# Question
Title: Streaming audio files from SMB (or AFP, or NFS) share to DLNA receiver without resampling
Is it possible to scan specific folders for music files and import them to some android media player app, which could then stream the music to a DLNA device?

Another challenge is that the music files are on a NAS device, so they would be accessed through an SMB share (or AFP, or NFS share, if that changes anything).

I found a way to mount it to android's filesystem (using command `busybox mount iocharset=utf8 -t cifs -o username=guest,rw,noperm,iocharset=utf8 //192.168.0.106/xxx /data/media/0/xxx`), so apps see it as a local folder (you must have root for that I think, also the kernel should support cifs filesystem, and apparently the android device should not be in battery saving state and iocharset=utf8 is important if you have file or folder names with special characters), but the problem is that many apps rely on android's media scanner service to find music, which probably has trouble scanning the whole mounted folder and the apps do not see all the music files.

# Answer
> 2 votes
If anyone else is seeking for a similar solution, I think doubleTwist player uses a combination of android's media scanner and it's own directory scanner to import music. So the method with mounting the SMB share kind of works here. But it doesn't import duplicate files (support told me they are thinking of doing something about that, also a workaround may be possible by editing any of the major metadata tags like Track Title, Artist, Album Artist, or Album Name - will have to try that, but that involves editing of the files which not everyone might like), so if you have same songs (maybe slightly different versions) on several folders, you can't import them all without altering the files, yet.

Another option is n7player with Toastercast plugin. It works kind of good, but it takes a long time to scan the music folders (about 4 hours for ~14000 songs). And I'm not sure yet if you have to rescan the whole library when you add new music, but I fear you do.. Also, for me this setup would stop playing after one song if the screen is off. I don't know if it's related to android's battery saving or the mounted folder.

And one more promising app would be Emby Server for Android, it can access the SMB share on its own, so I guess it would be a cleaner solution. It is still in beta stage, so for now it doesn't find my DLNA renderer, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that to be solved.

Update: I think, adding the .nomedia file to the mounted directory helps the android's media scanner not to cause random crashes. But this approach only works if you use a media app, that scans directories on its own, to add files to the library. And it would be a good idea to store the media files at least one folder level lower, than the .nomedia file, because android's media scanner will not scan the subdirectories of the folder which contains the .nomedia file, but other media apps may not scan this folder's contents, but might scan the subfolders.

---
Tags: music-player, media-scanner, dlna, cifs
---


# Question
Title: Nexcom VTC 6200 installing Android 4.2 or higher
I've got a Nexcom VTC 6200-NI-DK box wich is a bit obsolete but nevertheless I'd like to install Android on it. As far as I understand its spec is far from being top notch:

* CPU - `Intel Atom D510 Dual Core 1.66GHz`
* GPU - `N/A`
* RAM - `2Gb`

I've tried different images of Android-x86 from Android 8.1 Oreo down to Android 4.2 JellyBean but I could only run them in `VESA 800x600` mode or lower and their performance was inacceptable (I tried to switch off animation and optimize Android from inside, didn't work).

My question, is it possible at all to achieve good-enough performance of Android OS on this piece of hardware? Would it make sense to research into making a custom build, possibly with custom drivers or dropping some unnecessary parts of Android, e.g. media services? This box is going to be used very specifically, pretty much for calculations using some Android software, but interaction with UI should be smooth.

# Answer
I used to own a PC with that same CPU. It ran Windows 10 so-so, that is well enough and not too terribly slow. It should run Linux acceptably fast. Android should run as fast as Linux. I'm not sure why your Android experience with it hasn't been positive since Android is simply a different OS on a Linux kernel. You might try running a Linux distribution on it to see if your hardware will run acceptably. If you are still set on running Android instead of Linux, you can continue your efforts if you found your hardware could handle Linux.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: linux, hardware, android-x86, hardware-requirements
---


# Question
Title: Shuffle songs across albums on Google Play that have been downloaded to Android phone
I'm new to Google Play and have just downloaded a good bit of my music to Android phone. I like to shuffle but am dismayed to find the only facility for shuffling appears to be within album and not across albums (may be specific to downloaded tracks).

Is there a way to do it?

# Answer
> 1 votes
If you're looking to play all the songs you have, in shuffle, simply open Google Play Music. Open the menu -\> Music library -\> Shuffle all.

If you want to shuffle between specific songs, find the desired songs, press on the three dots next to the name of the song, and click on 'Add to playlist' -\> New playlist. After adding all your desired songs or albums, go to the playlists tab, and next to your newly created playlist, press on the three dots -\> Shuffle.

# Answer
> 0 votes
On Google Play Music version 8.16.7620-1.J

Menu -\> Music library -\> **Songs** -\> Shuffle all

As far as tabs go, I only see a shuffle switch on the Songs tab. Would be nice on to have that ability on Artist and Genre, but I don't see it.

---
Tags: google-play-music
---


# Question
Title: Can a android device really connects to Satellite using when LocationMethod set to "Phone Only"?
All these years I was thinking like to get device location, android phones connects to nearby cellular towers or wifi. But recently I found another option in Settings \> LocationMethod \> "Phone only". Once I set LocationMethod as "Phone Only", I turned on the "Flight Mode"(No wifi and No network. Then I turned ON the Location Services & Opened Google maps and its able to find my current location when I'm outside the building.

I did the same thing inside my home and it couldn't show my current location. So is my android device really connects to satellite to get my location? If yes, how can a small & low power device send and receive signals to a satellite which orbit above 100km high, when it struggles to get a signal from a cell tower which are few kms away?

# Answer
Many smartphones have a built-in Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receiver.

This ***receiver*** picks up signals from GPS satellites orbiting about 12,500 miles above the earth's surface. If it receives simultaneous information from four or more satellites, it can calculate the position of the receiver on (or above) the earth.

There is no transmission from the receiver to the satellite.

The transmission rate from the satellite is extremely slow, 50 bits per second. This allows a single signal to be transmitted at low power from 12500+ miles away.

The cell tower must transmit a *different*, high data rate signal to each device using it. Thus the problems with sending many complicated signals even a short distance...
> 2 votes

---
Tags: geolocation, location-services
---


# Question
Title: Add new account to Twitter app on Samsung Tablet
I am on Samsung Galaxy Tab S2, Model SM-T715Y, running Android Version 7.71.1-release.15, trying to follow the instructions from https://help.twitter.com/en/managing-your-account/managing-multiple-twitter-accounts to add a new account to my Twitter app.

However I cannot find the "Add existing account" option as described. The top menu shows:

```
"Share", "Drafts", "View Lists", "View Moments", "QR code"

```

but nothing about accounts. There is no "down arrow" icon.

The profile menu shows:

```
"Profile", "Lists", "Bookmarks", "Moments", "Twitter Ads", "Settings and privacy", "Help Center".

```

Clicking on "Settings and privacy" shows under my account:

```
"Account", "Privacy and safety", "Notifications", "Content preferences"

```

and under "General":

```
"Display and sound", "Data usage", "Accessibility", "Proxy", "About Twitter".

```

I don't see where else I could find that option.

# Answer
* Swipe from left to right in the Twitter App
* Then Click the arrow pointing down near your name

* There is an option for **Create New Account** and \**Add an Existing Account"

Reference link.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-2, 7.1-nougat, twitter, menu
---


title: S7 Edge possible hardware issue

text:
# Question
Title: S7 Edge possible hardware issue
I have this Samsung S7 Edge. Phone worked fine. Then I placed it in box. After 4 months I decided to use it again. Of course battery was empty. I charged it a bit, and it would not go past the Samsung logo screen.

I have tried all things that I found on internet, like resetting it, and clearing cache but it did not fix the problem.

I took it to service, and after couple of days I got reply that the flashing did not fix the issue. Service man said that one of the chip is bad, and that is the reason it does not boot up. Also he said it is known problem with S7 phones. Fixing it is more expensive then to get another S7.

I do know hardware failure can prevent the boot, and many other things. I am wondering at the statement 'It is known problem to S7 phones'. If he is not telling the truth, I would rather try with another repair shop, before throwing the phone away.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Hardware failure will indeed cause a phone from completing the boot sequence without a doubt. If you own the device outright, I would suggest flashing a custom ROM such as AEX. Runs flawlessly for me.

1. Download ODIN flash tool on your PC.
2. Go to the site Download Centre|Aosp Extended, find your device and download.
3. Find a TWRP image.tar for your device.
4. Download Magisk 17.1 from the XDA site.
5. Plug phone into PC and open ODIN. If ODIN finds your device, you'll see "COM3" (or whatever) at the top right.
6. Put a check mark in the "AP" option.
7. Put the *TWRP*.img.tar in there.
8. Click start.
9. Boot back to recovery and click wipe and swipe.
10. Move the ROM you downloaded from PC to SD card.
11. Reboot to recovery.
12. Click install.
13. Find the ROM, click and swipe.
14. Boot to system. If it boots (takes about 3-5 mins) you're good.
15. **Optional:** boot back to recovery and install Magisk.

Now you have a great ROM and is rooted. Once you're happy with the device, boot back to recovery and make "Backup". By the way, you will not and cannot backup and restore unless you get a perfect image and all partitions into some sort of 0755 folder with a blocker file in front on your PC. Then, you need to decompile, and recompile into a flashable zip. Not very applicable.

---
Tags: samsung, samsung-galaxy-s-7-edge
---


# Question
Title: Disable Split-Screen/Multi-Window for apps
Forgive me if this is a duplicate post as I couldn't find a solution in post history.

My question is concerning Split-screen/multi-screen functionality in Android Nougat. Is there a way to disable app split screen functionality? My device is a rooted Motorolla Nexus 6 with Android 7.0. I was wondering if there was an adb command or a line I can add to the build.prop file to disable multi-window in the system.

If it is easier, is there a way to simply change what occurs when the recent app button is held?

# Answer
> \[Is\] there a way to simply change what occurs when the recent app button is held?

You can tweak the Overview (Recent) button for long-press event using GravityBox \[N\]. GravityBox requires a comapatible Xposed Framework.

In GravityBox module, go to *Navigation keys actions* → scroll to *Recents key* → tap *Long-press action* → choose an appropriate action.

From then on, long-pressing the Overview button would not show spit-screen mode.

