title: Play Songs from Laptop to Phone

text:
# Question
Title: Play Songs from Laptop to Phone
This is since a big issue that I wanna play songs from my laptop to my phone via bluetooth.

But the only solution I find that is play songs from mobile to laptop speakers.. but I want the opposite process to work on..

Because while I work on my laptop I want to listen the songs and control them from my laptop as well, but the speakers are pretty much away from my bed, so I wanna plug in the jack with my mobile and wanna play the track on my Laptop which will be listen to my phone via my laptop and phone bluetooth.

My Laptop is HP430 Notebook

And Phone is Xperia X8 (Android 2.1)

Please give me a solution, Thank you..

**I have solved this problem by buying Belkin Bluetooth Music Receiver and then plug that in with my speakers port. Now my speakers are playing music over bluetooth connection.**

You can find this device in here: http://www.cnet.com/products/belkin-bluetooth-music-receiver-bluetooth-wireless-audio-receiver-series/

# Answer
**In PC:**

1. Open Windows Media Player
2. Switch to Libraries view. Then click the Organize drop-down menu, select Manage Libraries, and choose Music, Pictures, or Videos.
3. A Library Locations window will open, in which you can add other folders simply by clicking the Add button and browsing to the folders.
4. Now Click Stream select the option Automatically allow devices to play my media click turn on media streaming \[ if u get error "Windows Media Stream is not turned on" click "Windows Service Administrative tool" goto "windows media player network sharing service" double click on it In start type select Automatic\]
5. connect your android via bluetooth

**In Android:**

1. Launch BubbleUpnp
2. When it opens, tap the Devices tab at the bottom of the main interface. Assuming that your PC is on and connected to the network, and that streaming is enabled in WMP, your PC should show up in the Select Library list in the bottom half of the Devices menu.
3. Select your PC in the list, and tap the Library tab at the bottom; you’ll then be able to choose from the Music, Videos, Pictures, and Playlists folders available on the PC
> 1 votes

# Answer
I use **SoundIt**, it's a Google Chrome browser extension, go here: SoundIt Chrome Browser Extension

I use it when I watch online movies on my laptop, but want to listen to the movie on my Android cell phone with ear buds. You can also listen to music from your laptop as well, basicaly any audio thats coming from your computer, you can listen to on your cell phone.

**On Computer:** You need to use SoundIt on Google Chrome browser (to watch movies).

**On Cell Phone:** Any Android with an up - to - date Internet browser, I use Chrome.

It's using your wifi in your home to send the audio from the computer to the android cell phone. In my situation my laptop is not connected via wifi, but it's connected by ethernet, but thats no problem, because it's not using the computer to re-send the audio signal - it's using your wifi router ;)

Just follow the directions when you first run the SoundIt chrome extension, at some point it will tell you that you have to adjust windows firewall using the (SoundIt Enabler.exe) or you can do it manually via command prompt and some code they give you.

I suggest doing it manually, because I scanned the "Enabler.exe" and on some scanners it came us as 2 different malwares (supposidly). One that I can remember was an Adware and one other.

Why execute a .exe when you can just do it manually and know exactly what you're doing.

The above is so that SoundIt has permission send the audio signal from computer to your mobile device (android cell phone). In other words: It lets it be visible on the local network so other devices can connect to the computers sound output:)

It's very easy, at the end of configuration, it will give you a ip address like 192.168.1.9:7576 to then enter into the browser on your android cell phone.
> 2 votes

# Answer
Once you pair the phone to your PC, you should be able to playback audio from you PC to the phone if your phone supports A2DP.
> 1 votes

# Answer
It is not solution via bluetooth, but you can try application AirDroid:

AirDroid on Google Play

It has a lot features to synchronize your phone with your computer. You can play the music from your phone on laptop, just install this app on computer and on phone and sync them.

EDIT: If you need to play music from laptop on your phone then try this app:

SoundWire
> 0 votes

# Answer
1. Your laptop and your have to be in the same network.
2. Install mediahouse upnp/dlna on your phone.
3. Laptop needs to be on and run the app.
4. That's it.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Why not use a USB cable to connect the laptop with the phone?
> 0 votes

# Answer
SoundWire, from the Play Store, may offer what you want. It uses a client/server setup on your local network instead of Bluetooth, however.

> SoundWire lets you send any music or audio ("what you hear now") from your Windows or Linux PC to your Android mobile devices. Use it as:
>
> * A remote speaker or wireless headphones
> * A way to listen to music and movies from your computer anywhere in your house or out on your deck.
> * A wireless extension of live audio from your PC-based music system
> 0 votes

---
Tags: bluetooth
---


# Question
Title: LG G Watch R - Screen has gone dark and will not display anything
Yesterday I found on my LG G Watch R the screen was all dark. When I performed a hard reset, the watch did so, but remained with a black screen. I have tried other resets, still black screen. My phone appears to be connected to it. When I take screenshots through my phone and upload them to google drive, they show the screen fully functional.

There have been no other signs of the screen being damaged. I have not exposed it to rough environments.

I don't know how to reset the device with a black screen. I have not enabled debugging on the watch either.

Any help or pointers for this problem? I really want my watch display the screen.

# Answer
I would reset the watch through the recovery. You will loose all the datas on the watch. But the apps will all be re-synced.

1. Power off your watch.
2. Power it on.
3. As soon as you see the LG Logo swipe from the 11 o'clock marker to the 5 o'clock marker.
4. You will see a menu popping up, with two arrows and a circle at the bottom.
5. Press the right arrow button until you see "RECOVERY MODE" in red font above "FASTBOOT MODE" at the top.
6. Press the circle button once.
7. You will see an android figure with an exclamation mark in it. Touch the display once. A menu will pop up.
8. Swipe from 12 o'clock to 6'clock until "wipe data/factory reset" will be highlighted blue. Then swipe from 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock.
9. Then many no's will be there. Swipe from 12 o'clock to 6'clock again until "Yes -- delete all user data" will be highlighted blue. And then again swipe from 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock.
10. When the process is done you will be in the main menu again and "reboot system now" will be highlighted(when not swipe up until it is). Then swipe from 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock again.
11. The watch will reboot...I will take some time...When the watch is started, the touchscreen should be working normal.
12. You will have to do the first setup again.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Sorry but I think the issue relies on the power converter on the motherboard getting to hot and being next to the display adapter two little pins run into the display from there and if you put the wrong charger plug on it, it can get hot and the heat transfers to the port and warps the display port on the motherboard. Mine was on a 2.1 amp 5v speed charger it should have been on a 1amp 5v regular charger. Being a tiny battery only 430mah it charges in 30-45 minutes on the regular charger and I knew this but made the mistake of plugging it in to the wrong charger for my phone... I opened this up and seem this with my own eyes and made this assumption up so correct me if I'm wrong but I worked on a few of these gwr's and they break for different reasons and have several different screen issues... Only one issue out of these are actually lg's faults. Mostly the users fault. I rebuild these models out of broken devices and resell them.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: lg-g-watch-r
---


# Question
Title: My phone is soft-bricked after ADB update
This is the problem:

I always connect my phone to computer, to charge it, but I tried to execute ADB shell into recovery mode.

1- I've entered into recovery mode
2- I tried to go to "Apply update from ADB"
3- I tried to execute commands from computer (but it not worked)
4- I removed the battery to force shutdown
5- I got a soft-brick (I suppose that reason is because I interrupted the update)

**EDIT**: My phone is not rooted and I didn't try to install custom roms.

I don't understand how can this cause soft-brick?
Apply update from ADB and force shutdown.

**EDIT**: I tried to wipe data and cache, it not worked for me.

**EDIT**: My phone system state is Official

# Answer
> 0 votes
Which phone is it? You have to download stock firmware for it and flash it via flashtool, adb or fastboot (depends on phone). If you have Samsung phone, then download firmware and Odin from sammobile.com and flash.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Just do this one thing, flash/install CWM recovery using Odin or other flashing method suitable for your device. From there, it will cakewalk to install any custom rom on your device.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Updating from adb is unreliable on a lot of PCs.

A much more reliable method to update (or in this case recover) your phone is to choose Apply update from external storage.

* Obtain an sd card, and format it to FAT if not already.
* Copy the official 'stock' update to the root directory of the card.
* Power off phone and insert card
* Reboot into recovery but holding volume up, home and power keys at the same time
* Apply update from external storage.
* Wipe cache partition
* Wipe data/factory reset
* Reboot system now
* Wait at least 10 minutes for the OS to load before pulling the battery or powering off the phone... It can take a long time to rebuild the caches on some models!

Of course the Recovery menu options can vary a lot between devices. And unfortunately some of the most recent phones do not have an sd card, in which cases this is not a valid answer... But you have not specified your model!

---
Tags: adb, updates, recovery-mode, boot-loop
---


# Question
Title: I lost my phone and i have very important files in gallery vault
if ever they try to open the vault saying they forgot the password, will they successfully open the vault? or if they format the phone or factory reset it, and they open the vault folder, are they going to see the files? PLEASE ANSWER ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE BECAUSE MY LIFE DEPENDS ON THAT FILES.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I don't know of any serious password-protected system that will open up when the person who demands access says "I forgot the password."

There are two options:

**If Vault doesn't use encryption (very likely):**

Then they don't actually have to even crack the password. They can root the phone and extract the data. I would be able to do it in minutes myself.

**If Vault does use encryption (very unlikely):**

Then it means the data is encrypted and has to be decrypted. From that point on it depends on if the key is static or generated based on an algorithm, the encryption method etc. But if Vault uses a proper encryption method, there is no way they can decrypt you data in this lifetime.

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Tags: gallery-vault
---


# Question
Title: Nexus 4 does not wake up from Sleep randomly
I have a Nexus 4 running stock rom kit kat 4.4.2. There were few instances, in which when the phone goes to sleep, I see the notification light blinking indicating a new email/message, but it doesn't wake up when I press the power button. I have to soft reboot the phone {press the power button for 5 seconds to turn it off, then turn on}to use it again. This happens more frequently on some days, and some times it doesn't happen for weeks.I tried calling the phone from my land line when it is in this state, I could hear it ringing on the landline, but the phone doesn't actually ring. After rebooting, it doesn't even show a missed call. When I reboot it, the phone's battery is substantially less (down by about 10%). It started happening only since 4.3 JB update, it was fine till then.

I tried a full factory reset, and minimal apps, it worked fine. Once I installed all my apps back, this started happening again. I am thinking one of my apps is causing this and it could be an application or a bug in Kit kat/JB itself.

