclude that Google messages was strangely not made to do what you are looking for.

As a workaround, I suggest that you text the person once, and then every time you want to text them again, instead of initiating a new message, simply press on the search icon on the top right of the screen and type in the name of the contact, press on the contact, and you have achieved the same thing as you wanted with ease.
> 1 votes

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Tags: contacts, sms, email, 8.0-oreo
---


# Question
Title: OnePlus X running lineage overheated lost all the contacts
I have oneplus x and I have installed lineage OS for it. It has worked great, but today it got to some loop and the phone was hot. When I tried to open the lock screen, I only so program “whos in my wifi” and it was showing me some error “don’t member anymore. Some android.com… or something” and I could get pass off that error. So I restarted the phone and then everything was gone. All the settings, contacts, whatsapp messages were gone. But programs and most of the pictures where there.

So any idea what to do? Is there fix or repair system program to run on recovery twrp? Or is it all gone?

**UPDATE**

Now it did that again. I think I need to unistanll lineage OS...

# Answer
> 0 votes
If you manually didn't take any backups before (using TWRP, titanium Backup or any such app), no there is no way to get that information back. WhatsApp takes daily backups, so might get those back. Contacts are usually synced with your Google account.

If you really want some content back, you can try apps like Undelete that can get back deleted files, but there it's difficult to track what system files you need to recover to get those messages back.

---
Tags: lineageos
---


# Question
Title: How can a lost locked phone in airplane mode be unlocked?
I lost my Android phone on vacation that was in airplane mode (Moto G5, v7 updated). It was protected by fingerprint and swipe. I almost always use the fingerprint to unlock, but do *very* occasionally use the swipe.

I locked it online remotely and remotely logged out of it when I realized it was lost several hours later. The timeout interval should be only 1 or 2 minutes.

I was hoping to recover it in some fashion, so I didn't remotely wipe it, secure in the knowledge that it couldn't be unlocked.

So I was surprised to be contacted two days (!) after I lost it on my other devices and accounts via an instant messaging app on the phone by someone who claimed to have found the phone and was looking for the owner.

In shock I didn't reply and quickly used Device Manager to remotely wipe the phone immediately. I also changed all my Google passwords for the accounts on the phone. I checked the Gmail logins and noticed none outside of my possession. I also checked Google Maps timeline and didn't see anything outside of my possession. Oddly, though, in Device Manager I clearly did see the phone located in the city I lost it, but a distance away from where I was.

A few questions:

* How could a locked phone with a recent Android OS be unlocked, taken out of airplane mode, and home screen accessed?
* How could the remote lock not work, assuming somehow someone opened up the phone within the lockout interval?
* I saw the phone in the city I lost it on Device Manager (where I executed the remote wipe). How could it be there, but nowhere visible in my Google Maps timeline or Gmail login history?
* Is there something I might be forgetting to do security wise?

Thank you.

# Answer
> 4 votes
> How could a locked phone with a recent Android OS be unlocked, taken out of airplane mode, and home screen accessed?

It wasn't. The person simply pulled out the sim card from your device, added into some other device and installed WhatsApp on it. WhatsApp doesn't have any login authentication, it will simply let anyone use it as long as they have access to sim card. This also explains why he/she could post in one your groups and not directly PM some contact (he/she doesn't have any of your contacts).

> How could the remote lock not work, assuming somehow someone opened up the phone within the lockout interval?

Not possible in the 1-2 minute lockout interval you mentioned. Any kind of exploit will require at least few hours of work.

> I saw the phone in the city I lost it on Device Manager (where I executed the remote wipe). How could it be there, but nowhere visible in my Google Maps timeline or Gmail login history?

Maps timeline isn't 100% accurate and up to date. Device Manager pings for real-time location. GMail login history shows only places where you actually logged in. You were already logged into your accounts when you went to that place, unless you didn't remove the account and added it back, it won't show login attempts in GMail.

I don't see any signs of breach in security of your device from the information you have provided.

---
Tags: android-device-manager, lost-phone
---


# Question
Title: Stream timers across multiple android devices
I have seen multiple posts with streaming Video or Audio in multiple devices. However I want to stream multiple timers across multiple android devices. Ideally is to have same timer running on different devices. Timer can be set by some app or in-build timer app.

Is there way to achieve this ? Currently I can think of having some kind of app which shares screens on multiple devices. However such apps are either paid or do not work properly. Is there free and open source alternative ?

It will be something like master-slave kind of setup, where one device control the time and other just display it.

# Answer
You are making this overly complicated IMO. There is no need for designing a full fledged distributed system for such a simple task that can be done on the web. Just go to Tickcounter.com, sign up for a free account and create your custom timers on any device. Copy that link on your phone and create a desktop shortcut. If you're feeling fancy, create a web wrapper around it.
> 0 votes

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Tags: streaming
---


title: Flashing ROM on a used Samsung Note 4

text:
# Question
Title: Flashing ROM on a used Samsung Note 4
I have a used note 4 and want to make sure there is no spyware or malware on it. I know some can survive a factory reset. Somebody told me to flash a rom and recovery image but not how to do this. I searched and came across a video of a person using a program called odin to do this, however after he was finished all his apps were still there. If this completely cleans the phone why are his apps still there?

What would be the best way for me to actually wipe everything on the phone?

# Answer
> 0 votes
1. It's better to link the video so we know what you are exactly talking about.
2. My guess is you watched a video about rooting using ODIN. Yes, that won't wipe your device clean. However you can also use ODIN to flash entire firmware which cleans up everything on your device.

Here's a guide to use ODIN to flash stock firmware.

---
Tags: malware, system, samsung-galaxy-note-4
---


# Question
Title: Link2SD made apps unable to reinstall after SD card corrupted
I was using Link2SD and linked some of my apps to an SD card including internal data. Recently, the second partition somehow got corrupted. I deleted the partition and reformated it. Now I can't install any of the apps previously linked. It shows insufficient space error, but there is plenty of space in internal memory, SD card, as well as SD card's 2nd partition, and I can install any other apps.

I tried the clean-up option in Link2SD. It cleaned up the Dalvik cache of old linked apps, but it didn't work.