Tested on Nexus 6 running stock Android 7.1.1.
> 1 votes

# Answer
A quick search on setprop multiwindow nougat disable turned up a Reddit I managed to disable multiwindow in Nougat!. The part matching your question is:

> Set the secure setting "set\_multiwindow\_feature\_list" to " " (space).

The command-line for that would be:

```
> adb shell
$ settings put secure set_multiwindow_feature_list " "

```

The Reddit post also includes a howto for Tasker.

Note that I've not verified the above as I have no Nougat device to do so.
> 0 votes

# Answer
There's no setup for Xposed. If you're rooted with the excellent work of topjohns Magisk, just flash the latest Xposed. If your ROM is compatible it will boot GREEN. Be sure to give it root privalages and you may need to reboot twice. Hard boot suggested. As for disabling your split window stuff, look for it in build.prop if there's a 1 next to it, replace with with "0". Better yet, flash AEX ROM and enable, disable whatever you want. Oh and Xposed is system-less within Magisk. Be sure to flash Magisk Manager "mm" and follow the super simple set up guide. It'll save your ass. And I'm sure you know to save any changes you make to your build.prop as 0644.
> -1 votes

---
Tags: 7.0-nougat, multi-window
---


title: What android icon app is this?pls help

text:
# Question
Title: What android icon app is this?pls help
Please help me identify the icon encircled in my attached photo..thank you.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Apparently it has something to do with you messenger app. Long press it and choose info. If it gives you an option to uninstall, it's a user app, uninstall it. If it doesn't, it's a system app. Force stop, and see if your messenger still works. Myself, I'd just uninstall the app if it's causing problems. If not, hide it.

---
Tags: applications, android-versions
---


# Question
Title: Automatically change wifi and bluetooth MAC address
I recently learned that it's quite easy to track people with their wifi MAC address and Bluetooth address in stores, etc. I was wondering if there are any drawbacks of changing these addresses regularly (eg daily) to prevent such tracking? I was also looking for apps that would do this but couldn't find any.

Is it impossible or problematic or conscious people just turn them on/off all the time and the rest doesn't care?

# Answer
Changing / spoofing Bluetooth and WiFI Mac addresses are a concern to those who value their privacy , especially to prevent your location being tracked . Mac address of your WiFi router is a dead give away of your location and since most apps ask for "full network access" they can be used to track your physical location.

Changing these is a good idea if you want to prevent that. Unfortunately, this requires root (AFAIK). If your device is rooted and has installed, Xposed modules Xprivacy Lua for Android 6.0 and above (not Pie) or Xprivacy for earlier versions (both by same developer) are well recommended. There are other Xposed modules too that claim to do this.

Except for a small minority most don't care IMO
> 1 votes

---
Tags: wi-fi, bluetooth, privacy
---


# Question
Title: Error in Galaxy tab a: 'Unable to restart your device. Verification failed' after supersu
I own a Galaxy tab a 10.1 with s pen (2016). I flashed via odin, twrp 3.1.1.0 and the system booted fine. Then I flashed the last version of SuperSU and since then the system doesn't turn on and I get the famous `Verification failed. Unable to restart your device. The integrity verification has failed. You need to restart your device to factory default settings. This will erase your data.`

As I can't access my data in twrp, I tried to flash no-verity-opt-encrypt (6.0) but it doesn't help and I still can't access my data on the internal storage from twrp. Before I do a factory reset, I'd like to backup my data. Do you know if it's possible or how can I fix this error?

Will flashing the stock firmware help?

# Answer
Uhh, ok. If you're able to boot to TWRP, click mount and put a check mark in each box. Go back to TWRP file manager and poooof you shout see what you're looking for. Backup all partitions, then do a factory wipe. Go to restore and only check "data". I suggest you root with Magisk (system-less) and find yourself a sweet custom ROM like AEX.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Do a backup of whatever you have left of your ROM. Move to computer. Use Odin and flash stock ROM, then flash the AOF8 non Knox kernel from XDA. Flash Magisk 17.1 or lower. Boot. Check to make sure you have the proper TWRP for your device! Go to Lineage or AOSP and find your ROM for your device. Flash it. Flash Magisk 17.3.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: samsung, root-access, samsung-galaxy-tab, superuser, samsung-knox
---


# Question
Title: Switch play store account without accepting ToS?
I accidentally swapped accounts(to Account2) on the play store and now I cannot switch back to the original account(Account1) without accepting the ToS for Account2. Is there any way to switch back to Account1 or is Google forcing me to accept the play store ToS for Account2 in order to get back to Account1?

# Answer
No, unless you either accept the ToS, or remove the account, you're unable to access the Play Store's interface therefore not allowing you to switch accounts.
> 2 votes

# Answer
Having recently run into the same issue, I found another solution:

Assuming "Account1" is the first Google account on the device, you should also be able to switch back to it by uninstalling updates to the Play Store app.

Updates can be uninstalled using the Settings app by navigating to Apps \> Google Play Store, tapping the overflow menu, and selecting Uninstall updates.

At this point you'll be running an older version of the store, but it should take care of updating itself in the background. If it seems to be taking a while, you may be able to hasten the update by opening the Play Store's in-app Settings menu and tapping on Build version at the bottom.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Another solution I found was to go into application manager and clear data. Reverted back to original account.
> 1 votes

# Answer
The best option would be:

> Force stop the application Clear the data Clear the cache

It worked for me and hope will for you.
> 0 votes

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


title: Google Calendar Privacy Issues

text:
# Question
Title: Google Calendar Privacy Issues
### Does Google have access to the data stored in my Google Calendar?

As Google Calendar seems to be the best option for Android users and is widely used, I was wondering if Google actually uses your personal data of events and tasks for their personalized ads. Looking at how Google threads privacy with their Gmail service (e.g. a Report from the WSJ), it would be interesting to know if the same pracitces are applied with their Calendar application.

# Answer
As long as the data is stored in server of someone else they do have access to data you have stored, but it's different thing do they allow their employees access to data. I'd say no. They won't never give their employees access to your data, but if you read their terms of service you will find it out how they use your data. If they "access to your data" I believe they do not access to data themselves. It's like a bot which finds your interests and fetches more interesting ads front of your face, but basically none of the real persons do not know your interests. Data is anonymous. They use something else than your name or email to identify you to show you ads of your interests.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: privacy, google-calendar
---


# Question
Title: Find the IMEI number of lost Android phone
It used to be possible to find the IMEI number of a device from Google Dashboard. However, I couldn't find it now. Majority of the answers I find on the internet refers me to this method but it doesn't work.

Is it possible to find the IMEI number of a lost Android phone using Google Dashboard? If yes, then how?

# Answer
Yes, as of July 2019, you can still get your IMEI number from the dashboard. Just go to the "Find your device" page and select your device. Then in the upper left corner, the name of your device will appear with an (i) icon next to it. Click on that and it tells you IMEI number.
> 5 votes

# Answer
*Not a way to find it , but to document that it's not possible from Google Dashboard anymore*

> Is it possible to find the IMEI number of a lost Android phone using Google Dashboard?

**Unfortunately NO**

Google removed this feature for reasons best known to them. From Google Support, see what *NoGoodDeed* says

> As catzrule states, Google has was removed IMEI information from the new dashboard view.
>
> Google is considering where and if it might be appropriate to re-surface that info. You can leave Feedback about this with Gmail.

This is the latest official source (October last year) I could find, so there is no way out unless you have the box or bill mentioning IMEI.

Other possibilities

* If you synced to itunes as claimed here ( I can't confirm)
* Another *very* long shot is if you had installed a paid app that is single device use and is linked to your IMEI number (I have a call recorder app that does this and everytime I change my device , need to mail them with new IMEI number, so end up having a record)
* As Bochur mentioned in comments (thanks), asking Telco is another possibility

I wish Google would reintroduce this

**Edit** Things that didn't help

* Chatting with Google help from Play Store options - they were totally clueless and couldn't direct me to somebody who can help
* Downloading data from Google Dashboard. Combed but to no avail. Only interesting thing is that you can see your Google ID here
> 5 votes

# Answer
I have good news, I was able to find my Andriod Device using Google Dashboard by going to the Find My Device page once I logged in. Just press the i by the name of your device. Here is a print screen in case I am not clear. Hope it helps.
> 3 votes

# Answer
Yes goto find my phone click on the lost device and click on locate then on the screen of the locate device click on the (!) It will tell you the imei #
> 0 votes

---
Tags: google-account, imei
---


title: Can't remount /system in rw

text:
# Question
Title: Can't remount /system in rw
I'm trying desperately to push an app with adb on the /system/app folder (to install the PlayStore on my low cost tablet). So I tried to remount the /system partition **with root rights**:

```
mount -o remount,rw /system

```

But it gives me the same response every time:

```
mount: Read-only filesystem

```

And I also tried with command:

```
mount -o remount,rw -t ext4 /dev/block/actc /system

```

but it's the same thing... And I really don't understand why, even with the root user, I can't modify this...

So if someone has an idea, it could save one person in distress :p

# Answer
The syntax of `mount` command usually requires you specify the target:

```
mount -o remount,rw /system /system

```

This output could be useful for us to better understand your problem:

```
cat /proc/mounts

```

As a last resort, as you have root you can try saving raw image of system, mount it on your box and push the app there, then flash it back on your device. To save raw system image:

```
dd if=<block device mounted on /system> of=<output file>

```

If you go that way make sure you keep the original system image in case something goes wrong.
> 14 votes

# Answer
For me...nothing was working and finally this worked:

```
adb root
adb remount

```
> 2 votes

# Answer
I'm not sure how generally applicable this is, but I had the same problem and found that this reddit comment solved it for me (on Android Lollikat, which is cm11):

http://www.reddit.com/r/cyanogenmod/comments/2m9t61/how\_do\_i\_remount\_system\_rw\_on\_cm11\_m12/

Basically, I had to remount by explicitly using `/system/bin/mount -o ...` rather than just `mount -o ...`. I'm guessing that at some point the version in /system/xbin started taking priority and for some reason that version fails silently. (I say "at some point" because link2sd didn't start complaining about RO until recently.) It looks like it should be possible to edit the PATH to fix this so as to not have to use the command line every time I or an app needs to do this. I'm not sure how yet, though.

