text:
Cannot boot into recovery after changing file system of internal storage
I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 (GT-930F) and have been using it with an unofficial build of Lineage OS (which can be found here) for quite some time now.
But when I wanted to make a clean update to the latest build, I got the following error message in TWRP:

Updater Process ended with ERROR: 1
Error installing zip file /sdcard/lineage-19.0-20211220-UNOFFICIAL-herolte.zip

I thought reflashing TWRP with Odin might help but it didn't help with the error.
In trying to overcome this strange error, I (probably) totally bricked my phone. I thought the error might have something to do with the file system of the external sd card, so I changed it. That didn't eradicate the error so I had the (very stupid, as I now have come to realize) idea to change the file system of the internal storage to EXT4 (if I remember correctly).
As a result, TWRP is stuck in the loading screen and ODIN spits out a Write operation error if I want to reflash TWRP. I can still go into download mode, though.
Is this fixable or is my phone bricked?

check if adb shell works on TWRP splash screen, there you can repair file system with mke2fs or mkfs.f2fs otherwise flash stock ROM, unlock bootloader and start from scratch

Thanks a lot. Repairing the file system did not work for me but now I am back on flash stock ROM and can go on from there :)


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How to remove app-malware-virus that's not visible in the app list
I downloaded an apk from this site that it was supposed to be a modified app for a game (Candy Crush Saga). Here you can find the download link.
The problem is that not only the app doesn't do what it was claimed to do (i.e. provide you with tricks, unlimited lives, etc) but most importantly it is a malware-virus.
So after installing this app, I get pop up windows with ads.
First of all I removed the apk and tried to search for the installed app through settings. Surprisingly I couldn't find anything apart from the apps I have installed through PlayStore!
Then I installed Clean Master and AVG Antivirus but neither managed to find any problem.
I also tried using DEBLOATER (I installed it through wine on my fedora 25 laptop) but this didn't work either.
I also connected my phone to my laptop and tried to find and delete the bloatware but I wasn't able to find it.
So my question is how can I remove this "app" when it's not visible in the app list?
For reference I am running Android 6.0 and my phone is Oukitel k6000pro and my PC runs fedora 25.

you can do that with ADB by listing all packages installed on the phone.

@esQmo : Thank you very much for your comment. Could you provide with a full answer, to possibly help solve future problems? Thanks in advance!

You're welcome. Is your phone rooted?

@esQmo No unfortunately not :(

You'll need root access and even busybox installed to be able to remove/delete malwares that are installed on the /system partition

Try hiding those apps instead: download DEBLOATER (search on Google), enable USB debugging in the Developers options, connect the phone to the computer. Run Deloater, you should see all apps with their packages listed. Check those you want to hide/disable.

Next time, don't trust any other source than the official one. Download all apps from Google Play.

@esQmo_ : I've trying really hard to solve this but I couldn't. I couldn't find any debloater to help me without rooting. So I tried to root, but I couldn't either. Do you have any debloater to recommend? Note that I am using linux and not windows.

The software I told you is called DEBLOATER. I don't onow if there is a Lonux version

You can use DEBLOATER to hide those app because removing require root access.
Download from here.
Learn how to use the software at XDA Forum
Note: It's a Windows executable, so you need a Windows machine to be able to use it.
Edit: Drivers can be downloaded here or here

Thanks for your answer! I was able to install it in Fedora 25 through wine, but it cannot see my phone.

You need USB drivers for your phone. Did you enable USB debugging?

USB debugging is on. USB drivers? Hmm... I don't think so. I have no idea what these are, so I'll search about it!

Added a link to the download area

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


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Bluetooth consistently turning itself off
I'm having issue where my bluetooth will occasionally turn off.  This is an issue because I have a smartwatch that connects with bluetooth.
My SO also has a smartwatch, but doesn't have this issue.  I noticed in my battery usage that Bluetooth shows up as an entry in my phone, but does not on my SO.
When I tap on bluetooth, there is an option for 'Adjust Power Use'.  It's apparently set to 'Turn off bluetooth when not in use.'  I can tap on this option, but all it does it take my to the Bluetooth pairing screen, which doesn't seem to have any way to change the option.  I also do not have battery saver mode on.  There's a variety of things that are battery optimized, but my list of apps matches my SO's phone as well, so I don't think that's an issue either.
Clearly I don't want my bluetooth to turn off, otherwise it makes my watch kind of useless.  Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix the issue?

Have you tried checking logcat output? The kernel prints out all sorts of messages. Some debug info would help us track the issue.

I haven't yet, no.  When it turns off is kind of random, so sitting and watching logcat isn't something I considered.

So if you go into BATTERY> : MENU> BATTERY OPTIMIZATION> and change "NOT OPTIMIZED" to "ALL APPS", you can then select each app or service you want "NOT OPTIMIZED". Try Bluetooth Midi and Bluetooth Sharing to set Not Optimized.

Unfortunately, this didn't fix the problem.  Thanks for trying.

My phone had this problem, and I narrowed down the problem to be caused by the Fitbit app syncing to my Versa watch.
The "problem" was actually just a mis-configuration in Fitbit app related to the the bluetooth sync options.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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In Google Voice, do all SMS messages have to be transmitted via a data connection?
If someone is using Google Voice, do they need a data connection (cellular or WiFi) to be on in order to send/receive any SMS messages?
This seems to be a big limitation, as keeping data on all the time can really drain the device's battery (and can get expensive with all of Android's background data).
Also, signal strength for a functional data connection generally has to be stronger than the minimal signal required to send/receive traditional SMS messages.  Inside buildings, it is commonly hard to get a data signal, but SMS messages can often still be transmitted/received.

If you are using the Google Voice or Hangouts app, then yes it must have a working data connection, but it's data usage will be extremely minimal. (Do people actually turn off mobile data anymore?!?!) But in Google Voice you can setup your SMS messages to forward to email or an actual SMS number if you prefer.

@acejavelin Thanks. Regarding your last sentence, do those incoming SMS get duplicated within Google Voice (or Hangouts), or is it a true forward where they only appear within your cellular SMS?

I haven't used anything but he app in years... I honestly don't remember but since I have no SMS messages on voice.google.com in 3 years but have them in my Hangouts, I assume it is a true relay/forward and not a copy.

Since my comments seem to have answered your question, I will add an answer.

If you are using the Google Voice or Hangouts app to send or receive messages using your Google Voice number, then yes it must have a working data connection, but it's data usage will be extremely minimal.
In Google Voice you can setup your SMS messages to forward to email or your actual carrier's SMS service if you prefer. You can replay from either email or carrier SMS via both methods as well.

No, if you're using Google Hangouts to send message then only it will use data(or when you're calling someone via Voip).
If you SMS to someone on your contact list(only phone no.) using hangouts app it'll use your service provider to send message.

Thanks.  I'm confused by your answer.  The first sentence seems to say that the Google Hangouts app uses data to send SMS, but the second sentence seems to say that the Google Hangouts app will use the service provider to send SMS.  Can you clarify?

I down voted this answer because it is very unclear... there is a distinct difference between your carrier's cellular SMS service, and Google Voice's SMS service. The carrier's SMS service even if managed by Hangouts will not use data, but sending/receiving SMS via the Google Voice number using Hangouts or Google Voice app does require and use a data connection.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
OpenVPN start & connect at boot time
How to start & connect OpenVPN at boot time? Please note that we are using Android 6.0 and OpenVPN 0.6.73.
Using the paid Tasker app is not an option.

I would consider the following entries.Maybe this app will help you: LIama
It can be as much as Tasker if not more and is free.If you upgraded OpenVPN, you have a function that will start the application automatically when rebooting.


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How to find out learned words in Gboard?
Where can i find the words learned by google keyboard? I can't find nothing on the internet about where it is saved or how to find saved words that GBoard learned automatically.

If you're looking for the words that you have manually added, those you can find in Google keyboard app>dictionary>personal dictionary. If you're looking for words added automatically after using them many times, then i have the same question as you

Unfortunately it isn't possible. If you're talking about personal dictionary rather, it is in GBoard settings> Personal dictionary


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Galaxy S21 - remove video call shortcut when ending a call
When ending a call, there's a video call shortcut button which appears - is there a way to turn this off - see the lower right of the screenshot below which is what shows when the call is over.  I never use it at this time and occasionally I've accidentally hit it.


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How to free the space called 'Other'
How can I eliminate this 9.21 GB of space called "Altro" (Other);
Is there the possibility to know what kind of things are there in this 9 GB, I tried some apps but none gives me some useful info.
I am on android 12, xiaomi mi 9t.

How disk space is used on Android device?

Unfortunately on an unrooted phone it is impossible to see what files and folders Android categorizes as "Other". You can only check the shared folder /sdcard (e.g. from a connected PC or a file-manager app) and the installed apps (clear cache/data of unused apps or uninstall/disable them).

You can't (possibly) 'eliminate' the contents without SU access. However MixPlorer or ES file Explorer might help you read much of / level contents.


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What android apps are these?
I currently use a TCL A1 (A501DL) running Android Version 8.1.0.
I went to check my Wi-Fi data usage. I scrolled down and seen all these apps! There are 9 of them. I've never seen them before and when I click them there is no app information.
I checked all 44 apps I have, and it doesn't show any of these and it doesn't appear to be feeding off my battery data I already checked that. What's going on? Am I being hacked?? I don't use the cell data on this phone. I just use it for Wi-Fi. Somebody please help me! I'm kind of worried about my privacy now.

Those could either be OEM bloat of it's a malware.

You said it's a OEM bloat?? What's that exactly? And you said it's malware or it is malware if it's not a OEM bloat

Do you know if these services existed when you first bought your device? Did you check data usage before?

Yeah I have never seen these before at all


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Copy and paste string to Excel (android app)
auto detect character class or formula class, I tried to copy and paste text to Googlesheet (android app) and excel (android app), googleapp (image on the right) will auto detect as character class, but excel (image on the left) in formula class shows an error.

