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Galaxy s4 GTI9500 android version to update
I'm having this phone for almost two years,
Currently running version 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, frankly don't have any known problems or bugs..
I think of upgrading to some of the Kitkat versions, as I know lollipop is still not stable.
My questions are:
1. Currently my phone give me the opportunity to update through FOTA to 4.3, which I've heard is a total catastrophe.
If I do this and than upgrade to 4.4 Kitkat do I collects some bugs on the way from 4.3?

Is it possible to upgrade via FOTA from 4.2.2 directly to 4.4?
Where can I find the new bugs\problems that I will probably have after upgrading from 4.2.2 to 4.4 KitKat, as I am more than fine with the current behavior of my current 4.2.2 version.
Same question as 3 but this time about new features that I will have.
Is it recommended to backup all phone content before firmware update?
What is the chance that my phone will turn into a brick after a firmware
update or will loose information?

If the update is official, the chance of bricking the phone is marginal.

I have an S4 on Verizon. I haven't had any issues since the update to Lollipop or before that with Kit-Kat. However the Lollipop update took up a lot of space on my phone which was a pain.
If I were you I'd go straight to Lollipop which, if I understand correctly what FOTA means, is FOTA capable. You shouldn't have any issues from the 4.3 'catastrophe' as you put it. I will warn you though, lollipop changes the look of a lot of things that do take some getting used to. But I've had it for over a month now and I like it same or better than before. I get much better battery life with Battery Save Mode, just don't use it all the time or it becomes ineffective.


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Dalvik/2.1.0 in Android's version more than 5
I installed Packet Capture on my android and did some scans because this topic. So, I saw Dalvik/2.1.0 in a log of WhatsApp on port 80. Since Dalvik/2.1.0 should be prior that Android 5, is it normal I saw this on my LG X Power that has Android 6.0.1?

I wouldn't worry about the Dalvik version number
Searching on Dalvik/2.1.0 leads to http://www.webapps-online.com/online-tools/user-agent-strings/dv/plugin294709/dalvik which lists the user agent string used by older Android devices.
Note that the numbering went up from Dalvik/1.6.0 on Android 4.4.4 to Dalvik/2.1.0 on Android 5.0 and up. Another posting at https://github.com/allinurl/goaccess/issues/667 indicates that at least through Android 7.1.1 still used the 2.1.0 version.
From this StackOverflow post on Browser sending “Dalvik” as user agent it looks like the VM is sending the user agent string.
Most likely, the version number changed at Android 5.0 Lollipop when ART became the default runtime.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Phone send MANY packages
I'm desperate here.
Earlier, I accessed my modem to check out the IPs in my network. The network was configured with DHCP (with a considerable time to expire), and I didn't recognize 3 or 4 IPs: most of them were smartphones.
So, I disabled DHCP and configure to allow just the devices that I known using MAC address. Feeling more secure, I saw the wifi clients, and I founded this:

(The language in the print is portuguese.
Pacote = packet (or package, i don't know)
Taxa = rate Economia de energia = energy saving
Tempo expirado = I don't know how to translate this because I don't know what it is.)
I will explain: the indicated points are my android smartphone, and others are another devices that I recognized. On first row, my smartphone it's not used. On second row, I have send some messages. On third row, I have just NAVIGATE on Play Store, without download anything. On fourth row, I received just a few messages and I was not using the smartphone. Meanwhile, my parents were using their phones, and you can see the discrepancy of how many traffic their phones received and sent and how many traffic my phone received and sent.
I don't know if this traffic have been always like this, but I noticed it just now. There is no root in my android, I download apps only in Play Store and I don't see any suspicious content when I'm using my phone. The only odd thing that I noticed in my phone is that often I have to click more than one time to the click be registered.
And a VERY important detail: all of this traffic on screenshot have occurred AFTER a factory reset on my android (actually this is the reason why I did the factory reset).
UPDATE
I used Packet Capture and I noticed that some captures are listed, but without data in log. This make sense with the fact that my android is sending a lot of packets (like the print in this post) even when I use simple functions of the phone, like receive (receive, not sending) messages. Well, what it can be? Remembering that I have reset this phone. I should use another program to scan it? I didn't root my android and I don't want to do this.
UPDATE 2
The question is still unsolved, the smartphone keeps receiving and sending a lot of packets. Any recommendations?

Tempo expirado should mean Time to Live (TTL)

Why ask the same question in 2 StackExchange sites? https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/203715/phone-sending-many-packets

@ReddyLutonadio I didn't know what is the best site to post, so I posted in both

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


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Can my father's smartphone be compromised?
My father said to me that he allowed installation of apps from unknown sources when he was asked to do it to go further with something (he said that he don't remember when or what he was doing).
In android 8.0 (the version of his smartphone) we can allow third-party installation in individual apps, so I went in this tab and I saw that only Google Chrome was able to do this type of installation. So, I navigated through my father's apps and found nothing suspicious.
When I went to files, I found a folder called didi. Inside, a file with no extention called psnger_encrypted or something like that. When I went to select the file to see details, I accidentally clicked on the file. Android said to me that it didn't find any app to open that file.
Could a file have been executed even when Android says that message? If this file is malicious, is it possible that it was executed and so infected the phone?
Doing some research, I found that a Chinese app called "DiDi" that have a file called "psnger" too. Also, I found a file in my father's phone called .omega.key, and this file is also seen in topics related to DiDi app. The fact is that I can't find this app on the phone, and I'm looking for ways that can indicate if the phone have any malicious content. I executed AVG, and Malwarebytes but both detected nothing. What else can I do?

What is the security update status of the device (which date - shown in settings)?

@Robert, any recommendations?

Is that phone rooted?

No, the phone is not rooted

The correct approach in case of a virus/malware infected device (even if it already had been clean-up by e.g. Google) is to totally erase the device (user and system data) by performing a factory reset and re-flashing the complete firmware.
Virus scanner apps are next useless on Android as they usually don't have system access. And even with system access it is still easy to hide from Antivirus software.
The main problem is that the security patches are more than one year old. Therefore a malware app could have exploited the device and installed itself into the system. Therefore there may be still active components in the system that are invisible to you and any antivirus software.
I would also not to hurry up to get the device back in a usable state. People (especially relatives) learn better not to click on everything they see when there are negative consequences.

Can a malware infect Android OS even if the OS isn't rooted?

@Puspam Yes, this is possible if your device is vulnerable to an exploit that allows to execute code with root permission. Therefore I asked for the security update status.

Thank you for your advice, but he is my father and he use smartphone for work. Re-flashing is not a option since I can not take his smartphone for a long time. Is there anything else that you recommend?

There are two options left: "buy a new phone" or "do nothing and pray"

This past and archive was created at final days of last year, and my father said nothing about strange events on his phone (neither me in the few times when I used his phone). Buy a new one is really recommended?

Furthermore, can a infected android infect another android in the same network? Consider android 5.0 and newer

@Mycroft AFAIK there should be no open ports on Android by default as Android does not provide services on the network (make sure you not accidentally enable adb over Wifi or use apps that run servers like SSH, FTP, HTTP). Therefore the risk should be very low.

@Mycroft Looks I have to limity my last comment. This is only true for the Android system itself. Loks like the apps are the real security problem: Hundreds of popular Android apps have open ports, making them prime targets for hacking

Android is a minefield for trojans, adware and viruses. Your android phone can be compromised from the moment it comes out of the box (most of mine are) (depends generally on where purchased and what comes installed).
If you want extra visibility on your phones networking then you can download NoRoot firewall or similar and that will help you see what connections are active and give you further layer of control.
I have also found generally that antivirus apps are not particularly effective.

In case you buy a "china phone" the Android device may be already infected when you open the box (Android device infected in the production facility).


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Why won't Bixby or Google Assistant work while I record?
I'm on Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. If I have a recording active, then I find that Bixby and Google Assistant refuse to enable listening in the background to wake up, by calling them up using voice.
Google Assistant can't start when another app is using the microphone

I can start them manually, so the problem is not exclusive access to the microphone.
I've tried like five different recording apps and I just get the same message, when I try to activate it in settings.
I'm not really sure what the problem is here.

Please confirm that you don't have a mobile device management (MDM) or enterprise mobility management (EMM) installed on the device and which version of Android / Samsung One UI are you running.

At the very least, when I tried on Pixel 3a, a toast message "Google Assistant can't start when another app is using the microphone" appeared.

Yes, Andrew. That is the exact message I get. It's weird, cause it can't be an exclusive access thing, cause I can start the app manually, while recording.

Odd, on a Pixel 6a Android 13 (stock with no EMM/MDM) using Audio Recorder the Google Assistant was able to pickup a basic command (light on/off), and Audio Recorder captured the audio as well while in foreground the entire time.

Related: https://developer.android.com/media/platform/sharing-audio-input


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What does this sms mean( >4 157>?0A=>)
I'm not sure if this is android related but can't find anything on this,
I keep on getting a sms with the message(>4 157>?0A=>). Does anyone know what this error is?

edit: I live in South Africa, I get that messages from different numbers that I believe to be a part of a service people use to send out messages. I have seen the same message from the same number I have received an EA login code.
I use a Samsung note 4, Android version 6.0.1

In the screenshot, it can be seen that the SMS came from a number. So, try to dial that number to find out who is it.

Country Code +27 is South Africa, and the number of digits is accurate for that country. Know anyone there? If not, expect a large bill. Also, research first before calling any strange numbers.

Yeah, I stay in South Africa, I get it from a lot of numbers so I assume its just a reused number for services.

If someone has made malware and have installed it in your phone this message can mean anything. I can't see any other reason for someone to send such a strange SMS. It may be an alternative of a C&C server. Don't respond to it as it may be some kind of scam and charge you but if I were you I would run a malware scan.

I ran scan with bitdefender and my device is clean.

Is your phone rooted ? If yes then the malware may be such sophisticated that a malware scan cannot detect it. I would suggest a wipe if this persists and see what happens.