What to do now?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Try this

1. Go to application manager
2. There are some filenames starting with '.com' and with a grey SD card icon
3. Uninstall them That should do the work

---
Tags: applications, sd-card, installation, internal-sd, link2sd
---


# Question
Title: Changing Screenshot format from PNG to JPEG?
I want to change the screenshot function to take screenshots using JPEG rather than PNG. The JPEG should also have time & date info. Are there any apps/magisk modules that do this?

Root methods prefered so as to still have the system screenshot functions

# Answer
I don't know about Magisk module that can do this but here is an app alternative

Touchshot is an app I use

* Hover button (overlay)
* `JPEG / PNG` \- JPEG quality 80 /90 /100 and resolution can be varied from 640 x 360 , 1280 x 720, 1920 x 1080
* Date and time stamped screenshots for instance `20171229_140953.jpg` for a screenshot just captured
> 2 votes

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Tags: screenshots
---


# Question
Title: Automatically toggle background data for a given app
I have one app that "misbehaves" when on mobile data – ie. it takes quite big bites out of my battery. I don't want to cut it off from mobile data completely, though – as I need it from time to time and also want to get information on data incoming to it.

I know I could use Greenify and Tasker (see: Hibernate apps, but have them wake up periodically for a short time), but that approach is a bit heavy-handed: Each time when I bring the app to foreground, it populates the screen fresh as if I had just started it.

> What I'd very much like is something along the lines of using Tasker to periodically cut off background data ***just for this app*** (note the approach to Automatically restrict apps background data using Tasker is different, as it disables background data ***for all apps*** which is not what I want).

Are there any options I'm not aware of – like some "system call" (aka "shell exec") I could perform from Tasker?

In case it's relevant: root available, also Magisk, Xposed, and of course Tasker.

# Answer
Tasker now has this inbuilt!

`Actions->Net->Network access`

It allows per-app or global settings.
> 1 votes

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


# Question
Title: How to add microphone to the keyboard for speech recognition?
I am using Android 7.0 on a Samsung Galaxy S7 edge.

How to add microphone to the keyboard to "write" SMS or Facebook messages using speech recognition?

# Answer
dunno if it is possible natively using the samsung keyboard, but thanks to @beeshyams i have installed , using the playstore, gboard. Gboard contains the microphone per default
> 0 votes

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Tags: voice-recognition, microphone
---


title: Input quick text inside status bar

text:
# Question
Title: Input quick text inside status bar
There are apps that display buttons in the notifications for a quick feedback.

What I need is a way a that a text input in a file stays in the background and displays inside the status bar/notifications (input text that is 40 characters would suffice). I do NOT mean a notes app for displaying notes.

Is there any way to achieve this?

# Answer
> 2 votes
There is an app Notin which was amongst the top apps of the year as per XDA and by a coincidence had downloaded today and works well

> With notin, never forget the little things anymore. It's an easy way to save notes or reminders as a notification.
>
> notin helps you in reminding things you need to do, random numbers you do not want to save in your contacts and many more through the help of Notifications. The reminder doesn't pop-up or rings, it just sits there and still does it's job most efficiently.

---
Tags: applications, notification-bar
---


title: Used note 4 clean spyware

text:
# Question
Title: Used note 4 clean spyware
I purchased a used Note 4 off ebay and want to make completely sure there are no spy apps or malware on it. I know some spy apps can be installed into the system partition and survive a factory reset. I discovered an app called cerberus that could do this and could be used to spy on me and blackmail me. How do I completely clean my phone of all spy apps or malware and completely wipe everything including the system partition erasing everything.

# Answer
Cerberus is an anti theft app. It can be used to maliciously spy on you making it spyware. I don't know who has used this phone or where it has been anything could be on it.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: samsung, factory-reset, malware
---


# Question
Title: Does using multiple gps tracker use much more battery?
If I run several GPS tracking apps at the same time, like strava, ski tracks, my tracks, for example, does the battery drain much faster then using a single gps tracker? Basically what I'm asking, is how much of the gps battery usage is from the communication to the gps vs how much from the individual app usage.

# Answer
The GPS itself probably won't use much more power – after all it doesn't matter if 1 or 100 apps ask for the location: it's obtained once and then handed to all. Actually there's even a "location cache": if you're now at e.g. Trafalgar Square in London, you're unlikely to be in Manhattan the next second (exaggerating a little) – so that's what subsequent requests within a short interval access. And that's also what's used when you e.g. enter a tunnel and temporarily have no location info.

A little more power of course will be required as the device is kept awake "more aggressively": one app probably would update the location once per second (or fewer times) – while multiple apps won't do that "unisono" (at the exact same time). But compared to the overall load while tracking (or navigating), that's most likely rather a little indeed.

Which reduces your question to: "Does using multiple apps use much more battery". The answer to that is "it depends". It certainly uses more – but how much depends on what those apps do, how well they are written, etc. Also think of ads they may draw, or data uploads they might perform.
> 1 votes

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Tags: battery-life, gps-tracking
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# Question
Title: App keyboard has a done button instead of return
Terminal emulator usually has a return button that works fine. But after opening another app then going back to terminal emulator the return is replaced by a Done button, that obviously doesn't work.

Can i stop this happening in settings or do i have to modify the APK source files?

Thanks

# Answer
Go into preferences, set soft keyboard input method to word-based instead of character-based.
> 1 votes

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Tags: keyboard, terminal
---


# Question
Title: Detect damage to device after dropping it?
I dropped my Pixel. The screen is cracked and doesn't light up. But the phone still works - it rings and vibrates when I get a call.

I'm considering replacing the screen myself, but before I buy the part, I'm wondering if there is any way to have confidence that the screen is the only problem.

Can I connect my phone to the computer via USB, and then run some kind of diagnostic software from the computer, to tell me exactly which parts are damaged besides the screen (if any)?

# Answer
> 0 votes
There is no diagnostic software AFAIK (as far as I know ). If there was, you would have heard of it

While things *seem* to be fine except for the screen , you can never be sure. The insides of phone are densely packed to maintain smaller thickness, size etc and it is quite possible that something else is also affected.