[][]

If you are not typing a formula, then you should not use = as the first character in Excel. If you are typing a formula, then make sure that you have typed it correctly. As stated here:

The #NAME? error signifies that something needs to be corrected in the syntax, so when you see the error in your formula, resolve it. Do not use any error-handling functions such as IFERROR to mask the error

To solve your issue, type a single quote ' before =, or replace the equal sign with a single quote. Excel will recognizes that you are not typing a formula and will show the value you entered.


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Merge overlapping WhatsApp backups
I flashed my phone last year, but before that, I made a WhatsApp backup. However, the WhatsApp backup made wasn't complete(perhaps I exited the app while backing up). Hence, I lost 1 year worth of chat history.
I have an old phone which still retains the chat history, but the chat histories are overlapping, as described below:

Old phone chats: 2015(month unknown) - June 2018

New phone chats: 2016(month unknown) - present

I would like to merge the chat histories (and preferably, call logs too) to contain the chats from 2015 - present. I have seen many WhatsApp backup merging tutorial and posts like in here, but these only explain how to merge the backups if the chat histories do not have overlapping chat histories. How do I merge two overlapping chat histories, without causing messages from 2016-2018 to appear twice?
I only need to know how to merge the wa.db and  msgstore.db and other relevant files, if I need help in retrieving them and altering them I would post it as another question.
Thanks.


text:
NFC for PC using libnfc
Is it possible to use the phone's nfc hardware as a NFC reader for PC (installing some app or using netcat with some /dev/ file)?
My phone has pn544 chip, it seems it is available as /dev/pn544


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CM11 com.android.themes.provider and com.android.settings crash
Dirty updated from OmniROM to latest CM11, fixed permissions, and got crashes. Firstly crashed com.android.phone, I have removed some files and managed to fix it. After it I have tested a little and experienced other crashes: com.android.themes.provider (when trying to enter to any submenu of themes menu) and com.android.settings (when trying to enter cellular network settings) . What files should I remove to fix it? I tried to clear .themes.provider's folder and .settings' folder, it doesn't help.

A dirty upgrade is never 100% error free. You have to either fix permissions (worked out for me) or wipe data and reinstall everything. Also check the owner and group of all the files and folders, they tend to be different even on the same Android version.

I have already done fixing permissions: both via recovery and via nandroid manager (fixes permissions for apps, recovery doesnt do it)

I mean manually eg with rootexplorer. Check read, write and execute permissions as well as owner and group. Fixing permissions with recovery didn't work for me, only the manual way.

authors: Карина Юрьева


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Dual SIM: Disable telephony features on second SIM
I have a Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2 (GT-S7582) with two SIMs. I'd like to use one of those SIMs for everything telephony related, the other SIM for everything data related. I managed to set the first card to be the default SIM for outgoing calls, and I deleted the APN for the first card so that only the second SIM is used for data.
However, I still receive calls for the number of the second SIM. I also get the choice to call using the second SIM, which I do not want.
How can I disable receiving calls from the second SIM? How can I fix telephony/data even harder to the individual SIMs?
Android version: 4.2.2
EDIT: As a first workaround, I disabled the default ringtone for the second SIM. This way only the display lights up, which is easy to ignore.

You may be able to semi-disable incoming calls on one sim. A lot of cell companies allow you to set up call forwarding and other options using special codes. Look up the shorts codes available for the carrier of the SIM for which you wish to block calls.

I have two SIMs sharing a number, and only one of those is in the dual SIM phone. Sadly, if I change the settings you mentioned, this affects both of these sims - meaning that I also cannot receive calls on my other (non-dual SIM) phone. In other words, I need a solution that is configured for the phone only.

Really? I didn't know you could ever have two SIMs sharing a number. So if you call the number, both phones ring?

Correct. It's called Vodafone UltraCard.

You can achieve this by applying call barring on the SIM.
Although I know this is a different Andriod version, I am sure you will find something similar to this on my OnePlus 2.

Phone app > Settings > Call settings > SIM 2 > Call barring > Incoming call barring

Can you please improve your answer by making a sentence or adding details.

@Maxime done as requested

Any idea how to do this on Android 11 (e.g. Pixel 4?)


text:
Why is quiet mode not abiding by the scheduled times?
Ever since my phone upgraded itself to Android 4.4.2 a couple of weeks ago, it has trouble turning quiet mode on or off at the set times.
I have it set for quiet between 10 pm and 8 am, and the indicator by the "Schedule Settings" is blue indicating that the setting is on, and the moon icon with the timer remains in the top bar, but it either doesn't switch into quiet mode or if it does happen turn on at the scheduled time, it doesn't turn back off.
If I cycle the "Schedule Settings" switch, it does go into quiet mode for that night, but does not always do so the next evening.
Is this a bug that was introduced with the upgrade, or is one of my apps intercepting the quiet mode setting and overriding it?
I'm using an LG G2.

This seems to have been fixed by LG's latest patch to 4.4.2, which came out around 9/25/2014 or so.

Those of you owning a LG G2 running Android 4.4.2, my roundabout is as follows: go to settings, then apps find the settings app, and clear cache then force stop the settings app. This procedure enabled my quiet mode toggle to work normally.

I had the same problem and found a workaround by going to settings->sound->quiet mode and repeating toggle "turn quiet mode now" until I see the notification on the notification bar. After that the scheduled quiet mode will work, but you had to do this after every restart of the phone.

I will try this out.  Glad I'm not the only one, thanks!

As an experiment, I checked tonight and the "moon with timer" icon notification was in the bar, but the quiet mode was not on.

It's a widespread issue that doesn't look like it's going away anytime soon (or later). I just downloaded a free app called Silent Time and I htink that overrides the issue. It looks good and I have seen others in other forums do this to correct it. I hate that LG pretends it's not an issue. If Silent Time sucks I will post later but I think it's good and it has a good rating.

Can you link that app?


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Can I force an app to download its data to the SD card?
I recently downloaded Vrse for messing around with VR stuff. To function, the app needs to download 360 degree video "scenes". The files are relatively large; generally a few hundred MBs. I'm extremely low on space, and it won't let me keep more than one scene at a time. Is there anyway to force the app to store data on the SD card?
Alternatively, could I transfer the existing app data to the SD card, so that it could download the new data on internal memory? Will the app know where to find it if I do that?
EDIT: Device is a 2014 Moto G (XT1064) running whatever came stock  (I believe it's 5.1).
Thanks!
Evamvid

Yes if the phone supports. Or you can swap internal memory with external memory (assuming you have good external memory size). There are workarounds on the Internet. Please mention the phone information in the question and also tag it.

But if you want to change the main device storage you can change that in settings→storage and then click on standard device storage

I don't have that option: I get the storage breakdown by category (Music, Movies, Apps, etc.), then the amount of free space on the SD card. Then, I get an option to move pictures and videos to SD, and options to unmount or erase the SD card.

Google play store allowed people to change their download location to SD, but they removed it due to people sending them emails how their apps did not install correctly. The only way to do it is to root your phone and find a video on the internet on how to do it.

"but they removed it due to people sending them emails how their apps did not install correctly." -- can you support this claim with sources?

My whole class used this technique, so did I. I also complained how apps would not open.

authors: Надежда Старомужева

authors: Светозар Русинов


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Can I route a call via SIP based on a phone number using native SIP android?
My Android 4.x phone supports SIP.
However, the options when to use the "Internet calling" are very limited: "For all calls", "Only for Internet calls", "Ask for each call".
I would like to use Internet (SIP) calls based on phones number (e.g. all international and long-distance calls should go via SIP, all phone number starting with +395656 xxx and local calls should go via my regular voice account).
I don't want to use any application like csipsimple, I want to use native support.

If you don't want to use 3rd party apps, this is currently (as of Android version 4.4) not possible.


text:
LG G3 restarts and shuts down automatically
I have LG G3 (D855) and running stock firmware, Someday back my phone start showing invalid sim then i tried same sim with different phone and its working. Now i know there is some fault in phone, i was keep trying then after few minutes my phone restart with awkward loud beat and then shut down/restart to boot. To boot i need to take out battery but it still restart or shut down automatically.
I flashed my phone to stock KDZ successfully but still i am facing same issue. My screen sometimes stuck to LG logo or LG logo disappears and shut down (Need to take out battery to start my phone again), Boot sometimes to home screen then turn off. I flashed to D85530e_00_0927.kdz , which is stock i was using before any issue in my phone.
Please help me to fix my phone

Same problem here. LG service"s solution was a new mobo euro 200. I replaced the battery for euro 5 and everything was like new.

Lots of LG phones are showing up bootloop issues. The issue you are facing can be closely related to other bootloop issues seen in LG phones. And if it is, I dont think you can do much to fix this issue.
You may however give a try installing a light weight OS like lineage OS. I had faced similar situation with Nexus 5x. Installing Lineage OS helped a bit(restarts/sudden shutdowns became less frequent). In my case replacing motherboard solved the issue for me.

Check video how it went down  http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6glqbb


text:
Allow fingerprint unlock but require password after a certain time limit
Currently with a Samsung Galaxy S8, but I believe this is common to other devices, I can setup fingerprint unlock which requires a password when the device starts up or if I fail to scan my finger correctly a few times.
I would like to add another limitation: allow fingerprint unlock but require a password unlock every x minutes/hours or some other configurable time limit.
A somewhat silly scenario to illustrate the need: suppose I fall asleep on the train, I don't want anyone to be able to scan my finger and unlock my phone. I still want the comfort of unlocking the phone with my finger while knowing that after a while it will lock itself and require a password.
Is there a setting I'm missing or an app that can do that?
Following @beeshyams's answer, here are my current settings.

Related Can I make Android require Fingerprint + PIN to unlock the screen?