It could be related to many things on Android, but most likely it is one of two things based on the nature of it's content.

SMS Remote Control Message
Malicious applications can receive command messages and do specific actions based on that command, it may be an application that is being controlled via SMS command...

Back before Android 5.0 day's, SMS Message's could be easily hidden from the user and malware like this was reasonably hard to identify, as you wouldn't even see the outgoing or incoming message's...
  This can still be achieved, however the constant permission acceptance and the new Default SMS App selection in Settings make it a lot harder to perform tasks in the background, hence the visible command message.

Zero SMS / Flash SMS
It is also possible that someone is attempting to send you a Hidden SMS called a Flash Zero SMS.

Flash Zero SMS Message's can be uses to see if your device is active buy using SMS Received Replys, but not allow you to see the message on your end ( usually ).
  Sometimes the Flash Zero SMS's PayLoad is not correctly formatted and you'll actually See the message being received.
   SMS PayLoads have a lot of power on any Mobile Phone, some Pay Loads can program your devices APN for example, Some can configure internet access settings, some can initiate a hidden call to monitor your device, please look into SS7 security protocol to understand more.

The Android version you are using will help to identify the source & help to understand what might be vulnerable.
You should use some sort of Online search engine to find out more information about the number, or even try calling it !

I can't seem to detect any malware, Do you have any advice on what to use, I used Bitdefender. I don't think I will get anywhere trying to track the number based on my edit.


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What can be removed from Android Tablet?
I was recently given a roverpad tesla 10.1 tablet :
(https://www.imei.info/phonedatabase/16842-roverpad-tesla-101/)
It is total garbage as a tablet but I would like to use as a controller for a mini robot via an android app (via bluetooth). So in order to get a better experience I would like to remove all the unused features (multi apps ? multi screens ? logging screens).
Right now even after doing a 'one click root' = KingRoot (but it is not a total root, so I can delete apps but cannot change the OS) and deleting all the non system apps from the tablet it is still quite laggy (but battery life is way better).
Would you have some advice on how I can optimize it for one single usage (running an app to control a robot via bluetooth) without routing it (well if someone knows a way to root this poor soul, that would be quite awesome).
Thank you in advance,
Artiom

What do you mean with "can not change the OS"? Please tell us exactly the command you are trying and the error message.

I just meant that it is a kingroot type of root, so I can't change the OS as I only have root permission for given apps, in order to boot on a new OS I would have to do a permanent root, which I could manage to do.

You can gain root access depending on your Android version using various methods on that device.
Try these first,

FramaRoot Application
TowelRoot Application
Then, only if they failed !
KingRoot 4.9.6 Application

Kingroot will root %99 of Android device's running below Android 5.0, however it is annoying to remove it, that's why i suggest FramaRoot first.

Thanks for your answer, but I already use KingRoot (that's what I called a 'one click root' sorry if it's not the appropriate name), using it I already deleted all the base app package on the tablet, such as play market or google chrome. But I cannot change the OS using such type of rooting.


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datadata is full - and doesn't let me remove files
A really old Smartphone having Cyanogenmod on it provides only about 400 MB space for data/data.
Now this space is full. df shows 0.0K of free space. The homescreen doesn't even appear, only errors appear on this smartphone.
It is a rooted phone (cyanogen) so I opened adb, got into an unused directory - whatsapp directory to be exact, it's already uninstalled but all data is left there - and tried to remove files to recover some space. I used a really large file with many MB.
First try
Sadly when I remove a file using rm I get Directory not empty.
This is disturbing because I don't remove a directory but a single file. The file doesn't appear any more but df still shows no free space.
Second try
On a website I found I better don't rm the file but empty is using the command
> filename = write nothing into the file.
I did - the file appears with size 0, du -sH tells me a different usage of this directory but df doesn't change.
Both doesn't work
After both tries I rebooted because who knows, perhaps things are rearranged after a reboot. But it's getting stranger - all files are back and have their original size.
Whatsapp is uninstalled, thus can't hold any references to the files.
What's going on here? It looks like my changes are kind of cached and don't affect the actual filesystem.
How can I get out of this and free some space in /data/data?
Btw I had this before. Then it helped to remove something unimportant from data/data and after the system rebooted without problems, I uninstalled unused apps and the whole thing went fine again.
Trying to delete files from other directories in /data/data/ also will not work.
Later...
I thought why not keep doing > filename for a while. Perhaps the filesystem needs time to spread the changes to all it's modules? (Stupid idea but I was desperate enough to try)
After some more large files I really got a change not only with du but finally some free space with df too.
After booting - the same as before. But I got curious what happenes if I do that for even more files. Wow ... after I freed ~100MB (of 400 - quite much) I noticed Trebuchet came back to work!
Space keeps beeing free after booting and I am able to remove the no longer needed folders in /data/data with rm -r.
But the initial question still is the same. Why did this have no effect after I started it for only a few files, why was everything reset after booting?

Do sync after rm.

please update post with phone model and OS version. some roms have selinux enabled. changes (even with root permissions) may silent rejected. in this case set selinux permissive before rm

It's an old galaxy, not present with me in the moment. Don't know the OS version, sorry. I could try to get this information and post it here. I already tried sync but that had no effect.


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Security question incoming calls
I've got an Nokia 6 with Pie! How do I stop others from answering my calls, or more correct, how do I stop incoming calls from opening my phone?? Everytime there's an incoming call, all security settings are set aside, and anyone can answer or have access to my phone.

An incoming phone clall should only bring the phone app to front but your phone remains locked. If not this is a security issue and you should report it to Nokia and/or Google.

Don't think I will go through the hassle to report this, since there is no obvious way to report such matters (not to me at least). From their point of view I believe ignorance is bliss and I doubt they will address the issue!?

As I suspected! I got a mail in poor english (I know mine's not perfect but..)
We understand that you have been looking for the way to turn off the function that opened your phone automatically and another person will be able to answer your phone call.
We do understand how frustrating that could be. We have checked on the application, even set the password, pin code on your device you can pick up a phone call without unlock the device. Thank you for your feedback, we are appreciate your opinion and hope that an update in future the function will be better. Please stay tuned!"

Thanks for the ideas but having to install an app to maintain basic security feels kinda off? All you have to do, as it seems, is to steal a phone you know the number to, give it a call and it's wide open. All security will be set aside! I know tons of people that have their name on the start screen, in case they loose the phone. And honestly, how many times haven't you called your own phone when you have lost it? All the thief have to do is to wait for a call... How many phone models have this issue? This is a HUGE security issue! A MAJOR fupp uck!

There is a Secure Incoming Call. It's an app that can lock your incoming calls by setting a password or a pattern. You can customize which calls you want to answer without lock. You can select all contacts, specific contacts or all unknown numbers. Just try the app!

You can use Incoming Call Lock. When you start the app:

This application will protect your phone's Incoming call to be picked by some one else. This application will not allow any one to see the caller's number, name or any other details as the password input screen will be up on the screen.

Give the necessary permission.
Set a pin or pattern to unlock the phone when people call.
Enable the lock.

When you receive a call, before answering, you will need to enter a pin or pattern.
Note: In the settings, you can fine tune how the app should work. You can block all incoming calls or some, allow to view the number that is calling or not, etc.
Important: @Izzy has pointed in the comments that the app has severe privacy issues due to several trackers incorporated to the apps that may transmit your data to 3rd parties. Plus some permissions look suspicious. See his comments below.
Disclalimer: I am just a current/former user of the app(s).

Keep in mind that this app comes with several trackers: AdMob, Firebase and – worst – Facebook. The latter is known to siphon data from every app it's integrated into. So you might involuntarily transmit to Facebook who calls you and when, including contact details (the app has the permission to access your addressbook). Further suspicious looking is that an app for incoming calls has the permission to initiate calls itself. I'm not accusing, just mentioning possible security/privacy issues, as the app description does not mention them.


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Salvage app cache when unable to open app
Every time my phone reboots and sometimes even without reboot when it's working at I guess full capacity, it resets its settings and acts like I just booted the phone for the first time except from all the apps I've installed (i.e. non system apps) still being installed. However, I cannot open any non-preinstalled app as they just close immediately when I open them. Deleting the cache and/or force stopping the app doesn't help.
Since my last WhatsApp backup file msgstore.db.crypt12 is a couple days old, I tried to "rescue" the WhatsApp cache since the msgstore.db is just a backup file and WhatsApp stores the messages "live" in a different database that doesn't seem to be accessible without root (and I cannot root my phone at the moment).
The WhatsApp app-info shows that WhatsApp actually still occupies a lot of cache data and app data and the WhatsApp symbol on my application overview still shows the number of unread messages I had before the last unwanted reset.
I already tried backing up the whole app with as much app data as possible via adb with adb backup C:\wabackup.ab -apk -obb -shared com.whatsapp, uninstalling WhatsApp, reinstalling it and then restoring the backup but running the app afterwards just prompts me with the screen I would usually get when running the app for the first time after the installation.
The WhatsApp folder seems to be totally fine but maybe it's a permission issue with the folder. ( How to manually transfer entire Whatsapp installation to another device (the hard way) )
I would really like to fix this, not only for WhatsApp but also for other more important apps like banking-apps and 2-factor-authentication-apps that of course encounter the same problem at the moment but unfortunately I am not too familiar with the way Android stores app data.
This is pretty annoying obviously and I have already ordered a new phone. I am currently using the SM-J510FN.

Take a moment and make question shorter, nobody is going to read this much text, trust me. Since you are mentioning cache, I don't think that is where backups are stored, since it easily can be deleted. Don't WhatsApp have online backups?