FWIW, here's the actual script for my device (s5360 on cm11 / LolliKat). It runs from anywhere but I ended up storing it in /system/xbin so it's globally available to shells.

```
#!/system/bin/sh
echo "Remounting /system as RW (read/write)..."
/system/bin/mount -o remount,rw /system
mount | grep yaff

```

That last line is just to give quick feedback as to whether it actually worked or not (since my internal partitions are yaff2). The line before it could be made more explicit as any one of these, but on my device this isn't necessary:

```
/system/bin/mount -o remount,rw /system /system
/system/bin/mount -o remount,rw /system /system
/system/bin/mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/mtdblock8 /system
/system/bin/mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock8 /system

```
> 1 votes

# Answer
Do you have an insecure kernel (boot.img)? Write access to the system partition is usually blocked by the kernel at boot. You may need to flash a modified kernel to be able to obtain write access to /system with adb.

Can you mount /system as r/w in the OS? Then you could push the file to the SD card using adb or just normal USB (MTP or Mass Storage depending on the device) and then copy it to the proper location and set permissions using terminal on the device or a root-enabled file manager. Then reboot and it should be there and installed.
> 0 votes

# Answer
I had a similar problem. I had success when I used Busybox (not to be confused with the Toybox system app):

```
busybox mount -o remount,rw /system

```
> 0 votes

# Answer
I found I could mount the system in rw using TWRP's Recovery mode, hitting "Mount" and selecting "System", making sure "Mount as read-only" is unchecked. Then I could copy APK's to the `system/app` folder using TWRP's built-in file manager.

All my other attempts at mounting as rw using ADB or terminal emulator failed. Didn't try using BusyBox.

From memory, that has worked for me in the past.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: adb, file-system, mount
---


title: Get past Google lock

text:
# Question
Title: Get past Google lock
I have a Samsung Galaxy J3 prime.it was factory reset and now won't let me log in to the internet. I don't have the Google account email address

# Answer
It's part of the new Account Protection on android devices above 4.4 ( i think )

It's designed to stop someone stealing your device and then just doing a factory reset to basically have a new device.

After a factory reset, you'll need to confirm ownership of the device by logging into Google with a previously linked account.

Only idiot's still think that device theft is an option when trying to get a new device.

Some second-hand stores, fail to properly reset device's because they don't ask you to remove all of your linked accounts first !!! ...

To stop Account Protection on Factory Reset, you'll need to REMOVE ALL accounts on the device !!

You'll know it's ready for a proper reset when you try to remove the last google account, it'll say that device security features will be disabled if you remove the only linked account... Once you accept the removal of the last linked account, it'll be ok for a factory reset !!
> 0 votes

---
Tags: factory-reset
---


# Question
Title: Can't format SD-Card as internal storage - Meta / Expand Android
I have a Xiaomi A1 with Android on it and I use my Samsung MicroSD Card Evo+ 128 GB, as an internal storage. For no reason, it's stopped working and asking me to format it. The issue is, the device and even my laptop with Linux or Mac can't format it. I can't use it. I tried to do it with GParted (See screenshot below)

This is what I get when I run : `sudo fdisk -l`

```
    Disk /dev/sdc: 119,8 GiB, 128579534848 bytes, 251131904 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 5875CF08-49DC-47BC-BEBF-A19D422163EA

Device     Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sdc1   2048     34815     32768    16M unknown
/dev/sdc2  34816 251131870 251097055 119,7G unknown

```

Screenshot GParted about the SD Card

I tried to follow the path of this person but in vain : Decrypting Android M adopted storage

**Edit :** First of all, thank you @DanHulme for your quick reply. When I try to format it with my Android phone (whether as an internal or external storage), it gets stuck on 20% formatting then I get this message : `command '16' volume partition disk:179,64 private' failed with null`

Any help would be very appreciated. Thank you for your time,

# Answer
**command '16' volume partition disk:179,64 private' failed with null**

Figure 16 may be replaced by 8, 12, 18 and others, so does 179,0 appearing in the message. So, the general problem is that they're unable to format an SD card due to volume partition disk failed with null.

The reason why does "volume partition disk failed with null" error appear and Android phone owners not being able to format the micro SD card on their phone is most probably because the card is partially damaged or corrupted, and it needs to be fixed in order to make the phone read or recognize the card.

**Short and Simple fix:**

You put your SD card into a Windows computer and used file explorer to format it as FAT32 you could put it back into your phone, it should work.

For more details and data recovery visit: https://www.easeus.com/resource/volume-partition-disk-failed-with-null.html
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 6.0-marshmallow, samsung, sd-card, xiaomi
---


title: Problems with Google Play Services

text:
# Question
Title: Problems with Google Play Services
I am using a Samsung J3. I suddenly have problems with Google Play Services, with the message that unfortunately, it stopped. I took the following steps:

1. In apps, I forced stop, cleared cache and restarted but didn't work
2. Then I uninstalled Google Play Services with a view to reinstalling
3. I wasn't able to reinstall from the phone itself, so I turned on the option to install from other sources and installed it from the internet
4. However, it's not in my list of apps now, even though I think it was installed.

So basically when I try to open Google Play Store, no reaction. When I try to open Play Music, YouTube, Gmail, maps etc, I get the message to update, but pressing on update just brings me back to main screen.

Any ideas?

# Answer
> 3 votes
Make sure you have the correct version of Google play services.

Download the latest version of play services info APK from apkmirror. This app will tell you if you already have the right one or which one to download.

After downloading the above apk, open your file manager, (on Samsung devices it's an app called 'my files') go to local storage and open a folder called 'downloads'. There look for the apk that you have just downloaded. Press on it, and it will all of you're sure you want to download from unknown sources. Agree to that, and press 'install'

When it's finished installing, you'll find the app (play services info) among all other apps. Open it, and it will tell you what version of play services you need. The app also let's you download the right version strait from the main page of the app.

# Answer
> 0 votes
1. **Before doing anything else, BACKUP ALL DATA that is important to you.**
2. Reset you phone to factory settings.
3. If there is no success flash the original firmware of the phone:
If your know someone who is a geek, he can "reinstall" Android with a tool called Odin. I don't know how this works on newer Samsung phones, but back in the days, Odin could do such things. Check sammobile.com for the ROM appropriate for your Galaxy J3 model.

# Answer
> 0 votes
First of all *go to*

> Settings --\> Apps --\> Installed

Then check for google play servies. If it's there proceed to Step 2.

**Step 1**

Download the google play services apk from a trusted site,

https://apkpure.com/google-play-services/com.google.android.gms

https://google-play-services.en.uptodown.com/android

and instal it. Then try weather it works.

**Step 2**

*Go to*

> Settings --\> Apps --\>Installed --\> Google Play store --\> Uninstall Updates and Clear Cache

then try weather it works.

If not you will need to reset your mobile.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Here's what you do:

1. Go to Settings → Apps → in the upper right corner click the menu dots → select Display/Show system apps → locate Google Play Store in the list → click on it → click on the menu up right and select Uninstall updates or similar.
2. When the app returns to the default version, scroll down to Permissions and open the one referring to changing system settings and revoke that permission

What all of this does is return the Google Play Store app to the initial system version, which stops the error from occurring, as it has to do with a bug in the latest version. What revoking the "change system settings" permission does is, it stops the Google Play Store from updating itself to the latest buggy version. It will still install and update apps, but updating itself requires a deeper system access which is revoked as referenced previously.

Rejoice, now you have a bug free phone again without rooting it or doing a factory reset. This is my original solution.

---
Tags: google-play-services, samsung-galaxy-j3
---


# Question
Title: Use wifi direct at 2.4GHz on Galaxy Tab S2
I would like to configure my Galaxy Tab S2 to use the 2.4GHz frequency for WiFi direct because my PC doesn't support the 5GHz band. I'm using Total commander with the WiFi plugin to create a WebDAV server to be able to see the files on the tablet on the PC. This plugin can work by connecting to a wifi network but you can also use a wifi direct connection. My laptop is mostly in a room without a wifi connection, so I would like to use the wifi direct option. However, it seems that this tablet only creates a 5Ghz wifi connection with WiFi direct. Is it possible to configure it to use the 2.4Ghz band? How?

# Answer
> 0 votes
It is strange that you are trying to use wi-fi direct to accomplish this task. AFAIK most Wi-Fi Direct compatible devices use the 2.4GHz connection (by default) and given that most devices nowadays only communicate with other Wi-Fi Direct-certified devices not just random.

I suggest you simply use a standard wi-fi connection i.e something like a mobile hotspot using your device or PC as host. If it is a case that your mobile predominantly uses 5GHz connection, then you can use this to force a 2GHz connection.

Another option apart from WebDAV server is using an SMB, FTP server or even TCP server of your folder structure in sdcard or internal storage similar to this.

---
Tags: wifi-direct
---


# Question
Title: Can't launch Android Auto, keeps asking to enable drawing over other apps
Within the past couple of weeks or so, I've started having an issue with Android Auto not launching when I connect to my car's Bluetooth. Whenever I try launching Auto, it shows a dialog instructing me to enable drawing over other apps. I hit the continue button, it takes me the setting, and it's already enabled. Returning to Auto, it's still asking for this permission. If I hit the "No Thanks" button, the app just exits, meaning I can't even use it in a diminished capacity.

I've tried a number of things already, from disabling the setting and re-enabling it, to uninstalling and reinstalling Android Auto. None of it has worked. I don't remember getting a system update in this period of time, but it's entirely possible (even likely) that Android Auto received an update that somehow broke it.

What do I need to do in order to get Android Auto working again?

# Answer
Check all the other permissions that Android Auto might need. For me, the notification access permission was disabled for some reason, but Android Auto never took me to that setting until after I rebooted. There are instances where apps need some permissions toggled off then on again in order to work properly after an update. For instances, after updating LightFlow, the app gets me to toggle notification access off and on.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: android-auto, lg-v30
---


# Question
Title: All-Encompassing Dark Theme for Colourblind people?
I'm totally new to android so I'm not sure if it works like this - but is there an add-on or something like that that I can get to make all app's "dark theme"?

I have a Oneplus 5 and I used the default dark theme but obviously things like Google Chrome and facebook are white backgrounds, which are very difficult for my colourblind-ness. Will I have to download add ons for every app I want in a dark theme? Or is there a sort of "all-encompassing" add-on I can get?

# Answer
> 0 votes
I believe you can go to `Settings`-\>`Accessibility`-\>`Color Space Correction`. Try that, and see if it solves the issue for you. I'm not colorblind, so it is kind of hard for me to see if it works as expected for you...