If the solution didn't work for you and you can use Tasker, try solution linked above

Samsung has its own ways of implementation so this may differ but stock implementation :
Fingerprint can unlock the phone after it goes to sleep ( Settings &radar Display →  after xx minutes of inactivity) only if Power button is not used to lock and default lock screen is used
If you enable power button locking or any third party screen lock / launcher that can lock screen, you can't unlock with fingerprint. You require to enter PIN
That is a far more easier way of achieving what you want (though you can't configure the delay) going by the need in your example
If you really need a configurable interval, that may be possible but would surely need root

This doesn't seem to work. There's no difference if I lock the phone with the power key or just let it turn off after a minute. In both cases I can unlock with my finger. Even if it did work, I would'n just leave my screen on for a minute (or many minutes) because that would drain the battery and the phone might do stuff while unlocked in my pocket. I've added screenshots of my current settings.

As I said in the beginning, Samsung often does things differently. So the power - lock option is ruled out. Next you can try with a screen lock app of your choice or any other app, for instance I use Quick App lock which overrides default screen lock

How would you set this up with Quick App Lock? Suppose I want to be able to use my fingerprint to unlock the device as many times as I want, but have it require a password unlock after 30 minutes. Once I unlock with a password I can use fingerprint unlocks again for another 30 minutes.

That's not possible. The app I mentioned was an example of default screen lock being changed.. you may use any other app -just search for lock screen on Play store

Using such an app is to only ensure that you can only open with PIN always. Not use fingerprint + Configurable time lapse PIN


text:
Browsing PC through phone with adb shell
I am connected to my phone from the laptop using wireless adb. After that, I connect my phone to laptop physically with a usb-wire. Now with the wireless adb-shell open, I want to find the wired "connection" and browse my pc through android-phone. (Like open a shared folder on the laptop with adb-shell)
Is that possible and if yes, how? (I want to replicate a similar scenario with my phone so I can connect it to my car-navigation system and browse through the system from my PC using adb-shell).

By adb you can copy files from the phone to your pc

Not possible. ADB is a one-way channel. Excerpt from help:

When you start an adb client, the client first checks whether there is
an adb server process already running. If there isn't, it starts the
server process. When the server starts, it binds to local TCP port
5037 and listens for commands sent from adb clients—all adb clients
use port 5037 to communicate with the adb server.

To access PC you would have to set up an ADB server on your mobile device, which is currently impossible.

can you use adb shell without root?

yes, you can freely


text:
Changing volume capacity
I have an Android tablet in my car, and the volume it's volume is in the range on 0-30.
It is very low since the last tablet (not an android tablet) had a range of 0-60.
How can I raise the maximum volume to 60? Will I have to root the device?

Maybe you can with root, but if understood correctly I think you're wrong in the basic of your question: A device has a maximum volume (which can or cannot be achieved regularly[1]) and the possible range is being split into a numbers range that will allow you to choose.
In your case, if you'll root and be able to change the range, it will do one of the following:

Set every 1 current unit to two new units (like jumping in 0.5 each time).
Split the volume control in another way so that it's not distributed evenly.

[1] Maybe it will be possible with root to increase the maximum volume by reducing the sound quality - but that's not what your question asks.


text:
Cannot install Google USB driver because it won't accept the driver
I tried
https://developer.android.com/studio/run/win-usb
I also tried
https://droidusb.com/download-lana-download/adb/
but that seems to be the same thing
and the google page tells me to go to device manager and "other devices",  I turned USB debugging on and that helped as then it showed under Other Devices.
It says MTP

So I went to settings..developer tools..usb configuration, and I switched it from MTP to PTP but it still sees MTP in device manager.
Is there some option I should be choosing that I haven't chosen yet?

slightly relevant https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16596877/android-studio-doesnt-see-device/18515360#18515360

I did solve this but I can't recall what it was

On Android 11, when you connect your device to your PC, assuming that USB debugging is already enabled, you will get a notification where it says what USB connection type is currently active. Tap on the notification. A menu should open where you can pick a USB connection type (MTP, PTP etc.). Pick "No file transfer" and try installing the Google USB Driver again. Use the Device Manager, find your Android device, right-click, update drivers, select my own and select the folder where the Google USB Driver for Windows is located.


text:
How to find where an app is saving its data and then acess it?
This app provides offline acess to a big database. So it must be somewhere in the device. But i'm having trouble finding where, and if I could even access it when I found it. I can't find the folder data/data suggested here Where Android apps store data? . So I'm guessing that I'll not be able to access it without root ?

Your conclusion is correct. I can only add that even with root permissions you not be able to a case the data as especially valuable offline data is typically saved with extra protection.

check the other answer /data/user[_de]/<user_id>/ means /data/user/0/com.devplank.masterfip but no access to /data without root of course (however lollipop is easy to root)


text:
Display additional button in Menu Bar
In Android 10, MIUI 12.0.2, how does one display, in the Menu Bar, the button to show the Toggles?
By Toggles I mean the following menu that appears if one scrolls down at the top

So far, the Menu Bar has only

Return to home screen: Quickly wipe from the bottom to the top.

Open last apps (app toggle): Wipe from bottom to top and hold.

Back: Wipe from the left edge to the right edge, or vice versa, both are possible.

But before reseting the phone I had the button but don't remember how I added it.
Already went to:

Open the Settings
Tap on Additional settings
Tap on Full screen display
Choose Buttons or Full screen gestures

And scrolled all over the settings, but don't seem to find it.
In terms of usability, the button that I want to add is helpful, as it allows one to read the notifications or just find the Togglers in the top easily.

Edit
With the accessibility button (the button with the icon of the person) one is able to open the Toggles, but that takes two clicks and I am looking for the direct button that I previously had.

I am confused. Are you trying to add a button to Quick settings or into Navigation bar? Adding a button in Navigation bar might be supported. Try finding Navigation bar settings in Settings app. As for Quick Settings, you should see a tile named Edit. Pressing on it would show the available for use QS tiles. Waht you are looking for might be there.

Into the Navigation Bar. Apart from the 4 buttons that appear in the last screenshot, I used to have another one just to display the Toggles.

The button looked like an arrow pointing down, if I am not mistaken.


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Set fixed BSSID in LineageOS16 / Android
I'm searching for a way to set the BSSID my OnePlus One (running LineageOS 16) is connecting to. I started adb shell as root and tried to change the BSSID in /data/misc/wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml, but when restarting the WiFi connection, the *.xml file gets set to default.
Can someone tell me which file needs to be edited that the MAC Address of the BSSID may get written to the *.xml file, or in which format the change needs to be made so that it won't get set to default?
EDIT:
I found a configuration documentation which tells about editing a Public String, but I don't know what needs to be edited and how.
Thanks in advance.

I have noticed that to manually edit the XML file in newer versions of Android, you have to first turn Wi-Fi off, edit /data/misc/wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml, delete /data/misc/wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml.encrypted-checksum and then reboot and turn Wi-Fi on again. Then it should not revert back to default. However, I have not been able to confirm this works on all devices, so make sure you backup the /data/misc/wifi folder along with all permissions to restore everything in case something goes wrong.

Thanks for your answer. I would give it a try before I know what creates the *.xml file. But I'm not sure about the format I have to use. My WifiConfigStore.xml looks like this:  <string name="ConfigKey">"MYSSID"WPA_PSK</string> <string name="SSID">"MYSSID"</string> <null name="BSSID" /> <string name="PreSharedKey">"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"</string>  and I'm not sure about the null name, while the other entries which are used are using string name. Do I have to edit the null name?

You have to replace <null name="BSSID" /> with <string name="BSSID">a1:b2:c3:d4:e5:f6</string> (Don't forget to add the closing </string> tag otherwise you'll break the XML)

That sadly doesn't do the trick. The phone won't connect to the access point when using the changed *.xml file...


text:
Find my mobile but on a different or second mobile
I have login or setup with my Google credentials into a different mobile. So now my profile is active in 2 different mobiles.
When I use Find My Device, only the second mobile sounds. Is there any way to select which one to find or how to select the desired mobile to find?

At the top left there are icons for each device, and you can tap on one to select a different device.
This may include older devices if you haven't removed them from your account yet, but they'll fail to work if you're not signed into the device.
For example I have a tablet listed that I no longer own and removed my account from and it eventually fails to connect with the message "Can't reach device".
Best to let the sound play for a moment before pressing the power button as it may not be detected on first press otherwise.
Note that this is a website-layout-dependent answer and the moment they change it this will be invalidated.


text:
How can I debug "Homescreen has stopped working"?
I have an LG L40 D160 Android phone that repeatedly gives me errors. When it boots, I always get the message "home screen has stopped working". This pops up repeatedly and makes it hard to do anything. Not that there is much to do as the home screen is just black. Internet forums have suggested to delete the app files for the home screen via the settings app, but this didn't bring any change.
This same situation happened less than half a year ago. At that time I sent the phone to LG to get the problem fixed. They simply flashed the phone with a new (or even the same?) firmware.
As this has now occured once again, I don't think this is something that can permanently be fixed simply by flashing the firmware. It seems there is something inherently broken in one of the apps or the firmware itself. I would like to find out which app causes the problem and disable that, if possible.
I am a tech savy person, software developer by trade. However, I have never developed on Android and am therefore not too familiar with the architecture.
I have put the adb logcat output of one boot and shutdown cycle on a filehoster as it is too large for pastebin: http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=01407861783018316845
From looking at the log file, it seems this is the relevant error message:

[ 11-30 19:02:36.686  1410: 1410 F/libc     ]
Fatal signal 11 (SIGSEGV) at 0xd2305848 (code=1), thread 1410 (m.lge.launcher2)

However, I have a hard time deciphering what exactly the problem is. Seems the launcher just dies with a segmentation fault.
I have already tried the following steps but the problem persists:

Clearing data for Homescreen app
Factory reset of the phone
Booting in safe mode
Official LG firmware update does not let me re-flash the phone because I already have the latest version
Selecting "EasyHome" as my home screen instead just changes the error message to "EasyHome has stopped working"

What can I do to further diagnose the problem? Are there any more temporary files I should be deleting?