@ЈеднорукиКрстивоје Fair point, gonna shorten the question in a couple minutes. Yes, WhatsApp supports online backups but this feature just regularly uploads the most recent msgstore.db.crypt12 into the cloud and since this file is too old, restoring from the cloud doesn't fix the problem in my case

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


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Installing another TTS language for Speech Services by Google on Moto G22 with Android 12 (OSMand navigation)
I have a Moto g22 with Android 12 and am trying to get German language navigation in OSMand.  I have set the language for voice prompts to German in OSMand (for the relevant profile: Configure Profile → Navigation settings → Voice prompts -> Language → TTS/German).  English language navigation works fine using Google TTS, but when I set it to German I hear nothing.  When I go to Settings → System → Languages & input → Text-to-speech output, set the language to German, and tap "Play", I hear nothing.  If I set the language to English and then tap "Play", I hear a voice speaking in English.  The engine is set to "Speech services by Google".
As a workaround, I could download OsmAnds pre-recorded voices, but that's suboptimal as it doesn't include street names, so I would prefer to get Google Text-to-Speech to work for a German language output.
How can I get Speech Services by Google on the Moto G22 with Android 12 to speak German to me?  Do I need to download a language pack on an additional app in some way?
On my tablet (Lenovo Tab M10 with Android 10) German voice prompts work fine in OSMand as well as when I press "play" in the "Text-to-speech output" settings.

Please edit your post to confirm you tried changing the language within the OSMand app, https://osmand.net/docs/user/personal/global-settings/#display-language

@MorrisonChang Done, but it doesn't work in the system settings test either, so the problem is independent of OSMand.

You have to download the voice data first.
Setting the voice language to German is not enough to trigger Android to propose to install missing German voice data, nor to warn that such voice data is not currently installed.  Rather, it simply says nothing (literally).
From the "Text-to-speech output" settings, there is another settings menu accessed to the right of the "Preferred engine" entry.  Here, tap "Install voice data", then the relevant language.
After doing this, the voice prompts work in the settings test and in OSMand.


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Listing partitions names and mount points
I'm trying to get list of partitions and their mount points in terminal, but I'm not so succesfull.
"ls -l /dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/11230000.msdc0/by-name/” (found this path by using "cat /proc/mounts" but it return me a 'permission denied, I guess I need root, but I don't have one.
So how to get partitions names and mount points without root?
Also there is one weird thing: when I go with Total commander in /dev folder there isn't /block folder inside just file named 'block' with size 0 and not readable (becase lack of root). How is that possible?

You need to be rooted.

No way without root? Ok. Do you know anything about not existing /block folder?

It exists, you just can't properly enumerate the contents of /dev/ without root.  I get "Permission denied" when running ls /dev, guessing your kernel/filesystem just behaves slightly differently.

Please see: How to list all major partitions with their labels?

@Izzy the thing is I lack the root. That is a problem, other commands from link doesn't return me anything or says command not found.

Yeah, see above what Matthew wrote, right? Without root the best you get are "pieces of the puzzle", but not the "complete picture".

Related: ANDROID DEVICE PARTITIONS and FILESYSTEMS

Type in mount to a terminal emulator, root not required.
Lists all mount points active, note: mine is very long due to many bind mounts.
Imgur: https://i.sstatic.net/FuFMJ.jpg
Or alternatively
Type grep /etc/recovery.fstab

It doesn't give me the boot and recovery partitions.

@ЈеднорукиКрстивоје trying grepping /etc/recovery.fstab

https://m31i.imgup.net/Capture_204973.png

@ЈеднорукиКрстивоје isn't that what you wanted?

It doesn't show mount point for them, that's the problem

@ЈеднорукиКрстивоје boot is mounted to / and recovery isn't mounted when booted.

boot and recovery are raw partitions, they don't have a mountable filesystem. Both contain kernel binary and ramdisk at fixed offsets and a header according to the format standardized by Google. On non-SAR devices ramdisk is mounted at /.

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

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


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Mounted SD card not working
I recently mounted an SD card to my phone. But when I tried to download an application from the play store, a message popped up saying my phone didn't have any storage on it, saying my internal storage was low, but my SD card had 28.2 GB on it left, which my phone had recognized. Yet applications weren't being installed using the SD card, whilst any photos taken are stored using the SD card.
Any advice of what to do or how to fix this problem?

Apps must explicitly support to be installed on SD card – maybe those you've chosen don't. Also, can you check whether your devices supports App2SD at all? AFAIK Huawei still supports this feature (while most manufacturers don't but rather favor adoptable storage). You can check this in Settings › Apps, see if there's an option to move apps to SD or to show which apps are installed on the card.

APPS CANNOT BE PLACED ON SD CARD. It's possible with app like link2sd (need root) or adopting sd card (android 6+ feature, see adoptable storage).
Some phones including Huawei have 'Move to SD' option but this option move files in internal SD (if /data and /sdcard are separated partitions) or move very small amount of data. For details, also take look at app2sd wiki and link2sd wiki.

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


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Can't play any video online
I can't play any video online, not on YouTube or Chrome or stream via VLC player. But when try to play video which I have on phone it's ok. Also if I scrol to video on Instagram app freezes, same thing with 9gag. Does anyone have any clue how to solve this, without doing a factory reset? I've allredy tried clearing app cache and clearing cache and dalvik from recovery, I even changed kernel but everything is still same..
Edit: when device is freshly booted I can play videos on YouTube and from storage and Instagram, but when try to play any video in Chrome it becames unresponsive and after that I can't play any video anywhere - app freezes.

It looks like hwcomposer module hangs up. It's internal part of Android, so you should search for newer ROM. XDA Forums are great place for it.
It's common in Cyanogenmod by the way. When CM12 came out for Galaxy S3, it was impossible to play video outside YouTube app.
Another solution is disabling H/W rendering in every app. It depends on the application, but you can do this in for example MX Player and maybe even Chrome (#disable-webrtc-hw-decoding from chrome://flags)

I can't use newer ROM on my phone because it'a very old phone, and when try to use LP ROM phone is barely usable. Also I can't disable hw rendering in chrome, can you help me with that, also I can't reach page "chrome://plugins/".

sorry, my bad, writing at 4 a.m. is not a good idea. I meant #disable-webrtc-hw-decoding from chrome://flags

Thanks, but it seems it doesn't help a lot. Now I started using stock browser which redirect me to video player apps when try to play video and even that fails somethimes. One thing I don't understand is why problem apeared now, I didn't have any problem untill now.

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


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Is there any way to recover from an over-written android system recovery, or what else might cause a Pixel XL not to enter fastboot from recovery?
This is an attempt to sideload an update to a Google Pixel XL stuck in a boot loop.
Following this answer from the official Google forums, I tried this procedure as linked in the chosen answer. Unfortunately at step 9 it states:
9. You will see the Google logo for a few seconds followed by a green android on his back with “No command” underneath. Press and hold Power, then tap Volume Up once, then release Power.
   NOTE: If your device starts rebooting at this point, your only recourse is to contact your place of purchase about a warranty replacement or repair.

Unfortunately, sure enough - the device starts rebooting. This Pixel was bought by the previous owner from Verizon and I'd wager ten of them that they want nothing to do with repairing the phone, and would happily sell the user a replacement.
I don't understand what state the android on his back visual indicates, but I believe that the subsequent state would be the android system recovery. If the system is failing to enter that state and instead continuing to boot, it seems to indicate that a symlink or other direction or storage block has been over written. Is that true? And if so, is there any other way to enter android system recovery and continue to step 10 of the above-mentioned instructions?
For context: the user had started noticing battery/reboot/bootloop issues a few days before the device finally rebooted on its own and failed to completely start.
In trying to start the device normally, occasionally the boot loop will get far enough to spin the dots and display the "G" and powered by android at the bottom of the screen. It essentially always reboots after that to the Google splash that appears during initial boot-up.
For insanity's sake: Is there a way to JTAG into this thing?
Edit to add debugging info
user@host:~$ fastboot flashing get_unlock_ability
...
(bootloader)    get_unlock_ability: 0
OKAY [  0.052s]
finished. total time: 0.052s
user@host:~$

headline is wrong. repeat step 4-6 and post output of fastboot flashing get_unlock_ability if locked flash stock ROM and unlock bootloader https://www.xda-developers.com/unlock-bootloader-verizon-google-pixel-xl

@alecxs; Updated question to include requested information.... (reading your linked page now...)

@alecxs; after reading the linked page, I believe that that could be part of the issue (locked bootloader), but since the device won't boot, can I still unlock the bootloader?

https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/2826033

@alecxs I found that thread - if that's the case, the expectations are pretty grim. Thanks for the ideas though.

sorry, no hope.. the xml files are not a big problem, we could write from scratch (just to flash twrp) but we need google signed firehose programmer for pixel xl https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3574278

@alecxs I did think about trying a "hail Mary" bash loop listening for a certain adb response during boot ... Which command should I have it try, and at what internal? (Interval shorter than one second?)

the adb server needs more than one second to even start up, it doesn't matter. command is adb logcat but it requires previously enabled and authorized usb-debugging (which is not the case after factory reset)

Well, there hasn't been a factory reset since this problem started; all the user's data is still on the device. It sounds like: if the device will ever boot, the number one thing to do is USB-debugging? Or to try that unlock you linked? I've been hoping there is a slim chance it will fully boot, and I can do a command or two before it boot loops, with that command(s) unlocking something I need to use to side-load.

even with usb-debugging you can't do much, maybe uninstall some apps to free up space (sometimes the reason is low space). but yes, i have always enabled on my device. it is helpful in case screen is broken. but oem unlock is the most important (if you don't care about user data)

I'm considering running the following command while I let the device try to boot for a little while: while [[ 1 -gt 0 ]]; do adb devices |tee -a /tmp/hailmary.txt; sleep 1; done

Also, a device called the "octoplus" seems to be able to unlock some phones to varying degrees; there is some add-on device that adds the ability to manipulate the Pixel XL; that's also a consideration, since breaking it further than completely broken doesn't really leave me that worse off...

doesn't support google, not even MSM8996 there is no firehose programmer for google pixel xl https://octoplusbox.com/products/products


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No images from SD card are shown in PTP mode
I have ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M2 with latest updates installed (Android 9, 070 firmware version)
I try to connect my phone to PC (Arch Linux 64 bit, Cinnamon DE, Nemo file manager, latest updates installed, gvfs-gphoto2 and gvfs-mtp packages are installed too).
When I connect my phone via USB it suggests different modes for connection: charging, MIDI, modem, file transfer and PTP (strange thing: where is MTP?). When I choose file transfer I can see the whole directory structure for SD card and for internal storage, that just works fine.
However, when I select PTP mode I can see only directtories from internal storage (e. g. DCIM, Instagram etc) and no dirs from SD card. I already have DCIM/Camera directory tree on SD card and camera app saves photos and videos to it properly.
I tried to clear cache & data for External storage and Media storage apps and reboot but nothing changed - still no directories from SD card are shown when I select my device in Nemo file manager.
How can I enable access to SD card in PTP mode? Additionally, where is MTP mode and how I can enable it?
EDIT 1: seems like "File Transfer" is synonym for MTP

File Transfer must be the MTP mode. I don't think Android provides any other method for file transfer. Not sure about PTP how it's implemented.