See sites like iFixit for help of you wish to do it on your own. You can never be *sure* that screen is the only damaged part

It's up to you but service centre may be an easier and better option, of course at higher cost and time (and missing out on the fun of doing it yourself :)

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Tags: screen, physical-damage, diagnostics
---


# Question
Title: Is it possible to reset to factory settings without USB Debug?
Is there any way to reset to factory settings without the USB debug? I have an Sony Xperia E3 model number D2203. The reason is I bought it 2 years ago and stopped using it 6 months after, but now I need it again. I can't get in cause I managed to put up a password I can't remember probably cause on an app or something.

# Answer
> 0 votes
From user manual

> Power Off Your Sony Xperia E3.
>
> Press And Hold Volume up Key + Volume Down key + Power Key.
>
> Now You Will see a Android Robot on screen. Select ” Wipe Data / Factory Reset ” Option By Using Volume Key .

---
Tags: recovery-mode, factory-reset, sony-xperia
---


# Question
Title: How can I make Android Disa work with Windows Whatsapp?
I have the app Disa which has all the messaging services, including SMS and Whatsapp, nicely integrated into one application.

However, I want to get my messages on windows as well. If you use the official Windows client for Whatsapp, you have to verify it using the official Android Whatsapp on your phone.

You can't use Disa *and* official Whatsapp for the same number at the same time, and if you switch from the official app to Disa, Windows Whatsapp will stop working.

How can I fix it so Whatsapp windows will work, and Whatsapp will still be activated for Disa?

Coming at this from another angle, if you know a Windows client that will gel with Disa, let me know here.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Probably you were looking for a "Disa Web" feature like Whatsapp Web. Unfortunately as of now the feature is not yet availble.

According to Disa Unified Messenger Community forums (moderator);

> This feature is not yet available . The third party plugin developer hasn't added this feature yet. But the Disa team has plans for making a web version in the future. This will work with every plugin.

Currently the developers are working full time on telegram plugin and bug fixes.

So as of now you'll have to stick either Disa whatsapp plugin or Official whatsapp client (with web version) - you can't mix them both.

# Answer
> 0 votes
This is what I found, I am just checking it out. Give it a try!

https://www.bluestacks.com/download.html?utm\_campaign=homepage-dl-button-en

In order to run Disa on your computer or laptop you will need to download and install BlueStacks Android Emulator by clicking here.

Credits:

https://www.techforpc.com/disa-for-pc-windows-7-8-10-mac-laptop-free-download/

while you are there do check out the email integrator from Disa for PC from

http://disa.im/faq.html

Click on send an email and add all your email accounts from different service providers and you should be able to have one common inbox or 'combined mailbox'

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Tags: whatsapp-messenger, windows
---


# Question
Title: Can I desolder the internal memory from a Samsung Galaxy SIII and move it to a Samsung Galaxy SII?
My SGIII phone has an issue with the main board and will not start at all. Can I desolder the internal memory and move it to a Samsung Galaxy SII?

Or is there any other way to retrieve the information from the internal memory?

# Answer
I have never done this and this answer is based on this XDA thread -Soldering? Move internal memory chip which can give you some pointers

* EMMC is a BGA chip, which means you require specialised equipment and expertise to deal with it
* IMEI information is stored in EMMC and CPU for Samsung phones. If you simply remove this chip and place in another device, IMEI mismatch will prevent radio (calling, SMS) to work, but you may be able to recover data stored
* Encryption is the biggest hurdle (if your device was encrypted), even if you tackle the hardware portion. Your encryption keys are tied to the device and even if you remember the password on the old device and use the same, you may not be able to access data

Using JTAG , it may be possible to revive or locate and repair the fault. Again, buying JTAG, manipulating it's controller, transferring information etc is again for a professional or a serious hobbyist (I did try to learn this when I had a Note 2 to fix battery draining motherboard and found it too involved, though I didn't need to spend anything)

Bottom line - it's best dealt with repair or data recovery professionals and not something trivial . But then, if you are upto to it, go ahead and share your experience here for the benefit of community :)

**Edit** Google will tell you that both chips are different. For S3 it is `KMVTU000LM-B50` and S2 `KMV3U000LM-B304`

*Establish if they can be interchanged?* (Not within the ambit of this site) and then proceed. There can be many variations, footprint of the chip, pin connections, architecture, voltages etc which could prevent you from doing what you want
> 1 votes

# Answer
Firstly, this looks more like an S4 than an S III.

Memory chip pin-out and placement are heavily device-specific. What's more, older devices such as S II have distinct (individually packaged) SoC and eMMC chips, while all newer ones like S4 use chip-on-chip packaging (e.g. ePOP, as demonstrated in this previous answer I wrote - could also serve as a reference). This denies you any possibilities of transferring the chip itself.

For other means of recovery, @beeshyams already covered it well.
> 1 votes

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Tags: samsung, internal-storage, hardware, internal-sd
---


title: How to jail google?

text:
# Question
Title: How to jail google?
I'm currently flashing my Samsung A3 (2015) with Lineage OS because I begin to be really annoyed by google's intrusions in private life. But the thing is that I've to admit that google has some great tools (like google maps/Play store), and even if there exists some very good alternatives (like Open Street Map), I'd like to be able to use them when I really need them. However, most of the time they should be "jailed", so that I can call them only when needed.

In an ideal world I'd like:

* To control what they can access (GPS/file system...) and provide wrong data if needed
* Shut down them most of the time, and manually start them when needed

It looks like I want a virtualisation/chroot-like solution, but I'd like to use android facilities to avoid an heavy full virtualization.

Any ideas?

Thank you!

# Answer
> 1 votes
Even if you want, you cannot always stop Google from collecting data. For example, read this question.

There are some processes that we, as a layman, can take resort to.

Firstly, go to the apps in settings and deny permissions from the apps. This will prevent apps from getting any unnecessary data.

Secondly, use apps like DataEye. It stops apps and system services from using data as per your choice. Stop all apps from accessing data, except the ones you really need. This way, those apps won't be able to send anything to Google. When you start those apps, DataEye would ask you whether you would like to allow data access. I personally use it to stop apps from showing up ads, and it works great.

