text:
Does my Galaxy S6 have an unlocked bootloader?
I want to install the Resurrection Remix custom ROM on my SM-G920I (Australian Version). Before I start doing anything, I need to make sure that the bootloader is unlocked, so I don't brick my phone.
To find out the state of my bootloader, I tried doing a few things that I read online. First, having a look at download mode, by holding home, power and volume down on startup. It instead goes to "Odin Mode" and lists these items.
ODIN MODE
PRODUCT NAME: SM-G920I
CURRENT BINARY: Samsung Official
SYSTEM STATUS: Official
REACTIVATION LOCK: OFF
SECURE DOWNLOAD: Enabled
KNOX WARRANTY VOID: 0 (0x0000)
RP SWREV: B:4 K:2 S:2

Do any of these items tell me about the bootloader?
I then tried using the ADB and fastboot method. Fastboot refused to work for me, saying no devices found. I later found out that Samsung devices do not have a fastboot mode at all.
Lastly, I tried just going to Developer Options and enabling "Allow OEM Unlock", but this feature was nowhere to be found on my device.
How am I able to check if my bootloader is unlocked, so I can root and flash a custom ROM on my device?

Most if not all non-US-carrier Samsung devices come with unlocked/unlockable bootloader; those without the "OEM Unlock" switch are simply unlocked by default. Just proceed with flashing TWRP or whatever ops you need to do next.

How do I make sure it's unlocked? I don't really want to end up bricking my phone.

AFAIK there's no concrete way of checking bootloader status on Samsung devices, since they have no fastboot mode. Most if not all sources on the internet will tell you to determine from the model number, i.e. whether it's from those US carriers.


text:
Micro USB port charges only (no data)
I connected my Galaxy Tab S2 to my (previously working) Ethernet adapter, only to find it would only charge (no Ethernet). However, charging (up to 2A) still works fine.
I've tried:

connecting a new Ethernet adapter, a generic OTG adapter, and a USB cable to a PC (these all worked before). None of these worked, but they all worked on other devices.
checking the Micro USB port for damage. There is none.
Connecting the USB cable to a PC would start charging, but data did not work (it would be read as an AC charger, there would be no "Slow charging" message, and there was no "USB charging only" or "USB debugging enabled" notification).

Everything else (including charging as mentioned above) still works perfectly.
What is wrong with my tablet?

It is highly likely that the M-USB is faulty. Try another one.

@DanishShakeel A different device with a Micro USB port? I've tried that and all the adapters/cords worked on a different device.

Does the problem persist with all the cables?

@DanishShakeel Yes, I tried a 6ft nylon cable and the original Samsung cable and both of them only charged (syncing worked on other devices).

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Re-run Pixel 4 Setup
My girlfriend just purchased a Pixel 4 from Verizon. Apparently, the Verizon representative rushed through the initial setup flow, and my girlfriend didn't get a chance to configure her phone the way she wanted. Is it possible to re-run the onboarding flow?

I think everything that can be configured through initial setup wizard is also available in Settings.

If you are not familiar with ADB environment, then the most suitable solution for you is to Factory Reset your device. However, if you are familiar with ADB, then follow this:
adb shell su
pm enable com.google.android.setupwizard/com.google.android.setupwizard.SetupWizardActivity

adb shell settings put secure user_setup_complete 0

Please note that the commands are case-sensitive and require
  permissions.

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


text:
How to maintain 1 char at a time when holding down delete?
After about 2 seconds or so quickly deleting 1 char at a time holding down delete turns into quickly delete entire words or sentences at a time. To avoid this I end up having to:
press for about 1 second
then let go
press for about 1 second
then let go
press for about 1 second
then let go
Is there a way to change the behavior to maintain only 1 char at a time no matter how long you hold it down? Maybe have another key delete entire words or sentences at a time. This is using the Samsung keyboard, is there another keyboard that'll allow this?

This is a 'feature' of Samsung's keyboard, default on Samsung android phones. I did look at Samsung's settings and did not see the ability to alter this. Use another keyboard to fix, which I did, such as Gboard by Google.
While I do like the ability quickly delete word by word also, that should be provided by a another key, not shared with the character by character key.


text:
(Semi) permanently disable touch input
I own a Samsung Galaxy S4 (GT-I9515L "jfvelte") running Lineage OS 16. It has a broken touchscreen which register random "ghost" touches.
I'm able to use it with the help of a USB mouse. To disable the touchscreen I use adb to open a shell on /dev/input and remove event3, which disables the touchscreen (renaming or moving the file doesn't work, only removing it) - until reboot.
How do I keep it disabled even after reboot? Preferably, I'd like a way that I can enable it later if I ever want to.