Yes, seems like "File Transfer" is MTP actually - in Nemo I see mtp:// prefix in address bar while connecting in File Transfer mode


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How could a Phone Lose Sim service just by an ADB command No Root
This is sort of a debugging/learning post. I followed this post By Schematic here on a Qualcomm device.
After typing this command adb shell service call phone 180 i32 1 i32 0,
The Phone lost both its Networks and IMEI reports null, Baseband is unknown.
How could an ADB Shell without root cause such a damage? OEM unlocking was OFF.

Hello. Did you restart the device? Service calls varies Android version-wise, so which Android version and device are you using?

Yes I did restart the device and also Factory reset through settings. I am using Oppo Realme XT RMX1921 on Android 9

I think you need to manually reload your IMEI numbers. It mostly occurs in Mediatek devices, but since it is a Qualcomm device, the process is a bit complex but you can follow this guide: https://cellphonetrackers.org/change-imei-number-snapdragon-device.html

This tool requires me to unlock my phone's bootloader and that would void my phone's warranty.

I finally took the device to service center. And the executive said he would send the case to Realme and he is not certain that it would be covered under warranty as the imei is broken. But my device's bootloader is untouched and I never tried rooting.


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Change mapping of Hardware buttons in an un-rooted device?
How can I change the mapping of my un-rooted device's buttons like swapping the volume buttons? My device is a Sony Xperia E C1505

Can you provide more information about what phone you have, and whether or not you're rooted or willing to be rooted?

About rooting: no. Not because I do not want to(I do really want to root it), but because the build.prop has been tampered, by my friend. The only plus is that no games are incompatible work.

My understanding is that the only way to remap buttons is with root.

I did, see this link here

@Firelord well, I have root now (apparently, king root changed how they work) so that's sorted.

Not sure why would you want to swap those buttons but you can certainly do it using AutoInput (for Android 4.3 and above), Tasker, both are/have paid/7-day full trial, MacroDroid (free/paid) and Shortcut Launcher/ AutoShortcut (free/paid).

After installing Shortcut Launcher you would see four icons namely Shortcut 1, Shortcut 2, and so on in your app drawer.
Tap Shortcut 1 → MacroDroid Shortcut → <Add New Macro> → Volume Up/Down → Volume Down → proceed → ignore Add Constraints → name it "Volume Down".
Similarly, assign a MacrDroid shortcut to Shortcut 2 but choose Volume Up and name it "Volume Up".
Alternatively, AutoShortcut can be used in place of Shortcut Launcher. Use it in a Tasker's task to directly access a MacroDroid shortcut. It is available under Plugin.
In Tasker create an Event based profile from Plugin →  AutoInput →  Key → Configuration:

Keys: Volume Up
Key Action: Key Down

Create a task and add following actions:

Plugin → AutoInput  → Modes:

Configuration:

Key Suppress: Enable
Keys: Volume Up

Timeout: None

App → Launch App → Shortcut 1

Create another Event based profile but for Volume Down (follow step 3)
Repeat step 4  but under sub-step 1 do Keys: Volume Down and assign the app Shortcut 2 in sub-step 2 there.

That's it. It's not completely flawless but the flaws can be ignored.
For any reasoning about related to AutoInput see my answer at Bind action to hardware key combination.

I just noticed that your device probably did not receive Android 4.3 so this answer may not be helpful to you, but it is still good for anyone having Android 4.3 or above.

i know, but I can still work with it.


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Is it possible to store app data on the cloud
Alright. Let's see if something revolutionary works :)
In theory,  Is it possible to store app data on the cloud I.e a Dropbox account, and withdraw data from it as required? I have an amazing idea,  but naturally I want to know if it could work. If so, how? I have an idea with  something about using a file manager to grab an apps files, putting them on a Web cloud that does not need a pass code (so a private cloud) and having files in the original data folder to link the data In the cloud,  and use that? I have root,  BTW.

One-way-ticket. Only NSA can use that. You won't be able to – especially not if your device is not rooted (no access to the directory with the app data). And what's so revolutionary that it stops working as soon as I'm in the basement, or go mountain climbing (i.e. places with no network coverage)? Not to speak about safety of personal data (keywords: identity theft, hackers, etc.). In this context I'm a royalist: I want to stay the ruler of my data :)

@Izzy fair enough.  But in my devices case,  they seldom leave the 200 mb/'s haven of my home. Whilst I understand your platform,  I still want to look into it,.  Also,  what is NSA?

Just pointing out the culprit of unavailability: your apps would stop working without network coverage. Which cannot be said for the NSA, which is a kind of all-american-cookie-monster eating all data it can get all over the world (Notorious Surveilance Abusers; they're said to live next to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory).

@Izzy fair enough. But, IN THIS EXAMPLE,  I will Always have network coverage (besides,  I'll leave a few thing alone.  I would like to play Jet pack joyride without Internet :))

@Izzy this is more of a in theory thing

As I wrote, not possible on non-rooted devices. And sorry to tell you, but this is not a place for "speculations" – we prefer "facts" here ;)

@Izzy Well,  I fixed my root problems,  and a bunch of other things,  so root is now an option. I should edit that in. Also,  I know it's a fact (my entire download folder is a link to Dropbox, so my downloads go straight there,)  But I want to see if it would work for apps.

"my entire download folder is a link to Dropbox, so my downloads go straight there" – yes, and a cached copy (that folder) stays on your device. However, for security and privacy reasons, I would not recommend such an approach for the entire app data directory (/data/data).

@Izzy I know,  and I will plan for that,  but I the meantime, that is not of concern.

First, as Jared already pointed out, this is not possible without a "local copy" – i.e. without the data being present in the device's file system. Second, it won't work without root access on the device – as the directory in question (/data/data) is not accessible for a "normal user" (which includes apps: each app can only access its own sub-directory here).
Let's assume you're having root access on your device, this would still not be easy. Theoretical approaches:

using an app like FolderSync to synchronize your local /data/data with a counterpart in your "personal cloud". Might work somehow.
copying the entire /data/data to your personal cloud and remote-mounting it (e.g. using SSHFS with SSHFSAndroid or some other remote mounting). Again, might work – but if your network connection drops, apps might crash, plus you may risk data inconsistencies and data loss.

Apart from the risks named, there are more concerns:

privacy and data security. Might not be a concern if you're just doing that within your own (home) network, but it at least introduces another attack vector.
you might be tempted using such a "network share" with multiple devices simultaneously. Don't. That would be the best way to corrupt your data, have your apps crashing, and more.
performance: if all your app data have to be read from/written to the network each time you access them, it would slow down things noticeable. And I mean, real noticeable here – not just some digits somewhere after the decimal point.
file permissions and ownership must be maintained, which might prove tricky (depending on the remote storage).

If it were such an easy thing to do, it would have been done already – especially considering Google wants us to put all our data into their cloud. There are good reasons speaking against that (and I'm pretty sure this answer is far from covering them all). So while this might be technically possible, it's definitely not recommendable.

Is it possible to store app data on the cloud I.e a Dropbox account

Yes, it is possible to backup app data to the cloud (Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, OneDrive, etc.). The device will need to be rooted or you would have to use adb backup. There are plenty of apps on the Play Store that backup and restore both APK and app data.

and withdraw data from it as required?

No, this is not possible. Apps depend on local files.

"No,  this is not possible"  Well,  I disagree. It is (ignoring security,  I honestly do not give a pork for security) perfectly possible.  Difficult does not equal impossible.  So,  I am going to ignore this post.  No offence, and nothing personal,  it's just to....  Negative.

authors: دِگتٌوٍڕهہ حـزيڼهہ


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Cannot Re-enable developer settings after ROM re-install
For.... Various reasons, I had to remove /system and replace it, I.e. fresh install my ROM. Now, however, I cannot do the build number trick to open developer options, and going through the dev tool menu states "Developer mode not available for you. You did enable it, right?". I doubt it is a kernel issue, since that copes fine, and the ROM is stable. I'm not gonna re-flash again today (Again, for various reasons). So, does anyone know how I can force it open?
Root methods will not work. Due to how the ROM is built, rooting and unrooting is done by flick of a switch... In the developers options.-NOW OUTDATED INFO, SEE EDITS BELOW
Edits

Root Works now! I managed to trip it on in SuperSU.

Have you used exactly the same zips as before? If not, have you cleared cache & dalvik?

@pzmarzly Exact same Zips - Though it somehow changed the SELinux state to permissive- and I have wiped cache and davlik that much recently, its unhealthy.