Thirdly, I found this. It seems to completely mummify apps as per your wish. I haven't used it, but it has good ratings. If google apps can be mummified, then they'll not be able to send statistics to Google.

# Answer
> 1 votes
If your device is supported by an official LineageOS build, it's also supported by the special **LineageOS for microG** builds. Those replace the GApps with the more light-weight and privacy oriented microG framework, which should meet your purpose:

* **control location access:** µG ships with UnifiedNLP, which takes care for location stuff. It's then up to you to chose location providers. There are some using "online services" – but also some that work completely offline, like the LocalGSM provider I use: it downloads a CellId database for the region you chose, and then uses that to obtain your "network location". So your location doesn't need to be uploaded anywhere. Works like a charm.
* **shut them down:** not needed then, see previous bullet point. Nothing is sent to Google that way.

µG doesn't come with Playstore (or any other proprietary Google components), but it covers most of what Google Services does (except for ads and tracking stuff). You can e.g. use YalpStore to access the Playstore (either anonymously, or with your own account data), which even allows updating/installing apps you've bought. Note however that you can neither buy apps with it (you can do so using your web browser), nor can it do "license verification" (so apps relying on Google's `vending.CHECK_LICENSE` won't work). If you need the latter, AFAIK there are ways to replace the "FakeStore" integrated with µG by the official Playstore app.

PS: Of course you also can integrate µG with your specific custom ROM, and then take care to e.g. chose Playstore over FakeStore from the beginning. But that requires some extra work.

---
Tags: permissions
---


title: K-9 Mail not working with Openkeychain

text:
# Question
Title: K-9 Mail not working with Openkeychain
K-9 does not seem to find the installed Openkeychain app. OKC works fine and so does K-9 except for this problem. Both programs have been installed from F-Droid and are the the latest version. I am using a Moto G ("falcon") with ParanoidAndroid 4.6b5 without Gapps. APG used to work.

Thanks in advance for any help.

# Answer
Apparently on the "Accounts" screen, one has to long press the account. Menu will pop up. Click on "Account settings". Another menu will pop up. Click on the "Cryptography" item at the bottom. The Cryptography menu will open. Click on "OpenPGP Provider". By default, "None" is selected. Click on the "OpenKeychain" and you're set!

Hope this helps!
> 5 votes

# Answer
I also struggled with setting up Open Keychain with K9 Mail, and I was able to solve it.

Even though the recipient's key was in Open Keychain, and even though Open Keychain was selected from Settings\>Account Settings\>Cryptography, when I tried to send to send an encrypted message, it would show the message that said "private mode is enabled but some recipients don't have keys."

What I did to solve it was to open Open Keychain and select the recipient's certificate, click the three dots in the upper right corner, and then selected "Confirm with fingerprints\>Finger Prints Match \> Confirm Key

That turned the contact a green color in Open Keychain.

Finally, I went back into K9 Mail, and was able to send encrypted emails.

I don't know if my experience was unique, but thought I would share it since it took me hours to solve this problem.
> 1 votes

# Answer
My platform: Samsung Galaxy A9100, Android 6.0.1, with OpenKeyChain 4.8.1 && K9Mail 5.400.

I'm also stucked here and problem is (unperfectly) solved. I tried:

Open OpenKeyChain, click '三' to open left sidebar, select 'Apps', run K-9 Mail here.

Now, check K9Mail-\>Global Settings-\>Cryptography, OpenKeyChain is successfully detected.

However, with this solution, I must launch K9Mail from openkeychain app. Hope my experience could provide some help.
> 1 votes

# Answer
I finally found an answer. There is a setting in K-9 to use any encryption app installed.
> -1 votes

---
Tags: encryption, privacy, k9-mail
---


# Question
Title: Determine device architecture (ARM/ARM64/x86) with 'adb getprop'
Using `adb getprop`, I've found a few values that I think are pertinent, but I don't have any idea what an ARM64 device's value would like, much less an x86 one.

For my ARM device, the values are:

```
ro.product.cpu.abi       armeabi-v7a
ro.product.cpu.abi2      armeabi
ro.product.cpu.abilist32 armeabi-v7a,armeabi
ro.product.cpu.abilist64

```

I though `armabi-v8a` would mean ARM64, but Wikipedia says

> most chips support 32-bit AArch32 for legacy applications

So, I'm wondering if an ARMv8 chip could possibly be loaded with 32-bit Android which would further complicate things

Is there any way I can determine my device architecture with `adb`?

# Answer
I did some poking around in some custom ROMs for x86 devices, and along with the info provided by @Izzy I think I've figured it out.

Example ARM64 device

```
ro.product.cpu.abilist32  armeabi-v7a,armeabi
ro.product.cpu.abilist64  arm64-v8a

```

Example ARM device

```
ro.product.cpu.abilist32  armeabi-v7a,armeabi
ro.product.cpu.abilist64

```

Example x86 device

```
ro.product.cpu.abilist32  x86,armeabi-v7a,armeabi
ro.product.cpu.abilist64

```

So, to figure out what kind of device you have:

`ro.product.cpu.abilist64` not empty = `ARM64`

`ro.product.cpu.abilist32` contains `x86` = `x86`

If none of these conditions match, you have an `ARM` device
> 4 votes

---
Tags: adb, arm-processors
---


# Question
Title: Staging of several android devices made simple
I have to stage several android dongles to comply to my company’s need. I need to setup the WiFi, google account, download 3/4 apps, configure them, change background picture... i’v been Trying to find a script/macro that would do that for me. Apps such as MacroDroid requires that I setup the dongles anyway. I wonder if there would be an option to copy this macro to the dongle using the sd card and let it do the job. Ideas? Thanks

# Answer
I've just stumbled upon a project at Github, and remembered your question here. It seems like **inception** should perfectly fit your needs (except for the Google account, maybe, where it's a bad idea anyway to use the same one for all your employees). Quoting from the project description:

> Inception is a set of tools for auto configuring android devices. You can do the following:
>
> * Include any apps to be (pre)installed
> * Remove any stock apps
> * Root the device
> * Install busybox
> * Configure Wifi networks
> * Generate all device settings
> * Patch APKs
> * Replace Kernel, and/or ramdisk data in both boot and recovery imgs
> * Place your adb keys, configure USB debugging

Most of this you'd probably not even need (rooting, patching APKs, replacing the kernel, prepare ADB, installing Busybox). But what you wrote is covered.