1. Is there any known bug in kitkat 4.4.2 (or \>= 4.3 ) or is there any application known to cause this?
2. Is there any way I can look at the logs to see if any specific application is causing this.
3. Force wake up the phone without having to reboot it ?

# Answer
You might wish to run `adb logcat` for investigation. But that might only be helpful if you know how to trigger the issue.

Another approach would be, as you already indicated:

1. start with a factory reset. You know that with a "fresh device" the issue does not happen, as described by your question
2. install back only a part of your apps (the ones you feel most essential), but not more than ~50%. See if the issue still happens.
    * Yes: the problematic app was in this batch
    * No: the problematic app was not in this batch
3. start over at 1., this time with the other half. Does the issue show up again?

If 2. + 3. are answered "No", it might as well be a combination of apps. If the issue shows up only in *either* 2. *or* 3. (but not in both cases), start narrowing down. I will assume here it was part of 3., switch items if it was the other way around:

1. starting over with factory-reset and installing the first half of your apps.
2. split the other half in two again, and repeat as above

This procedure should help you finding the culprit, while still being able to use your device and as much of your apps as possible. Of course, you could also start with factory-reset and then install each app one-by-one (which might be the safer approach) – but as the issue might not show up immediately (may even take a day or more), the above might be more practical.
> 1 votes

# Answer
I have this issue with a Galaxy Note 2. The only way I was able to solve the issue was by installing the app 'Wake Lock' from Google Play Store and set it in 'PARTIAL\_WAKE\_LOCK'. Also set Autostart on boot. This way you will never have that issue again.
> 1 votes

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Tags: nexus-4, standby, sleep
---


# Question
Title: theme chooser for cm 12 broken/disappeared after update?
On my Xperia Z1 compact and cm 12 I used the Dark Material theme. Then after a recent update it was disabled 'after too many app crashes'. I tried to set it again but now every time I go to settings-\>themes it exits with the error 'unfortunately, settings has stopped'.

Some posts on the web suggest that in settings-\>apps, clearing the data for the Theme Chooser app (under All Apps) will solve it. But there is no Theme Chooser app in my app list.

Is it possible to (re)install Theme Chooser somehow? Or another way to be able to switch Themes in cm 12?

phone: Sony Xperia Z1 compact (amami) OS: cm 12.1 update 20160110 android: 5.1.1

EDIT

I tried (re)installing the Themes APK generously provided by the author of this post, but when I open the APK it first says "Do you want to install an update to this built-in application? Your existing data will not be lost. The updated application will get access to New|All", and when I choose either of those it exits with "App not installed."

That means that Theme Chooser is still on the phone. But why does it then not appear in the "All Apps" list (which would allow me to Clear Data)?

EDIT II

I dirty flashed the latest image (15/1) from the cyanogedmod website. Still no theme chooser that works.

# Answer
> 0 votes
After using `adb` to remove the data for the packages `org.cyanogenmod.theme.chooser` and `org.cyanogenmod.themes.provider`, as suggested above and elsewhere, and also after cleaning the data in `trebuchet` on the phone (by way of trial and error), the only thing that really made the Theme Chooser work again was a clean flash:

* download the latest cyanogenmod (and Google Apps if you want) to your sd card (remove `/system/*` too if you are switching to Open GApps from another GApps)
* reboot into recovery (on an Xperia Z1 Compact by repeatedly pressing volume-up at boot)
* choose `wipe data / factory reset` and empty cache
* do `install update` for both the CM and GApps ZIP files
* reboot

After reboot, my apps were re-installed via my Google account and the data (images, documents) from before flashing were all still there.

The custom wallpapers and (in my case no) sounds needed to be set anew.

---
Tags: cyanogenmod, settings, themes, sony-xperia-z1
---


# Question
Title: Recover Photos from user partition - unrooted HTC M8 MM 6
All photos have been deleted from my Wife's un-rooted HTC M8 running MM. How can I recover the photos?

Ok some background: HTC One M8 running Marshmallow stock received via OTA update Photos deleted from Settings\Storage -- Then the phone received OTA MM 6 update Noticed all photos gone. Due to MM One click & kingo root no longer work

The phone is not rooted so recovery options like Dr Fone see nothing. 1) How do I back up the phone before rooting? Backup under MM6 seems to need Google online backup only. It says wait 24 hours but nothing seems to have happened... This seems like a chicken or egg issue how do I perform a Nandroid backup without Root to get a full image? To have a chance of restoring?

2) The Root instructions over here need you to have TWRP

3) OK to install TWRP to start the systemless root for MM.... I need to unlock the Bootloader.... which by all reports will loose all data....... this sounds bad when I have no back up.... to get a backup via TWRP I need to load TWRP without root. I've tried the instructions here but I get an error after running the cmd fastboot flash recovery twrp.img

I get this error

(bootloader) signature checking... FAILED (remote signature verify fail)

Suggestions from old pre MM posts suggest trying fastboot oem unlock .... didn't work

4) Can I install TWRP on an unrooted M8 without unlocking the bootloader and therefore loosing everything?

5) Will loading the TWRP image file loose all data anyway?

6) Can I root an M8 without wiping the phone? Do I have to unlock the bootimage to install TWRP? the Systemless root seems to suggest otherwise but to get TWRP on the phone need the bootloader unlocked .... catch 22?

7) Can I use commands from SDK (without root) to take an image of the partition from the phone.

8) Am I basically screwed with no chance of recovery? No Root means I need to wipe the phone to unlock the bootloader to load TWRP to make a backup of a wiped phone... unless?? If I managed to install TWRP & Root the phone after the MM update (after photo delete) will the partition be so badly overwritten there's no chance of recovering the 2GB of photos?

Sorry for the essay.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

# Answer
To answer your questions in order:

4) not *currently*.

5) no, TWRP itself does not lose your data. Flashing on locked bootloaders **does**.

6) not *currently*. Pt. 2) You do not have to unlock bootloader to install TWRP. You can also flash it via `su dd` after you root.

7) impossible, at least with SDK. If you know a JTAG specialist or an FBI tech person who owes you a favor, they *might* be able to recover your photos.

8) no, you are not screwed. There are a few recommendations below, and no, rooting won't "badly overwrite" your data.

**Because I know how important photos are, I would suggest:**

**Option A:** Since your photos are ***already deleted***, you might as well unlock the bootloader and root. Unlocking and rooting shouldn't physically overwrite the sectors of the /data partition. *(If they were important, life-changing photos I wouldn't have the balls to do this IMO.)*

**Option B:** Buy your wife a new phone (same phone, different phone) and put the M8 in a drawer for about a year. By then, there should be one-click-root apk's for MM, or something better than that, where you won't need to wipe the device again.

Additional reading: Why unlocking bootloaders wipe the device - Android Enthusiasts
> 0 votes

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Tags: rooting, data-recovery, 6.0-marshmallow, htc-one
---


# Question
Title: Can I attach a USB mic to any Android phone?
Can I attach a USB mic to any Android phone? Which one?

I am asking since I need to be able to shoot video with sound clear of noise.

Hence, I need the phone to shoot good video quality as well(full HD at least).

# Answer
Android currently doesn't support USB Audio Paths. You can use USB Audio if you have a Nexus 5 with Android L Preview. Otherwise you are out of luck.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Yes, Android supports standard USB audio class devices:

> Android 5.0 (API level 21) and above supports a subset of USB audio class 1 (UAC1) features:
>
> * The Android device must act as host
> * The audio format must be PCM (interface type I)
> * The bit depth must be 16-bits, 24-bits, or 32-bits where 24 bits of useful audio data are left-justified within the most significant bits of the 32-bit word
> * The sample rate must be either 48, 44.1, 32, 24, 22.05, 16, 12, 11.025, or 8 kHz The channel count must be 1 (mono) or 2 (stereo)

Also, Android 3.1 or higher can support USB audio if you buy an app from eXtream Software, which bundles its own drivers.

Also, your hardware has to support USB Host mode (USB On-The-Go). There are apps to test whether it does:

How can I determine if my device has USB Host Mode (OTG) support?
> 6 votes

# Answer
If you need an external microphone, and your device does not support USB audio (as Hiemanshu's answer suggests): A work-around would be using a microphone with the 3.5" audio jack. As headsets use that successfully, it should work.

I've never tried, so theoretically a side-effect could be sound output gets blocked whith the device assuming you've got a headset plugged in. If that's the case, there are apps available to control where which audio is routed to. You can find some in this list.
> 2 votes

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Tags: usb, video, audio-recording
---


title: Protect from theft at flash level

text:
# Question
Title: Protect from theft at flash level
There are a lot of apps that could block your phone in case of theft, take picture of thief remotely and such, but in case of reset any of this *security* methods will be useless

So I was wondering if there is such thing but at a flash level, shielded from simple ereases? An advanced user only could bypass this settings by re flashing. But regular thief could still be detected.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Yes, that sort of protection is available for Samsung devices: LoJack Device Compatibility

Explanation of what LoJack does:

> LoJack will be embedded in the Galaxy S4's firmware layer, where it remains dormant until you awaken it with a monthly subscription that becomes your theft insurance. This firmware situation is key -- even if robbers wipe your phone to the factory settings, LoJack is still active, and unremovable. -- CNET Article

It's difficult to find technical explanations for this software, but from how I understand it, LoJack is installed as an invisible system app, but a copy of it is also kept in the BIOS (pre-bootloader), and is re-installed to any ROM that is flashed. The app is what sends location, signed-in accounts, pictures via standard cell/WiFi protocols. LoJack guarantees to find the thief within 30 days or they send you a new device.

As of late 2015, there is also another type of security introduced with Android Lollipop/Marshmallow called FRP, which forces you to sign in with the previous Google account when you flash a new ROM. But this is hardly a security feature since it has been bypassed, but it is still a good step forward for Android.

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Tags: security, anti-theft
---


# Question
Title: Incoming call notifications not working - Phone state
In my Android phone, Incoming calls notification is not working.Out going is working fine.

Actually Whenever I am calling my mobile from my friend's mobile, Its saying "line is busy". If I visit call logs in my mobile, I can see My friend's number in the log. I was having this issue for past 4 days.

Thankfully, I checked the logfile(log.txt which resides in phone memory somewhere. I guess its the log of the whole phone) of my phone. In that file I can see the following log message 5 times like below.

```
Phonestate: Incoming call notify is disabled
Phonestate: Incoming call notify is disabled
Phonestate: Incoming call notify is disabled
Phonestate: Incoming call notify is disabled
Phonestate: Incoming call notify is disabled

```

I guess, I have to change this phone state, I dont know how to change that. Can u help me out?