Some ROMs move settings around. For example, on Ressurection Remix a lot of options are moved to new entry "Customisation" in Settings. Check your Settings app.
You can also use ADB or Terminal Emulator and run following command (taken from there):
am start -n com.android.settings/.DevelopmentSettings

You can also check your ROM's forum thread to see if anyone else also had problems with enabling Developer Settings.

The issue is that I installed the exact same copy of the ROM, but bits have gone missing (I also can't use the home button) meaning I can't access the developer options. Tried the code, to no avail.

...can't use the home button - did you remove SetupWizard in the ROM package? That leads to a myriad of weird issues like this, a nonfunctional notification drawer and other stuff.

@AndyYan  Now that you mention it, no setup occured when I booted the thing back up. Any way to force it to life, or shall I just factory reset again?

It's strange for a ROM to not include at least a stub SetupWizard in its package. Check your current /system/app and /system/priv-app for an APK whose name contains SetupWizard. If there is indeed no presence of it, you have to put a compatible one in, set proper permissions and reboot. Flashing GAPPS (contains Google Setup Wizard) is another approach to this, but will introduce a lot of extras.

Also, if there's no SetupWizard presence currently, even a factory reset would do no good. For further assistance sake, please also tell us the device you have and the ROM you're now on.

@AndyYan I'll try reflashing gapps. Using a Samsung galaxy tab 2 GTP3110 running slimrom android 5.1.1 (version 0.15 beta, although it is about 95% complete.)


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OpenVPN Connect (Android): How to allow local traffic to bypass VPN
I use the OpenVPN Connect app on my Android devices to route my internet traffic through commercial VPN Service providers (Private Internet Access and IPVanish).
I can access the internet through the VPN with no issues.  Problem is, while I'm connected, my device cannot communicate with other devices on my Local Area Network (LAN). For instance, if I use ES File Explorer app to open a folder on my Network Attached Storage (NAS), I get a timeout error.  When I disconnect from the VPN, everything works.
Another VPN client, OpenVPN for Android, does not suffer this limitation. It appears to be able to distinguish which packets to send to the VPN server, and which packets to send to the LAN devices.  Digging through the options for this app, I noticed a setting titled Bypass VPN for local networks that controls this behavior.
Unfortunately, for my use case, I cannot switch to the OpenVPN for Android app.  Its UI for connecting/disconnecting is too complex to be useful on my streaming box (Amazon Fire TV) where I have only a remote to navigate (no mouse, no touch).
Is it possible to configure the OpenVPN Connect client to bypass the VPN for LAN communications?  Alternatively, is there an OpenVPN client for Android that has this feature and works reliably and is easy to use with just a remote?
I have looked for answers in the OpenVPN help forums and found that the question has been raised (https://forums.openvpn.net/topic16773.html) and raised (https://forums.openvpn.net/topic19489.html) but never answered.
Please help if you can. I have no networking experience so please be explicit.

I concur and would also like to know the answer to this. I have trawled the forums but there seem to be no answers on this. OpenVPN Connect (the official app) seems to have no routing option to allow for local traffic. As mentioned above, OpenVPN for Android by Arne Schwabe has the routing option 'Bypass VPN for local networks'. It seems strange that the official app does not support this.


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Contacts keep crashing. What are my options?
Using unrooted vanilla Android 8.1. The default Contacts app always crashes on start.

I have made sure to update to the latest version: 2.8.4.201036949
I have rebooted the device and installed all other available updates
I have cleared the cache for Contacts
I have tried to sideload the apk but got "INSTALL_FAILED_VERSION_DOWNGRADE" error
I have used adb backup but the backup is only 1kb when the app's data is over 10mb on the phone so I'm worried that the backup doesn't include all my contacts

Interestingly, other applications that rely on Contacts such as Phone or Signal Messenger can see these contacts but I cannot create or modify contacts.
I am hoping for ideas on how to get out of this conundrum without losing my contacts.  I don't sync contacts with Google (would like to keep it that way) and wouldn't want to do it with another party either. Perhaps running in some kind of "Safe Mode" or using another app to read and copy contacts and create a vcf file that I can import from Contacts once I've uninstalled/reinstalled it

Have you considered another contacts app and disabling Google's provided one?

@CzarMatt Do you have an app in mind?  That's kind of what I was referring to in my last sentence.  Some other app that can read the existing contacts and create a backup in vcf form, so that I can import it later once the default Contacts is fixed.

I found a 3rd party Contacts app that could read Android contacts and save them as a .vcf file.  The .vcf file could then later be imported into the default Contacts app once I get things sorted.  The app is called Contacts VCF
As for my crash problem, I went to Settings >> Applications >> Contact and force closed the Contacts app.  Then from the same screen I tapped "Disabled" and confirmed that data would be lost.  This reset the app to its initial state (before all the updates since I started using it).
I then went to the app's page in the Google Play Store and clicked Enable to turn the app back on, then Update to bring it current.
Now the app works again; I imported the .vcf file that I had exported in the first step above to restore my contacts.


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Android WiFi is being wonky(upload stalls)
I have a Galaxy S5 Verizon.
Starting today, my wifi on my device has been acting stupid.
Whenever I try to browse the internet, it lags. It isnt an issue with my internet or my router. Because when I run a speedtest on my cellphone, it will take a minute to start but when it does start, i get 11 ms ping 60 down 10 up.
Same with a wired connection on my desktop. Same on my galaxy tab 12.2.
I noticed that when I use wifi on my phone, the wifi download icon is active, but the upload icon isnt. Meaning when I use wifi to browse the net, its able to download data using wifi but it stalls trying to uploading data.
Well because of this, instead of having my normal instant speeds, I have lag. It takes a while for a youtube video to load. It takes a while for a web page to load. WHen i used the app store it took a while for the app images to download and it took a while for an app download to initalize.
I dont know why this is happening. All I know is that for some reason my device is failing to upload data using wifi right away. It always stalls.
Like I said, this just started happening today too.
I didnt do much on my device. The only thing that could possibly have done something is that I used terminal to change my device hostname. I was tired of seeing "android-3478547583gf7348574835" On my router arp table. So I went onto terminal and I did
> su
> getprop net.hostname
> setprop net.hostname <new_hostname>

And then I went onto recovery and wiped my cache.
Thats the only "Technical" thing I've done with my phone today and now for some reason my wifi stalls.
Any ideas?
I wiped the cache again to see if that would fix it. Didnt.
Rebooted my phone dozens of times. Did nothing.
I dont want to resort to factory resetting but I will if I have to.
Im rooted.
GS5 on 5.1.1
edit: I shouldnt say its a lag issue since I still get 60 mb download speeds. Its just an initialization issue with my wifi

I'm not the big networking specialist, so I'm afraid I have no final solution for you. But maybe a tool for network diagnosis can help you finding the issue? I've heard Fing praised often. Maybe worth a try.

Having used Fing, it really doesn't offer a tool that can help in his situation. unfortunately.


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Use fingerprint in apps but not device unlock
On my Samsung Galaxy A14, I could configure my fingerprint for use within apps (such as banking and qualified electronic signature apps) but not for unlocking my phone. This is my preferred setup as I do not want to be able to unlock my phone solely with a fingerprint.
However, on my new Fairphone 4, which runs a closer-to-stock version of Android 13, I can't seem to locate an option for this. Surely, there must be a way to achieve this, somehow?

As a permanent workaround, 3rd-party apps can "disable" fingerprint unlock by force-locking the system and requiring strong authentication (PIN, pattern, or password) to unlock the device. Note that this requires the app to be registered as a device administrator to leverage the feature.

Tasker

Profile: Event - Display - Display Off
Task: Display - System Lock

Automate

Add new block: Interface - Display on?
Connect Flow beginning (GO) to When display on (IN)
Connect When display on (YES) to When display on (IN)
Add new block: Interface - Device lock
Connect When display on (NO) to Lock device (IN)
Connect Lock device (OK) to When display on (IN)

Thanks! Works like charm. Now that you mention it, I vaguely remember having a similar setup on one of my even older phones.

There's an old Android Device Admin API for disabling fingerprints on the lockscreen, which, while deprecated, continues working even on Android 14 as long as the app accessing that API targets at most API28.
Somebody wrote an app for toggling that API and it's available on F-Droid.

On stock Android (AOSP), it doesn't seem to be possible to customize how fingerprints should be used, other than the default for unlocking the device and additionally for biometric authentication.
A YouTube video by the official Fairphone channel shows that the interface is the same as AOSP, where there is no customization other than adding, removing, or renaming the fingerprints. (Cross-checked with Google Pixel 3a on stock Android 12; additional reference).
For these devices, the standard way to disable fingerprint unlock is to delete all the fingerprints. For temporary workaround, activate Lockdown mode if available, but this always needs to be re-activate on each unlock.

As for Samsung devices, they actually made customization to the Android OS to add the "Fingerprint unlock" toggle and other settings. (Confirmed on Galaxy M12, Android 13).

Fingerprint unlock: Unlocks your device when your fingerprint is recognized.


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Cloning Android Devices
I would like to know if it is possible to clone a physical Android device with all settings, apps and configuration to inject it on other Android devices such as an image of the device. And if it is possible, how can I do this ? My Android device is an Android 7.1 and I'm connecting it to an Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.
We are professional and don't want to reinstall each devices, so I ask for a simple way with ADB or other, to clone what is legal to clone, the setup.
I have one device, with his app and settings, I need to clone it on 15 devices...
Simple ADB backup won't do it, it just backup files pictures but no apps.
Thx

cloning wifi/ bluetooth mac addresses may confuse dhcp router, cloning imei may illegal in your country. please be more specific about what is your intent

I would like to clone an android device, apps and settings.
We are professional and don't want to reinstall each devices, so I ask for a simple way with ADB or other, to clone what is legal to clone, the setup.
I have one device, with his app and settings, I need to clone it on 15 devices... What can I do.
Simple ADB backup won't do it, it just backup files pictures but no apps. Thx

I suspected that. not cloning but batch setup of individual devices each with it's own phone number google/whatsapp/email account. just app settings should be same. adb backup can include apk, but not phone settings. is a solution for rooted devices also accepted?