*Inception* requires a Python installation on your computer. After initializing your "project" and adjusting the configuration to your needs (incl. placing the `.apk` files you want to install), it creates an `update.zip` you can flash via the device's (which usually will require a custom recovery). Optionally, it also can generate a cache partition img for your device, allowing you to deploy your update in bootloader/download mode.

I have not tried it, so I cannot tell how good it is – but it sounds like it's at least worth a look.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: scripts, multiple-devices
---


# Question
Title: Removed profile photo still appears on my contacts WhatsApp
I am using WhatsApp and have a profile photo set. I updated this picture several times. Now I noticed that on the phone of my first contact there is an old profile photo displayed. On the phone of my second contact there is an even older photo displayed. I removed the picture on my phone successfully though.

Solution attempt:

* I restarted WhatsApp on my phone and the phone of my first contact.
* I cleared the cache of WhatsApp on my phone.

Result: The old picture is still shown.

What am I doing wrong?

Profile picture is set to "My contacts" in

Settings -\> Account -\> Privacy -\> Profile photo -\> My contacts.

This is not a duplicate of this question as I want my picture to be removed from my contacts WhatsApp.

# Answer
> 2 votes
This almost always happens with me. Your contact's WhatsApp hasn't refreshed the changed profile photo from the Server and hence it is displaying the low resolution cache version of the old photo.

There's nothing you need to do on your phone. Try to refresh the contacts list on your friend's phone. That's best you can try as the problem is not on your side.

---
Tags: whatsapp-messenger, contact-photo
---


# Question
Title: How to test internet speed using terminal emulator on Android
I have Termux app installed on my Android phone. Is there a speed test tool that I can install and use from the command line? I have tried `speedtest-cli`, installed it by:

`pip install speedtest-cli`
`pip install speedtest-cli --upgrade`

I also have `python` installed.

When trying to use `speedtest-cli` it gives me error:

```
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/speedtest.py", line 1401, in shell
    speedtest = Speedtest()
  File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/speedtest.py", line 743, in _init_
    self.get_config()
  File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/speedtest.py", line 765, in get_config
    raise ConfigRetrievalError(e)
speedtest.ConfigRetrievalError: The read operation timed out

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/speedtest-cli", line 11, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
  File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/speedtest.py", line 1498, in main
    shell()
  File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/speedtest.py", line 1402, in shell
    except (ConfigRetrievalError, HTTP_ERRORS):
TypeError: catching classes that do not inherit from BaseException is not allowed

```

How do I get a working command-line speedtest tool in Android and Termux?

# Answer
We can run an script called `speedtest.py` localized in Github

`python speedtest.py`
> 2 votes

---
Tags: linux, networking, command-line
---


# Question
Title: Developer option "Do not keep activites" gets stuck
I'm rocking a Samsung Galaxy S6, 5.1.1, build number LMY47X.\*

When turning on the "Do not keep activities" developer option, the toggle turns green. It is toggled back off as soon as I navigate away from the developer options screen, and my testing shows that it is indeed off.

A workaround was to toggle it on, then lock the phone. After unlocking it, the toggle stays on and activities are not kept. The opposite problem is then present: it won't turn off. The workaround above does not seem to work in this case (I wonder if it was a fluke).

Some googling brings up a few instances of people with S6's and Note 5's with a similar problem, and a few conspiracy theories around samsung intentionally leaving it locked on, but nothing concrete about how to solve this.

Is this a bug, a dirty Samsung battery-saver hack job, or am I alone in experiencing this?

# Answer
Mystery solved!

Clicking the toggle does nothing. Clicking the text itself works, though. It looks like Samsung's devs have a click listener on the list item, but not the toggle switch itself.
> 10 votes

# Answer
I have a galaxy prime core phone that I upgraded to s8 and tried the smart switch. Kept getting that same message with the same results. What I did was toggle the button off for ALL developer options at the very top of the screen. It worked. Transferring media as I am writing this. One note though, this is an extremely slow process, might want to try just transferring via a computer
> 0 votes

---
Tags: samsung
---


title: Is it a Virus? : " HTMLViewer "

text:
# Question
Title: Is it a Virus? : " HTMLViewer "
For one time in my live, I accidentally set the option "Always" (tick the box) when Android ask me the question "which application must be used to open this type of file?" Android suggested some text application and " HTMLViewer".

I found out this was not a good idea at all!

I tried to change the default application but " HTMLViewer" does **not** appear in the applications list, even if system files are displayed.

" HTMLViewer" is not known on Google as it seems, and I am now suspecting it perhaps is some kind of malware.

I only installed apps from "Play Store"..

Does anyone know something about this, and maybe solution to stop this behaviour?

---

Here are my device's specs. As you can see... We can not update more ☺

---

The inoperant changes done with "Better Open with" :

# Answer
> 4 votes
HTML Viewer is not a virus and you shouldn't be alarmed.

Actually it is a **core application** in most android versions (It's also present on my device running android 4)

HTML viewer (as the name suggests) basically lets you read HTML files stored on your device and it occasionally handles some `.txt` or related extensions of files present on your device and normally appears alongside other `.txt` handling applications.

Under normal circumstances you should be able to remove defaults of the HTML Viewer as an individual app:

* Go to Settings → Apps → Tap 3 dot menu → Show system.
* Select HTML Viewer → Open by default → Clear defaults:

You also can reset default applications by following this procedure:

* Go to Settings → Apps → Tap 3 dot menu → Reset app preferences then click Reset Apps to confirm:

Alternatively as beeshyams suggested: using an app like Better Open With provides flexibility to choose the prefered app even if its one.