Unless you give a log from adb logcat, its kinda difficult to tell from just this much info. But you can probably try backing up things and then factory resetting and see if that helps? Otherwise a little more log would be required to know the issue. usually the first instance of this error you see.... its around those lines you get the reason.

For the understanding of the log from logcat, consider these resources:  How To Logcat || Learn to logcat like a Pro || Doc: debugging with logcat. Later on, update the question with what you understood and also give us the full log (use a paste service for that).

Always use a paste service such as pastebin.com or gist.github.com to show a lengthy code or code-like output. It may be a big turn off to a lot of people if they are asked to download a text file just to take a quick look.

@Firelord I tried, but that file has more than 3MB and pastebin doesn't accept pastes of this size.

On 8/15/16 , spoke with a Verizon Tech for my "Homescreen is Not Working"issue. The fix is simple:
Hold   Power and Volume Down simultaneously, till the phone powers on
When screen comes back all icons are working.

Please mention your device in the answer (by editing)- as it stands you could be talking of some other device which may/ may not help OP or those in future who see your answer

Tried the previous answer on droi with no change

authors: Виктория Самохвалова


text:
Should Factory Reset return the phone to the original version Android installed on it?
I tried factory resetting a Samsung Galaxy S6.  To my surprise, it left Android 7.0 on it, and didn't reset it to Android 5, which is what was originally installed from the factory.
Is this normal?  Is there a way to make factory reset force the phone to return to the original factory ROM?
UPDATE
For those curious as to why I would want to return to the original factory ROM, it's because when I take photos (even after a Factory Reset), I sometimes get a "Server Error".  I'm thinking that perhaps a bad ROM update is causing this issue, as I've already had the camera replaced by Samsung.
So I was interested in returning to the original factory ROM, and then upgrading it again to the latest version.

Concerning your update: No need to downgrade, simply flash a new ROM/firmware which may fix the issue.

@esQmo_ Thanks for the tip.  Does Samsung offer their official ROMs for download?

Dedicated websites such samfirmware.com provide official firmware for flashing. You'll need a non-official tool to flash tough: Odin (Windows) or Heindall(Mas OS).

Factory reset only delete user data (userdata partition) and restore settings to the  default values, meaning every settings will be restored to the factory state. This doesn't apply to the system, (firmware/ROM)  which remains untouched.
By original factory ROM, do you mean the one the phone came with? This can be done by downgrading the phone firmware: flashing lower version firmware (with a lower android version).
Not all device support downgrading though,  since earlier versions can have bugs, security holes, etc... Many device makers such as HTC, Huawei, Motorola (Lenovo)... don't allow downgrading.

Correct, by original factory ROM, I mean the one the phone came with.  BTW, I updated the question with more details.

Is this normal

Yes. See answers here and the linked dupe question Upgraded my phone from 1.6 to 2.2 Android version, if I restore "Factory Settings", which version it will be?

Is there a way to make factory reset force the phone to return to the original factory ROM?

No. You would need to downgrade manually which may not always be possible as bootloaders are designed to prevent downgrading by OEMs (including Samsung). Cursory search shows it's possible for your device from Nougat to Marshmallow but you ate looking at Lollipop which makes it more unlikely

Thanks for the info.  BTW, I updated the question with more details.


text:
How to hide navigation bar on home screen of Samsung J6
How to hide the navigation bar on home screen of Samsung J6?

Maybe that in the Settings app, you could setup the full screen mode setting especially for the default samsung launcher.
By this way you could hide the navigation bar, or the statubar or the navigation bar and the statubar.


text:
Auto-reconnect Bluetooth (BT) or USB tethering
When on vacation I use my smartphone (Android 7.1.1 Nougat) as a modem for my laptop (Windows 10 Home) and tablet (Android 6.0 Marshmallow), tethering to the laptop with USB and the tablet with Bluetooth. This works fine and the speed is acceptable, but every time I disconnect/go out of BT range I have to re-establish the connection. With WiFi tethering this problem does not occur, but WiFi uses a lot more battery power.
Is there any way to make USB and/or BT re-connection automatic?
@Ce4's answer to this question (jun 2013) mentions an app for permanent BT tethering but the link is broken.

Under what conditions do you want to re-enable usb tethering? an automation tool like tasker could do the job?

There are several apps available which can do this (even without root), for example Hot Spot Starter or Hotspot Automatik.

This topic shows an answer using Automate app. Note that, according to that topic, it requires root access.


text:
What can be the reason for "internet may not be available" though the IP address was obtained
Only one device with Android (SM-G390F, Android 7.0, G390FXXU2ARA1, 3.18.14-12962328) at my home stopped connecting to Internet through my WiFi router with the message "internet may not be available" and an exclamation mark on the WiFi sign. (Whereas older non-updated Android devices, GNU/Linux and iOS devices work.)
If I examine the current network configuration with ip a in a Terminal in the device, it has got the correct IP address, but pinging the router (ping 192.162.1.1) looses all pings... (ip ro showed a route to this network, but no default route -- but that shouldn't have affected the pinging of the router anyway.)
The WiFi router is an ASUS one, and for this device, in the log, it prints several times (not more than 10; the repetition is only for this device):
udhcpd: sending OFFER of 192.168.1.8

and then:
udhcpd: sending ACK to 192.168.1.8

The DNS servers from the DHCP configuration seem to be working well (as tested from other connected devices).
Changing the advanced settings from DHCP to manual does not help. And it is quite strange that this device used to work with this WiFi router all the time before a couple of weeks ago... Nothing has been changed.

Strangely, this advice from 2016-09-14 concerning the WiFi router configuration helped:

Inside the router configuration (e.g., accessing the IP 192.168.1.1), change the "Group key update" value from 0 to 30 seconds, under the "Wireless > Security" configuration, right below the WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK item.
Router: TP-LINK TL-WR740N / TL-WR740ND.

(My router model is different.)
I'm a bit worried that 30 sec as the group rekeying interval is the minimal possible, whereas the recommended value is 3600 sec (1 hour), as I've read on the web.
But for now, I haven't yet tried to experiment with since it began working. Also, I have left the static manual IP configuration instead of DHCP on the Android device (matching the reserved IP address for this MAC address manually in the router settings), although this alone didn't make it work. (But I'm not changing this, unfortunately for the experiment, because I don't want to break the current working state.)

x-posted as a comment to a discussion of a similar situation at https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS8/comments/7qmorv/cant_connect_to_wifi_internet_not_available/dydhprd/

No, this isn't a stable cure. Probably, this might be because the Russian Censorship Agency is blocking the Google servers which are used to check that the Internet connection is live (the ones for push notifications) because Telegram uses push notification to distribute the new not-yet-blocked IP addresses for connections.

I should have a look whether I've got Settings -> Wi-Fi -> Advanced -> Avoid poor Internet connection mentioned here https://android.stackexchange.com/a/23281/13117

Getting an IP address on a network does not tell the device anything about if or if not access to the Internet is possible.
Therefore whenever Android connects to a network it performs a network connectivity check: It sends a HTTP request to a Google server.
The common URLs for checking network connectivity are:

http://clients3.google.com/generate_204
http://connectivitycheck.gstatic.com/generate_204

If the URL sends back to expected response Android assumes that it has a working Internet connection. Otherwise it assumes that no Internet connection is available. In the latter case the user is notified as you have observed.


text:
Only my phone cannot connect to only one specific WiFi
I've seen plenty of problems where people's phones can't detect any WiFi networks, or if a particular router can't connect with mobiles, but I don't have any of those problems. My problem is very specific: My office WiFi is not visible on my phones WiFi list, but everyone else's phones can connect just fine. However, my phone can connect to every other WiFi with no problem. In fact, every other WiFi (21 of them) on my laptops list is also visible on my phone. It is only my office WiFi which is not visible. This happened after a WiFi upgrade a few months ago. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this?
Android version: 6.0
Phone: Moto G 2nd generation

Is the office AP you're trying to connect to a 5g? There are some wireless modules that are unable to detect certain frequencies.

What country do you live in? There are Wifi channels which are not allowed to be used in certain countries. Therefore make sure the Android Wifi country settings are correct.

"5g" is the name of the next generation mobile network standard. I assume you mean 5GHz.

I do mean 5GHz.  I was assuming that the Access Point OP was trying to access had a _5G suffix.

This happens quite a few times. According to my observations. I have noticed the main reason behind this is entering a wrong key (password) to the wifi network which makes it temporarily disabled from the wifi list of the phone. Try forgetting the network which you may have connected once and reconnect to the same network with correct password.


text:
How do I solve this download manager problem (android)?
I don't really know if this is the right place to ask this question, but can anyoane be kind and help me a little here?
My mom has a huawei smartphone. I don't know what has she pressed but now, everytime she tries to download some file from facebook like a ppt or a pdf, the download manager redirects her to ".archivetemp" folder and she can't acces the downloaded file. How can I solve this without resetting the phone?

Have you tried pressing the left arrow button left to the .archivetemp... text? Use it to go back toMemorie Interna and then select the Downloads folder.

@Robert the files dont show in the Downloads folder

Does this happen only on Facebook or all sources? If she downloaded the file from the Facebook app, try downloading from the browser instead? Also, mentioning the Android version might help.


text:
Does Samsung process its single take images in China?
I was in my backyard, taking pictures of the bees on the trees. I got inside and noticed that one of the single take pictures I'd taken on my s10 T-Mobile version had a location tag from Yushu, Qinghai, China. This wasn't an original single take picture, but a screenshot taken from a video. All other files were located in the US. There are some other files that I want to include but are too big, so here's a google drive link to the rest of them.
So, that brings me to the question of whether Samsung sends photos/videos taken on Samsung devices to be processed in China? Is it even possible? Thanks!