# Answer
I just changed my whole software in REDMI Authorised service center. I guess the update corrupted my Operating system.
> 0 votes

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Tags: notifications, calls, call-history, call-screening, telephony
---


title: How to find a paid version of an app?

text:
# Question
Title: How to find a paid version of an app?
I want to buy Clash of Clans pro version and install it on my device. I found that this game has pro/premium version available. I went to Play Store to install it. I searched this game's pro version with queries "clash of clans pro" and "clash of clans premium", but I only found the free version.

So, how to find out the paid version of an app whose free version is available? Example: ES File Explorer has both free and paid versions available. Any easy way to find paid version?

# Answer
Not every developer creates and puts a premium version of an app separately into a market. A developer can have a single app but have mechanism to make the user unlock certain parts of the app by paying for it. This is called in-app billing.

Google in the document In-app Billing noted:

> In-app Billing is a Google Play service that **lets you sell digital content from inside your applications**. You can use the service to **sell a wide range of content, including downloadable content such as media files or photos, virtual content such as game levels or potions, premium services and features, and more**. You can use In-app Billing to sell products as
>
> * Standard in-app products (one-time billing), or
> * Subscriptions (recurring, automated billing)

(Emphasis mine)

The app Clash Of Clans supports in-app billing.

(Click image to enlarge)

---

If a developer (any individual or a company) did put a premium version of an app, then the easiest way to find it is to open the developer's page and go through all of their apps currently published in that market. It makes sense that both the apps would have the same developer behind it or at least the same public name (pen name) of them.

In your particular case, the app Clash Of Clans is *published* by Supercell and their page doesn't show any premium version of that app.

It is easy to search the developer's page by using Play Store from a web browser. Simply click the developer's name and there you go. Same cannot be said for Play Store app.

### Edit:

In Play Store app, use this query:

```
pub:PUBLISHER_NAME

```

`PUBLISHER_NAME` is **case sensitive** here and should be replaced by name of the publisher of app, so ELECTRONIC ARTS would work but not Electronic Arts or any combination of uppercase and lowercase letters in that name.

Example:

(Click image to enlarge)

Source for edit: Linking to a Product List
> 4 votes

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


# Question
Title: LG G3 Resolution messed up - how to stop processes on startup?
I'm running CM 12.1 on an LG G3 (VS985) with TWRP recovery.

I used an app called UI Tuner to change my resolution, thinking that it would revert back to normal after 15 seconds.. well it didn't. It crashed? when I did it, and then it started back up? with the super low resolution.

Now I'm stuck with a screen that's like 200x300 and the DPI is wayy off, so I can't really use the screen.

I used TWRP to manually delete the app, but the problem persists. The reason it doesn't just reset my resolution upon startup is because I had it set to change my resolution to 1920x1080 for better performance on startup. Is there a way to stop it from running on startup? I have access to TWRP still, and I can sorta do very limited things within my phone, but it's so small that all I can do is open apps and see the very tops of them.

I tried looking for a way to manually stop apps from running on startup, but all I can find are guides on how to use apps that you install.. which doesn't help at all. I really would like to keep my current apps and setup and everything. I almost resorted to just flashing a new ROM, but I really don't want to do that. I tried using ADB, but it says that there's no device found. I'm pretty sure I had USB debugging on, so I don't know why it can't find my phone... although I can't really see it to tell if it's on or not.

# Answer
> 0 votes
have you tried booting into safe mode? it might boot with normal resolution and then you can try change the resolution settings back to normal.

boot into safe mode LG G3

---
Tags: applications, cyanogenmod, boot, processes
---


# Question
Title: I have Unknown Sources enabled on my phone, now what?
Along the same lines as this question. What's so special about enabling Unknown Sources, and what are some things that I should do once it's enabled?

# Answer
This allows you to obtain and run an application (i.e. the .apk file) from sources other than the Android Market. (i.e. you get it from a download from a developer's site, from an email, etc.). That's it.

**Edit:** Once you enable Unknown Sources this post covers the rest: How can I install an app given only its APK file?.
> 16 votes

# Answer
Visit m.getjar.com and go nuts! download cranky birds. It seems to be the game so many people like.

I wonder if there is an android version of Cut the Rope out yet.
> 1 votes

# Answer
> What's so special about enabling Unknown Sources?

It opens the secondary gateway to allow *third-party* apps to live and prosper in your Android OS. The first, centralized and trustworthy gateway is the Google Play Store.

That setting allows developers to use (not limited to) the following channels for the distribution of their apps:

* through an App Marketplace, such as Amazon AppStore, F-Droid and many more
* by Email - when the user open your email on their Android-powered device, the Android system recognizes the APK and displays an **Install Now** button in the email message
* through a Website - this involves forums as well.

Source: Alternative Distribution Options

The most common ways to install an app are:

* from a system app, such as Google Play Store
* from , the command-line tool
* from native Package Installer app - works only when you enables that Unknown sources setting
* from exploits - the bread-and-butter of one-click root apps

As you can see, the first choice ties you down to whatever was shipped with the device; the second choice is not user-friendly and requires PC; fourth is an unsafe choice from any angle; third is the only one left to a user. **Special or not**, that is what gives you the freedom to install apps, *not found or not available in your region per Play Store*, whenever and wherever you want.

**Note** that some network providers don’t allow users to install applications from unknown sources. -- Source

It is **to be noted that** it is special not only to you but to developers with malicious intent as well.

Elena, in the article Protect against harmful apps, has noted:

> **IMPORTANT:** Your phone and personal data are vulnerable to attack by apps from unknown sources. If you allow downloading apps from unknown sources, be aware that your phone may be damaged or lose data.

I suppose that warning stems from their strong believe in the following statement found in the same article:

> The Google Play Store helps protect your device by blocking potentially harmful apps. **Before an app is published to Google Play, it's reviewed to make sure it's not harmful.**

<sub>(Emphasis mine)</sub>
> 1 votes

---
Tags: unknown-sources
---


# Question
Title: Up/Down arrows in notification tray after unlocking
Just recently, I have noticed an icon that has an arrow pointing up and an arrow pointing down appear for a split second after I unlock my phone. It goes away so fast I can't get a screenshot. What is this icon? What does it mean?

My phone is a Nexus 5x with Marshmallow 6.0.1.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Turns out it was the app Signal Spy. It shows an up/down arrow while it is inspecting what your signal looks like.

---
Tags: notifications, notification-icons
---


# Question
Title: SD Card keeps getting unmounted on my HTC Desire
The SD card in my HTC Desire keeps getting unmounted every now and then and it's very annoying. From what I'm seeing, the SD card is removed only when some kind of multi-tasking with the files on it happens.

Example - Listening to a song that's stored on the SD + Using an app that's stored on the SD.

I haven't rooted my phone and don't intend on doing it. The phone is currently on the official Android 2.3.3 build.

I've tried another SD card but the problem still persists.

It's still under warranty, but I thought I can fix it myself with some help from you guys. :)

# Answer
I had a problem with cheap sd cards from ebay doing this, I spend a little more these days on them.

There isn't much you can do here if you don't intend on rooting the phone or anything. If it was mine I would wipe the thing and re-install a fresh stable rom and test that for a few days.
> 2 votes

# Answer
A friend had a similar problem playing mp3 in his car with a slow card. Try at least a speed 4 card. The speed of the card is shown inside a small, unclosed circle on the card.

For reference, I just bought a 16gb speed 10 microsd card from Amazon for $22.
> 2 votes

# Answer
**If your phone is connected to PC** then might be getting chances of not detecting SD Card in Phone.

Try to change setting for removable device like below

* Drag Down Status Bar and select **USB Connection** Option
* if you are getting option like **Windows Media Sync, USB Mass Storage , None** then Select None
* Go to Phone Setting --\> Applications --\> Development --\> and Uncheck **USB Debugging**

Try this, it may help you..
> 1 votes

# Answer
And don't forget. If none of the previous answers seemed useful try formatting the SD card and delete any existing partitions using Linux Disk utility.
> 1 votes

# Answer
I am an authorized dealer for metro PCS and we have to warranty out the device as this Is a hardware error from the manufacturer. It happens every now and then. So take your device(s) to your local dealer and warranty your phone. No matter of rooting will help this as it is a hardware defect.
> 1 votes

# Answer
We bought a new Epic 4G for my mom a while back, and her SD would do the same thing. Just randomly unmount. Turns out it was a hardware issue, and they replaced the phone and the SD card. Sorry, but you might be out of luck :/
> 0 votes

---
Tags: htc-desire, external-sd
---


# Question
Title: How can I install an app given only its APK file?
I downloaded the APK file for an app to my PC. How can I install it on my phone?

# Answer
> 30 votes
1. Use DropBox. Put the APK in your DropBox folder. Open up the DropBox app on your phone, find the apk, tap on it, and it should download it to your phone and then install it.
2. Use the SD card. Plug your phone into the computer via USB. Mount the SD card drive. Copy the APK into the SD card. Unmount your phone. Browse to the APK using a file browser app such as Astro. Tap on the APK and it should present to install it.

There are countless other ways to do this, but these two are probably the easiest.

# Answer
> 13 votes
Another way...

1. Place the .apk file onto your SD card (by using your phone as a mounted drive).
2. Enable applications from unknown sources (go to Settings \> Applications \> then verify that Unknown Sources is selected).
3. Use an application such as Installer or APK Manager to install the application.

# Answer
> 11 votes
I prefer using the ADB. However, It's a little less user friendly. This isn't the easiest way, but it will work without an SD card and will work without the device being internet connected(some devices(tablets) aren't).

At the command line you would type:

```
adb install "full-absolute-path-to-apk-here.apk"

```

The "tools" directory of the SDK must be in your path for the adb command to work.

# Answer
> 2 votes
You need two other applications from the market to to this

* A file browser (astro, ...)
* A application installer (appinstaller, ...)

First, you must go to Settings -\> Applications -\> check "install application from untrusted sources"

Then, you can navigate to the apk file (you must have copy the apk file to your SD card) with the file manager and launch it with appinstaller

# Answer
> 2 votes
I think all the above answers are very relevant. Next time I would recommend downloading the APK directly to your device from the mobile browser. You will save the time and hassle of moving to the sd card or uploading to dropbox to download to your phone.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Here's a no-wires option:

Install an app like 'WiFi File Explorer' (available in the Play Store) to your phone.