What you describe is not cloning of a device but cloning of user data. Anyway totally cloning the data is a bad idea as this would also include the ANDROID_ID - an ID with should be unique. Check this url for a typical enrollment via e.g. NFC or QR-code: https://developers.google.com/android/management/provision-device

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=balti.migrate

Do you think it is possible to clone a setup as :

Copy all applications
Settings and user data (simply basic settings on application like the background image or restarting an app at the startup of the device)

you need custom recovery then you can create a flashable zip with all necessary settings. the above app is a helper for creating such a zip. It includes also phone settings not just app settings. but i am not aware about a fully hands free setup solution for adb. the closed non-root solution i can imagine is android-backup-toolkit


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Bricked Honor 9 - No Os, No recovery
I messed up with everything. The only thing that works it's fastboot, I can still flash .img but when I reboot it get stucked on bootloader and can't enter neither recovery or system(Just erecovery but that's pretty useless).
I've tried flashing twrp or stock recovery, even tried to flash kernel/ramdisk and system image from stock rom but the result is the same: I always get "OKAY", or "flashed successfully" but gets stucked then.
I took the images I've been trying to flash from Firmware Finder:
STF-L09SC432B372 (8.0.0.372) FullOta-MF
STF-L09C10B370 (8.0.0.370) FullOta-MF
STF-LGRP2-OVS 9.1.0.215 FullOta-MF

If you can help me I would really aprecciate it. Thanks in advance.
p.s. bootloader and frp unlocked

Have you tried flashing the stock ROM?

Yes, same. Could it be the bootloader itself?

update your post with output of flashing/ which partitions flashed, and which rom/ recovery used (source?)


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How exactly does NITZ work?
My understanding is that phones have an internal RTC (real-time clock) which is regularly synchronized, using NITZ (default) and NTP when the phone is connected to internet.
Carriers can broadcast a special signal encoding UTC time information (Year, Month, Day, Hour, Minute, Second, Timezone and DST) with an accuracy in the order of minutes.
I read the 3GPP specification and found when time information can be transferred from the serving PLMN to the Mobile Station (MS) / User equipment (UE) :

Upon registering on the network.
When the MS geographically relocates to a different Local Time Zone.
When the network changes its Local Time Zone, e.g. between summer and winter time.
When the network changes its identity.
At any time during a signalling connection with mobile station.

Automatic date and time needs to be enabled in the phone settings to either use NITZ or NTP. Technically a SIM card is not required right? If so, this should work in airplane mode but I didn't manage to trigger a time update after having manually changed the time.
I think I don't understand how it works in practice.

When does this trigger ? How does the cell tower know 2) 3)?
If it periodically broadcasts time information to every phones in the area then what's the meaning of these 5 points?
What does 1) 4) and 5) mean in concrete terms?

Regarding NTP, it is a lot simpler. Android will synchronize with a NTP server if there hasn't been any NITZ update from the carrier ever since 24H. The default NTP server is time.android.com (Google server) but I guess manufacturers may change this to use their own. (source: config.xml)

Technically a SIM card is not required right? But some radio connectivity should be as otherwise the device is isolated. Related search gave me this: https://github.com/ghbolivar/android-on-freerunner/issues/67


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Is it possible to make 'admin' user apps available on other user accounts?
With 4.2 on my Nexus 7 I have a few separate user profiles.
I have a number of kids games installed on my tablet admin account ('Rob'), with that account attached to a Play account.
I'd like to make those games available on another non-admin ('Callum') account, which is not attached to a Play account.
How can I do this?

As far as I know: Not at all.
Each user account is strictly separated from another and there is no shared folder or app sharing concept at the moment.
I haven't checked your specific question in detail, however each user has their strictly separated userdata partition where everything is stored (even their media, on Nexus devices) and cannot access any other's data residing in their userdata section, which includes user installed apps (they're in /data/app/).

Interesting - so how can a user without a Play account install apps? I realise that this isn't possible on the primary account, but for a secondary account, this seems restrictive.

I guess you can get a multiuser setup working without setting up any play account, including the primary user. Side-loading will still work, i.e. just enable unknown origin apps under security. There are many alternative app stores

If you have root, I have created an app, AppShare, that will do what you want.
Paid apps will most likely require you to add the Google account that you purchased the app with to the secondary ('Callum') account or else they will probably fail the licence check. This may vary from app to app though.
You will have no problems with free apps though, and you should even be able to disable system apps such as Gmail etc. to prevent kids messing with anything you don't want them to touch!
Without root, I think the only way to do this is add your Play account on the secondary account and add some sort of PIN protection.

Although this means that your emails could be accessed on the second account, unless you then remove it after installing the desired app (which will be a pain everytime!).

You can log into your play store account on the other profiles.  (Make sure to set a purchase pin if it's on a kids account.)  That way they will have access to any apps you purchase.


text:
How can I redirect a call, incall
I want to get a call from somebody and after talking with him redirect that person to another number, on my charge, like call-centers do. Is that possible and if that's so, there is any application that can do that?
Thanks

I have never heard of this, the only simple solution is to forward the number and get that person to dial the number. Unfortunately AFAIK Android does not do this!

I guess you could do this using the "Conference Call" trick on android (natively!).
The screenshots below are for vanilla Froyo (Android 2.2) and may vary with your version/dialer app.
During your call (Don't hang up the call), after talking to that person, press the "Menu" button on your android. Press "Add Call" from the menu.

Dial and call the number you wish to "redirect" for him. (on your charge! (which is what you asked for right?) Means you will lose money for this call as if you are calling it)
Now press menu button again when call connects. Press on "merge call".

Finally, Press the menu button again and click on "mute" to make them think you have terminated your call. (you mute yourself but you can hear the conversation between him and the "redirected" call)

Remember, while doing these, you will be charged for 2 calls simultaneously!

Just remember that not many networks/carriers support conference calls.

While it may not be exactly what you're looking forward to, Google Voice has something like this.
If a caller calls your google voice number, all the phone you have registered ring at once. So you pick up the call on your home phone, then decide you want to go out. Google Voice lets you press 4, and it starts ringing the other phones again (without the other caller hearing anything). All you do is pick up the cell phone, and your call is transferred seamlessly.
I only post this in case someone is looking for this specific solution. Otherwise, you'll have to host your own PBX (like Asterisk) and set it up yourself. Android (well, specifically the cell carrier) doesn't have this option.

The feature you're looking for is known as call transfer. It's pretty common on office PBX and VoIP systems, but is virtually never seen with mobile phones. The existence of such a feature would require some intelligence in both the device and cooperation from the carrier's equipment, both of which are generally absent. As far as I know, there is nothing in the Android source code to support this feature.
In short, no, it's not really possible.


text:
Gmail - one notification for all new messages
I use the new Gmail app on my Galaxy s2.
One notification for each new message s very annoying.
I want the new mail notification to act like on my desktop - a notification on the toolbar that indicates that there is an unread mail.
Can you thing on a way to do that?

Within Gmail while at the inbox screen if you click Menu and then Label Settings you should then be able to check notify once and then you should get notified for every new messages as a group.

Isn't this backwards? You should check notify once if you want only one notification for all new messages. The OP is asking for a universal notification, not a notification for each message individually.

This is the reverse of what the original poster was asking for.


text:
What's the purpose of "Emergency Call" button on SIM unlock screen?
When SIM is locked with PIN1 or PIN2 and I boot my Android phone, SIM unlock screen appears which contains num key pad and "Emergency Call" button. I have seen this in all Android phones including non-dual SIM phones and those without native VoIP stack (I know VoIP isn't meant for emergency calling, but it can be option if user is in Wi-Fi & VoIP is configured).
What's the purpose of this "Emergency Call" button when you can't really call?

It is required for phones (at least in Europe and US) to allow emergency calls without requiring the user to unlock the phone or the SIM card. You can always make an emergency call when you're in a cell coverage area and the phone has power. It's a safety feature, which guarantees you can use any phone in an emergency to get assistance, regardless of the state the phone is in.
Take this scenario: you're in a car crash and your own phone breaks. An unconscious friend's cell phone is working, but it has a pattern/PIN/password lock on it, or it lost power but boots to the SIM PIN screen. The feature guarantees that you can make the call without knowledge of the correct pattern/PIN/password.
The numbers you can call with this feature are restricted to the most common or regional emergency numbers, and are translated by the carrier to the local emergency numbers if you're roaming.
The exception to this are WiFi-only tablets, which can't make calls at all.
Edit:
If the device's SIM is locked, it detects the networks available and identifies it's own network, but doesn't register the device to the network. In the case of emergency calls, the phone doesn't need to be registered to the network, all calls to emergency numbers are allowed, regardless of the state of the SIM or carrier subscription. Even with no SIM at all, the networks are detected and the carrier with the strongest signal is used.

I am specifically talking about locked SIM. AFAIK, when SIM is locked with PIN1, it can't even detect a network.

Moved to the answer itself.

With Emergency calls you can dial only  Emergency numbers like 911 , 112 etc , they differ from country to country. And AFAIK in absence of a network/signal the emergency call is made using the available network of any network provider in region. So the main purpose of "Emergency Call" button is that when in emergency you can dial emergency numbers without unlocking your device .

The SIM is locked, not the device.


text:
Although I have enough the available storage does not match it
On a Samsung note 10.1 with 32G when I go to settings I can see 25GB available storage. Besides that, when I am trying to copy files from my ubuntu box to the tablet (connected through the USB) I am getting an insufficient storage message. Checking the properties of the mounted volume I only see 200MB free on it.
How can I fix it?

I just answered the first part of your question below. For the remaining part, a few more details are needed: Can you please check which partition is mounted there? You might be able to identify some files/directories, compare them with your device using a file manager or terminal, and then give the full path. I'm suspecting it mounts the wrong partition. Also please specify how you mount your Note (MTP, UMS, PTP).