You know that the geo location is just some meta data inside the image? It can be set to any place on the world. May be the location you encountered was some default value the Chinese manufacturer had set in production.

Normally the processing of captured images doesn't take place remotely. It's a built-in feature of camera app. If the camera app is location-aware, it saves the current location of your device in the metadata of the image along with other info like captured date, camera specs, dimensions, resolution etc. So might be your device was reporting wrong location at the moment you captured that image? The same may hold true if that's a screenshot. But I've never seen location being saved in screenshots.

There is a similar case on different phones (ZTE) mentioning a bug before the Android Nougat update and geotag just gives random locations on other models. While this doesn't mean the same issue, it might be a more global issue than a specific model.

@IrfanLatif The filename and it's path VideoCapture... clearly indicates that the image was not taken by what we call "screenshot". Looks more like it was created by some app that is specialized on frame-extraction from videos.

@Robert correct. I addressed what the OP said.

OP here. @Robert, it wasn't exactly a screenshot. It was one of Samsung's camera app things. You can see the button I pressed on the right picture.

Did some more digging... all of the other VideoCapture files on my phone don't have geotags, so this was probably a bug. Thanks, guys!

Not sure how to resolve this question, thanks to @Robert and @IrfanLatif in the comments. Did some digging and this is probably just a bug. If it happens again, well, I'll see. Additional thought: Onedrive is connected to the photos app so maybe something with that.


text:
Can contact information from my lock screen be available without a password on startup?
I just got a Samsung Galaxy S9 with Android 10. In my current configuration, I have observed this rough state machine as it starts up.

The Settings > Lock screen > Contact information is a great feature. However, I see no way to ever see that message in any of the grey states without the password. Is it possible to configure Android so that the contact information is accessible from any state, or at least from powered-off or out-of-battery, without disabling all security features?

https://www.gihosoft.com/android-recovery/add-emergency-info-android-lock-screen.html

Looks like your device uses full disk encryption (FDE). For that encryption Google decided to use a seperate miniOS for entering the boot password. Therefore this miniOS is independent of the main OS and can't be configured at all (except for the required password). Therefore your lock screen info is not available in this mode. Modern devices use a different encryption mode (FBE) where the device directly boots Android up to the lock screen. Changing the encryption mode is only possible with root and a custom ROM.

@Robert Android 10 forces FBE

@alecxs If the device comes with Android 10 FBE is the default. But the S9 was upgraded to Android 10 and as far as I remember the encryption type does not change on an upgrade.

It came with 10; this makes a lot of sense, but is a bit wierd. I could presumably make an emergency call, which I think connects with my cell carrier, something much more difficult then simply modifying a local text field?

i am using android 7 and i can reach emergency information as submenu from emergency dialer

@alecxs so "emergency call," contrary to implications, does not phone 911 instantly? I can press this safely?

@alecxs That is only relevant for the initial Android version a device is launched with. Galaxy S9 was launched with Android 8 and upgraded to 10. See Samsung statement on FBD/FDE

in my country 911 is not a valid number

@Robert thx for clarifying! looks like Samsung is "violating" android guidelines (and a proof that indeed android 10 is able to run on FDE)

@Neil pressing "emergency call" button will show the dialer where the user can input any emergency number (not only 911, but also 110 or other valid emergency numbers on the user's country), or additionally accessing emergency info.

The July 1, 2020 security update also adds the contact info in the state "Your phone is encryted . . . " Simply downloading and installing this 1GB update makes all of the state machine blue.


text:
Can I clear user data in gallery?
I've a One plus 5T and I need to take a lot of videos on my phone and even though I keep deleting them and cleaning my phone regularly the storage always seems to be full.
Apparently, my user data in gallery is taking up a lot of space, I was wondering if clearing this would also mean I'm deleting all the photos? This is the only biggest chunk that will free up a lot of space.

On one plus 7, I noticed that deleted videos aren't permanently deleted, so I use this app and I see deleted videos on "recycle bin" and deleting from the app clears up space. Try that

Thank you. I just hope my data doesn't get deleted!

It won't if you only clear recyclable bin - you can see the files in it too and take a decision


text:
How to root a HTC U12 Life without source code?
I have HTC U12 life. The problem is that, I want to root it, but I just cannot find its source code anywhere: no stock rom and no source kernel. Nothing. Neither on official resources nor on regular websites and forums. And the phone was released two years ago. Is there any way to root my phone without source code or to get the source code somehow? And by the way the phone is 100% rootable because I've seen a post on XDA showing a successful root.

https://android.stackexchange.com/q/226146

the better question is how to dump firmware off the device. you need boot.img for rooting, unlocked bootloader or HTC specific Qualcomm Firehose Loader for flashing/dumping in EDL mode

akecxs, thanks for giving a clue. Could you please post a guide or some kind of manual on how to pull off the dumping? It's not like I am lazy, just want to follow up a reliable information you reccomend if, for sure, you know the subject.

have you unlocked bootloader? https://www.htcdev.com/bootloader


text:
Is there a way to fix the sms notification in Galaxy S2, ICS
The SMS notification behavior is inconsistent on the Samsung Galaxy S2 after upgrading to 4.0.3 ICS.  When receiving a text message, the phone does not make a sound or vibrate, regardless of the notification settings, and regardless of the sms app used (including the default).  The screen will turn on.  This problem will go away after rebooting, but then it will return after time. This is a problem that has been discussed in several forums.
Is there a fix for this?  I'm open to rooting my phone.  I have already done a factory reset since upgrading from Gingerbread to ICS.

I didn't see this issue on a custom ROM - is it an issue with the stock Samsung ROM?
I would suggest you find out - and if you really want to get rid of it, install a custom ROM onto your phone after rooting - I find Sapir's CM10 ROM to work well, and I do not see this issue.
Please check http://forum.xda-developers.com for more info on rooting and installing custom ROM's to your device.

Yes, this is an issue with the stock ICS ROM.  It was actually because of this issue that I decided to install a custom ROM.


text:
Link contact to Twitter handle
Is there something I can put into the Google Contacts entry for someone that will link it to their Twitter handle? I have tried putting “@JohnDoe” into an IM-type field I’ve named Twitter, but that didn’t do the trick.

To clarify, you want to be able to view a contact and click something to go to their Twitter page?  Have you tried a hyperlink?  Or syncing your Twitter contacts?

I was hoping for something that would link to the twitter app; and yes, I (think) I’m syncing my Twitter contacts.

Both Facebook and Twitter contact sync stopped doing anything useful sometime recently (ICS?). They no longer provide a meaningful between your phone contacts and the actions provided by those clients. I think this has to do with changes to the Android API that for whatever reason these companies have not adapted to.
There is a stop-gap solution for Facebook using a third party app such as Contact Sync for Facebook or Friends Sync* but I don't know any solution for Twitter other than the hack-it method of having a URL listed and using the web client.
* This publisher also has other sync apps for foursquare, flickr, and others.

Ad in Google contacts a field for a website.
If your lad has the twittername @abc, enter
http://twitter.com/abc
On my Android phone it opens with my twitterclient, on the PC it opens the browser.


text:
My Gmail account has many emails. If I add another Gmail account to my phone, can I make the new Gmail primary and still use my apps
I have an (old) Android phone (HTC Incredible ADR6300) which I have configured with 1 Gmail account. I have downloaded a bunch of apps from Google Play. Most of the apps are Free, but I have a few dollars worth of purchased apps.
Over time, that Gmail account now has many emails (over 2 Gigs). This seems to be a problem for the phone as it won't finish syncing emails with Gmail anymore (appears to hang), and it probably uses lots of phone memory and time trying.
I know I can associate another Gmail email address with my phone, but I'm not sure if that will work in my situation.
I'd like to use the new Gmail address for emails (as the "Primary" email address for the phone), but still access the apps I have, which are associated with my old Gmail address.
I guess there are a few ways I can do this, but I'm not sure which (if any) will work:

I can add another email address to the phone under:
Menu -> Settings -> Accounts and sync -> Add account
but I don't know if it will allow for me to choose this new account as the "Primary" email address for the phone, for syncing emails, etc.
If it does allow that, will Google Play be able to figure out (or will I be able to tell GP) which Gmail account to use to authenticate the apps I already have?
Similar to #1, on the phone under:
Menu -> Settings -> Accounts and sync -> Manage accounts -> [old-Gmail]
I see an option: "Remove account"
I could (perhaps in some specific order) add a new Gmail account, then remove the old account, then add back the old Gmail account. (Will this make the new Gmail account "Primary" ?)
Again, I don't know if this will work, but if it does, it should solve the email sync issue, but I might still have the issue with Google Play and my existing downloaded apps.
I could back up the phone (as much as possible), and do a factory reset (I will probably do this at some point anyway), and configure the new Gmail account as the "Primary" email address for the phone. I should then be able to sync Gmail, etc. And, I could add the old Gmail account under:
Menu -> Settings -> Accounts and sync -> Add account
This would probably be the best option, but I might still have the issue with Google Play and my existing downloaded apps.
I could just start over. Reset the phone, configure the new Gmail address, re-download (and some re-purchase) my apps, and forget about using the old email address on the phone. This will work for sure, and it might be the only  way, but not the best way if other options will work.

So, will the easier options #1 or #2 work, or perhaps the more involved option #3? Or am I stuck with the least desirable option #4? (Perhaps some other option I'm not considering?)

The first answer is one way to do it, just make sure in settings under sync, that you remove the check box for gmail and any other services you aren't going to use from that account. Another way which I haven't tested myself as far as retaining apps but should work is to log into your gmail account from a browser and go to settings and there is an option to set up alias gmail accounts under your main account.