I got it from here

It is available since Android L, according to this site

# Answer
> 0 votes
On my Android 7 phone, there is a relevant setting under Accessibility -\> Color inversion. However, this requires quite a bit of tuning to be usable, since it will affect all icons, wallpapers etc. Some apps like camera or video players will never look right.

The best way to use it is to put its icon in the quick settings menu and activate or deactivate as needed:

---
Tags: themes
---


title: Location triggered alarm

text:
# Question
Title: Location triggered alarm
Suppose you want to activate an alarm triggered once a certain location is reached. There exist something capable of this already on Samsung S9 for example

# Answer
I'm not sure on your definition of Location... However i believe what your lookin for is called geo fencing...

It's the idea of creating a fence, using GPS.

The most common uses are for Pet care, and House Arrest.

Are you looking for a Geo Fencing application ?
> 0 votes

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


title: Unlock phone to toggle wifi?

text:
# Question
Title: Unlock phone to toggle wifi?
I have a galaxy s6 with Verizon on marshmallow, and every time I try to toggle wifi from the lock screen I am forced to unlock the phone. This isn't really a hassle, more of a minor inconvenience, but it doesn't make sense that Samsung would design the lock screen like that. I know the iPhone has excellent security, and it doesn't require the phone to be unlocked to toggle wifi, so this isn't a security measure. This also happened in lollipop. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

# Answer
This is just the way Samsung chose to implement it... The quick toggle panel on most stock Android or near-stock devices is accessible without unlocking the device, although anything other than a toggle, such as selecting a different WiFi network, requires unlocking.

You would need to flash a custom ROM in order to get the desired result due to Samsung's customizations being so non-standard.
> 2 votes

# Answer
Try this! Go to Settings\>Lock Screen and Security\>Secure lock settings and Disable Lock network and security Hope this helps! :)
> 0 votes

# Answer
Secure lock settings is the way as earlier mentioned. I would rather everything except Torch is locked. Sound can be turned off/on when phone is locked, and on some phones bluetooth as well.

Another thing I would like is (if phone went missing) to locate the phone WITHOUT the Notification "Device Located" popping up. I rather who has it, doesn't know I'm on too them.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Download Next Lock Screen app and you can do that stuff without unlocking
> -2 votes

---
Tags: lock-screens, samsung-galaxy-s-6
---


# Question
Title: Accidentally flashed TWRP on both A/B partitions on Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
I decided to try to root my Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite. I accidentally flashed `twrp-3.2.3-0-daisy.img` on both A and B partitions. Because of that, now I can only access the TWRP menu.

I think I should download the official ROM and get its boot file, but I'm not sure and I don't want to mess it up more. I've downloaded the ROM and found this `boot.img` file.

.

If that's it, is it enough to flash it? And in which partition? A or B?

# Answer
Find a ROM made specifically for your device on XDA Forum. Then use TOOL ALL IN ONE to unlock your bootloader & flash a new `boot.img` recovery & ROM.

*Warning*: unlocking the bootloader will wipe all your files. Also, make sure to flash Gapps. You can search "Open Gapps" and your OS to find the ones you need.
> 1 votes

# Answer
I'm not sure about both A and B partitions. Android has several partitions (10+) for different things: system, boot, recovery, frp, nvram, etc.

TWRP is designed to overwrite only your `recovery.img`.

You need your boot image for kernel information, booting, etc. So, never overwrite your boot partition, unless you are absolutely sure it's designed exactly for your variant of the device.

You should be able to use TWRP to reinstall your `boot.img` if that was partition A or B.

However, if you've overwritten your system, you'll need a firmware update or backup to restore the stock images.

In TWRP, try to look through your partitions and their sizes in storage. For example, if your system partition only has 345kb of data (or none) on it, it's been wiped clean and needs to be reinstalled.
> -2 votes

---
Tags: twrp, partitions, ab-partition, xiaomi-mi-a2-lite
---


# Question
Title: How to use an ext4 formatted sd card as external storage with working app permissions?
I'm using LineageOS14.1 (Android 7.1.2) on a Moto G 3rd gen

I'm using a 64GB sd and my phone technically doesn't support it, it worked fine until I put more stuff on it and then it started to randomly unmount without any warning. So I tried formatting it to ext4 to escape from the lack of official support for exFAT.

The problem is that the SD mounts and i can read from it, however when i try to write or delete any file in It from an app (Solid Explorer and all other apps, even the build in file manager) it fails.

The sd is correctly mounted (`$ df -l: /mnt/media_rw/c91[...]19 58G 14G 42G 25% /storage/c91[...]19`) and if i try creating or deleting a file in It using adb everything works.

I tried giving the apps permissions to use the sd via the system file explorer, but nothing changes

# Answer
I solved the problem by formatting the SD to FAT32 using gparted as suggested by @acejavelin
> -1 votes

# Answer
I simplified my way to apps see my ext4 formatted \[1\] on internal something apps will see folder usb1 and may read it (I have to check the write) .

\[1\]

```
mkdir /data/media/0/usb1
su -mm
mount -t ext4 /dev/block/sda1 /data/media/0/usb1/
mount -t ext4 /dev/block/sda1 /storage/emulated/0/usb1/

```

Full answer here : https://android.stackexchange.com/a/204616/119381
> 0 votes

---
Tags: external-sd, sd-card, file-system, file-permissions, ext4
---


# Question
Title: Persistent Problem: Internet may not be available
I have a J7 (SM-J730F/DS) and noticed a while back that I can connect to WiFi but that on some networks I got the message "Internet may not be available" .... and it wasn't. This message started to appear more and more frequently and on a trip last week I could not connect to any airport, hotel or other WiFi network, with the exception of 1 network at the conference center. Upon return home, I now also get the message at home and at work. Using data roaming to get on the net is not a problem.

I searched the web and found a number of potential fixes. I did the following:

* Reboot (didn't solve it)
* Forget network, then retry (didn't solve it)
* Switch to static IP (didn't solve it)
* Changed time/date and then back (didn't solve it)
* Cleared Cache Partition (did't solve it)
* Factory reset (didn't solve it)

I'm now out of ideas. Anyone any suggestions?

Thanks.

# Answer
> -5 votes
Turn off automatic updates. Google Play throttles the network.

---
Tags: connection-issues, internet, samsung-galaxy-j7
---


# Question
Title: Ideal charging / discharging percentage for maximum battery life?
One of my friends has a relatively new Samsung smartphone. He has this app that notifies him whenever the charging is up to 80%, and tells him to unplug the charger.

He tells me that it will increase the number of charging cycles for his battery. He says that if he lets it charge all the way up to 100%, it will mean he has to replace the battery of the phone more often.

**Is this true?**

Somehow, I feel this is a thing of the past. I thought the internal architecture of batteries these days was made so that it wouldn't drop too low or too high. (In other words, when the phone is at 100%, it isn't really 100%. It's what the battery can safely be charged to in order not to degenerate too much.)

Here's a related answer which taught me something about this.

# Answer
> 21 votes
In the comments to linked answer, it was brought out that batteries are not allowed to stay at 100% charge since it is harmful to the battery and the battery % rapidly drops to around 90% as explained in this XDA post. This is a precaution implemented by OEMs ( though not sure if all OEM's do that)

Related to this is *battery longevity* on terms of Voltage per cell

**Source:** How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries

> Most Li-ions charge to 4.20V/cell, and every reduction in peak charge voltage of 0.10V/cell is said to **double** the cycle life.... In terms of longevity, the **optimal charge voltage is 3.92V/cell**. Battery experts believe that this threshold eliminates all voltage-related stresses;

This voltage as per Table 4 ( above ) corresponds to battery charge level at 58 ℅ . This is clearly impractical and the recommendation of your friend to charge to 80%, more than doubles the discharge cycles .

This was on the *charging* part. Table 2 shows another interesting aspect *discharging* and it's impact on battery life

IMO , if one badly wanted to maximise battery life, ideally, keeping practical usage in mind - **charge when the battery drops to 50% and stop charging at 80 or 90%**

Thanks to Dmitry in comments who says and subsequently made an interesting point in his answer for the end user is `number of charge cycles*capacity at full charge`: that's how long a battery will last for a given usage pattern

---

**Edit:** For rooted devices, there is an app on XDA which disconnects charging at a given percentage. This is now open source. Approach followed appears to be similar to my solution here Automatically limit (stop) battery charging at a given percentage

**Edit 2:** Discovered this magisk module which does the same and much more - see Don't charge the battery but use connected power to run the phone

# Answer
> 5 votes
A good metric of battery life is the total energy it provides during its lifetime, which is `number of charge cycles`*`capacity at full charge`. If your phone uses X Joules a year and the battery is able to provide Y Joules over it's lifetime, it will last `Y/X` years.

Taking the data from Battery University, I came up with a following table showing the effect of the charge voltage, V on the number of change cycles, N, energy per cycle E (in %) and the total energy N\*E:

Here, E\*N represents the number of equivalent charge cycles of nominal (100%) capacity. As the charge level rises, there's a small increase in capacity, but it's dwarfed by a huge drop in charge cycles. For 62.5% charge (3.9V), the battery can produce an energy equivalent of 2000 100%-discharge cycles, 5 times as much compared to full charge. Here's a plot of the table above, for illustration:

It should be noted that this is not an original research uncovering a conspiracy of phone manufacturers. Cellphones simply are not expected to last more than a few years, and 400 cycles is plenty for that purpose. Batteries which have to last longer (e.g. in space probes) are using cycles with 30-50% depth of discharge.

Whether charging your phone to 60% of its capacity makes sense is debatable. If your phone has a small battery and needs to be charged every day, you simply don't have some 40% of capacity to spare, and having to charge twice a day is not practical. On the other hand, I have one of those Energizer-branded phones with a beefy battery, and charging it twice a week instead of once a week is totally viable.

Of course, there are other causes of battery ageing and failure than charge/discharge cycles, so the net impact on battery life will probably be smaller than this data predicts. Plus, cellphone charge controllers are designed to work with 100% discharge capacity and may work incorrectly if they hardly ever see the battery charged to 100% or discharged to 0%.

# Answer
> 0 votes
It is true, as long as we're talking Lithium Ion-batteries.

Rules:

1. The smaller charge, the more longevity.
2. The more shallow the discharge, the more longevity

I've read the best for maximum longevity would be to charge to 75% and never let it discharge below 65%. That is impractical, however, as it kills your mobility. What i do is to try to charge to a maximum of 85% and never discharge further than 20%. Feels good to me.