# Update

Lib Caris is right by claiming that "even by clearing defaults/resetting preferences" HTML Viewer still opens `.txt` despite these interventions, and I agree with him.

Don't know if I can call it a bug, I reproduced this issue again and even if defaults are cleared the changes are not confirmed in android (Android 6).

Nevertheless I have two workarounds to bypass this "bug":

**1. Temporarily disabling HTML Viewer**

* Go to Settings → Apps → Tap 3 dot menu → Show system.
* Select HTML Viewer → **Disable**:

* After disabling HTML Viewer, navigate to your device storage and look for any .txt file and open it.
* You will notice it will open with any available text viewer (not HTML Viewer)
* Next follow the above procedure and re enable HTML Viewer.
* Then try opening the `.txt` file again, this time around the defaults are cleared automatically and you have a chance to choose your preferred text viewer:

**2. Choose open as with file manager**

* Alternatively, directly navigate to any .txt file on your device storage with a suitable file manager e.g ES explorer .
* Long press the `.txt` file and choose "Open As" → Clear defaults

# Final Update

Due to problems in language barrier, it was a challenge to provide a conscise solution, nevertheless I will express my **sincere gratitude** to Lib Car, in his quest to address the problem and identifying pointer that ultimately solved this issue:

> I did not find it since the beginning because it's name is NOT " HTMLViewer ". The NAME is " **Visionneuse HTML** " :

---

---
Tags: antivirus
---


title: Where are Android settings stored?

text:
# Question
Title: Where are Android settings stored?
I have to set up 50+ plus phones for my company, and I am allowed to root the phones. Each phone needs to have the exact same WIFI SSID's / passwords, account / privacy settings, brightness, input methods, etc. Repeating the exact same manual setup 50 times seems a bit tedious..

Where are the phone settings stored? Can I simply adb push the settings to each device? The phones are Samsung Galaxy Pockets.

# Answer
> 21 votes
As it turns out, there is no magic file or directory that contains all settings. They are stored in various places, and depends greatly on how the manufacturer decides to set things up. I primarily work with Samsung phones, so the information here will mostly be Samsung oriented. Also, note that all of the below requires root access. If anyone has anything to add / rectify, feel free to comment.

First off, I have found that "copying settings" is not always the best way to go. You can do nandroid backups and restores, which pretty much clones one phone to another. If you're technical enough, and you're using Samsung, then creating your own odin image might be an even better option as it doesn't rely on you or someone else having created nandroid / recovery support.

## The Settings

**General settings:**
Settings are mostly stored in the `/data` subdirectory. If you're looking for something specific, start there.
**Built-in apps:**
Built-in apps tend to keep their settings in `/data/data/com.android.*` and `/data/data/com.google.android.*`
For example:
Contacts: `/data/data/com.android.contacts`
Email accounts: `/data/data/com.android.email`
MMS: `/data/data/com.android.mms`

**WiFi:**
WiFi settings location depends on the manufacturer, but is generally predictable.
Samsung Galaxy Pocket, S2, S3: `/data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf`
Samsung Tab: `/data/wifi/bcm_supp.conf`
HTC Desire: `/data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf`
Dell Streak: `/data/misc/wifi/wpa.conf`
Oneplus 2, 3: `/data/misc/wifi/networkHistory.txt`

**Keyboard configs:**
I have had to disable hardware keys, reconfigure layouts, or alter general keyboard behaviour before. The exact file name tends to be different on every phone, but I've found the config files to always be in `/system/usr/keylayout/`. Be careful, as breaking those could render your phone unusable.

**Misc:**
Most miscellaneous settings like product information, boot sounds, and enabling / disabling the on-screen nav bar are stored in `/system/build.prop`. Breaking this config file could bootloop your device.

If I find more information, I'll add later.

# Answer
> 6 votes
another possible way to do that is through the \`\`content'' command, e.g.:

```
adb shell content query --uri content://settings/global
adb shell content insert --uri content://settings/global --bind name:s:preferred_network_mode1 --bind value:i:0

```

# Answer
> 6 votes
I'm not an expert in android technologies. So I'm not totally sure whether my answer is true or not. But, using Root Explorer, I discovered that some of the settings are stored in the following files:

* /data/system/users/0/settings\_system.xml
* /data/system/users/0/settings\_secure.xml

For example the screen brightness is stored in the file `settings_system.xml`. If you open this file using a text editor, you may come across the following line of code:

```
<setting id="2220" name="screen_brightness" value="66" package="com.android.settings" />

```

In the code above, the number "66" indicates the screen brightness. The higher the number, the brighter the screen. I also discovered that the background image of your cell phone is stored in the following file path:

* /data/system/users/0/wallpaper

My cell phone is Samsung SM-J7. Maybe my discovery may vary for other smart phones.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Most Android settings are found in `/data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db`, which is an SQLite database which can easily manipulated by an SQLite browser. Android itself normally uses a protected SettingsProvider to manipulate those settings.

Sidenote: It seems that even though the settings have actually changed under the hood, the Settings GUI might not always seem to be up to date with the underlying reality. However, it is always the database that counts, and is provided to all the modules that are using them

Though, as stated previously, some settings can be stored as shared\_prefs or in files-dir for individual apps etc. Also, some manufacturers used mod'ed versions of Android which may use settings stored on other places.

In later versions of Android, some settings seem to have moved to other places.

---
Tags: settings
---


# Question
Title: Prevent Google from uploading pictures when connected to wifi?
I noticed that pictures I took with my Android smartphone while connected to my home ADSL/wifi router were silently uploaded to Google Photos.

How can I disable this "feature" ?

Thank you.

# Answer
> 1 votes
To add to the answer Alex has posted (which is correct), if you still want to upload a particular photo to Drive after disabling sync, long press the photo- (select it) and you will see a share option using which you can share to your drive.

This comes in handy when you have globally disabled sync for photos but want to save some photos to drive

# Answer
> 1 votes
To stop Google photos from syncing your pictures, do the following:

1. Open the Google photos app
2. Open the menu on the top right
3. Open settings
4. Press on "Back up & sync"
5. Toggle off the 'backup and sync' option.