If you add an additional Google account, Android will ask you which account to use when there is ambiguity. From the main screen of most Google apps (including Play Store), you can tap the upper left corner of the app, and from the slideout menu touch your email address (which will be at the top of the slideout menu), and then choose another address associated with the fun to use the app as that account.


text:
How can I free up Google Photos storage usage from Google Drive
Google Photos (previously Google+) automatically backs up your photos from your phone to your Google+ / Google Photos account.
They give you the option to backup a compressed version which is unlimited and free, or you can backup at full original quality but it uses up your Google Drive storage quota.
I have always believed I have had this setting turned off, but I noticed I am using 8GB of my Drive quota due to Google Photos. Which makes me think it had been backing up the full versions for some time previously - Right now the option is set to the free compressed version.
(I am assuming the 8GB is due to the original uncompressed option being turned on at some point? Unless theres another thing that would use up this space?)
Is there a way to identify and remove all of the high resolution photos from my Drive / the Photos that are using my Drive storage, but still keeping scaled / free version of the photo.

I have just noticed you can choose an option to show a Google Photos folder in your drive of your Google Photos. I have just done this hoping I could somehow filter by size or quota used but this doesn't seem possible.
I just want to try and identify what is using the 8GB

I wish I could add to a pre-existing bounty.  I would add another 100 rep

I have just found the real correct way to combat this problem. There is no actual way you can easily see which photos are "original" quality vs "high".
Google provide a slightly hidden feature to convert all your "original" photos to "high".
On Google Photo Settings Page @ https://photos.google.com/settings
Click Recover Storage button to Compress Original Size Pictures!

This saved my lots of time and google space :) I was looking for this answer since long... :D thanks !!

Use the Sort options available to sort images by size, you'll be able to see what images are taking up the most space - You then can make a judgement if to delete it.

The better quality an image the bigger it's size, thus the bigger images are the high res-images you wanted to delete for the space.The high resolution images will be bigger in size compared to the compressed ones, thus when you sort the image by size (Descending - From Biggest to Smallest). The high res-images will be at the top.

How to Sort - Computer, Android and iOS

Google Drive on the web using the Computer:

Go to Google Drive - On the Web
In the top right, click the sort icon .
Choose an option:

Name: Orders files alphabetically by filename.
Last modified: Orders files by the last time any user made a change.
Last modified by me: Orders by the last time you changed a file.
Last opened by me: Orders by the last time you opened a file.
On a home screen, you can also sort by file owner. At the top of the file list, click Owned by anyone and switch to either Owned by me or Not owned by me.

Advantages: No Need to Download any files, thus saving Data

Google Drive Installed on Computer:

Download and Install Google Drive Installer on to your computer.
Download Your Google Drives Photo Folder
Open Your Photos Folder
Click on the top of the tab that says size
Delete Unnecessary Photos but leave the rest
Side note: Even though you get free space to store images on google drive the size is still shown.

Advantages: You wont need to re-upload the photos again as this way they will be removed from the google drive folder
Disadvantages: You'll Still need to download the Photos to sort (But wont need to re-uploaded them as the deleted ones just get removed from the drive)

Google Drive on Android:

Open the Drive, Docs, Sheets, or Slides app.
In the top-right corner of any section or folder of the app, touch the More icon.
Select Sort by and choose the way you’d like to arrange your list of files (for example, by “Last modified”).

You can also sort files after you have performed a search to sort only the files from that search.
Advantages: No Need to Download any files - Except the google play app, thus saving Data
Google Drive on iOS:

Open the Drive, Docs, Sheets, or Slides app.
Next to the search box in your file list, touch Sort.
From the sorting list, touch the option you want to use.
The files will be sorted. Repeat the process to sort the views differently.

You can also sort files after you have performed a search to sort only the files from that search.
Advantages: No Need to Download any files - Except the Iphone app, thus saving Data

'''Delete Unnecessary Photos but leave the rest''' How do I know what ones to delete? They are ALL going to have a size? Its not like the free ones are going to show 0KB on my computer?

@binarysmacker Can you try out my answer and tell me if it worked. As sorting out the files largest to smallest you can effectively delete all the big files (in your case the high-res images) and thus save drive space

I found a great solution.
On Google Drive app settings there is a option to compress storage. It compresses you files from full size to high resolution using your free space on photos.


text:
what is the standard editor in Android?
I'm connecting to this Google phone via adb, I need to change a character inside of a text file, and I would use vi, or maybe sed -i, or even pico if nothing else helps, but I don't find any well known CLI editor.
How do you Android Enthusiasts do this?  I mean, short of copying the file back and forth?
/system/bin/sh: vi: not found
127|root@generic_x86:/ # pico
/system/bin/sh: pico: not found
127|root@generic_x86:/ # nano
/system/bin/sh: nano: not found
127|root@generic_x86:/ # vim
/system/bin/sh: vim: not found
127|root@generic_x86:/ # sed
/system/bin/sh: sed: not found
127|root@generic_x86:/ # emacs
/system/bin/sh: emacs: not found
127|root@generic_x86:/ # apropos editor
/system/bin/sh: apropos: not found
127|root@generic_x86:/ #

There isn't any standard editor - you use what works for you. You can search for one Izzy's list [Notes] (https://android.izzysoft.de/applists/category/named/office_notes) or better text editors for developers

To clarify, Android doesn't have any built in editor

hi, thanks, I feared so much.  But these lists only have graphic editors, to be used from the android screen itself, isn't it?  I had hoped for some CLI tools. (I'll have a look at the Vim port, I guess. thank you again.)

Have a look at this https://android.stackexchange.com/q/44049/131553

@mariotomo Did you try to launch vim or nano? I run LineageOS and can start them.

I am inside of a virtual android machine, I do not know what is LineageOS, and I've not mentioned all that I tried, which indeed included vim and nano.
https://github.com/shiftrot/droidvim/issues/19

Try out Termux.

thank you for the hint on Termux, I will definitely try it on my physical phone.  but I'm currently on a virtual machine.

As mentioned, I would be happy with sed.
Still as later mentioned in a comment, I am in a virtual environment, so no trouble dropping one OS and start using the newer one.
Apparently, my problem was staying in Android 5.1.  Starting version 6 Android includes ToyBox, a rather limited alternative to BusyBox, legally compatible with the non-free license of Android.
The ToyBox hint comes from the author of droidvim.


text:
How to "extract" files from an Android app?
Is there a possible way to extract (I'm really sorry I can't think of a better word, my English vocabulary is not that good) files from an android app I downloaded from the app store?
Like, I got this app and there is an image I'd like to have on my PC. Is that possible? If so, how? I'm not familiar with coding and stuff.

Use any archiving software. It's just a ZIP with signature.

@iBug But where do I find the files from that particular app?

Just search the APK for that picture? It's that simple. Unless it dynamically loads it from the internet ofc...

@AndyYan But I have no idea where the apk is found on the phone or how to search for it.

Are we talking about an image that came with the app. or something you saved/created/received/whatever? In case of the former I think you need root to access the apps. With root you could use "titanium backup" or similar to create an archive from the app. This would save the app itself with all its data.

@confetti Yes, its an image from the app itself. Imma look into that whole root thing on youtube I guess. Is it easy to understand/do?

@Suimon if you have an application called "Backup and Restore" (or a similar title), you can extract the APK file by backing it up and then opening it as an archive.

Or you can just download the APK of the app from sites like APKPure. Since you just want to extract it for the contents (rather than installing it on the device) you don't need to care about the security/authenticity of these unofficial sources.

Basically, APK files are ZIP archives. You can open, view and edit them, however, after editing, you need to re-signed it to be able to install. You can download APK files directly on websites like APKPure, APKMirror,... If you want to extract the APK file of the app you downloaded on the Google Play Store, you can use ADB (require computer) or ES File Explorer (directly on the phone and does not need ROOT).


text:
Can I resume downloading app in Google Play store?
I started downloading a game using Wi-Fi, the game was about 1.5GB . When almost 800 MB was done I closed Wi-Fi. The download paused. Will I be able to continue from 800 MB when I connect to Wi-Fi again.  Or from the beginning?

Community bump prevention: this question was closed because the question seems to have been abandoned (OP hasn't visited the site for more than 5 years, and no answers have score above 0). If anyone can evaluate the existing answers, feel free to vote accordingly and reopen the question (or mod-flag the question requesting for reopening). For anyone else having the same issue, please post a new question and refer to this question as additional context.

Usually the download resumes. But in some cases the file is downloaded again.

So, that has pretty much covered the whole either/or spectrum. Is there a HOW? or a WHY? here, that I'm missing?

In several cases it ended up as error when I tried doing similar thing. Why it happened? - I don't know.

yes, it should continue as long as you dont clear the cache.
But im not sure if it continues if you restart the phone or update the play store.


text:
Google Maps location not working when offline
I have a Galaxy J7 Prime, android version 7.0. I'm abroad for a week and as such, am not using data. I can only use WiFi intermittently when I'm near a free hotspot.
When I had an iPhone, I was able to view my location even when offline. This was very useful for directions, as I could download an offline Google Map and figure out where I was. Now I can't seem to do that with my Android-- even with Location enabled, the location dot stubbornly stays gray (unless I connect to WiFi).
I've enabled automatic date and time as suggested by this question. I have high accuracy turned on.
Is there no way to view my location offline in Android?

Can your phone see the sky? Is airplane mode off?

Possible duplicate of GPS when roaming with no data

You may want to try an alternative to Google Maps : OsmAnd (https://osmand.net/).
It's a navigation app with downloadable maps for offline use.
Also, be aware that Android considers two types of "location" :

"Precise location" (about 1-10m) is got from satellites (american
GPS, russian GLONASS, chinese Beidou, and soon european Galileo,
according to your device). You'll need a clear view of the sky and up
to 15 minutes to get a good position fix.
"Coarse location" (about 100m-1km, enough to know what city you're in) tries to get your location by scanning your surrounding cell antennas and wifi/Bluetooth access points, sending the list to Google's servers, which will then give back an estimate of your position (I bet you didn't know about that spying...). Alternative backends exist that mimick that behaviour, but without relying on Google. Check MicroG's Unified NLP if you're interested (https://github.com/microg/android_packages_apps_UnifiedNlp/blob/master/README.md).