From the app, you set your 'Home' directory (like /storage/sdcard) and the app connects to your WiFi network and serves that Home directory and gives you a URL (usually an IP Address and port) that you can now use any browser from any PC or device (on the same network) to connect to and view/copy/move/delete files to and from.

Use that method to get the .apk file from the PC to your phone. Then just make sure the option to install APKs from alternate sources (Settings-\>Security-\>Unknown sources on Android 4.2.2) is enabled and if you don't already have a regular File Explorer app on your phone get something like 'Total Commander' and open the APK file from there. The install process will kick in and you're good to go.

# Answer
> 1 votes
**Note:** the following solution is tested on Android 4.2.1, 4.4.2, COS12 (Android 5.0.2) and CM12.1 (Android 5.1.1).

---

If your device runs any of the said Android version and the Android is rooted, you may simply download or move the APK into you device's internal/external SD card and from there, under `/data/app/`. You may use a file manager app for file transfer. Reboot the device and you would find the app automatically installed in your system. You can see its icon in the app drawer and you would be able to use the app from there.

The added benefit or alternatively put, the vulnerability here, is that this approach bypasses the Privacy Guard of CyanogenMod and XPrivacy *completely*, even when both are active and *running in fully-restrictive mode*.

**Note:**

* I had to resort to change the file permission of APK to `rw-r--r--` in my Android 4.4.2 to make the approach work.
* Unknown sources setting need not be enabled.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Make sure "unknown sources" is enabled, plug the device into the computer, drop the .apk into the sd card and use the web browser to go to `file:///sdcard`, tap the apk in question, say yes to the "this file may blow up your phone" scare notice, then tap the "file downloaded" notification and it's installed.

---
Tags: applications, installation, apk
---


# Question
Title: Files show up on Nexus 5 but not in Windows 7
I have a Nexus 5 running Android 6.0.1 and all of my files appear on the media direcotries within the phone, but when I plug it in as an MTP device in Windows 7, only some of the files show up. When I add new files over MTP the opposite happens, they don't appear on the device. I've tried rescanning the SD card, I've tried rebooting the phone, I've tried rebooting my computer, I've tried reinstalling the Nexus device drivers. Please help.

# Answer
> -2 votes
Try to switch the USB mode to MTP/only charge or disable USB debugging and see if it works.

---
Tags: mtp
---


# Question
Title: ADB failed to detect Nexus 5 running Android Marshmallow
File transfer is working properly. Latest drivers are installed. Settings -\> Developer options (Enabled) Android Debugging (Enabled)

(ADB Detects my phone when it is in Recovery mode)

So probably there is something wrong in the system.

I'm using Pure Nexus ROM + Nethunter

I'm not sure what the problem is.

# Answer
I would highly advise to install **Universal naked drivers** on your Windows system as in windows only we encounter such driver issues.

Refer this link for Universal naked drivers: http://www.xda-developers.com/universal-naked-driver-solves-your-adb-driver-problems-on-windows/

Being a Nexus 5 user, I have encountered this problem and after great efforts, UND helped. You can install the drivers by downloading zip file, unpacking it. Connect your N5 to your PC, go to "Device Manager" in windows, uninstalling the already installed Nexus 5 Drivers. Install drivers by provided options and use the location of unzipped files when it asks for manual installation of drivers.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Your problem can be resolved switching the USB mode to only charge/data transfer via MTP. It works on my device.
> -2 votes

---
Tags: adb, nexus-5, connection-issues, usb-debugging, 6.0-marshmallow
---


# Question
Title: About how  long will my touchscreen last before it starts to lose sensitivity?
I've read on various posts on the net that touchscreens lose sensitivity over time, but I have not found any detailed information about why and how I can prevent this. Does anybody know why and how this happens, and how long it takes?

# Answer
**Capacitive touchscreens** found in modern smartphones don't wear out, physically, because they're solid-state technology behind a piece of glass. Practically the only way to destroy them is to build up a goodly amount of static electricity and then touch the screen -- if you're deliberate about this, it might zap the circuitry, but it's not specific to touchscreens and you can do that with all kinds of electronics.

**Resistive touchscreens** found in older electronics can wear out because they're basically made of movable things; two layers of transparent conductive material with a thin air gap in between them. Because the screen relies on physical pressure from your fingertip, there can't be a solid piece of glass in front of it (even if the LCD screen behind the touch array probably is made of glass). When your finger presses the layers together when you touch this screen, you effectively create an electrical short that is used to signal which point on the screen was touched.

* *Press hard enough* and you can damage these layers so that they don't move away from each other again.
* *Press often enough* and you'll simply wear out the outermost soft plastic material of the screen -- this is why it's important to use a clean stylus (and/or a screen protector).
> 4 votes

# Answer
I have a T-Mobile G1 (the first Android phone) that's a few years old now and sensitivity on the touch screen is still intact.

If you don't treat your phone well it is likely that over time you're going to damage it or the screen can get so dirty that sensitivity might decrease, but it is not an issue with the touch screen technology. Any phone that is badly treated will get damaged.
> 5 votes

# Answer
My Motorola Droid is as sensitive now as it was in October 2009. At least I don't notice any appreciable loss of sensitivity. This is my daily carry/drop/reflash/abuse phone, so if there were going to be some loss, it would happen by now.

In my PalmPilot days, I could definitely tell a difference after about a year, but that was probably due more to the precise poking of a stylus.
> 2 votes

# Answer
Touch screen are made with Indium Tin Oxide... and over time the Indium migrates out... so they stop working.

That is one of the reasons manufacturers would like to start using graphene in touch screens.

There are two types of screens resistive and capacative. Capacative screens are the main ones in use today and last 1-4 million touches:

http://admetro.com/pdfs/Touch\_Screen\_101.pdf

That can be as little as 3 years use... which is often fine for many phones... but on the low side for something like a monitor?

Resistive screens last ~10x longer (~35 million touches).

:-)
> 2 votes

---
Tags: touchscreen, motorola-defy
---


# Question
Title: Why apps move from SD card to phone memory after upgrade and how to avoid it?
After upgrade of any app - apps move back from SD Card to phone memory. After that, to save phone memory, I have to move upgraded app back to SD card.

Is any possibility to avoid this because it is very annoying?

I have Android 5.0.2 on Motorola E second gen phone.

# Answer
> 4 votes
It is an existing behavior found in Lollipop. (May be an marketing strategy to make you buy expensive internal storage phones)

According to Lollipop the phone internal storage is referred as SDCard and removable SDCard as EXTERNALSD.

The apps is designed to be reside in SDCard (to support phone without external storage ) and hence the apps are installed back to internal storage.

This is fixed in Marshmallow were the EXTERNALSD can be configured to be an InternalStorage(SDCard).

So you can wait for an Marshmallow update for the device.

# Answer
> 1 votes
From Anroid Central -Apps on SD card moving back to device after update

> Actually, it did not happen in KitKat. It is a new (and very irritating) phenomenon with Lollipop. Basically Google just keep forgetting about SD cards (probably wish they didn't exist); which is kindof annoying given that their subsidiary, Motorola, is still selling phones that have too little main memory (8Gb) to run effectively without having most of your apps on the SD card.

so, the only (not recommended) solution is downgrade the device from Android 5.0 to Android 4.4..

---
Tags: applications, 5.0-lollipop, sd-card
---


# Question
Title: Can personal profiles be removed on work devices?
We're looking at rolling out 100+ android devices and would like to lock them down to managed profiles. This is mainly to prevent excessive data usage (youtube and the like) - Android for work allows us to whitelist apps, set policy etc; but this is in addition to the standard user account.

This is cost sensitive, so is there a solution out there that will allow us to lock the phone down to only the managed work profile so that additional applications cannot be installed?

# Answer
You could use apps like AppLock and lock the Play store: this way, without a password set by you the user shouldn't be able to install anything. I don't know if there are better solutions, maybe already implemented in android for work; and I don't know, more important, if this has any drawback on app updates. But worth a try, if you have no other ideas.
> 0 votes

# Answer
As I understood what you want is a way to manage multiple devices and add restrictions and do other configurations for multiple devices at once.
If so, you can go for a Enterprise Mobility Management System. There are opensource EMMs as well which you won't need to pay.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: profiles, restricted-profiles
---


# Question
Title: Is hdpi and mdpi still used in android kitkat and up
Have a general question if this is something that could be ruled out or it all depends.

I am developing an app for Android KitKat and above. But i have never seen a phone that have hdpi and are able to upgrade the OS to KitKat.

Is there a way to see how many phones still uses hdpi and mdpi? Because it will be a big problem for me if i need to support every screen.

# Answer
I always keep this page bookmarked for things like this.

You can make some educated guesses using this data.

As of Feb 1 2016, the percentage of devices on an OS version pre-KitKat (if I did the math correctly) is 29.2%.

Since 42.4% of all devices have hdpi screen density...

**At least 13.2% of all devices out there are hdpi with KitKat or later.**

It's likely that it's more, since you can count on most of the ldpi/mdpi devices being in the pre-KitKat group.

If all 16.2% of ldpi/mdpi devices are in the pre-KitKat group (which most likely are), then the total hdpi KitKat-and-later group grows to 29.5%
> 1 votes

---
Tags: screen, screen-resolution
---


# Question
Title: Change the notification setting on the lock screen
After the recent software update, I have been getting notifications from apps like the Messenger app appearing on my lock screen. Originally, I would just get a popup in the toolbar at the top of the screen.

Is there any way I can change the notifications back to that?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Try this:
***Settings*** -\> ***Sounds and Notifications*** -\> now under ***Notifications*** there is an option called ***Notifications on lock screen*** ,on tapping on it you get various options like *Show content* ,*Hide content*, ***Do not show notifications***. Choose your desired option!!

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


title: Removing browser ICON from home screen

text:
# Question
Title: Removing browser ICON from home screen
Is there a way to remove the browser ICON from my home page?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Going by the OP's comment, I'll just leave my comment as an answer.

Dragging the app icon to the "trash bin" will uninstall the app if it is not a system app. From the OP's comment, it appears that this is indeed a system app, and so to remove the icon on stock (AOSP or most custom, e.g. Not MIUI or ZenUI) launchers, it would need to be held down and dragged to the `X` icon, labelled "Remove".