---
Tags: battery, charging, battery-life
---


# Question
Title: How can I disable Chrome's incognito mode without rooting Android?
Is there a way to disable Incognito Mode in Chrome without rooting? My phone is running Android Lollipop.

# Answer
> 2 votes
# Disclaimer

This answer is pointless. Once you've read the end of my answer, you will see why.

# My answer

I personally have tried Qustodio's "Block Incognito Browsing" feature. (I was using a phone running Android 4.1.2 and a recent version of Google Chrome.)

It didn't work at all.

Incognito browsing still worked perfectly, and was not blocked or even hindered whatsoever. Even after an hour or more, Qustodio had no idea that I was using Chrome's incognito mode.

In a help center article, Qustodio LLC does admit:

> Please note that our incognito blocking feature is still experimental.

If you want to prevent incognito browsing, I see a few options:

1. You could lock down the device completely (though this is almost impossible to do correctly) and then to make sure that the only browser which the user can access is a browser which is incapable of incognito browsing.
2. Or you could use Norton Family's incognito detection. If Norton Family alerts you that incognito has been used, perhaps you could confiscate the device from its user for a day or two. (Norton Family claims to be able to email you after someone uses incognito mode on the device. But I've never tested it, and I don't know whether or not it would work reliably. You should test the feature on a few separate occasions before relying upon it.)
3. You could try Qustodio. Even though their (experimental) incognito-blocking feature didn't work for me, maybe it will work for you.
4. If you are willing to root your phone, this may provide you with a new, additional option for disabling incognito mode. Remember that you can unroot your phone afterwards.

# Why this answer is pointless

Yet all this is pointless. The user can use the browser's "Clear History" tool, or Android's application manager, to clear the browsing history — anytime he wants to.

Why would anyone want to disable incognito mode?

# Answer
> 1 votes
You could try Incoquito \- it's paid and allows you to either automatically close all incognito tabs when the screen turns off or to disable incognito browsing altogether by preventing incognito tabs from being opened at all. It further includes a monitoring mode as well as logging of events/activities related to incognito browsing in Chrome as well as the ability to hide the app from the launcher. It also includes the following experimental features (as requested by several parents):

* Log videos played within the YouTube app
* Uninstall detection & prevention
* Android settings guard
* Block access to YouTube app

Disclosure: I am the developer of Incoquito.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Qustodio provides a way to disable to block Incognito browsing. You need:

1. Qustodio Account
2. Qustodio App for Android
3. Open App \> Configure this Device \> Device Settings \> Block Incognito Browsing
4. Patience, wait for some time for it to work and block incognito mode.

Source: How do I block Incognito mode browsing on Android with Qustodio?

# Answer
> 0 votes
I have just released a new app which blocks incognito tabs from Chrome, Incognito Away. It has password protect features, and is geared towards parents wanting to protect their children.

The Chrome tabs are blocked instantly, as soon as some tries to open it. You can also have a pop-up message appear when some does try and open an incognito tab. For example, you could write out a warning to a child.

Additionally, there is an inbuilt feature to hide the app’s icon from the launcher, so that it’s harder for someone to even find that the app is installed.

To prevent people from being able to uninstall the app, I would recommend that you download an “App Lock” type app from the Play Store (such as this one). This will make it so that if someone tries to open your Device Settings to uninstall the app, a password will be required.

Note: I am the developer of Incognito Away. If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch :)

# Answer
> 0 votes
# Google Family Link

If you set Google Family Link to protect an Android device, it will automatically disable Google Chrome's incognito mode on that device. (Google says so in this article. I myself have tried Family Link and verified that the article is correct.)

Family Link can also do Web filtering, screen-time monitoring, and device-location tracking. But these features are optional; you may disable them if you wish.

The usual Family Link setup is as follows: One device (a computer or mobile device) is the "parent" device, and a second device is the "child" device. Incognito mode will only be disabled on the "child" device.

If you'd like to get started, you may set up a "parent" account now.

# It has quirks

Google Family Link has some quirks. I've described the biggest quirk I've noticed, and its workaround, in another thread.

I hope that Google will work on eliminating the quirks in the future.

Despite its quirks, Family Link works reasonably well already, and I think it's a good way to disable incognito mode.

# It may be easy to defeat

I'm not sure whether or not Family Link is easy for crafty children to defeat. But, in general, there are ways to defeat most parental-control software tools.

It's wise to buy your kids a flip phone with no data plan, and a non-portable computer which is permanently stored in a public room such as the living room. It's also wise to store all of your personal cellphones, laptops, and tablets in your bedroom at night, so that your kids can't secretly use them.

# Answer
> -2 votes
**SecureTeen** is a great app for Android and iOS -- blocks incognito mode, and gives parents the ability to block apps if necessary. Also shows history of Google searches. It has been a great tool in our family. Officially, it has 5,000+ reviews and a 3.5 star rating (as of April 2016).

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


# Question
Title: How to fix "Unable to connect to Samsung Pay temporarily"?
I'm trying to setup Samsung Pay on a new Galaxy A8 2018 but I get this error message every time, even after re-installing Samsung Pay and resetting the phone as well as clearing Samsung Pays data.

> **Connection Error**
>
> Unable to connect to Samsung Pay temporarily. Try again later.

I've looked through the Samsung Account data and entered all I could.

The phone has "Magyar" as default region when I start it, could that be it? I don't have any SIM card in it but when I try putting one in I still get the same error message.

# Answer
Samsung Pay requires a SIM card to work, and it requires it on the first boot.

My solution was to **put the SIM card in and then reset\* the phone**.

When it started with a SIM card in it, I saw "Samsung pay Sweden" pinned to the home screen (Swedish SIM card). ***It then worked flawlessly.***

---

Why isn't this bug fixed yet one could ask, but there you have it.

---

Why didn't I have a SIM card in when I first booted it? I had to order a new micro SIM from my operator which took a week to get delivered.

---

** Reset it to factory defaults, wipe it clean. I guess you have everything in the cloud anyway.*
> 1 votes

---
Tags: samsung-pay, samsung-galaxy-a8-2018
---


# Question
Title: "Slide to answer" alternative on Lollipop
I'm using ZTE Maven running Android 5.1 Lollipop, and while there are 3 physical buttons on the front of the phone beneath the display, by default to answer a call you have to touch a green virtual button on the display and "slide to answer".

I get calls very infrequently and when I do I have a lot of difficulty answering calls. At first I concluded that I have to hold on the green virtual button until it activates, and then slide it, but recently that doesn't work either and I end up missing the call.

I understand there are apps for changing this behavior, but I'd prefer a configuration solution. I think once I found a mention of an accessibility setting for this, but the only documentation I can now find is for pre-Lollipop versions of Android and it doesn't seem to apply.

Is there a way to configure Lollipop with an alternative way to answer calls?

# Answer
> 3 votes
If you're using Samsung Galaxy S-series, you can change the call answering and ending options in **Settings \> Accessibility \> More settings \> Answering and Ending calls**. I didn't like the way it worked, I now have it set up so all I press is the home key.

The other one is **Single tap mode**, which is like its name, answering/rejecting incoming calls with a single tap.

Image courtesy of AndroidCentral

# Answer
> 1 votes
To find your "tap once", go to settings, accessibility, talkback, when you are in there, it has its own settings (top right hand corner), press that from there you scroll down the list until you see "single tap selection". Don't know if it will work but it is worth a shot.

# Answer
> 1 votes
on an lg k20 go to settings\> accessibility\> motor and cognition\> touch and hold for calls. hope this helps!

# Answer
> -1 votes
Swipe once, then tap blue phone symbol once.

---
Tags: calls, 5.1-lollipop, accessibility
---


# Question
Title: How to enable Soft keys on Xiaomi Redmi 1S?
How to enable Nexus 5 like soft keys(navigation keys on touch screen) on android devices? My device is Xiaomi Redmi 1S running Kitkat OS. And, can it be done without rooting my phone?

# Answer
Please check user manual Xiaomi Redmi 1S but based on my experience, you have to rooting your phone and install - check this site. download those softkeys collection from there. but make sure rooting your phone first just as we mentioned before. Dont forget to backup your data.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: 4.4-kitkat, xiaomi, softkey
---


# Question
Title: What's the Android equivalent of /etc/fstab?
Sometimes I really wish they hadn't messed around with Linux so much! I know there's an `/etc/fstab` in there somewhere, but where?

I'd like to mount some partitions with alternative filesystems (because I don't like FAT32).

# Answer
Don't think about Android as a heavily modified Linux distribution. Because it's not. The nearly only thing that Android shares with a Linux distribution is the kernel. And even this component is modified. Also other core components, like the libc, differ.

**Android has no `/etc/fstab`**

You don't need `/etc/fstab` to mount an partition. But there is IIRC no `mount` command either.`dev_mount` should work (root required). **To answer your questions title:** All startup system mounting is done with the`/etc/vold.fstab` helper script.
> 23 votes

# Answer
I realize that this is an old topic, but some of the answers here actually hindered my efforts to learn about `fstab` and Android because they so strongly imply that the `fstab` situation in Android is extremely different from other Linux distributions. From what I can tell, it isn't.

However, reading different responses here made me wonder: what `fstab`-equivalent file or files are on *my* device?

Stepping back for a moment, noting that "**Android has no /etc/fstab**" is probably not helpful to the OP since they must have already known this. If this were untrue, their question (asking what the Android equivalent of `/etc/fstab` is) would not make any sense. On the other hand, we know @Flow was not trying to imply that there was no equivalent on Android, since they mentioned one of them, a "helper script" named `/etc/vold.fstab`.

All in all, I think the takeaway from @Flow's post is that on some systems, there is a file (possibly a "helper script" - I can't verify that on my phone) called `/etc/vold.fstab`, and on those systems, this file is the nearest equivalent to `/etc/fstab`.

Getting back to wondering about my own device, I am going to post my findings here for several reasons, in spite of the age of the OP:

* First, I want to document **all** of the `fstab`-style files I can find on my phone, a Pixel 2XL.
* Second, I want to show people, especially Linux/Android newbies, that it is fairly easy to find these files on your own device ("teach them to fish").
* Third, it's helpful for me to write up my findings (bonus: I'll always be able to find it again here on StackExchange!).
* Finally, Google is still serving this page up so there's a chance this will help someone other than me.