A good app to check your precise and coarse locations is SatStat (https://github.com/mvglasow/satstat) : on the map view, red is precise, and blue is coarse location.

There is actually a Google Maps Offline version app you can download. I always had problems getting directions with google maps on devices that didn't have cellular connections, I now use one of my old smartphones as a dedicated GPS for my car.


text:
Google Apps not responding even after factory reset
I have a very annoying problem with my phone's Google Apps, which I cannot resolve or even diagnose. It affects Google Play, Google Maps, Chrome, YouYube, Google Settings, Account managing, and probably other apps. All of these freeze when I try to access them and after a while the message "(App) isn't responding" appears. Interestingly, the Google app (the search engine), the Gmail app, and Google Translate function properly.
At first, I though I got a virus or some new update caused the problem, so I cleared the data of Google Play and restarted the phone. Unfortunately, for no avail. Next, I thought it's an Internet connection problem, however, other apps which need web access work fine (e.g. Evernote, Duolingo, a racing game /Top Drives/ that I play from time to time, and even my secondary browser /UC Browser/). For this reason, I took drastic measures and reset my phone to its factory settings (without restoring any previous data). Again - nothing. On top of everything, my battery suddenly started draining away faster than usual and I suspect Google Play services to be the cause of that. When I checked my Battery history, I saw that even under idle mode, Google Play is using CPU for something.
I should point that after I reset the phone, I entered play.google.com from my other browser and noticed that the site still thought that my old apps (the ones which I used to have before formatting my phone) were still installed on my device. Clearly, this means that Google Play and my phone don't synchronize properly.
At this stage, I'm left in the dark. I have no idea if the problem is software, hardware, or authorization related. I should point out that I borrowed an old smartphone from a friend of mine and was able to load a functional android configuration on it with my Gmail.
Does anyone know what may be the cause of this issue or who has experiences something similar? I already read all standard solutions listed on the Google Support forum and none of them worked.
PS My phone is Lenovo P1 Vibe, less then 2 years old. My Android version is 5.1. Last time I could use the phone normally was 2 days ago, when I watched a show on the Internet before going to bed. I noticed the problem after I charged it the next morning.

I just found on xda-developers that Google has begun blocking uncertified devices from accessing Google services. Do you know if this could affect normal phones as well? Due to some bug or a mistaken verification?

No, that's very unlikely to start with and nobody else with a certified device has had a similar problem.

In case others have the same problem, I was able to solve mine by reinstalling the Android OS and giving Google access to all permission options which it asks for (e.g. using your location, collecting customary information about you, etc). In principle, the installation process gives you the right to forbid the mentioned options, however, when I did that the first time, the problem remained.
Frankly speaking, I would have liked if Google did not follow every movement of mine (like Big Brother in 1984), but at least now I can use my phone normally. It seems we should reconcile with the fact the our tech tools have permanently occupied our private lives.


text:
How to disable the magnifying window function while holding on the text?
Recently, I changed my phone to Nokia 6.2 with Android 11 system and I find a new feature that is really user-unfriendly to me. In my old phones when I press and hold on the text in an address bar(or any place where a long line of text is displayed in a single row), I can slide the line of text to find the exact part that I want to edit, but this doesn't work in my new phone, for when I hold on the text now, a magnifying window will appear (as showed in the screenshot below) instead, and I cannot make the texts that's not fit into the screen appear.
This is really annoying. Is there any way to disable this useless magnifying function?

This works on my phone running 11, so my guess is that the Accessibilty option is enabled.
Check

Settings
Accesibility Options
Disable magnification / Zoom options

Thanks for the response, however this doesn't work for me. The Magnification option in Accessibility is already disabled…


text:
What are the major differences between the Pixel 7 and 7a?
I'm currently in the market to change my phone, and I'm looking for a Google Pixel: Which Pixel phone is right for you?
And right now I just dont get what are the differences between the Pixel 7a and the 7
Personally, I only see a screen that is .2in less, and everything else is pretty much the same, except that the 7a is 200$ less.
So what are the major differences between the 7 and 7a that I'm obviously missing that would explain that 200$ difference?

See https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=11903&idPhone2=12170

I mean just like the comparator of Google, most of that is very technical and not being that big in the world of phones, I have no idea what most of it means. I need a little bit of ELI5

Like the only other thing I saw was wireless charge, and that wired charged has 2W less.  (20/18) So I guess the 7a charges a little slower but still, is it that huge a difference?

AFAIK, Pixel 7a and Pixel 7 differences are very little, compared to Pixel 6a and Pixel 6. Most reviews about Pixel 7a also explain the differences from Pixel 7 (XDA, Android Police, GSM Arena)

So the answer is: there pretty much are none.


text:
Why is this app getting installed with a space before the app name?
Earlier today, I noticed something strange. Google Classroom isn't following the alphabetical arrangement of apps in my app drawer.

I swear this weird issue only appeared today, and I don't recall doing anything that might have caused it. I've tried different launchers and it's the same thing—either the app is at the beginning or at the end of the list of apps.
I installed a package manager app and I think I've figured out why this is happening. It appears that the app is getting installed with (a) space character(s) before the actual app name.

As to why this is happening, I have no idea. I've tried almost everything (uninstalling and reinstalling, installing a previous version of the app, etc.) bar a factory reset, but the issue persists. Can anyone help me out?
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S23 running Android 14 (One UI 6).

The app name is by default stored in the (language specific) resources of the app. Most likely the space at the beginning is a bug for your language.

Wow. I changed my language from English (United States) to English (Philippines) recently and never noticed the change in app order happening. I switched back to English (United States) and the problem is fixed. Thank you so much, @Robert. Now, to make a bug report to Samsung.

As this solves the issue: does one of you two mind writing up an answer? :)

Why a bug report to Samsung? The app is from Google, therefore Google has defined the app name and your phone just displays the name as defined by the app. And a space is ASCII code 20 and therefore sorted before ASCII  c code 67.

I see. Thanks for the clarification. Can you copy your initial reply as an answer?

Apparently, this is a bug with the system language of my phone. Setting it to English (United States) fixed the problem for me. Thanks to Robert for the solution.


text:
How can one set a screen timeout longer than 10 minutes on Android 13 with a Samsung Galaxy S23?
I don't see any options in the developer options. The Caffeine application doesn't keep the screen on. How can one set a screen timeout longer than 10 minutes on Android 13 with a Samsung Galaxy S23?

By default, 10 minutes is the maximum:

The Caffeine application has an infinite setting but that doesn't work:

Have you checked developer settings? I have seen devices that had an option to disable screen timeout. Be aware that an increased timeout can destroy your OLED screen  (ghost images).


text:
Does the Nexus 4 have 4G?
I know it doesn't have LTE, but what about the 4G networks of other carriers?
If I happen to buy one, will I be able to use it T-Mobile's "4G" HSPA+ network?

Technically speaking, neither is LTE.  As per ITU-R, in order to be considered "4G", a network must deliver 100 Mbit/s.  Only under heavy marketing pressure did ITU-R reconsider, and now recognize that WiMAX and LTE could be considered "early 4G".

Calling LTE "4G" is something I've gotten over ... calling HSPA+ "4G" is just a sad, sad joke.  Marketing > innovation.

Yes, it has HSPA+ which is what T-Mobile's "4G" actually stands for.
This article on AndroidAuthority should help you understanding  why it doesn't have LTE.

It appears the Nexus 4 does have an LTE Chip, but its not enabled. Here's a post to get it working: http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/23/how-to-enable-4g-lte-on-the-google-nexus-4/
I've seen a fair amount of Youtube videos of people enabling it and testing it.

You should try and summarise what's on the link in case it goes down.

Ahhh apologies.


text:
My Nexus 7 became slower after the update to 4.2. How can I fix it?
After the update to android 4.2 my nexus 7 became slower.
Switching applications takes some seconds and even the menu that pop-ups after I push the 'share' button takes a while to appear.
Is there something I can do to have its performance back to the usual level?

I had the same problem, and noticed that "prey" (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.prey) seemed to be using more CPU than I expected.  I uninstalled it, and things might be a bit faster now.

@offby1 how can I track the CPU usage of my applications?
I don't have Prey installed, so it may be another application that is still not fully compatible with Android 4.2.
In my case it may be Set orientation that sometimes crashes, but I'd like to be sure before saying that it is the culprit

Swipe down from the upper-right, to display the 3x3 grid of shortcuts

Tap "Settings"

Tap "Apps"

Swipe left to look at the "Running" column

Examine the numbers in the right column -- they tell you how much CPU time the app has racked up.  Look for really big numbers :-)

I don't get the display of that 'running' window... There is always a letter in front of the numbers, e.g. F3:54:15. What does it mean?

As with all updates, the first thing that comes to mind is factory resetting the device. This clears all the remnants of the old version out of the system and resets app data that could cause inconsistencies. The downside is you'll lose all your apps and their data.
Normally I only do a factory reset in between major versions (3.2->4.0, 4.0.2->4.1 etc.), but if minor updates cause trouble, this would be a first step for me.
Oh yeah, the reset can be found in Settings -> Backup & reset -> Factory data reset. Note that while this usually doesn't affect your sdcard (including internal storage), some devices may wipe that too. But not the Nexus series, so you're safe.

Is there any drawback in factory resetting the device?
Am I going to lose any setting of they are not affected?

Yes, it will clear your settings if they are not synced to Google's backup, your installed apps and their data. Basically it will be just like when you first started using it, except that the internal storage will not be cleared.

Is Google's backup enabled by default?

I can't remember, but you can see it in the Backup & reset section of Settings (Backup my data)

I just did it, and I figured out that it didn't restore the applications I placed in the home screen nor the accounts I was logged into. It is not a problem to me but I feel that is is worth saying

Sorry, I thought that was implied by "The downside is you'll lose all your apps and their data" and "Basically it will be just like when you first started using it[...]".