Turn's out there's init.sh support on Lineage (content of /etc/init.d/90userinit):
#!/system/bin/sh
# call userinit.sh if present in /data/local

if [ -e /data/local/userinit.sh ];
then
   log -p i -t userinit "Executing /data/local/userinit.sh";
   /system/bin/sh /data/local/userinit.sh;
   setprop lineage.userinit.active 1;
fi;

So I wrote a bash script that removes the /dev/input/event3 on boot, thus It disabling touch input on boot time:
/data/local/userinit.sh:
#!/system/bin/sh
rm /dev/input/event3

If I ever need to re-enable touch input, I can simply remove the bash script.


text:
Google Assistant Routine custom commands weird behavior
I'm trying to setup Google Assistant Routine for my wake-up alarm. Whenever I create 2 or more custom commands, they tend to change after saving. I'm trying to add 2 commands: continue music and turn do not disturb off (both these commands are correct and work fine with Google Assistant). But whenever I press the save button and check them back, one of them changes to the other one. So I'm only getting either 2 do not disturb off or 2 continue music.
The question is: am I doing something wrong? Maybe I don't understand something about Google Assistant Routines?
My device is Xiaomi Mi A1 with latest Android 9 installed.

I get the same behaviour on Pixel 3 XL. Clearly a bug. A workaround is create a new Google routine containing all the things you want to do, and activate that single routine in the clock app.

Don't remember this helping me. Gonna check it.


text:
Why does screen turn off when making calls on speakerphone?

This is not a proximity sensor issue. The proximity sensor works as expected during normal calls and speakerphone calls.
This is not a screen timeout issue. The screen timeout is set to 10 minutes. It always turns off within <45 seconds.

as expected during normal calls and speakerphone calls.
This is infuriating. I don't understand why the screen should turn off after any amount of time other than the screen timeout setting when on a speakerphone call. Usually I'm navigating automated menus and it goes out a second or two before I'm ready to input the option. A simple tap doesn't wake it either I have to pick up the phone and press the power button.
This is with a Samsung Galaxy S10e.
How can I make the phone respect my screen timeout settings when on speakerphone calls?

Related: Disable automatic screen turn-off during call

Does this answer your question? Disable automatic screen turn-off during call

The reason why the screen turn off when making calls is to prevent keypad press and high battery consumption during the call so that you're not suddenly got cut halfway in the call.
As for how to keep the screen turn on during the call, there are a few ways you can do it. I suggest Screen On Call app. If the app doesn't work, try to use a headset on call.

We know what they think it should turn off. But simple analysis makes it clear there is no genuine reason. Keypad press is not relevant since you're on speakerphone not with the phone against your ear and you've intentionally turned on the keyboard so you can press it. Battery is irrelevant as it's mostly black pixels and again you've intentionally kept it on. If you want to save battery life it's one button. It sounds like you're confused with the screen turning off when not on speakerphone which would be correct behaviour. As made clear, the phone is overriding set screen timeout settings.

My LG 3 auto-updated to a 3-second screen timeout. I was unable to change it in any Settings menu. The solution I found is to download a Screen on app.

Please go to Settings, then Apps, and then click on Show System Apps. There you will find Android System Intelligence by Google.
Try disabling it for once, and maybe it works.
Please note that you will not be able to use some features like Live Caption and Smart Replies on your phone.

I don't see how this may be the cause, do you have any references about this? I noticed there's "Screen Attention", but it would "prevent the screen from turning off" which is the opposite of OP's problem

I'm not sure , but can you give it a try?

Unfortunately, I don't have the same issue, so I can't really test it, sorry.


text:
Add icons to Glass Launcher
Is it possible to add app shortcuts to the Glass Launcher on the Google Glass (Glass Enterprise Edition 2 in my case)? If so, how?
To be clear, I mean I've developed an app and I'd like to add its icon to this screen (currently, the only way I know how to start the app is manually via adb):


text:
Google apps (Gmail, Maps, Play) don't work when on data connection (Android - Pocophone F1)
lately and seemingly out of nowhere my phone has stopped updating Gmail when on data, even when I manually try to synch. Google Maps and Play also won't work, although everything else does, like Reddit or Chrome. When on WiFi, no problems whatsoever.
I am using a Xiaomi Pocophone F1, running MIUI Global 10.3.8 / Android 9 PKQ1.180729.001.
This has been going on for weeks. So far I have tried erasing the affected apps' cache to no avail, and removed my Google Account from my device. When I tried this last step and tried to sign back in, I got a message saying "There was a problem communicating with Google servers.", so it didn't help either.
Any help would be hugely appreciated as I feel like this is way beyond my capabilities!