So let me try to sum up everything I have learned from all of this:

Android, or at least its variants that I have access to, does make use of `fstab`-style files. However, the exact name, location, and function of these files vary by distribution - meaning by Android version and device, and also by ROM if you use a custom ROM.

To find these files on your system, open up a terminal emulator like `termux` or `adb shell` and run something like this: `find / -type f -iname '*fstab*' 2>/dev/null`. The redirection of file 2 (`stderr`) to `/dev/null` will make your output much cleaner as you will be able to ignore the onslaught of error messages you will get from `find`, even if you are `root`.

On my system (a Pixel 2XL, code name "taimen"), I found three candidate files:

```
taimen:/ # find / -type f -iname '*fstab*' 2>/dev/null

/sbin/.core/mirror/vendor/etc/fstab.taimen
/vendor/etc/fstab.taimen
/data/data/com.android.omadm.service/files/dm/dmt_data/fstab

```

The first two are separate files in that neither is a hard or symbolic link to the other, but if you `diff` them you will find that they are identical. Looking a little deeper, if you run `stat` on the files you will see that they have the same Device and Inode values:

```
taimen:/ # stat /sbin/.core/mirror/vendor/etc/fstab.taimen /vendor/etc/fstab.taimen

  File: `/sbin/.core/mirror/vendor/etc/fstab.taimen'
  Size: 1326     Blocks: 16      IO Blocks: 512 regular file
Device: fc00h/64512d     Inode: 925      Links: 1
Access: (644/-rw-r--r--)        Uid: (    0/    root)   Gid: (    0/    root)
Access: 2009-01-01 02:00:00.000000000
Modify: 2009-01-01 02:00:00.000000000
Change: 2009-01-01 02:00:00.000000000

  File: `/vendor/etc/fstab.taimen'
  Size: 1326     Blocks: 16      IO Blocks: 512 regular file
Device: fc00h/64512d     Inode: 925      Links: 1
Access: (644/-rw-r--r--)        Uid: (    0/    root)   Gid: (    0/    root)
Access: 2009-01-01 02:00:00.000000000
Modify: 2009-01-01 02:00:00.000000000
Change: 2009-01-01 02:00:00.000000000

```

`stat` reports both of these filenames as regular files with only one link each (so no hard or symbolic links are involved). I'm not a filesystem expert but what has happened here is that the same device has been mounted twice. You can see this in the output of the following command, where the only differences between the two lines of output in are the mount points (the part immediately after "on"):

```
taimen:/ $ mount | grep vendor

/dev/block/dm-0 on /vendor type ext4 (ro,seclabel,relatime,block_validity,delalloc,barrier,user_xattr)
/dev/block/dm-0 on /sbin/.core/mirror/vendor type ext4 (ro,seclabel,relatime,block_validity,delalloc,barrier,user_xattr)

```

The third file is only visible to me if I login as root, so if you have a device identical to mine, you still will not find, or have access to, this file unless your phone is rooted. That file has to do with a service called Open Mobile Alliance Device Management, but that is a service I know very little about, so I will just mention it here, and you can Google for details about that if you'd like.
> 11 votes

# Answer
The fstab file is in `/`.

It's called `/fstab.$systemname.rc` where `$systemname` is based on the handset's fingerprint property, either identified as category of chipset or handset itself.
> 8 votes

# Answer
You can remount your external storage to be executable by running

```
mount -o remount, rw /mnt/sdcard

```

this will remove the noexec, nosuid and nodev flags, but it will still be vfat fs. You can make links to this fs but not from within. The remount does not survive a reboot, because the vold.fstab file will be read and they will be remounted at reboot with the noexec flags.

If you reformat any of your external storage to anything other than vfat, then they will not be remounted at reboot, and any apps that you have moved to any external storage will not be usable. If you don't intend to use external storage for apps then you can unmount your external storage and use `busybox mke2fs DEVICE` to make it ext2. Use `busybox newfs_msdos DEVICE` to return it to vfat and make it usable again.

Note `busybox mkfs.vfat` is broken, you will get something like

> lseek: Value too large for defined data type

so don't waste your time. All of this assumes you are rooted, and have a working busybox binary.
> 6 votes

# Answer
I'm seeing conflicting information. One resource says it's hardcoded, so not something you can change user-side:

> Android-specific init programs are found in device/system/init. Add LOG messages to help you debug potential problems with the LOG macro defined in device/system/init/init.c.
>
> The init program directly mounts all filesystems and devices using either hard-coded file names or device names generated by probing the sysfs filesystem (thereby eliminating the need for a /etc/fstab file in Android).

Elsewhere `/etc/vold.fstab` and `/etc/vold.conf` are mentioned. I have them on my device under CM 7.1 but I'm not sure of how they are used.
> 5 votes

---
Tags: file-system, mount
---


# Question
Title: "Cannot download, not enough space" when "Phone Storage" clearly lists enough space
I just installed Android 2.1 on my Pandigital Novel. Anytime I try to download an app (via WiFi), I get this error:

> Unable to download. Not enough space on phone.

However, the phone lists the free space as being 125.57MB, about 25 times the size of the file I wanted to install.

I took the APKs I was trying to download and put them on my SD card. I was able to install them to the device from there proving it does indeed have space.

What should I do?

# Answer
This doesn't answer *why* it doesn't work, but...

As a workaround, if you have an SD card, you can insert it and it will automatically download to the card instead.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Another workaround that worked for me in a similar case was to restart my device.

I guess that the application is trying to find a continuous free space of about 5MB and memory is not fragmented efficiently (there are many chunks of 4MB or less). Somehow memory is rearranged after restart but maybe the explanation is different.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Note: the following seems to work only on Samsung devices

Enter the number \*#9900# in the dialer (no need to press the Call button) and the SysDump menu will appear, there select the second item (Delete dumpstate/logcat). This will delete some "hidden" system log files you didn't know exists and don't need. They can be up to a gigabyte big and cause mysterious "Cannot download, not enough space" and similar "no space" messages, when the system info otherwise claims there is plenty of space free.

Some suggest a restart after the deleting.
> 0 votes

# Answer
This is a very annoying problem I have also encountered many times. For some reason, it thinks you don't have enough space even when you clearly do. Sometimes it can refuse a \<1MB app when you have about 100MB free. Or it can allow a \<100MB app when you have roughly 300MB free.

I don't think there is a real 'fix' to this.

Freeing up even more space should solve the problem. You can just uninstall a bunch of apps and see if it works again. Or you can clean your caches and other files you don't need (like the log mentioned by David Balažic) with an app like SD Maid, 1Tap Cleaner, or whatever app you use. Cleaning caches/tombstones/logs can easily free up a lot of space for you to install whatever app you like.

The problem will return though once you run out of space again.

The (arguably) best solution would be to have fewer apps installed (I don't like this but it's what works best for me) or buy an SD card and install apps on the SD card (with the help of an app like AppMgr III or similar).

For those with a Samsung device that splits memory in SD card and USB storage, you'll have to find a different way to actually put the apps on the external SD card instead of USB Storage. I believe I read somewhere it is possible by factory resetting the phone and then choosing to install apps on SD or something like that, but I am yet to try that.
> 0 votes

# Answer
I'm experiencing this problem too, and my experience revealed that it's only the latest version of the app store causing the problem.

So every time I want to install or update apps, I first revert the Play Store to the stock version.
I go to the app drawer, long click the Play Store icon and drag it to "App Info" to open its settings (you can reach there via *Settings*-\>*Apps*-\>*Google Play Store*), the press "Uninstall updates".
It will install updates in the following short period, until the Play Store app is upgraded again.
Please comment on if there is a way to prevent the Play Store from updating itself automatically (auto-update apps is set to false).

Hope this helps.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Unfortunately, this can be the bane of many, many devices. Android needs a bit of storage left over, and won't let Google Play fill it up - god knows why, since other stuff can - and that's it.

You are not out of options, luckily. If you rooted the dang thing, you could buy a very large SD and modify the `vold` file to think it was internal storage.
> 0 votes

# Answer
I encountered this often before even if internal SD's free space was 2+ Gigs.

I tried this. On the terminal, type these lines:

```
su
ps set install location 1
pm get-install-location

```

Now, after two months and dozens of additional apps installed, the "not enough space" annoyance has not bothered me.

Hope this helps.
> 0 votes

# Answer
In my experience, I think Play Store won't let you install apps when you are running low on storage.

For example, it won't let you install even an app of about 2MB when the storage is just 90MB. This is possibly for performance issues. No one wants to install a 2 MB app that would load extra MB of data, leading to memory issues.

What I usually do is to back up large apps (even with app data), uninstall the backed-up app, and reinstall after installing the desired app. Another workaround is to get the APK from a trusted source.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: internal-storage, insufficient-memory, side-loading
---


# Question
Title: Why do write attempts to /system/priv-app cause /system to switch to read-only?
I'm trying to write files to the /system/priv-app directory. I boot into recovery (TWRP) and run adb shell.

```
~ # mount /system
~ # mount
rootfs on / type rootfs (rw,seclabel)
...
/dev/block/mmcblkXXXX on /system type ext4 (rw,seclabel,relatime,data=ordered)

```

I can then run:

```
~ # mkdir /system/tmp
~ # touch /system/tmp/test

```

This works fine: I have no problem modifying /system. (I can also delete things from /system/priv-app.) But if I then try to *write* to /system/priv-app I get the following:

```
~ # mkdir /system/priv-app/test
mkdir: can't create directory '/system/priv-app/test': Read-only file system
~ # mount
rootfs on / type rootfs (rw,seclabel)
...
/dev/block/mmcblkXXXX on /system type ext4 (ro,seclabel,relatime,data=ordered)

```

Now /system is suddenly mounted read-only! Permissions and ownership are identical in /system and /system/priv-app and I'm running as root.

```
~ # ls -al /
...
drwxr-xr-x   18 root     root          4096 Nov 25 07:32 system
~ # ls -al /system
...
drwxr-xr-x   59 root     root          4096 Aug  5  1972 priv-app

```

While in TWRP, SELinux is set to permissive:

```
~ # getenforce
Permissive

```

I'm running Lineage OS 14.1 (Android Nougat) on a Moto G 2015 (aka Moto G3). It's rooted with the official Lineage su addon. I also tried Magisk and get the same result.

I've run out of ideas, and I can't figure out the right search terms, because I've tried a ton of things and have not turned anything up.