---
Tags: settings, browser, hardware, uninstallation
---


# Question
Title: Better to keep frequently used apps on the Android device or move them to an external microSD card?
Apps on an Android device can be broken up into three categories:

1. Apps frequently used, often scores of times per day
2. Apps used 3-6 times per week
3. Apps infrequently used

For apps in Categories 2 and 3, it is usually a good practice to move them to an external microSD card when possible (if they don't have widgets you want to use). This will free up limited memory on the actual Android device.

But what about apps in Category 1? Apps in that category are read dozens, if not hundreds, or even thousands of times per day. Is it a good practice to move them to a external microSD card (if they don't have widgets you want to use)?

Here are some points to consider:

1. Despite what specs claim, which actually allows faster access: the device's internal storage, or a modern microSD card (Class 10, UHS 1)?
2. Will copying Category 1 apps to a microSD card cause it to wear faster, thus resulting in a shorter life-span?
3. These days, it seems likely that a user may want their microSD card to survive many generations of Android devices. In other words, although many people replace Android devices every 3 - 24 months, most people don't replace microSD cards with such frequency.
4. Due to their capacity, microSD cards often hold tens of thousands of important photographs and videos. Yes, backing up is essential, but sometimes microSD cards can fail between backup cycles. ***IF*** moving Category 1 apps to the device's microSD card might have a noticeable impact on the card's life span, it is possible that it may not be a good idea.

So what's the truth? ***Is it a good practice to move Category 1 apps to an external microSD card (assuming no widgets), or is it best to leave them directly on the Android device?***

# Answer
> 2 votes
It depends on how you use your phone, but under normal circumstances (no task killer apps, small to medium sized memory consumer, etc.) category 1 apps are typically held in RAM. So I guess reading from SD card you will only notice when the app is started for the first time. But beware, that SD cards can outperform internal memory performance: General difference in read/write speeds for internal memory vs SD card

Best advise I can give: just try and use what is best for you. If you experience performance drawbacks, just put the app back to internal storage, if not, than you can leave it on SD card.

Regarding the life time of SD cards, I guess, unless they do not perform to much IO to the card but operate on network and RAM it does not matter. Personally I just put every app I can to SD card, to have more internal memory for apps I cannot move to SD.

---
Tags: internal-storage, external-sd, app2sd, internal-sd
---


title: Is it safe to clear data for gallery?

text:
# Question
Title: Is it safe to clear data for gallery?
I have a Motorola Moto E (Gen 1). I've observed that the gallery app from Motorola takes up 50.13 MB under 'Data'.

My question is: Is it safe to select the 'Clear Data' option? Will I lose the pictures stored if I click on it?

# Answer
You will not lose any of your photos, if ***CLEAR DATA*** operation is performed, it is completely safe to do so. This just means that your preferences have been reset and the cache has been cleared.1 Cache is generated only for providing fast access to gallery files.

When you restart your gallery after this operation, it'll take some time to load and it will once again show you how to navigate through the ***Gallery*** app.

---

**1:** Pressing the *Clear Data* button automatically clears the cache too. This is can be seen on the screen right then because when you press the *Clear Data* button and once the data is cleared, you will notice that under the Cache section, Cache shows 0.00KB and the Clear Cache button is disabled too.
> 6 votes

# Answer
The given answer is correct, I just want to clarify:

By pressing **Clear data** on any app, you're clearing *application's* data, stored in `/data/data/[package.name]`. It doesn't contain any images of yours, nor you can access it unless you root your device. Cache also belongs to data, and it's inside `/data/data/[package.name]/cache`. Your images, on the other side, are in `/sdcard/DCIM/` (probably, it differs from manufacturer to manufacturer). You see how the whole path is different? Because they are in the completely different parts of the device. You know how you have `C:\`, `D:\`, etc. partitions on Windows? Well, these folders are on the different partitions, they just don't have drive letter prepended to them.

So, for the gallery app, if you press `Clear data`, you are in reality deleting `/data/data/com.android.gallery`, and I suppose most of it is taken up by cache, which is made up of thumbnails. You see, loading gigabytes of photos in memory just to display a small preview isn't terribly efficient. And because it's slow and memory-hungry, Gallery resizes those multi-megapixel images to something smaller and puts those small images, thumbnails, into `/data/data/com.android.gallery/cache`, so it doesn't have to recreate them every time. If you delete them, it'll be smart enough to do it again next time it needs previews - take the whole picture, read every 16th pixel (for example), make a new picture out of it and store it in cache. If you go ahead and access all pictures in Gallery now, you'll have those 50MB back in no time (I suppose there isn't a bug in the application and it cleans cache properly).
> 3 votes

---
Tags: internal-storage, gallery, motorola-moto-e
---


title: Fastboot doesn't see nexus 6p

text:
# Question
Title: Fastboot doesn't see nexus 6p
Currently trying to unlock my bootloader, but cannot get my nexus 6p to determine that it's connected to my PC. I can use adb commands while it's on, but booting it into fastboot mode with the adb command or with the key combination results in 'connect usb data cable'. I have rebooted my phone, my computer, reinstalled ADB, installed the google drivers both manually as well as with the SDK manager and used 4 different cables.

I have also tried all 2 of my usb 2.0 ports as well as all 6 usb 3.0 ports.

Windows plays the sound confirming that a device has been connected.
I am using windows 10.

Here's a screenshot of the device manager:

Edit: Factory resetting the device did not help either.

# Answer
Install the Google USB Driver while in phone is booted to bootloader.

Those are in your SDK folder location `- extras - google - usb_driver`.

When my N6 is booted to bootloader, Windows 10 shows me the following:
> 5 votes

---
Tags: adb, fastboot, bootloader, usb-drivers, android-sdk
---


title: Can I run apps in a smaller resolution?

text:
# Question
Title: Can I run apps in a smaller resolution?
I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 (SM-T235) tablet running Android version 4.4.2. It is 7 inch, which is nice, but sometimes (for example, when walking) I would like to be able to hold my device in one hand and only use my thumb to interact with the app that I am using. Perhaps even change the resolution so that is like a regular mobile device.

Basically I would like to have a way to run apps in a smaller resolution and have it not scaled to fit the display so that I can reach everything with my thumb using only one hand.

See the image below for an example that i have in mind.

*I have complete root access and am a developer (I don't really need 'simplified' answers, give me the tech details!)*

# Answer
You can run `su wm overscan LEFT,TOP,RIGHT,BOTTOM` from Terminal *(Superuser privileges needed)*

If you do not have Superuser privileges, you can hook your phone to a PC and run ADB command `adb shell wm overscan 200,200,0,0`

For example, to achieve what you've shown in the picture above try running
`wm overscan 200,200,0,0`.

But I must warn you, before running that, be sure you have USB debugging switched ON just in case overscan messes up your display, you can run
`adb shell wm overscan reset` from the PC connected.

WindowManager (wm) commands work on devices running Android 4.3 and above

*May require a Reboot to achieve proper re-size.*

---

Alternatively you can use Niwatori module if you have Xposed framework on your device.
> 5 votes

---
Tags: applications, root-access, screen-resolution, samsung-galaxy-tab-4
---


# Question
Title: Android System problem - Unable to share files, do factory reset
I am using a Micromax P362 tablet with Android 4.1 Jelly bean (rooted). This problem occurred a month ago. The app named "Android System" appeared in the 'Downloaded' section of apps. Yet it is not seen in any other app managers (such as Link2SD). When I press in uninstall updates, the app just disappears and all apps hang periodically until I restart tablet. Now the problem is that 'Share via' option is not working and even factory reset option is not working. So, how to make Android system app function normally?

Any help is appreciated

Edit: Another problem is that app permissions are not normally displayed. Eg: Instead of "Internet access", it displays "android.permission.ACCESS\_INTERNET"

# Answer
> 0 votes
Apps that can't be uninstalled are apps that come hardwired in the ROM of your Android device. These are typically vendor specific apps or the Google apps.

"Android System" is pretty crucial to your device, so it's weird it's even possible to uninstall it's updates. Every Android device as this, but normally it's not listed. You can see it pop up in your battery usage statistics however, which is totally normal.

To fix your problem you probably need those updates to be installed again, but I doubt that will be possible using the Google Play Store app update system. You can check, but I doubt it'll be there.

Another possibility is by checking for system updates for your device. How you can do that depends on the tablet/os version etc, so I can't help there. On my phone it's in the settings under "About my phone", which has an update check option.

# Answer
> -1 votes
A factory reset fixed my problem (using adb)

> adb shell
>
> wipe data

Thanks for all the help.

---
Tags: 4.1-jelly-bean, factory-reset, system-error, system-apps, share-menu
---


# Question
Title: Talk back access to phone when switched on
How can I override Talk back on my samsung galaxy J1 phone. When I switch on my phone I cannot access my menu as the voice keeps telling me to press the select menu twice

# Answer
That is how Talkback works.

Single tap to select an item in the screen, double tap to achieve actual tap action (double tap corresponds to single tap when Talkback is enabled.) Also, double finger touch scrolling will let you scroll list views. By this way you can reach to Talkback settings and disable it.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: talk-back
---


# Question
Title: How to boot Android into Custom Recovery Mode?
I am trying to boot Android into a custom recovery(TWRP). I rebooted the Android device holding the `Volume Down` \+ `Power keys` but it doesn't work and shows a weird screen with yellow colour palette on it and it can't be turned on. I tried following this How To Boot Android Into A Custom Recovery (TWRP, CWM, Philz Touch) but it still doesn't boot. Any help?

# Answer
> -2 votes
I'm assuming you're using a Samsung model. Its  `volume up`  \+  `home button`  \+  `power` .

# Answer
> -2 votes
On My Android Device It Is **Volume Up** \+ **Power** Or On Samsung It Is **Volume Up** \+ **Home** \+ **Power**.

---
Tags: rom-flashing, twrp
---


# Question
Title: Can't connect to "Secured Network" via WiFi. Get stuck at a Lock screen
* OS: OxygenOS version 2.2.0
* Android version: 5.1.1
* Phone Model: ONE 2005 \[OnePlus 2\] (Build number: One A2005\_14\_151211)

When I connect to a Secured Wifi network that requires that I "Accept" some sort of agreement, normally I would click on "Sign into Wi-Fi Network", which pops up on my status screen and then I would "Accept" the agreement.

Now when I click on "Sign into Wi-Fi Network", all I see is a screen with a big circle around a lock. I can't tap on anything on this screen, except exiting out. If I exit out, I am taken back to my home screen and not connected to the internet. All that happens is that "Sign into Wi-Fi Network" appears in my status screen again. If I click on it again, I go right back to the lock screen.