If you try using your phone as a mobile hotspot and let others connect through your hotspot, can they use Google services? Also, do others using the same SIM provider as you facing the same issue, or is it only you? Since you didn't do anything, and it happened out of nowhere, and you can still browse others, one of my suspicions is that your SIM provider blocks Google services for unknown reasons. Have you googled if it happens with others?

I haven't tried it with other people's phones, but when I hotspot my computer I can access Gmail so I don't think it's that? It's only me facing this problem with this provider, and none of the solutions I could find online so far were able to solve anything. Only thing I can think of is that this phone was bought in Singapore and I'm using it in Australia, where the device supports only 3 of the 4 bands the provider uses. But then again I didn't have any issue the first 4 months here...

Please run this on your console and revert: adb shell dumpsys telephony.registry

I followed several online troubleshooting guides for similar problems but nothing worked. In the end, I had to resort to a factory reset, and that sure fixed it.


text:
Delay and group notifications
I would like to be able to reduce the number of times my phone interrupts me while I am working, without significantly decreasing my responsiveness. I have a few ideas for how to do this, but I haven't found a way to actually implement any of them.

Only receive notifications every N minutes. For N=10, at 2:00 I would get a few notifications. Then at 2:10, I would get the next set of notifications.
When my phone receives a notification, check when the last notification was delivered. If it was less than N minutes prior, wait until N minutes has elapsed then deliver all the notifications received in that time. This is the ideal solution, in my mind.

One suggestion (mentioned at Delay notifications) handles silencing messages delivered at nearly the same time, but it doesn't alert the user about the second notification after the time has passed. It essentially just silences the phone for 1 minute after receiving a notification.

Does this answer your question? Delay notifications

@willlma Clearly not, else I wouldn't have mentioned it in my question.


text:
Gmail not automatically syncing
Samsung A40 OneUi 1.1
Connected to wifi
After an email arrives to inbox, the phone (screen turned off) will not register this and no notification is given. After waking up it will sometimes sync but not always, after opening Gmail app it will usually sync but not always. Waiting for dozens of minutes and still nothing.
In such case, when I go to Account > (account) > syncing then Gmail syncing is enabled, but "last synced" can be e.g. 20+ minutes old.
Clicking to sync icon manually there or by pulling down in Gmail app it would sync successfully. I've read that the info about new mails is supposed to be pushed to the device so not sure why syncing is necessary actually, but it works like that...
2 Gmail accounts are bound to the device, but both have the same behavior
I tried (when account-related then was done for both accounts)
- Re-enabling syncing of Gmail
- Global auto sync is enabled
- Mobile data background usage is allowed (it's on wifi, but ... just to be sure)
- Wifi works correctly
- Checked battery settings - changed global to optimized mode (which is the most performance-focused and least battery optimization-focused mode available despite the name)
- Gmail is not set to be forced to sleep
- Gmail working in background is not disabled
- Checked memory-related settings, not seeing anything off
- Syncing is enabled within Gmail app itself > account settings.
- Notifications within Gmail app's own settings screen are enabled
- All notification options are enabled for Gmail app in the system screen for notification settings of the app
- No optimization 3rd party app etc. is running there
- Restart didn't help
Any idea how to fix this? Thank you

Had the same issue. I have also checked everything twice and this is how I have finally fixed it. I went in the Settings -> Apps -> gmail -> Storage -> Clear Data, then restarted my phone.


text:
Lower ROM minimum brightness
On my rooted stock ROM LG G2 D802 KK 4.4.2 minimum brightness is actually 50 (not 0) on a scale from 0 to 255.
Here is my dumpsys power
POWER MANAGER (dumpsys power)

Settings and Configuration:
...
  mScreenBrightnessSettingMinimum=50
  mScreenBrightnessSettingMaximum=255
  mScreenBrightnessSettingDefault=102
...

Display Controller Configuration:
  mScreenBrightnessDimConfig=50
  mScreenBrightnessRangeMinimum=50
  mScreenBrightnessRangeMaximum=255

I tried editing build.prop, adding ro.lcd_min_brightness=20 but no luck, if I edit /sys/class/backlight/brightness to a value lower than 50 brightness stays at default minimum even if brightness slider is over minimum.
Where should I look for this hardcoded 50 minimum value? Framework.apk, kernel, SystemUI.apk...?