It is mounted automatically. When I connect the tablet (Sumsung note) to the USB of the computer, a pop is notifying me that I have inserted a digital audion player.  I can see it from nautilous. The directory mounted is the /storage/sdcard0  which has not the same free space as what is shown in the android settings | strorage | free

OK, "digital audio player" suggests it's using PTP or MTP, but certainly not UMS (the latter would be "USB Storage", not "Audio Player" or "Camera"). Do you have the mtp-tools package installed on your Ubuntu PC? My answer here might prove helpful (ignore the Kindle, focus on the Ubuntu part ;)

After installing mtpfs and creating the dir ~/NexusDrive I am executing: mtpfs ~/NexusDrive, it finds the devide but it gets stuck showing the messgae:  Attempting to connect device.  All this is happening while the tablet is connected through the usb. Do I miss something here?

Sorry, John: As I don't use it myself, I cannot further check. I recommend you post a new question with this issue: include the steps you've performed, including the error message. Hopefully somebody using this can help you further. It might also be a good idea to not post this question here, but on our sister-site AskUbuntu, as it's the Ubuntu-part it is about. I hope I at least was able to answer the first part of your question below (so you might accept it), and got you started in the right direction with the other part.

ok, i accepted and will start a new thread

with 32 GB when I go to settings I can see 25 GB available storage

Though the device is declared to have 32GB, part of that is reserved for the firmware. The entire 32GB are partitioned:

/system for the device-firmware
/recovery for the recovery (see: recovery-mode)
/boot for the boot image
/cache for application cache
/data for apps and their data (see: internal-storage)

The 25 GB you see are those from the internal-storage aka /data.
This answer only covers the first part of your question. For the second part, we need some more details.


text:
Set MP3 as ringtone on CyanogenMod 10
Without using a market app, how can I set a custom MP3 file as ringtone?
I've tried placing the MP3 in media/audio/ringtones and variations (e.g. media/ringtones), but the MP3 does not show in Settings->Sound->Ringtone.
Thank you.

I had to reboot. Related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/56905/where-is-the-default-ringtone-stored

I placed mine in /sdcard/media/audio/ringtones. After that the sound appears in the settings menu.
See also: How do I set a custom MP3 as a ringtone for other notifications?

Folder names are case-sensitive?

Yup, folder names are case-sensitive. Thank you.

There's no such thing as "Set as Ringtone" from music app, is there?

He asked how to do it without such an app.

I am he. :) There was a "Set as" from the default music player that came with the original Samsung-branded OS.

I had the same issue and recently found a perfect solution by accident. While viewing the playlist that contains the song you wish to use as a ringtone (on the apollo media player),a longpress on the song you want to use will give you a list of options; among that list will be "use as ringtone". Simply select, and enjoy your new ringtone! This only works for call ringtones, for message tones you will need another fix. Hope this helps. Works on samsung galaxy S running Cyanogen Mod 10.1 RC5.

I had the same error on Froyo and Gingerbread roms and i found a solution:

Put your sounds into /system/media/audio/ringtones
Clear cache from recovery

This might work as I read it from other sources too, but it means every time you flash a new ROM the ringtones will be lost.

What worked for me was to add it to the sdcard ringtones directory (if not there, create it), copy the file manually to that directory and then reboot. Before the reboot the file did not show up in my Cyanomod 7.2 Cooper (Samsung S5380), but it did after the reboot. The file I copied was a mp3 file. I hope this solution works too for other mods.


text:
How to have my phone guide me through a specific route
Every weekend I go out and ride my bike through the exact same boring old route.
Now I've decided I want to start exploring new parts of the city, but I need my
phone to help me that.
Today, using google maps, I decided on a new route I want to follow next weekend
(and I'll probably have a new one each week). The problem is that I've never
been to these streets, so I need my phone to guide me through it.
Specifically, I need something very similar to android's GPS navigation. I'll
define where I want to go, place the phone in my pockets (with earphones), and
just listen to the turn-by-turn "driving" instructions and follow them.
The reason I don't just use android navigation is that the route isn't a simple
Go from A to B, it's more like Go from A to B, then to C, ..., then back to A.
That means I would have to re-type these destinations one by one in the phone, which is far from ideal.
Ideally, I need a system that allows me to do something like:

plan a complex route on the computer,
send it to my phone,
have it guide me with turn-by-turn voice instructions.

Is there an app for that? Or is there a way to do that with standard GPS navigation?

The solution I use for similar situation is Trekbuddy.  I am sure you will discard the idea of using this app if you didn't understand it well. Hence, read through its description in its Play site and their forums. It requires little homework before any such serious use. But once you know your way (pun intended  ) through the application, it will be a breeze.
With this app, you can plan your route on computer export it as GPX and together with few MP3 files you can create a turn-by-turn pre-planned navigation.  Be aware that if you miss your turn this will not reroute you back. You have to see the map that and continue either on the new route or try to join the pre planned route.
To know about its other uses, take a look at my answer for the question "How to import GPS coordinates track for using offline"
You may also try OSMAND. You can create a pre planned route and export as GPX file. OSMAnd can be configured to use this pre defined route. I could not get my head through the options and configurations to make this work. But from reading its help, I understand that this can do the above and even reroute in case if you miss your turn.
Personally, I like Trekbuddy for its simplicity and its many features as I described in my answer to the other question.
If you happen to succeed with OSMAnd, please share your procedure with us.

Update:
After reading through the forum pages of Trekbuddy,  I finally figured out how to use a pre planned turn by turn navigation feature and I tried today to ensure it is working.
The steps involved are (from scratch):

Install Trekbuddy either from PlayStore or from their download link.
Run the app with GPS switched on. Press Menu and press Start and wait for GPS fix. If GPS fix is a success you will see the cross hair at your location in the World map.
To display a map, you have to download raster map tiles from the service provider.  These tiles are to be placed in a particular format and an application called Mobac comes for rescue. This app creates such map tiles, indexes and even compress. Various map sources like OpenStreetMap, OpenCycleMap, Google Maps*, Google Terrain*, Google Earth Satellite*, Yahoo Maps etc can be used. Explaining how to create a map will be bit out of scope here, and I will leave it to a rare tutorial available here in German.
Assuming you had successfully created a TARred atlas (collection of map tiles as said above), you have to place the .TAR file and its subfolder inside \mnt\sdcard\Trekbuddy\maps folder. To load the map, press Menu button and touch Maps option and select the *.Tar file. Depending on how you had layered the atlas, layers might appear in the next screen and if so, select a layer. Trekbuddy might prompt you to mark this as default atlas. If acceptable click Yes and you will save all this step doing again.
One map is loaded, you can ensure it by tapping any where in the screen, which will show the cross hair on your location in the map as identified by the GPS.
In your computer plan a route and mark turning points as waypoints. As an example, in this following image
 six waypoints are marked as WPT1..WPT6.
In computer, using a text editor, create a GPX file with following template.

Place the GPX file created as above in \mnt\sdcard\Trekbuddy\wpts folder.
Place sound files in AMR format (MP3 not tested) in \mnt\sdcard\Trekbuddy\sounds folder. The file name of these files should be as mentioned in the GPX file.
And finally, in Trekbuddy app, press Menu, Navigation, Waypoints and choose the above GPX file. Then choose the final waypoint, in this case WPT6 and press menu again and choose NavigateTo.

When you start moving approach WPT1, the sound assigned to WPT1 will be played. The setting Settings->Navigation->Wpt Proximity determines the proximity radius. The value is in meters and when the current GPS position is within this imaginary circle, the sound will be played.

I believe it has been discontinued since Mobac version 1.9 onward due to legal pressure. Old versions are not officially available but are still at large.

Looks nice. Could you let me know what software you use for exporting the GPX? And would the creating of mp3 files have to be done manually on my part?

I use Google maps to plan my route. I drag the route around the road through which I would like to go. I then use Google maps to GPX using Elsewhere. It works great with IE and I am not sure about others. Regarding MP3 we need very few files like "Turn Left" etc. The way TrekBuddy works is that when you reach a waypoint, it plays a MP3 file with the name of the waypoint. For the first few attempts this sounds pain, but soon you will discover or manage with fewer MP3 files.

..and I missed to mention that when using ElseWhere, you will see Route, Track, Points and Full kind of options. I choose Full. Then I copy the content from the window and paste in a text file, renaming it as a GPX.

Locus's community forum has a question that should be of interest to you. You could also see that author (@Marc) of the post has answered exactly what you want, but with Internet connectivity on.

Ok, I'm accepting this answer for OsmAnd. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the voice part of TreckBuddy to work, and Locus only does voice navigation in the pro version. Still, even with OsmAnd the experience hasn't been perfect. I found that (for some very wide streets) it would sometimes not realise that I had already passed the checkpoint, and it would then just keep telling me to go back.

(and answering your question) You have to paste the gpx file inside the
OsmAnd/tracks/ folder. Then launch OsmAnd -> Map -> Navigation, and there's an
option to follow a track instead of a destination.

You could also give Locus Map Free a try. This app can import GPX fine as well, and you can use the track as "route" to be navigated on. From the app's description:

Voice navigation & guiding

full support for Online voice navigation
voice & notification guiding on single waypoint (by compass or on the map) and along path

Side-effect of Locus: You can also import complete KMZ files (zipped KML), including images and descriptions. I use that for creating my own travel guide when going on vacation, with my personal POIs and stuff researched on the web.
Another plus: It can work completely offline. Map material can be downloaded right from within the app using different sources. As for navigation, you need to calculate the route in advance (but importing tracks does the same ;). From there on, no network connection is required anymore. Tested this multiple times, works great.

I tired Locus Map Free and observed that I could not follow the track without Internet connection. Just trying to keep you informed and at the same time giving myself a chance to correct if I am wrong.