How can I enable writing to /system/priv-app?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Protecting Android from malicious codes has always been a priority of Google, OEMs and SOC vendors. Even the /system write protection has been implemented on kernel level by some OEMs. And by default, Android mounts `/system` read-only in order to avoid any intentional or accidental changes for AVB/dm-verity to work properly. Only OTA updates can modify system partition.
However if dm-verity is disabled while rooting the device or when flashing custom kernel/ROM, we can mount `/system read/write` for modifications. But some programs have a built-in code to check if /system is mounted `rw`, and if so, revert the status to `ro`. Solid Explorer states:

> If the mount point is mounted in r/o mode it will be temporarily remounted to r/w. After the operation completes (with a success or not), the app mounts the partition back to r/o state.

TWRP has also an option mount\_sys\_ro\_chk and by default it mounts /system read-only.
So the solution is to change the mount point from `/system` to something else as that won't be checked usually.

Another factor that may force `ro` mounting of a partition is Linux kernel's mount option errors=remount-ro. This mount option is usually default on a newly created filesystem:

```
~# tune2fs -l /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system | grep Error
Errors behavior:          Remount read-only

```

So filesystem will be mounted as read-only if an error occurs e.g. `Max Mount Count` is reached and `e2fsck` isn't run. However this is rarely the case on Android. You can view kernel log for any such errors:

```
~# dmesg | grep mount

```

Changing the default behavior is not recommended and can be really harmful:

```
~# mkdir /system-temp
~# mount -o rw,errors=continue /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system /system-temp

```

---
Tags: 7.0-nougat, file-system, lineageos, system-apps, file-permissions
---


# Question
Title: Importing contacts from Windows Phone 10
Trying to set up my new Galaxy S9+ today and I'm moving from a Lumia 950XL running Windows 10 Mobile - and for the life of me I can't get it to import my contacts.

The obvious solution would appear to be the Smart Switch app, however: I installed it on both devices, set the S9 to "receive" and connected the 950 to the Wifi network SS created, unfortunately it just sits on "Connecting.." on the 950-side (despite the S9 side claiming it's connected).

Other things I've tried:

* Adding my One Drive account - Nope, no option to sync the contacts.
* "Linking" the S9 to my Win10 laptop via Link My Phone - Nope, it shows as linked, shows up in my Microsoft Account when I log in there but no apparent way to sync anything.
* Adding Microsoft account to Outlook - Nope, can't add it as it doesn't have mail associated with it.

What am I missing here?

# Answer
> 1 votes
After a few more failures where I tried exporting contacts as VCF and importing into my Google account (imported 9 out of 209 - no message to indicate why the remaining 200 didn't import) and trying to import the VCF direct onto the phone (failed completely with a message indicating the format was invalid) I eventually tried the Smart Switch app again, this time it prompted me to update it when I opened it so I did and this time it worked. It took a couple of hours but it seems to have worked ok.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-9, device-migration
---


# Question
Title: What do "Installed", "Running", and "All" apps mean in Android Settings?
I have an Android device running on Android 4.4.4. In the Settings, I have no idea what "Installed", "Running", and "All" apps are.

What do those mean?

# Answer
The menu in *Settings › Apps* usually has multiple tabs (or items in a drop-down), signifying a (sub) group of the apps available on your device:

* **Installed:** user-installed apps. Most of them are those you installed yourself, but some might be "vendor-provided" apps that got installed on initialization (first use or after a factory-reset). These are the apps you also can uninstall.
* **All:** All apps, whether pre-installed or user-installed. This is the only group where (pre-installed) system apps are shown as well; these you normally cannot uninstall, but only disable (and sometimes not even that).
* **Running:** These are the apps currently running – either because you started them explicitly, or because they got started by some intent (in most cases, this is `BOOT_COMPLETED`, i.e. apps starting automatically after boot – but it also could be something else they're reacting on, such as network state changed, or some other app calling them as it often is the case with Maps)
* **Disabled:** On some devices, you might see this as explicit section listing the (system) apps you've disabled. On other devices, this section might be missing; disabled apps then carry the string "disabled" next to their names in the "All" section.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: applications, settings
---


# Question
Title: Why are portrait photos sometimes sideways?
When I take a portrait photo, it shows up correctly on the phone. But when I transfer it to certain software, it shows up flipped sideways. Why is this? Is it the fault of the phone or the software that's reading the image? Is there a way to fix a batch of these images so that all software shows them correctly?

The phone is an LG G3, but it's happened to me on multiple phones, and many people have reported this problem, e.g.: https://androidforums.com/threads/vertical-photos-rotating-to-horizontal-orientation.588960/

The same thing happens if I use a different camera app, OpenCamera, instead of the stock Android app.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I found the answer to my own question. It seems cameras take the picture and then store an flag, the Exif orientation, rather than just storing the rotated data, because the latter would be too time-consuming or it would be too expensive to give the camera custom hardware. (https://www.impulseadventure.com/photo/exif-orientation.html)

But not all software supports these image rotation flags, so it's best to process images when importing them to convert them to an image with no rotation flag. Some tools for doing this are here:

http://how-to.wikia.com/wiki/How\_to\_auto-rotate\_digital\_photos\_to\_their\_proper\_orientation

The exifautotran script seems to work for me, e.g.:

```
exifautotran *.jpg

```

---
Tags: camera
---


# Question
Title: Best way to install Android app on 500 tablets?
We have 500 tablets that need to go out with our Android app pre-installed. From our experience so far, the only way to install the apps is by creating a new Google account, logging into the play store, and installing the app. The problem with this method is that it's very time consuming, it's creating junk accounts that I'm sure Google doesn't want, and each new account requires a phone number to verify and you can only create a limited number of accounts on a single phone number.

The obvious alternative is to side load the app with the APK file manually, but the downside to this is that we want to be able to update the app later. My understanding is that if we side load the app we can't update the app automatically.

We are already using Ionic Pro which has live deploy which handles most small updates but it can't live deploy any updates that involve updates to the cordova/native plugins.

Since both of these methods have drawbacks, I'm hoping there's another way. I'm curious how educational institutions are able to preload apps on classroom tablets that update without an account logged into the Play Store.

To be clear, and to avoid duplication of other similar questions, what I'm really looking for is to use the Google Play Store for updates, not bypass it, but without having a unique Google account per tablet.

# Answer
> 8 votes
I do not think you need a unique account. I have several devices that all use the same account. That aside...

Sideloaded apps should be able to update from Google Play. I just tested this myself. I installed an older version of Discord on my phone, opened a fresh run of Google Play, and checked for updates. It showed me that there was an update and was able to do it.

Since 2015, Google Play is able to detect the keystore signature of the apps. As long as the one installed and the one on the market are signed the same, then it should update.

You should be able to test it yourself, assuming you have older version of your app that you can fiddle with.

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


title: Odin projects and versions

text:
# Question
Title: Odin projects and versions
Trying to flash my old `Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570`. For this purpose I need to use some kind of software - `Odin`. I found several versions of `odin` project.

Which one is real one and where is the right place I can download newest **Odin** verison?

# Answer
> 0 votes
* Odin is believed to be a *leaked* Samsung internal tool as you can see from Wiki . That's the reason you will not find a definitive,*official* website for downloading
* What is the ODIN tool? is a related answer and the point worth bearing in mind while choosing the right version is

> (....) you probably want to ensure someone else has tried it and succeeded

Now, coming to your question

> Which one is real one and where is the right place I can download newest **Odin** verison?

* IMO, having been a past Samsung user, the best place to search right version for your device is XDA forums. Above answer cites a thread for a particular device. LATEST ODIN v3.09 & ODIN 1.85 & ALLODIN MULTI DOWNLOADER VERSIONS ROM Flashing Tools for ALL Samsung smartphones lists out various versions of Odin / download links and compatibility with various devices, with the disclaimer that *these ... might not be 100% accurate*. Per this your device needs **ODIN Multi Downloader v4.42**. Another source What Odin Version You Need For Your Phone *corroborates*
* To start with, that would be the choice and this being an old device, there aren't many references available from a cursory Google search. You may like to do a deeper search
* Another point to note is that tutorials on web showing how to use Odin , need to be correlated with version of Odin depicted and the one you are using, since *buttons* on tool changed. Here is one such guide ( I don't recall which Odin I used last so can't vouch for guide correctness). You may like to Google for more
* Whichever guide you choose to follow, follow instructions *explicitly* and don't *assume*. This caution is to ensure that you don't end up bricking your device. All the best

# Answer
> 0 votes
I have heard many times that the Version 4 of ODIN, was mainly used for Tablets in house. I've ALWAYS used some Version of 3 for all my flashing. And I've almost exclusively used Samsung Devices since the Captivate. I've Never used Version 4 of ODIN for my mobile phones. Never used it period actually.

As far as backwards compatibility though, I have a Galaxy S7 Edge and can flash files to it using Odin 3.10.7, when the current version is now 3.13.2.

From what I know at this moment, the change from Odin 1.87 to 3.07 to 3.10.x to 3.12.x to 3.13.x, is because of certain compression used in the filesystem images contained on some different devices. Or in the case of v1.87 to 3.07 was because we moved from RFS to EXT4 from what I remember.

I am not sure what changed from 3.07 to 3.10.x to 3.12.x yet. I've been looking into this for like 3 days now. I do know that the change to 3.13.x was to support the LZ4 compression used in the firmware images for the Galaxy/Note S8 and S9.

There are also many different versions of ODIN available now besides the leaked samsung versions. We now also have these:

1.) Jesters Modded ODIN (Based on 3.12.x I believe, and used for AT&T Branded devices. I haven't gotten an answer as to why yet.)

2.) Prince Comsy's ODIN (Based on 3.12, modified to bypass SHA1 checksum): I'm not sure why bypassing this checksum matters actually. I've read that it is used for cross carrier flashing. But it was originally made for flashing firmware to the G930/5 A (AT&T Galaxy S7/Edge).

3.) Patched ODIN 3.13.1 (ODIN BR? Based on 3.13.1 lol, but modified to bypass the SHA256 Checksum) Again, I'm not even sure why that checksum needs bypassed or even what bypassing those checksums does for flashing.

---

What I'd honestly LOVE to know, is how the binary executables were so specifically modified, and how it was found to even be viable in the first place.

Samsung's Download mode is a thing of mystery to most, because those that do know, won't talk about it for some reason. Ever since the Galaxy S6 was released, information on the devices has been SO hush-hush it's ridiculous. Once Chaine Fire quit working on most Samsung devices, most developers left as well. And that left a Void.