Upon further investigation, I saw Option Dots on the top right on that screen with the big lock on it. I tapped the Option Dots, which brought up a menu with the following 2 options:

1. "Do not use this network"
2. "Use this network as is"

I selected "*Use this network as is*"

After doing this, I am taken back to my home screen as before. This time, the "Sign into Wi-Fi Network" option is no longer on my status screen and I am still not connected to the internet when I tried to access my email, Facebook, etc.

Any insight would be much appreciated.

# Answer
SUCCESS! I did the same steps as I mentioned in the Edit to my Question:

1. Touch "Sign Wi-Fi Network
2. Touch the Option Dots
3. Touch "Use this network as is"

I then did 1 additional step:

4. Manually open a browser window (Chrome)

and SUCCESS!

5. Now I was given the screen where I was able to "Accept" the terms and log into the network. Internet for all Apps/items on my phone now worked.

Note: After this worked, I rebooted my phone and tried doing the above steps again to make sure this solution worked again and it does.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: wi-fi, connection-issues, oneplus-two, captive-portal
---


title: Lenovo A859 touchscreen touches itself

text:
# Question
Title: Lenovo A859 touchscreen touches itself
For about 2 weeks my phone's touchscreen is acting weird.

It looks like it touches itself in the upper left corner of the screen. I didn't find any pattern, it does this randomly for a random amount of time, only when the screen is unlocked.

I did a factory reset already and I installed Avast to scan it and nothing came up.

Is it a software or a hardware problem?

# Answer
It's probably a hardware problem and you may need a new screen. Yours may be damaged.

It might also be a battery pack that has expanded from frequent heavy usage. This can push against the screen from the inside resulting in a similar effect sometimes.

It's also possible it's a result of being flexed in a certain way such that there is extra strain on the corner. I'm speculating that the corners are often used to hold the weight of the device.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: touchscreen, lenovo
---


title: Screenshots often come out corrupted

text:
# Question
Title: Screenshots often come out corrupted
I have a first generation Moto G (XT1033) with Android 5.0.

Often when taking screenshots, it gets stuck at the *Screenshot is being saved* message - then I have to forcefully close the *System UI* process if I want it to go away.

And the final file is corrupted (either the PNG file will not open on a PC or, for image viewers that are more tolerant to broken files, it will be black except for a small portion of the image). For an example:

See that the image is correct up to a point. It seems as if the file was closed before the system finished writing to it.

What can be causing this problem?

# Answer
Well, I gave up and did a reset of the phone. The problem didn't appear anymore.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Another temporary fix other than rebooting is doing another screenshot. The next screenshot would override the stuck one.

PS: It might take 2-3 attempts to fix it.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 5.0-lollipop, screenshots
---


# Question
Title: Operator Data not working post the Lollipop Update
I have a Moto G first gen,

Post the lollipop update the operator data is NOT working. Its just WiFi which is working. What I have done: Updated to Lollipop - Thru WiFi Checked - Operator Data Not Working

Solutions which I did, which was recieved from Google Plus community & Moto Care Agent (Live Chat) 1. Cleared Cache 2. Did a soft reset & rebooted With Sim & Without Sim 3. Did a hard reset & rebooted with Sim & Without SIM

PS: My first SIM slot is tampered & not working. I just have the SIM 2 which is working.

# Answer
Check your APN settings : Settings -\> wireless & networks -\> more -\> cellular networks -\> access point names.

Theses settings are provided by your operator, or you'll easily find them by internet.
> 1 votes

# Answer
I have just upgraded my Samsung to OS 5.0.2 and lost my mobile data. All other features are still working. I have a dual SIM phone and I was able to resolve this by going to the SIM management settings and changing the setup to use the SIM active SIM slot and the upgrade led the phone to use the empty slot for the data. I hope that you will find this useful
> 1 votes

# Answer
I'm sure you've already sorted it out, but in case someone else has the same problem,

I struggled to get access to mobile internet myself, and what helped, was deleting all the other APN profiles and leaving just the needed one. After reset, it got back to normal.
> 0 votes

# Answer
With Lollipop upgrade, you systematically lose the 3G or 4G configuration! All you have to do is call your operator provider. They will send you an SMS with new settings for APN. Doing this fixed my problem.
> 0 votes

# Answer
I'm with T-Mobile (US) and had a similar issue. I resolved it by updating the APN information as per T-Mobile instructions.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Go to sim card manager(on Samsung) and select the sim you want to use data of from the data service network. It should start working again.
> 0 votes

# Answer
I also faced the similar problem. This simple change in settings did the trick:

Go to Settings → SIM Card manager → Data service network → Select the SIM 1 or SIM 2 depending on your choice for the data network.
> 0 votes

# Answer
I just found an answer to this.

I had inserted another sim on the vacant sim slot and the data services started. After removing the same sim now, the mobile data services is working perfectly.

So just borrow another sim for 5 mins and do this. Hopefully it'll work this way
> 0 votes

# Answer
I have just installed a custom (nameless) rom on my samsung note 2 and ecountered this issue (mobile network/internet not working even though I have just recently recharged)

The solution for me was like this: Settings -\> Mobile Network -\> Access Point Names

I changed from Zain BH WAP to Zain BH Internet.

I expect this solution to work for all other operators / ISPs.
> 0 votes

# Answer
My solution: enable flight mode, then disable it. It worked for me.
> -1 votes

# Answer
I found an easy way. Go to Settings -\> Mobile Settings -\> APN -\> Restore to default

this will solve it.
> -1 votes

# Answer
I Uninstalled Updates on *Google+*
*Settings**Apps**Google+**Uninstall updates*
> -1 votes

---
Tags: 5.0-lollipop, internet, mobile-data, motorola-moto-g
---


# Question
Title: How to re-unlock bootloader for OnePlus One
I have OnePlus One with CyanogenMod 12 from factory and I decided to update to CM 13 (nightly build).
To achieve this I did the following from OSX:

1. Unlock the bootloader (fastboot oem unlock)
2. Boot TWRP (fastboot boot twrp-2.8.6.0-bacon.img)
3. From TWRP I installed CM 13 (cm-13.0-20160105-NIGHTLY-bacon.zip) and GAPPS (open\_gapps-arm-6.0-pico-20160105.zip)
4. I also installed the latest Cyanogen Recovery (cm-13.0-20160105-NIGHTLY-bacon-recovery.img)
5. For some reason, I felt like leaving things as they were, and I relocked the bootloader (fastboot oem lock)

Now, I cannot unlock the bootloader anymore in order to do things like install/boot a custom recovery tool (like TWRP)
Running 'fastboot oem unlock' just reboots the device in recovery mode, but the bootloader remains locked:

```
$fastboot oem device-info
...
(bootloader)    Device tampered: true
(bootloader)    Device unlocked: false
(bootloader)    Charger screen enabled: false
(bootloader)    Display panel:
(bootloader)    console_enabled: 0
(bootloader)    exec_console_unconsole: 0

```

A solution would be appreciated, but I am also curious why it behaves like this after a manual lock.
As suggested by @Firelord, there seems to be a solution for Windows users here: https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/important-bootloader-wont-unlock-after-relock.324398/

# Answer
> 2 votes
In my search, I came across an interesting thread that was related, but in order to install their script, you need to have a custom recovery tool installed or to be able to boot into it (e.g. fastboot boot recovery.img).

I had the stock Cyanogen Recovery tool and I couldn't boot into TWRP because of my actual problem (cannot unlock bootloader anymore), so I dug inside their script and used the content meant to reset the **lock** and **tamper** bits of the bootloader.

Now I could run the commands manually if I had **root access** and luckily, in CM 13 ROM, you can enable it from 'Developer options' menu.

Here are the commands I used after enabling root access for ADB:

```
adb root     # restart the adbd daemon with root permissions
adb shell    # run remote shell interactively
dd bs=1 count=1 skip=1048080 if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/aboot 2>/dev/null | xxd | cut -c 10-     # print the lock bit state (00 - locked, 01 - unlocked)
echo -ne "\x01" | dd bs=1 count=1 seek=1048080 of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/aboot                  # set the lock bit to unlocked(01)
dd bs=1 count=1 skip=1048084 if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/aboot 2>/dev/null | xxd | cut -c 10-     # print the tamper bit state (00 - untampered, 01 - tampered)
echo -ne "\x00" | dd bs=1 count=1 seek=1048084 of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/aboot                  # set the tamper bit to untampered(00)

```

Result:

```
$fastboot oem device-info
...
(bootloader)    Device tampered: false
(bootloader)    Device unlocked: true
(bootloader)    Charger screen enabled: false
(bootloader)    Display panel:
(bootloader)    console_enabled: 0
(bootloader)    exec_console_unconsole: 0

```

---

I guess the tamper bit is changed the first time you unlock the bootloader (fastboot oem unlock) and after you lock it back (fastboot oem lock) it won't allow you to re-unlock.

# Answer
> 0 votes
If `xxd` and `cut` do not exist in locations available in $PATH (as it was in my case), prefix `busybox` in those commands.

```
# print the lock bit state (00 - locked, 01 - unlocked)
dd bs=1 count=1 skip=1048080 if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/aboot 2>/dev/null | busybox xxd | busybox cut -c 10-
# set the lock bit to unlocked(01)
echo -ne "\x01" | dd bs=1 count=1 seek=1048080 of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/aboot
# print the tamper bit state (00 - untampered, 01 - tampered)
dd bs=1 count=1 skip=1048084 if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/aboot 2>/dev/null | busybox xxd | busybox cut -c 10-
 set the tamper bit to untampered(00)
echo -ne "\x00" | dd bs=1 count=1 seek=1048084 of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/aboot

```

---
Tags: cyanogenmod, twrp, macos, oneplus-one, bootloader-lock
---


# Question
Title: How do i find apps which weren't installed from Android Market
The *Sky Go* application will not work for me because it thinks my Samsung Galaxy Nexus is rooted even though I have never rooted it.

According to the Sky customer service agent I chatted to, this can be because of apps on the phone which weren't installed from the Android Market/Google Play.

I know that I have manually installed an apk or two in the past\[1\], but I am not sure which apps still on the phone (if any) were installed manually.

So, how can I tell which apps on phone were installed manually and which were installed from the Android Market/Google Play?

\[1\] Amusingly, the only app I can remember installing manually was the Sky Go app, when it wasn't available to download for Galaxy Nexus phones. It didn't work however, and I removed it.