I tried that a while ago, and it worked. But I didn't use "voice navigation" back then: so you might be correct if you address that, as I didn't test this part. Guess I will need to repeat my test -- sorry for that...

Maybe I got this wrong, but I think you need the paid version to have voice navigation.

Cuesheet paired with http://ridewithgps.com works well. On the website, you can easily plan/modify a travelling route that will then be imported in CueSheet.
The route can be very complicated with many twists and turns. English turn by turn instructions are created at the same time. Also, you can insert your own instructions in the list if you want. After saving the route on the website, you run the cuesheet on your phone/tablet. After you sign into your ridewithgps account using the app, you will see a list of routes you have planned on the website. Pick one and it will download to your android device with its turn by turn instructions. In the app you are also given the option to download the map so there is no need of internet connection to use the guiding.
It is not perfect since it can give many false off course warnings, but it is by far the best combination of flexible route planning and voice guiding I have found. It costs 4 USD for the version with voice guiding.

I have found a very promising app to solve this problem. OsmAnd. I have been looking for a wa to import a gpx of a  trail system to know where I am while dirtbiking. So far I have been able to import a gpx showing a pre-recorded map of the trail. I was also able to download the entire state road/trail map easily from the app for offline use. OsmAnd has many other features I haven't explored yet.

And that works without looking at the screen, only going by audio – as the OP asked for? As you don't say so in your answer explicitly, it might be you overlooked that part of the question – so I just want to verify :)


text:
What is SELinux and its purpose?
For those of you who don't know, SELinux is a collection of administrative tools on Linux OS'. However, what is it for on android, and what does it do on android? After all, Android is not Linux.
SELinux contributes to part of the Android OS. Its two modes, 'Permissive' and 'enforcing' can have a huge impact on the versatility of Root usage.

Related: see my answer to How dangerous is the fact that SELinux is in “Permissive” mode? What should I be wary of?, I try to concretely explain there what is the role of SELinux.

@DanBrown "After all, Android is not Linux" -> I thought Android uses the linux kernel

@Abdul, trust me when I say it's an oh-so-small difference.

@DanBrown Excuse my ignorance, but can you expand? Are you saying Android uses a barebones, stripped down version?

@Abdul Nope. Huhhhhh, how to word this.....  Alright, so android is open-source, and you are right, it is based on good ol' Linux, but the amount of Closed-source crap Google (and the OEMs) load in to the OS, along with the recovery, the odd bootloader systems, and the active war against root, means that calling it Linux is like doing the same to Chromebooks: technically correct, but wouldn't call it Linux. Funnily enough, IOS is based off an abandoned Linux variant too. Do we call that Linux? Hell no!

@DanBrown Ah understood.

The purpose of SElinux is for security and explained by the Android site:

As part of the Android security model, Android uses SELinux to enforce mandatory access control (MAC) over all processes, even processes running with root/superuser privileges (a.k.a. Linux capabilities). SELinux enhances Android security by confining privileged processes and automating security policy creation.

Then in the background section it goes on to explain the two modes permissive and enforcing are:

SELinux operates on the ethos of default denial. Anything that is not explicitly allowed is denied. SELinux can operate in one of two global modes: permissive mode, in which permission denials are logged but not enforced, and enforcing mode, in which denials are both logged and enforced. SELinux also supports a per-domain permissive mode in which specific domains (processes) can be made permissive while placing the rest of the system in global enforcing mode. A domain is simply a label identifying a process or set of processes in the security policy, where all processes labeled with the same domain are treated identically by the security policy. Per-domain permissive mode enables incremental application of SELinux to an ever-increasing portion of the system. Per-domain permissive mode also enables policy development for new services while keeping the rest of the system enforcing.


text:
Advanced root problems
I am having problems rooting my device after a friend unrooted it.
Now, if this was a pure simple case, it'd already be solved, but:

I can only used soft-roots, like Kingo root.
My "friend" decided to change my android version number and model number before the unroot, making these soft-roots not work.
My device will cease to function if I SIM unlock and bootload. Don't know why.

Please help. I really want to sell my device, but cannot.
-EDIT-
Well, FTP failed, as did using ADB to pull, edit, and push the file back on.

You can always restore your device to factory state. Just tell which one: IBM/370 by any chance?

I already tried resetting the settings, got nothing. I cannot simply reset; my data is a vital asset to my deep-web research. Could I try FTP? And what do you mean by IBM/370? I am using Sony Xperia E C1505

what's the device model ? and the android version ?

Somehow managed to get king root to work...
King root was the original rooting tools I used, and after the change in the build.prop it stopped working. It seems be fine now, tough.


text:
Boot amination off center
In using cm 10.1.3 for the Samsung galaxy tab 2 p3110 I noticed the boot animation was off center. How could I fix this?
EDIT
As discussed in comments, rotation failed. Link to unedited boot animation here

Grab the bootanimation zip file for your ROM, edit the images and flash it again?

Rotate? That failed horribly. :(

I'm confused. You rotated the image unsuccessfully?

No. I rotated them, and it brought it down to 2FPS, stopped the amination half way in.

Hmmm, if you just rotated them without disrupting the order, dimensions, or anything else there's no reason why the animation should stop. Could you edit in a link to the zip in your question? Then anyone who stumbles upon this could try to diagnose the issue.

Sure, give me a while. May as well move this to chat too :)

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

It turns out the issue was Samsung's loveable kernel. Changing to a supported custom kernel fixed this.


text:
How to block those annoying "Your device is infected" ads in Chrome without root
We all know and hate them: those annoying ads that pop up along the lines of "Your phone is infected! Click to fix!" How can I block them in Chrome?
I know that adblock exists for root, but I do not have (or plan to) root.  And unfortunately a lot of sites host these adds, so it's not as easy as blocking or avoiding a specific site.
Phone: Alcatel Onetouch Idol S, Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.
EDIT
Device has root now.

No rooting significantly reduces available options. Be welcome to check my list of Ad-Blockers yourself (skip those with a "puzzle symbol" as they require root and Xposed).

Why is this question being downvoted? This looks like a legitimate question to me.

Now that device IS rooted, install Xposed and adaway module

@beeshyams Have. Try adding some fluff and putting it as answer, I prefer to give credit to others.

@DanB Many people do not like Xposed, and ad blocking can easily be achieved with root and without Xposed Framework. Adaway is one example that is included with many custom ROMs that eliminates a fair amount of ads and malware pop-ups. https://adaway.org/ The real answer is to stay away from sites that have these pop-ups, no legitimate site would have such ads.

Now that you are rooted, you have a host of options and can be free from Google's policy of removing Ad blocking apps from play store
Install Xposed for your Android version and then Adaway to block all ads. remember to keep updating hostfiles periodically

AdAway is a utility for root users used to help manage hostfile entries. AdAway doesn't directly block ads; it limits unwanted ads by blocking servers that distribute those ads to websites

If you are not familiar with Xposed, Xposed: The mighty Android tool box by Izzy, would be very useful


text:
Ridiculous error on all google play store Using CM 10.1.3
I have a crazy problem. Whenever I update anything I get this error

update for (insert Google app here) could not be downloaded due to an error (error while retrieving information from the server. [RPC:S-7:AEC-7 QNHM-TYSO-UNVHY])

It may also be worth telling you the very last 5 letters vary. It also happens to any new apps I attempt to install.

It might be an issue with your bank verifying your information electronically? Can you try purchasing with a different card/account? http://androidforums.com/android-applications/695478-play-store-error-rpc-s-7-aec-0-a.html  There's also this odd, arcane method of creating a new Google account and clearing the data cache for the play store: http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-7-tablet/224884-google-play-error-solution-rpc-s-5-aec-0-a-5.html

No CM12 for your device? :-(

Samsung galaxy tab 2, so no :(

Other users: This answer was applicable in my case.

You're going to want to clear the cache of your Google services on the device. Note that this will remove your Google Account from the device - so you'll have to re-add it.

Navigate to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > All
Clear the data for Google Play Services, Google Service Framework and Google Play Store
Reboot the device
Log back into your Google Account
Try your downloads again

OK. That has worked, and I'll mark you as the answer after you tell me why the only app with a problem is the store? I get instant "no connection" with WiFi on, even tho GH the hosts file is fine

After repeatedly trying your method, it worked! Marking as answer ;)

This error can have multiple causes. Some are explained on our sister site, in Error while retrieving information from the server RPC:s-7:AEC-0 in Google play?:

turns out my credit card info on file needed updated to my new expiration date.

is one possibility. One more:

RPC:AEC:0 error is known as CPU/RAM/Device/Identity failure.

Go to settings >application > Play Store >Clear Data & Clear Cache.
Go to accounts >Google >Remove account.
Reboot device.
Again Settings>Account >Google >Log In.

Another reason is explained on AndroidPIT (German): It could be problems with Google servers (same is, btw, reported by users in this thread on AndroidForums.Com). One user reported a work around that did it for him: He tried it at least 10 times on his Android device, without success. So he simply fired up the browser on his computer, and tried it from there -- which immediately worked.
For more details (and possible other solutions/work-arounds), just follow the other results from this Google search.

authors: تمنيتگ تمنيتگ


text:
Is it possible to permanently supress app updates?

Possible Duplicate:
How to hide updates from market?

I've been using a certain app for some time now, but according to the many 1-star reviews the latest "update" has got, it breaks compatibility with Tasker, which is not something I want.
Is there a way to at least temporarily remove the regular update notifications I receive, or stop the app appearing at the top of my update list every time?
Using Nexus S with official 4.0.3.

You can use Titanium backup for this purpose.
However you'll need root access for this to work.
From this Titanium backup wiki:

Can I tell the Market that I do not want to update a specific app?
Yes. Just long-click on an app in the Titanium Backup list and hit
"Detach from Market".

Unfortunately I'm not rooted, but this may be a good reason to make the jump!

One of the good reasons :)