It also left in its wake, so many possible root methods Chainfire never even tried. Samsung Android IS NOT GOOGLE ANDROID. The same things do not apply, as we saw with the Xposed Framework. The Android Runtime (ART) needed modified to get Xposed to work on Samsung initially. Samsung changed a lot. So a different method is needed...

---
Tags: samsung, rom-flashing, odin
---


# Question
Title: How to deal with dm-verity on a Samsung S7 Edge when installing a custom recovery like TWRP
I'm just starting to explore how to customize my Samsung S7 Edge and I'm interested in moving an application over to the system partition. It's currently running Android 8.0. I've been doing a lot of research on the process before I just dive in and I feel like I have a good understanding of the process using ODIN, installing TWRP for my particular device, and using TWRP to move the installed app into the system partition.

However, what I'm struggling to find detailed information on is `dm-verity` and if/how it would impact what I want to do. I know my device utilizes it, but the sources I'm reading boil things down to "download and install this file using ODIN" and provide a handy link to the file *without talking about the file at all* or otherwise explaining what is being changed. I struggle to find those sources trustworthy since the file details are completely unknown.

I'm assuming I'll need to circumvent `dm-verity` in order to utilize TWRP. Is this assumption correct and, if yes, what are the detailed steps to do so?

# Answer
> 0 votes
For a Galaxy S7 Edge it is possible to root Android 7, and 8. It just apparently takes an engineering bootloader to do so. And I don't even think it is a REAL ENG Bootloader.

I agree with you however, most people in the XDA community that releases anything for a newer-ish samsung device gives little to zero information about what it is their files are even doing to your device.

Like seriously. Chainfire quitted working on Samsung Devices, and now all the big whig samsung devs, WILL NOT divulge their information to other devs.

Because some of the big devs will never own my device, but I can't work on my device because other devs won't share their knowledge, "because if they aren't going to do it, then no one is", apparently.

I had a real eng firmware for the Galaxy Note 5. The same thing they used on the Galaxy S8, but all those same devs laughed at me, and then stole my idea.

I will say JRKRUSE has some good, legit files for you to use on XDA, just don't expect him to explain anything at all. He keeps all his information to himself. Kind of like the S8 devs. Always general information, nothing specific.

But so far TWRP hasn't been officially flashed to a USA Galaxy S7/Edge device. And I think it is because of TWRP itself being so configured for default AOSP Android and not Samsung Android.

---
Tags: twrp, system-apps, samsung-galaxy-s-7-edge, dm-verity
---


# Question
Title: How to downgrade Google search app in recovery?
For some reason, I would like to downgrade the Google search app (com.google.android.quicksearchbox) to a older version, and upgrade later, on a MI 8 running Android Oreo. But when /system is mounted in recovery, I couldn't find the Google app in /system/app, although other system apps are there. I don't want to root the device, so how to?

# Answer
some applications are in deferent locations, `system/app` holds certain applications while `system/priv-app` holds other's... sometimes your phone provider also puts apps in `system/vendor/operator/APP_FOLDERS_BY_NAME` and `custom/app/`

These locations change depending on device, but mostly stick to the same root directory's..

* `system/app`
* `system/priv-app`
* `system/vendor/`
* `custom/`

Just have a look around at the different sub folders, and i think it's inconveniently named something completely different, like Velvet.apk
> 1 votes

---
Tags: adb, recovery-mode, google, system-apps, 8.1-oreo
---


# Question
Title: ADB Shell Input text unicode value gives permission error
I am running below command on Ubuntu with connected devices

```
adb shell input text "तणणररथ"

```

but it gives me permission denied error and start dumping state of the device

```
sh: resetreason: can't execute: Permission denied
========================================================
== dumpstate: 2018-11-28 03:20:03
========================================================

.......

```

Can you please help me on this?

# Answer
> 2 votes
From this StackOverflow post: adb shell input unicode character `adb shell input` isn't designed for unicode characters.

The most promising answer points to a github repo: ADBKeyBoard however there is a note that it may not work on Android O / Android P.

---
Tags: adb
---


# Question
Title: Automate Charging cycles for always connected devices to wall outlet
Is there any way to automate charging cycles (like charge only from 40% to 80%) if the device always connected to power outlet? I'm searching for a way to read charging level and send commands to external devices to turn off/on power outlet.

# Answer
If you have Magisk installed, this module Magic Charging Switch (MCS) can automate charging with certain conditions.

I didn't try it but according to the XDA post it's a decent option.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: charging, automation
---


# Question
Title: Forwarding all mail in Gmail using using android app.
My father, nearly 80, has forgotten his gmail password and cannot recover it. However, it is saved on his android phone so he can access it on his phone, but not on a laptop he wishes to set up. I suggested he create a new gmail account and autoforward all mail from his current gmail (via his android phone) to his new gmail account.

How can he do this from his android gmail app? I can't find a universal forwarding option for mail to the account.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Unfortunately, there is no option like this in the gmail app. You would have to log in on the website to change it, maybe the login is saved in the chrome app, so you can set up the automated forwarding there. You can even set up another e-mail in the accounts settings of your google account, where you could recover the mails. Just go to accounts.google.com on the phone and there you can set up a lot. But only, if the password is saved.

The only solution if the password is not saved would be:

* forward every existing mail to the new mail account
* create an automated answer for the old account with the new mailadress inside
* keep the old account still in gmail in case of any important mails
* transfer the accounts, which are linked to the old mail adress to the new by entering a new mailadress in the respective accounts (i.e. banking, news, amazon and so on)

# Answer
> -3 votes
You can now use gmail multi email forward to do this

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Tags: gmail
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# Question
Title: Can a group admin remove the group creator on WhatsApp?
Can a group admin remove the group creator on WhatsApp? If i add a person as creator then make them admin.. can they remove me from my own group?

# Answer
> 3 votes
The way WhatsApp works is whenever a group is created by user he is himself an admin by default and can add other people as admins. And all admins have the same privileges so basically, an admin can remove anyone from the group but the creator can not be removed unless he himself exits the group.

# Answer
> 1 votes
No Admin can remove the creator. It will show (can't remove creator's name) because they created this group.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Yes, it is bad but true. An admin can remove anyone including creator and other admins.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Whatever who the admin add or remove, no one, include the creator, can stop him. Therefore, think carefully, befor promote someone as a admin.

# Answer
> -1 votes
Yes they can. Practically, there is no difference between the creator and just another admin.

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Tags: whatsapp-messenger
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# Question
Title: How to restore SMS from sms.vmsg backup?
I made a backup of my contacts and SMS on an Android 6 phone with what I think is a stock Backup & Restore app. I ended up with two files: `contact.vcf` and `sms.vmsg`.

However, my new phone (Android 7) doesn't have any preloaded Backup & Restore app. I managed to import `contact.vcf` via the address book, however the messaging app doesn't seem to have any option to import backed up SMS.

What can I do with this `sms.vmsg` file to resotre my SMS?

# Answer
I was able to open my backup with this VMG Converter app. The app requires to buy an unlock code if you want to restore more than 200 messages from the backup, so I didn't use it in the end, but it could have been an option if no other backup was available.
> 2 votes

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Tags: sms, 7.0-nougat, restore
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# Question
Title: How to disable PIN lock in android device without touching it
My android phone *(Sony Xperia Z2)* has a PIN lock, and now the screen is broken, everything is working fine **except touch**, I can't do anything because I can't unlock the phone because I can't press the buttons to unlock it. So is there a way I can unlock the phone with? Even if the touch isn't working I can use the phone with Google Assistant.

PS: My phone doesn't have root.

# Answer
> 3 votes
So when you say broken screen, but then "everything is working except touch", does the display work?

Below I've written a solution that'll work with a broken display and touch, if your display does work, then just use an OTG adapter and a mouse, if not follow the steps below.

* Get an OTG adapter with a mouse
* Make a screenshot (probably power + vol down)
* Connect your phone to your PC and view what's in view what's in /sdcard/DCIM/Screenshots/
* Continue doing that to go into Settings \> Developer Options and enable USB Debugging (it's painful, but the only way)
* After you've done that you can use scrcpy to mirror your screen to your PC via adb and interact with it. (The first time you use your PC with adb you'll get a prompt to authenticate on the phone you'll have to click allow there, just keep that in mind)

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Tags: lock-screens, touchscreen, broken-screen, sony-xperia-z2
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# Question
Title: What to do when "Stop Supervision" does not stop supervision in Google Family Link
I was using the "Google Family Link" parental-control software to supervise a device. I wanted to stop supervising the device. So, in the Family Link parent app, I tapped "stop supervision".

Google sent an email saying that I'd stopped supervision. But Family Link continued to show a notification on the device saying that it was under supervision, and it still continued to forbid certain actions on the device.

Even rebooting the device didn't help.

What's the solution?

# Answer
It turns out that the solution was simply to wait for several hours.

Within three hours, the notification disappeared, and it became possible to easily and successfully uninstall Google Family Link from the "child" device.

# Edit

I'm not 100% sure, but it seems to me that, on the latest version of Family Link, it's unnecessary to wait even for a few minutes. Instead, I think it may be enough to simply open the Family Link app on the "child device". The app should do some checking and immediately realize that supervision has been stopped.
> 2 votes

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Tags: troubleshooting, parental-control, content-filter, google-play-family, google-family-link
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# Question
Title: Can I anyone tell me what these circle icons are?
Can anyone tell me what these circle icons are

# Answer
Assuming the grey circles with lower half circle, it is the Upday news app.
> 1 votes

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Tags: samsung, app-icons
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title: Lg v35 SLO mo videos playback on PC

text:
# Question
Title: Lg v35 SLO mo videos playback on PC
So i captured a couple of SLO mo videos with my LG V35 Camera and they play fine on the phone (showing the SLO motion), but when I copied them to my Windows PC and used Adobe Premiere and VLC to play them back they played at reguly speed, how do I see them in SLO motion. I suspect the 240fps is encoded but how can I just get the SLO mo video without having to re-render it?

# Answer
> 0 votes
You have to export the video. This reddit answer is for the V20, but should be similar to the V35.

> After shooting the slow mo video, open that video up, hit the edit button(pen) then use the sliders to choose what you want saved in 1/8 or 1/4 or 1/2 or 1x speed then hit save.

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Tags: lg, video-recording
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