Don't worry. I still have to stress test it, but it seems faster, so it has been worth it.

I believe that Google's backup is on by default, but I also believe that it doesn't work well.  Expect to lose everything.


text:
Are JS apps effectively running through 2 VM's?
When using Google Chrome mobile (or any other android web browser) is the Javascript VM running on top of the Java VM? Or is the JS code compiled to Java bytecode?
I ask this because JS seems to run obnoxiously slower on Android using Google Chrome vs a PC. Granted a PC is much faster, but I have a Galaxy S3 which should be on par with a 2yr old netbook right?

Not sure why this was closed. I'd think a question about the performance would be on-topic. Certainly it's not obviously off-topic.

I agree, and I don't think this question is unanswerable, per the close reason. The main questions (Is the Javascript VM running on top of the Java VM? Or is the JS code compiled to Java bytecode?) do have a specific answer that can be answered with sufficient research.

The Javascript engine in Android's Browser/WebView can be either JavaScriptCore (lower end phones) or V8 (higher end phones). Chrome also uses V8. Both engines are written in C++.
Javascript is never compiled to Java bytecode, instead it is interpreted and/or JIT compiled into ARM bytecode.
My guess on why V8 on PC is much faster than V8 on Android is probably because JIT compilation to x86 is more mature than JIT compilation to ARM.


text:
Text Messaging: Group Text Message
I  have a DroidX running Android 2.3.4.  When somebody sends me a text message that goes to other devices too, is there anyway I can tell?  Usually the only way I find out is when somebody else does a "reply all" (probably using a newer version of Android), and I get some random message from a number I may or may not recognize.
Also, what about when I reply to the message?  Does it only go to the person who sent it to me, or does it somehow auto-reply-all behind the scenes?

possible duplicate of How can I deal with mass texts from an Apple phone when using an Android phone?

@t0mm13b It does sound similar.  However, this is not just an Apple to Android thing.  This also happens Android to Android.

They are very different questions.

I am on 2.3.5
In the basic "messages" app you can go to the message, clicknhold, view message details. There it shows all recipients.
If i just reply it only goes back to the sender. Now, others that I know have iphones replied and it went to everyone...
There is a "reply all" option after you click and hold.

Wow, I had no idea you could press and hold and see who the message was sent to.  Interesting though that there isn't an icon or something to even indicate when that message was sent to multiple recipients...

In 4.2.1 (maybe in 4.2.0) there was an option added to the MMS application to support multiple recipients.
While you may have been able to see them all the way that William stated, i've never seen that option.
In 4.2.1 you click on the menu and select "Group Participants". This shows everyone that is included in the conversation. When you reply to a group now, it sends the messages to all participants, not just the person that sent you the message.
I know this doesn't relate directly to your question as you are not asking about 4.2, but I do not know of a way that this can be done in anything pre-4.2. This feature was discussed a bit because it was the first time android supported this feature.
While you could always "start" a group conversation in any version of android, you could not "participate" in a group conversation with anyone other than the original sender.

You could use the stock messaging service by adding numbers seperated by a comma into the recipient box.
But in my opinion there's a better option. You can download GroupMe which let's you message multiple people at a time. You can choose whether to use SMS or your data connection to send the message.


text:
scp and rsync to transfer data from Linux to Android
I'd like to be able to push PDF files onto a phone/tablet with a Bash script. Is it possible to transfer data using scp (or even rsync) from a Linux computer to an Android phone over wireless?
Could I even run Unison on the phone?
And is it possible to run Bash (or only POSIX Shell) scripts on the phone remotely?

Many things are possible. Installing an SSH Server app (e.g. SSHelper or DigiSSHD / SSH Server) would give you the possibility to login via ssh, or remote-copy via scp.
Terminal IDE (available only for Android 4.4 and earlier, according to the app description) gives you a quite complete package, even including the famous Midnight Commander, and a lot more useful tools:

javac, java, dx, proguard, aapt, apkbuilder, signer, ssh, sshd, telnetd, bash 4.2, busybox 1.19.2, vim 7.3, nano 2.2.6, midnight commander 4.8, htop 1.0, TMUX 1.5, rsync 3.0.8, git 1.7.8, BitchX 1.1 and a nice terminal emulator are all available.

(emphasis are introduced by me to pick the items your question was for)
So except for Unison, the latter package should cover your needs :)

Vim, htop and git are also very nice. Thanks!

Yepp, exactly! Side-effect is: you get a complete development environment on your Android :) But it will make up a couple of MB, naturally...

@MateuszKonieczny thanks! Couldn't know that back then :)

For your first question. I use the OASVN Android client to pull PDF files to my droid from my private Windows based SVN server.  Works Great!!  I used rsync before and would favored the SVN solution over rsync. NetApp's FX File Manager Plus handles the SFTP protocol over wireless and will cost you $2 for a license.

I took the freedom to add a link to OASVN. Not sure for FX -- do you mean File Explorer (Plus Add-On)?

It would be nice to have a concrete example using rsync here (as it is available via Terminal IDE)


text:
Droid Bionic screen won't auto shut off when plugged in
My phones screen will remain backlit and on while plugged in after getting a text or something that would pop up.
Even if nothing popped up, if I just unlock it while plugged in, it will never re-lock on its own.
This wasn't always the case but I didn't notice it for a while and am not sure what might be causing it. Maybe a background app?
Works normally when not plugged in.

Check to see if "System Settings / Developer options / Stay awake" is checked.  It's intended to give exactly that behavior ("Screen will never sleep while charging").


text:
Hotspot keeps disconnecting/connecting if smartphone too close to laptop
I have a Windows 11 laptop and everything was fine before. But today, I noticed my laptop disconnects from my mobile hotspot if it's too close.
I have to keep the smartphone outside the room for it to work normally. How can I solve this issue?

You probably can't do anything about it and the problem is unlikely to be in your smartphone. It can be some issue related to WiFi drivers in the laptop.

Please provide details of both devices.  It could just be noise.  I don't have a problem with mine.

It got fixed on its own. I have no idea what had happened


text:
Google Assistant: Search screen is not offered anymore
Until a few days back, whenever I opened Google Assistant as "overlay" while having open another app, the assistant always offered something saying "What's on my screen?".
When clicking, it send the current screenshot directly to Google Lens. Behaviour is the same as if I'd do a screenshot and share it with Google Lens - just without the extra overhead of doing it manually.
Looked like this:

All of a sudden, this behaviour changed / stopped.
Whenever I open the assistant, it only says "How can I help?".
As I was using the screen recognition functionality VERY often because I read stuff in apps in foreign languages and could directly translate them on screen - it's really bad for me.
Do you know how to re-enable that feature?
I did NO change to my account like Web/Browsing-History or similarly, in case that matters!?
I already tried to tell Assistant "What's on my screen", or "Search my screen" in case they just removed the permanent button... But that doesn't call the function.
I already found the option to allow access to "Screen context" within the Assistant options, it's all enabled:


text:
Is it possible to whitelist an app from Google Play Store?
It's actually not a big problem, but annoys my eyes when I usually intend to update some apps.

From the screenshot above, you see a name of an app and beside the name there's a warning sign and it said my device is at risk, though I believe that app is perfectly fine and there's nothing wrong with it.
This is when I tap the "See details":

There's also this setting:

I did turn on/off, and this is what happened if I turn it off:

Is it possible to remove that annoying notification by putting the app in a white list or something so that Play Protect wouldn't scan and would skip the app?
To simulate the goal I want, I backed up the app and uninstalled it:

And I want to be like this:

Is it possible to do this without uninstaling the app, but just whitelist the app from Play Protect?
Edit :
I just remembered that this would also happen when I re-signature an app by any tools that resign the original app from where it's originally obtained.
For instance, I downloaded an app from play store, back up the apk file and resign it this would happen and when installing it, there would be this notification:

But the app that I make an example above is the original app (I guess). Also, if I press 1) OK, Play Protect would do the job and the app wouldn't be able to be installed, but if I press 2) Install anyway (unsafe) (though actually there's no something wrong, so I think it's safe), the app would be successfully installed as normal.
This is the requested link from virustotal.com:

Can you upload the APK to https://virustotal.com and post the link to the result page?

@Robert I've edited the question as you have suggested and added the link.

AFAIK, it's not possible to whitelist an app on Play Protect.


text:
Can I use 'adb tcpip' on Gingerbread devices if I root them?
I have tried using the command adb tcpip 5555 to be able to connect wirelessly to my test devices. It's working fine for devices running Android 4.0+, but every 2.x device (like the Galaxy Ace, running 2.3) I have tried gives the same result:
$ adb connect 10.26.5.215
unable to connect to 10.26.5.215:5555

I haven't been able to find anything online that says this feature only works on Android 4 - is this the case?
Will it be possible to connect ADB over TCP/IP on the 2.x devices if I root them?
N.B. I do not want to install custom kernels or ROMs, I want them to be in as similar a state to stock devices as possible.

Yes, you can, but not through the same steps as on Android 4.0+ devices.
Once your phone is rooted, run the following commands to change ADB to TCP mode and restart the adb daemon (note that you can pick the port number, I am sticking with the default of 5555):
$ su
# setprop service.adb.tcp.port 5555
# stop adbd
# start adbd

You can run the first three commands over adb shell, but will need to start adbd again from a terminal on the phone itself (I had strange problems when doing otherwise). You can now disconnect the USB cable if you want to, and you can connect to the phone over TCP/IP:
mycomputer$ adb connect 10.26.5.215
connected to 10.26.5.228:5555

(if you are using a non-default port you will need to specify it: adb connect 10.26.5.215:5556)
I have tested this on a Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i) and a Galaxy S (GT-I9000), and installing APKs and running instrumentation tests are working.