# Answer
> 0 votes
You can deactivate syncing of photos or disable the Google Photos app (you will not be able to use it after that).

---
Tags: wi-fi, google-photos
---


# Question
Title: Redmi 3s Prime stuck on logo (Not Rooted!)
Redmi 3s Prime is stuck on Mi Logo (My phone is not rooted I haven't tried flashing anything at all).

Another strange thing is When I am calling from other mobile call is getting placed.

# Answer
I went to recovery mode by pressing `Power` \+ `Volume up` then selected recovery mode. Pressed blue button (It was written in Chinese) selected reboot to system it booted normally.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: xiaomi, mi, redmi
---


# Question
Title: Turn a physical device into a virtual machine for use on a PC
How can I turn a physical device (specifically this) into a virtual machine for use on a computer?

I am doing this so I can safely attempt to root my device without bricking the physical one

It should be obvious, but the device is not rooted

# Answer
Not possible. Rooting is highly hardware-dependent operation and it cannot be done *virtually* outside the device
> 0 votes

---
Tags: rooting, virtualization
---


# Question
Title: Backup all apks from device using adb: why this loop in bash script doesn't work?
You can do `adb shell pm list packages`, and after reading through the list, do an `adb shell pm path "com.yourpackage"` to get the full path and do a simply `adb pull`.

Fact is: I want to automate this. I thought about a really simple bash script:

```
for apk in $(adb shell pm list packages | sed 's/package://g' | sort); do
    # If you just do an echo, IT WORKS
    # echo $apk
    # But here it doesn't work
    adb shell pm path $apk
done

```

But that simply doesn't work. It seems that "$apk" becomes *lost* or something and nothing is shown in that snippet. I don't know if it's a subshell problem, or some peculiarity when using variables that got through an adb shell.

Should I create a script apks.sh just using `pm list`, for and such, push it to my device, run `adb shell` only once and execute apks.sh?

# Answer
It doesn't work because adb adds carriage return in the output. You can read Gilles' answer for more info on that.

All of you've to do is remove the carriage return. Here's the tweaked script of yours:

```
#!/bin/bash

for package in $(adb shell pm list packages | tr -d '\r' | sed 's/package://g'); do
    apk=$(adb shell pm path $package | tr -d '\r' | sed 's/package://g');
    echo "Pulling $apk";
    adb pull -p "$apk";
done

```

You can use `-p` with `adb pull` if only you've version 1.0.32 or above of adb. `sort` is not needed, as I see it.
> 4 votes

# Answer
I derived a one liner bash command from Firelord's awesome answer:

```
for package in $(adb shell pm list packages -3 | tr -d '\r' | sed 's/package://g'); do apk=$(adb shell pm path $package | tr -d '\r' | sed 's/package://g'); echo "Pulling $apk"; adb pull -p $apk "$package".apk; done

```

Changes/Improvements from original version:

* Backups only 3rd party apps, coz I don't see the point of backing up built-in apps. However, if you wanna backup system apps too, just skip the `-3` flag.
* Renames all apks to their package names instead of overwriting the same `base.apk` package in Android 6.0 "Marshmallow" and above.
> 3 votes

---
Tags: adb, bash
---


# Question
Title: Phone reboots when I connect it to my PC via USB
I have a Medion P5015 and I've tried rooting it with Kingroot and Kingoroot together with the PC and Android versions but to no avail. Now when I try to connect my phone to my PC with the provided data cable, the screen freezes as soon as I plug it in. Soft buttons & hard buttons do nothing. After a few seconds, it reboots to the boot screen but goes to a black screen and goes back to the boot screen, and goes on.

When I unplug it during this stage, it cuts off then I have to manually power it on with the power button, quite absurd if you ask me.

# Answer
I find that rooting and such causes unforeseen problems. I am trying to learn to keep everything stock and update when they are available. It is very hard sometimes to resist temptation. But usually, there are negative results down the road. I would reset my phone to the factory by going to Settings \> Backup & reset \> Factory data reset \> Reset phone. It will pop up confirmation. Click yes and the phone will then reboot and continue the Reset from recovery mode.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: usb, boot-loop, reboot, system-freeze
---


# Question
Title: How to disable text correction suggestions (underlined) with Google Voice typing?
When I use Google Voice typing to produce some text, a fair amount of the text becomes underlined (and if you tap the underlined text a drop-down list presents suggestions to correct any errors in the voice recognition). However, this functionality makes it very cumbersome to manually edit the text with the keyboard (I find that I have to first tap the underlined text, then choose delete and rewrite the entire snippet of text again). Moreover I find that most often the suggested corrections are incorrect, so they are not helpful.

I'd much rather turn these corrections off if it was possible, and simply edit any errors manually with the keyboard. Can it be done? Thanks.

# Answer
The best work-around I have found is this:

Tap on the (underlined) word you are interested in changing. When the (unwanted) suggestion box appears, tap someplace *outside of the box*. The box will disappear but the cursor will remain where you originally tapped. Now you can either start typing, or deleting, or you can click on a suggestion from the regular suggestion strip below.

Hope this helps.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: voice-recognition, gboard, text-input
---


# Question
Title: "ServiceManager: Waiting for service media.audio_policy" after booting Phoenix OS for Nexus 7 2013 Wi-Fi on LTE device
I was trying to boot Nexus 7 2013 Wi-Fi (flo) ROM on the LTE (deb) device. The ROM is Phoenix OS. I'm stuck waiting for service `media.audio_policy`.

```
01-01 20:04:22.973   1041   1235 I ServiceManager: Waiting for service media.audio_policy...
01-01 20:04:22.973   1041   1235 I ServiceManager: Waiting for service media.audio_policy...
01-01 20:04:22.974   1041   1235 I ServiceManager: Waiting for service media.audio_policy...
01-01 20:04:22.974   1041   1235 W AudioSystem: AudioPolicyService not published, waiting...

```

Screenshot of logcat

The LCD itself sometimes shows "Starting Apps", other times it just shows boot animation.

Any solution for this?