# Answer
The whole answer relies on the fact that when this query is made (requires ) :

```
adb shell pm list packages -3 -i

```

the installer for an app is listed in the output next to app's package name. We can filter the installer names in that output to single out apps not installed from Play Store.

Note: if you've a rooted Android OS, you may check `/data/system/package.xml` since the said command exposes the information found in that file, but in a more legible manner.

# Automation

I found Tasker (user guide) apt as well as flexible for the job. Create a task named NonMarket and create the following actions inside it:

1. Task → Run Shell

* Command:
    ```
    pm list packages -3 -i | grep **-ve** "com.android.vending **-ve** "com.google.android.feedback"

    ```
    * Store Output In: `%AllPkgs`

This will store the package name of all the third-party apps currently installed, but not from Play Store, in the variable AllPkgs. **Replace** `-ve` with `-e` in the said command if you intend to list apps currently installed and were installed from Play Store.

Any line in that variable would be following this template:

```
package:PACKAGE_NAME  installer=INSTALLER_NAME

```

Here,

* PACKAGE\_NAME → package name of the app;
    * INSTALLER\_NAME → package name of the installer app, such as *com.android.vending* or *com.google.android.feedback* for Play Store, *org.fdroid.fdroid* for F-Droid, *null* if installed manually by or from an ordinary file manager and so on.
2. Variables → Variable Search Replace

* Variable: `%AllPkgs`
    * Search: `package:`
    * tick Multi-Line
    * tick Replace Matches
    * Replace With: leave it untouched since we intend to remove the match from the lines
3. Variables → Variable Search Replace

* Variable: `%AllPkgs`
    * Search: `.*`
    Note that there is a whitespace before `.*` and it has to be included.
    * tick Multi-Line
    * tick Replace Matches
    * Replace With: leave it untouched since we intend to remove the match from the lines

After the execution of this step, each line in the variable AllPkgs would contain only the package name of an app.
4. Variables → Variable Set

* Name: `%ret`
    * To: tap Enter key in your keyboard for once

I learned this step from the post here by plepleus. This step is needed because we intend to copy each line (has a package name of an app) from AllPkgs into a separate variable. It is for ease of use.
5. Variables → Variable Split

* Name: `%AllPkgs`
    * Splitter: `%ret`

This step makes an array of AllPkgs and each line of erstwhile AllPkgs is assigned to an index of that array. Hence, the size of the array is the number of lines AllPkgs had.
6. Variables → Variable Set

* Name: `%count`
    * To: `1`

We're creating a variable named count and initializing it to 1, for the purpose of looping on all the elements of AllPkgs.
7. App → Test App

* Type: Package Name
    * Data: `%All(%count)`
    * Store Result In: `%Label(%count)`

This step finds an app's label from its package name and assign it to an element of array Label. See *Variable Arrays* in Tasker's userguide on Variables, if you're confused in this step.
8. Variables → Variable Set

* Name: `%AllLabels`
    * To: `%Label(%count) - %AllPkgs(%count)%ret`
    * tick Append

The last step, on its every execution in any cycle of the loop, would overwrite the value assigned to the variable mentioned in *Store Result In*. This step would assign that value into a new variable named AllLabels and Append makes sure that new cycle only adds but doesn't overwrite previous changes.

When the loop ends, AllLabels would be having lines where each of them would be having a particular app's label and package name.
9. Variables → Variable Add

* Name: `%count`
    * Value: `1`

This step increments Count variable, so that we can move to next cycle of loop.
10. Task → Goto

* Type: Action Number
    * Number: `7`
    * If: `%count` `<` `%AllPkgs(#)+1`

This step finally implements the loop. When this action is executed it checks whether count is less than the maximum number of elements in the array AllPkgs. If yes, it remains in the loop and creates a new cycle, else, the loop ends and we continue to rest of the actions below it.
11. File → Write File

* File: `/sdcard/unknown_sources.txt`
    * Text: `%AllLabels`

This step writes all the lines stored in the variable AllLabels into a file named *unknown\_sources.txt* under `/sdcard`. If you're **making replacement** in the first action, make sure to **change the file name in this action** to keep the results stored separately.
12. Variables → Variable Clear → Name: `%Label`

You would end up with bizarre outcomes if you don't clear an array manually created by user and uses it in a task.
13. Alert → Flash → Text: `Task completed`.

Run the task using the play button. Once the task ends check the file to find the content you're seeking.

---

# Command-line

I couldn't ignore command-line which makes the objective so easy to be achieved in this particular case.

## Dependencies

* Requires *busybox* tool. If you don't have it installed, refer to: How do I install missing command line tools onto an Android device?
* Requires *aapt* tool. If you're running a CM or its derivative ROM then ignore this requirement. Otherwise, for Android 4.x, you can consider downloading the binary from here. For the purpose of installing it in device, follow the root or non-root approach mentioned here, appropriately.

Android 5.x users: ask Google for assistance.

### My little script

```
#!/system/bin/sh
# Check if the busybox binary exists under /data/local/tmp/ or /system/xbin.
# Set the detected binary's path into the variable busybox or exit if file
# doesn't exist or executable permission is not set
if [[ -x /data/local/tmp/busybox ]]; then
    busybox=/data/local/tmp/busybox;
elif [[ -x /system/xbin/busybox ]]; then
     busybox=/system/xbin/busybox;
else
     date +'busybox binary not found or executable permission is not set. Exiting';
     exit;
fi

# Check if the aapt binary exists under /data/local/tmp or /system/bin or /system/xbin.
# Set the detected binary's path into the variable aapt or exit if file
# doesn't exist or executable permission is not set
if [[ -x /data/local/tmp/aapt ]]; then
    aapt=/data/local/tmp/aapt;
elif [[ -x /system/bin/aapt ]]; then
    aapt=/system/bin/aapt;
elif [[ -x /system/xbin/aapt ]]; then
     aapt=/system/xbin/aapt;
else
     date +'aapt binary not found or executable permission is not set. Exiting';
     exit;
fi

# List third-party installed packages not installed from Play Store. Replace -ve with -e if you intend to list packages installed from Play Store.
pm list packages -3 -i | grep -ve "com.android.vending" -ve "com.google.android.feedback" | $busybox sed 's/package://g'| $busybox awk '{print$1}' > /sdcard/pkgs.txt
#$busybox printf "List of third-part installed apps not installed from Play Store:\n\n"

# For each package, get its label and print it with package name on standard output
while read line; do
    path=$(pm path $line | $busybox sed 's/^package://g');          # retrieve path of package's APK. Required for finding app's label
    label=$($aapt d badging $path 2>&1 | $busybox sed -ne '/application: label=/p' | $busybox cut -d "'" -f2);   # Retrieve app's label using $path
    printf "$label - $line\n";
done < /sdcard/pkgs.txt

```

Save the script under `/sdcard` into a file named `nonplay.sh` and run that file from a terminal emulator app in this manner:

```
sh /sdcard/nonplay.sh

```

Demo output:

(Click image to enlarge)

(**Note**: those apps listed in the image were downloaded from Play Store some time ago in my Primary ROM. Since they were sideloaded in this secondary ROM, they appeared in the output. If I successfully update any of the sideloaded app from Play Store, it will be considered that the app is installed from Play Store.)
> 2 votes

# Answer
I find that the few apps I installed that were not from Google Play have their original apk in the Download folder. They usually ended there because I clicked an apk link through a website or blog I was viewing. After the download, the notification bar indicates the download is complete, and a click there starts the installer. I would start by looking into the folder
/storage/sdcard/Download
> 1 votes

# Answer
Short of going through your installed apps and checking them against your installed apps in google play im not sure what else you can do other than uninstall everything and re-add everything via google play
> 0 votes

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


title: Why does android init not die?

text:
# Question
Title: Why does android init not die?
As I read from the book Embedded Android (Karim Yaghmour), android init does not die. However, Linux init systems usually die. Why doesn't the android init?

And also, why does android not use / need systemd?

# Answer
> 1 votes
***Init*** is one of the first processes that is loaded when the Bootloader starts in Unix. So, technically init is the first process that starts and all other processes are either children or the grandchildren of *init*. Now, when a process say *Y*starts execution, it is usually *forked* from its parent process, say *X* when *X* dies(finished executing) the process *Y* now has no parent, and it becomes an *Orphan Process* at this time *init* takes over the ownership of the process and becomes the parent of *Y*. Like this, there are so many processes running at a given instant in the OS, everything has to be taken care by *init*. Since Android being a flavor of Linux, and Linux being a derivative of Unix, it is for the same reason that *init* doesn't die,unitll the system shuts down.

---
Tags: linux
---


# Question
Title: Don't have a keyboard in my phone, and cannot install a new one with ADB either
I had a keyboard in my phone (Google Keyboard), which, when I somehow installed yesterday, didn't give me the option of moving it to the SD card. Today, for some reason it gave me the option to move it to the SD card, so I did. And now I can't use it at all. This is because the "Languages and Input" sub-menu crashes when I try to enable the keyboard app too, but this has been going on since forever.

I've tried to uninstall it probably a dozen times (using both ADB commands the phone interface) and re-install it, used the following methods to forcibly install it (via ADB):

https://android.stackexchange.com/a/133775/150206 https://android.stackexchange.com/a/136545/150206

but nothing. When I use the "adb shell settings put secure default\_input\_method "ID"" command it does nothing at all (does not even give a response in the command prompt), and when I use the "adb shell ime enable ID" command it doesn't work either (it says 'error:unknown id:null').

What do I do?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Never mind, it was just a stupid move from my side. The `error: unknown id: null` message it was displaying, was there because I didn't put the whole mID into the `adb shell settings put secure default_input_method "ID"` command. I only put the half piece of the mID (only until the /). Anyway, now that I copied the full mID onto the command, it works again.

---
Tags: adb, keyboard
---


# Question
Title: Can't get into Google Play Store after changing Gmail password
After resetting my Gmail password, my Android phone (Galaxy S4) can't get into the Google Play Store. It keeps telling me "*A change in your account requires that you sign in again.*"

I sign in with correct password (if it's the wrong password, I get an error). It then brings me to a screen where I can choose either my Gmail account or add a new account. I select the Gmail account, but it brings me right back to the screen that tells me a change in my account requires that I sign in again. Over and over!

This had been accompanied by a Google Play Services notification they would not go away telling me to update my password. I disabled notifications for that.