# Answer
> 1 votes
The ROM finally booted.

What I did : I replaced `/system/lib/audio*.so` with file from working ROM (in my case, LineageOS ROM).

---
Tags: rom-flashing, boot-loop, nexus-7, phoenix-os
---


title: Chrome Refreshes On Orientation Change

text:
# Question
Title: Chrome Refreshes On Orientation Change
I recently wiped my phone and reinstalled the same custom, rooted, stock ROM.

Since then, when I rotate the phone, Chrome rotates the display (as expected) but then refreshes the page. The loading bar goes across, a YouTube video will stop playing, and depending on the page the scroll position is lost.

Before, the display would simply rotate in place without issue.

I have never seen this behavior before and I cannot find any relevant setting to change it, including in chrome://flags.

What is causing Chrome to refresh when I change the screen orientation?

# Answer
> 1 votes
I disabled the DPI override for Chrome in the App Settings app for Xposed, and the problem went away.

Now I'll search for a different way to adjust Chrome's DPI.

Notes:

* This issue did not occur in Chrome 52, the stock version for this ROM
* Clearing Chrome app data did not fix the issue

In the end, I set the DPI for the entire phone to match the desired DPI for Chrome, via the `ro.sf.lcd_density` setting in the file `build.prop`. I then changed the DPI of other apps as necessary with Xposed: App Settings.

---
Tags: chrome-for-android, orientation
---


# Question
Title: Battery life difference for 5 GHz vs 2.4 GHz WiFi - which is better
Are there any difference for phone battery life when connected to 5 GHz access points vs connecting to the same at 2.4 GHz?

# Answer
> 6 votes
The coverage issue will have something to do with power usage.

When comparing 5 GHz battery drain vs. 2.4 GHz, a lot depends on the coverage you are in with respect to each frequency band.

5 GHz (for the same power) lacks the range of 2.4 GHz. Objects (depending on material) can obstruct 5 GHz more than 2.4 GHz (sometimes not depending on material).

So, if I get 3 bars of 2.4 GHz in the furthest away part of the house (the upstairs bedroom) but only 1 bar at 5 GHz, my phone will likely have more trouble keeping in touch with the access point and that translates to more packets exchanged, a slower throughput (and that means more on-time for your 5 GHz radio and the system generally), and this will burn more battery.

If you have good 5 GHz coverage and 2.4 GHz coverage in the same area, using 5 GHz is likely as good (if not a bit better) as it will pull faster, then wind down vs. the 2.4 GHz. When coverage starts getting worse for the 5 GHz, but not the 2.4 GHz, you may want to switch to 2.4 GHz for battery reasons.

Factors impacting your performance:

* Distance from AP
* Quality of your 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz antennas both in the phone and the AP (should be roughly similar but...)
* Other nearby networks using the same 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz channels your devices want to use (channel contention and/or interference)
* Other RFI (interference with the radio bands you care about - badly shielded microwaves or other energy emitters that might shed harmonics off into your APs radio bands)
* What you are using your device for (the occasional short message or long many MB movie streaming) as this will emphasize or de-emphasize performance and coverage distances (two identical devices on different bands sitting mostly idle probably won't see notable battery differences, but two streaming hard most of the time may well see not only the difference in battery from streaming, but further degradation in charge based on if the 5 GHz is in poorer coverage)
* Materials between your portable device and your AP

I'm likely missing a few other factors and how significant each one mentioned is depends a lot on the gear, the interference/contention in the area and the types of material, as well as the usage pattern for the device.

But generally - poorer coverage -\> more battery use, so if 2.4 GHz is showing more bars than 5.0 GHz, shift to 2.4 GHz.

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Tags: wi-fi, battery-life, nexus-5x
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title: Using a link with a browser

text:
# Question
Title: Using a link with a browser
I have a simple link from an email which I click.

I get the following error message:

```
"to view this content, install and set up a web browsing app."

```

I already set the default browser to once chrome and once firefox, but still I get this error.

What could be the problem ? and hints ?

The link is about testing an app: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/solveraapps.chronicbrowser\_wgd\_maps It should derict you to a page for installing the app. You will not be able to install the app, (Because you should be member of an Google+ Group), but at least there should come a different message from a website content.

# Answer
> 0 votes
kindly copy and paste the link into chrome and stay logged in to your account. Else link looks fine to me.

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Tags: google-play-store, email, browser
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# Question
Title: Installing the Xperia Keyboard on non-Xperia devices
I recently went from a Sony Xperia phone to a Huawei P10 Lite.

I very much appreciated the Xperia keyboard I had, and would like to install it on this phone.

I thought that it would work on all Android devices. However, when I download the APK from apkmirror and try to install it, it says that it is not compatible with my phone.

I have tried to install an older version of the Xperia keyboard, but still without luck.

Does anybody know if it is possible to install the keyboard, and if so, how?

# Answer
> 2 votes
Post #456 in the link provided by @beeshyams gives the following download link to the modified Xperia keyboard that can be used with a Huawei phone. When clicking on the download link, the download should start, and you simply install it as you would with any other apk package. However, always be careful when installing unauthorized packages. I don't know much about how this package is created and drawbacks, bugs, etc., but it works for me without any problems.

If you had a previous version of Xperia keyboard installed

> delete everything from the previous version! library, dalvik cache, just everything. Its really important.

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Tags: apk, sony-xperia, huawei
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# Question
Title: LG V10 Phone stuck in BootLoop - recovery data
I have a LG V10 Phone. It is stuck in the BootLoop mode. I want to recover the data from the phone. Is there a way to recover the data without getting into the system? Please advice. Thanks, John

# Answer
> 0 votes
The bootloop bug is a known issue with LG V10. If you have insurance on the phone, even if it is out of the original manufacturer warranty, you can go to your local cellular provider and have them cross-ship a refurb replacement to you. **To get to your data before getting your phone fixed or replaced, here's a link to a very sound incremental methodology:** https://appuals.com/fix-lg-v10-bootloop/

The best thing about this process is that you start with the simplest solution and progress, and you'll learn more about the Android OS capabilities along the way no matter what your final outcome is.

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Tags: recovery-mode, boot-loop, data-recovery
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