# Answer
Just waiting may fix it if there is some sort of slow sync between Google services. A simple reboot might fix it. I would try deleting your cache and data for the play store app as well. If that doesn't work try deleting and re-adding your Google account under settings \> Accounts \> Google.
> 1 votes

# Answer
* Clear data of your Play Store App and Gmail App.
* Reboot your Device.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: google-play-store, google-play-services, google-account
---


# Question
Title: How to make full backup of encrypted Lollipop Nexus 5 device?
This guide describes how to make full backup of whole memory block.

My N5 is encrypted with Android 5.0. As far as I understand new mechanism, it envolves dependency on some external data taken from separate hardware component (part of encryption key). Is it guaranteed that it will not altered after I factory reset and flash Android 4.4 ? And even if it's ok, is it possible finally to restore such backup ? (May be /dev/mmcblck0 is read-only or otherwise restricted due to way hardware-accelerated encryption/decryption works.)

# Answer
You can install TWRP for your nexus 5 (just Google it...). It will ask you for your password when you enter the recovery. Then you can do a full backup.
> 0 votes

# Answer
The best option I found is making unencrypted backups with WugFresh NRT:

* Turn on airplane mode (not related to encryption, just recommendation in order to prevent sudden changes in data during backup)
* Make nandroid full backup (select all partitions available, for 'recovery' partion ROOT required)
* Make data/media backup
* Turn off airplane mode

These backups will be unencrypted. Restoring process is symmetric and also doesn't depend on whether device encrypted or not.

If you want to keep backup data encrypted, just use encrypted virtual drive (BitLocker, TrueCrypt, etc.).
> 0 votes

# Answer
Just install CWM Recovery on your device. You will get some options under backup and restore.

You can effectively backup your current data/ROM and later restore at any stage.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: backup, 5.0-lollipop, encryption, restore
---


# Question
Title: Is it possible to restrict access to raw user data in fine-grained manner?
Usually, to allow an app to read user's data we add some lines to the android manifest stating a specific permission for that app. However, android does not have any kind of control over the raw data that an app may read. For example, if an app has the permission to read the call logs of the user, it will be able to access to all the raw call logs information without any kind of restriction. Furthermore, it happens exactly the same when an app tries to read the contacts. It can read every entry without and restriction on the raw data. The fact that apps does not have any restriction on user's raw information once they have access really concerns me. It would be more desirable that, for example, a social app would have only access to your contacts email and not phone numbers, addresses or phone office numbers.

I am trying build an app that could restrict the access to raw information in a fine-grained manner. That is, an app that could restrict the access depending on user's preferences so that two different apps that, for example, have the permission to access to the call logs could view different processed versions of the same call log. One could only see the calls made during an specific day and the other one could only see the calls during the last moth. The idea could also be applied to contacts so that sensible user information would not be disclosed.

I have been researching a lot into the topic but I have not found any answer. From all the sources that I have read, I guess this cannot be done (yet). However, if anyone could shed light on how to implement this I would be very grateful. Would it be possible to restrict the access to raw data in a fine-grained manner?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Android official supports multiple users with profile restrictions:

https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/3175031?hl=en

I think there are several 3rd party ways to do it (Like Maas360 software) that can also do multiple user profiles

I don't k now if "android restricted profiles" meets all of your needs, but I think this is the starting point for controlling a device that may have multiple users with different roles.

---
Tags: applications, permissions
---


# Question
Title: Customized Sound from a Specific Person in Gmail
I retrieve gmail message in my android and if I retrieve email from a specfic person with the following address for instance "....@test.com" I would like to retrieve the message with another sound instead of using the standard incoming sound message.

Is it possibly to do it?

Thanks!

# Answer
I don't believe this can be done natively in an app like Gmail or Inbox, or even full blown mail clients like K-9, but there are email notification apps like Email Notifier, Mail Alert, and E-Notifier (just to name a few) where if you disable the embedded notifications in Gmail/Inbox and allow them to manage your notifications you can assign a specific notification tone based on the sender. Another option would be WhoIsIt, but that allows customized notifications for much more than just email, but text messages, phone calls, and some other apps as well.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: applications, gmail
---


# Question
Title: How to reset a device to factory settings when it is stuck at boot animation
I have a Lava Iris X1 running Android KitKat 4.4. The device remains stuck on boot animation during boot.

I have several questions:

* Can I perform a factory reset to fix this issue? If so, how?
* Will doing so affect the normal operation of my phone?

I don't have any backup but I don't need any of the apps or data in my device.

# Answer
> 0 votes
> Can I perform a factory reset to fix this issue? If so, how?

Yes, of course. Follow the tag wiki of recovery-mode to know the various key combinations. One of them would help you to boot into your device's recovery mode. Most likely, it would either be Volume Up + Power button or Volume Down + Power button. When the device is turned off, long-press them simultaneously for few seconds until the device starts to boot. If you successfully boot into recovery mode, you would see an option to wipe data or factory reset. Use it.

> Will doing so affect the normal operation of my phone.

Under normal circumstances (that is, device is not flashed by user other than through OTA), after factory reset the state of the software in device would be same as having it bought from a shop. No user data to be found anywhere - that includes your contacts and all user installed apps as well.

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Tags: factory-reset, boot, boot-animation
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# Question
Title: Can I flash an RUU coming from Cyanogen on an HTC One M8?
I have an HTC One M8 Dev edition running CM12. I also have TWRP and S-OFF with unlocked bootloader. I want to know if I can use the RUU for marshmallow for my phone and if there are any steps I have to do before running the utility

# Answer
None... Just put your phone in fastboot mode and run the RUU. Although the Motorola flasher in me always does a factory reset first for safety.
> 0 votes

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Tags: cyanogenmod, 6.0-marshmallow, htc-one-m8, ruu
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# Question
Title: How do I unlock my Tablet (using a pattern lock) when there is no "Forgot Password" button?
I forgot the password for my account on my brother's tablet, and being that it is not mine I cannot factory reset it, and even after about 100 failed password attempts, there is no "Forgot Password" option.

# Answer
Back up data etc using the restore function obviously on a SD card!then remove card and perform factory reset and after phone is set up then restore data or restore data on computer isim USB cable!my thoughts
> 0 votes

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Tags: lock-screens, password, locked-out, pattern-lock
---


title: Lg g3 open an application?

text:
# Question
Title: Lg g3 open an application?
I just go a new lg g3 today, and I noticed a pop-up saying to look at an app which lists all of the features. Now, I was in the app, but when I edited the app, the one time pop-up disappeared, and I want to open it up again.

I have tried searching in 'my apps' in play store, but it's not there. I manager to find it in 'application manager'

I want to reopen this app, and have been trying for a few hours now. Please help.

Thanks so much,

Ruchir

# Answer
Smart Tips is part of Smart Bulletin - the permanent screen to the left of the other home screens on the default LG launcher.

It can be turned on/off in home screen settings, accessed either via the app drawer (three dots at the top right) or the settings app.

When you turn on Smart Bulletin, Smart Tips is automatically enabled. Occasionally it will notify you of new tips that are available.
> 0 votes

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Tags: applications, default-applications, google-apps, lg-g3, app-drawer
---


title: How do I root my Azpen A727 tablet?

text:
# Question
Title: How do I root my Azpen A727 tablet?
How do I root my Azpen A727 tablet?

# Answer
> 2 votes
I learned how to do this from here

I did this from a Linux PC with ADB installed. It may be possible from a Windows PC with ADB installed but I could never get the tablet to connect as an installer over USB on Windows.

> Turns out it was dead simple, really, it came rooted. Here’s how I installed Superuser on it so I can use apps that use root.
>
> 1. Download superuser.zip
> 2. Unzip `superuser.zip`
> 3. `adb root` (to run adb as root user on the tablet)
> 4. `adb remount`
> 5. `adb push Superuser.apk /system/app/`
> 6. `adb push armeabi/su /system/xbin/su`
> 7. `adb shell chmod 6755 /system/xbin/su`
> 8. `adb shell ln -s /system/xbin/su /system/bin/su`
> 9. `wget https://github.com/koush/Superuser/raw/master/init.superuser.rc`
> 10. `adb push init.superuser.rc /`

# Answer
> 2 votes
I just finished rooting my Azpen A727. It was super easy.

I used 'Kingo Android ROOT' (https://www.kingoapp.com/android-root.htm) for Windows; It was literally as easy as one click and took all of 60 seconds.

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Tags: rooting
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# Question
Title: Backup an app's complete data when phone is stuck in bootloop
My rooted Moto G is stuck in a bootloop. I want to backup a specific app.

is enabled. I have access to and recovery. I have tried wiping cache and dalvik cache and even flashing the ROM again. Now I need to wipe the internal storage to make my phone work.

The device does not have an SD card slot. I need to backup an app before wiping all of my data. Other data like pictures, documents, etc., is already backed up by using cable and pen drive.

I tried using ADB to backup but I cannot confirm the backup on my phone as no such screen is shown in recovery mode. Can I just copy and then paste some files to restore the app?

# Answer
You would need a custom recovery for this solution and it appears that you already have TWRP installed.

Setup in PC, if not already. Boot into recovery mode. Mount data partition. Find the package name of your app, if don't know already and execute these commands:

```
adb shell
busybox tar -C / -cvzhf /sdcard/PACKAGE_NAME.tgz data/app/PACKAGE_NAME* data/data/PACKAGE_NAME  # replace PACKAGE_NAME with package name of the app

```

The last command will create a tarball with extension *.tgz* under `/sdcard` with name as package name of the app. The tarball would contain the app's APK (among other things) and app's private data. Files' ownership and attributes would be preserved automatically. Extended attributes (such as SELinux context) won't be preserved in this command.1

Your app may be having publicly accessible data under `/sdcard/Android`. You can simply use `adb pull` or MTP to copy those files into PC and restore them using `adb push` or MTP, when needed.

To restore the backup, do:

```
adb shell
busybox tar -C / -xvzhf BACKUP_PATH   # replace BACKUP_PATH with the file path of your backup, such as /sdcard/PACKAGE_NAME.tgz
restorecon -FRv /data/data/PACKAGE_NAME  # this will set default SELinux context on the data files of your app

```

Unmount data partition, reboot and you should be able to find your app in restored state.

**Note:** I've tested this solution on an unofficial CM13 build.

---

1 I noticed that bionic build of busybox (found in TWRP v2.8.6.0) among other arguments has `-p` for tar which is used to *store SELinux contexts*. If the file was created using that argument, then during extraction those contexts would be restored automatically, hence, no need to run `restorecon` explicitly.
> 3 votes

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Tags: applications, backup, boot-loop
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