If I edit my brightness value manually, it won't go below the minimum, and I have never figured out why. If I use the app brightness tweak however, I can lower it all the way to one. You can find the app on xda labs, I hope it's compatable with jellybean. I also hope this helps you.


text:
Why is Magisk failing ctsProfile?
Under "SafetyNet Check Success", my Magisk shows ctsProfile is not passing? Is there anyway to check on this and figure out why?

https://topjohnwu.github.io/Magisk/tutorials.html#best-practices-for-magiskhide

Try using the MagiskHide Props Config. Install the module from the downloads section in magisk manager. The details can be found here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/magisk/module-magiskhide-props-config-t3789228


text:
Disable "DeX on PC" notification each time S10 connected to PC
Since a recent update (I can't say exactly which or when) each time I connect my Samsung S10 to my PC, I get a Samsung DeX notification...

I don't want DeX, but I do want to get rid of the notification every time I connect my phone.
Is it possible disable/remove the notification?  The app notifications is not giving me the slide-switch option to disable it...

See if my answer helps. https://android.stackexchange.com/q/163338/96277

Thanks @Firelord - I was hoping there might be a quick and easy solution, but I'll have a look at MacroDroid over the weekend when I have a bit of time

If you would rather remove Dex from your phone instead of disabling it, and you have ADB and USB debugging setup, you can remove it with this command:
adb shell "pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.app.dexonpc"

Open Settings, go to Apps. Press the three dot symbol, and tap "show system apps". Then go to Dex for PC, tap storage, clear cache. Go back one screen, tap Force stop and Disable. You might have to repeat this after reboot or software upgrade, haven't tested that.


text:
My S7 phone keypad
When I get a phone call and have to enter numbers for automated service, then when I mistype a number, I am not able to back space or see a delete icon.
But if I were to make a call, I have a delete button.
Very weird

Typing a phone number in your dialpad and typing a number in an ongoing-call/automated service is quite different. When you talk about automated service, it means that the 'automated service' is being hosted on some other computer that takes your input as final and processes it. You can't alter the input in any way. Unlike this, when you are dialling a number in your dial pad, the call is yet to be 'hosted' on a network so you are free to do whatever you want to.


text:
Swiftkey backup & sync not working
I am using Swiftkey 7.4.0.18 on Android 9 (before that, on Android 7). I got a new phone and installed Swiftkey on it, logged in and enabled backup & sync. My personal dictionary had been correctly backed up before, I can see that in the "View and manage your data" section. The dictionary contains several hundred or thousand words (I speak a special German dialect, that's why). However, these learned words do not show up on my new phone, even though sync appears to "work" as there is no error message. I have contacted Swiftkey support a while ago but haven't heard anything.
Anybody here who can tell me how I can debug / solve this?

I am also a SwiftKey user and this feature has never worked for me. The problem is same as yours.

This is so dumb. Is there no way to get support?

I would say that SwiftKey Support is not 'exceptional'.

This is a problem voiced by many users but ignored - see https://support.swiftkey.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115002929809/comments/360008235792.


text:
Clicking on the Google Assistant icon of the google search widget doesn't activate google assisant
You know that Google Search bar widget that comes with the Google app? It has a Google assistant button click on which opens Google Voice Search instead of Google Assistant. How do I fix it? It used to work well but then I cleared Google web and app activity and that messed it all up.

Have you tried updating your Google app?

@daniel shakeel yes I have. It's on the latest version.

Please provide the complete android details.


text:
Why does Play Store on Android Wear claim ten updates when there are only two?
My Ticwatch S2 notifies me when there are app updates available, which when tapped gives the option to update all or open (I have auto-update apps turned off). I picked open.

However, instead of the expected 10 pending updates, I'm only shown 2:

Note it shows 2 updates available (just barely visible at the top) and scrolling down just shows recently updated. When I checked each installed app individually, no other apps showed having an update (I'm not 100% the watch version of the Play Store does that, though).
This has been going on for a while. I've already tried:

Using "update all" instead of individually reviewing updates by hitting "open".
Clearing data for the Play Store, that cleared the list of recent updates and reset the settings for the Play Store back to defaults, but didn't solve the issue.

One thing I have noticed is that on the Play Store's main screen, it lists 8 apps on my phone that I don't have on my watch. Odd coincidence?

Not a coincidence. The Wear OS 2.x device's Play Store shows the pending updates both on the Wear device and the phone. This is because Wear OS 2.x allows standalone wear apps, and they can be installed/updated independently from the phone apps.
Thus, if the notification says "X new updates, Y updates total are pending", it means there are X independent Wear apps to update, but a total of Y apps both on Wear device and phone to update. Updating all from the Wear device will only affect the independent Wear apps, so the user still needs to use the phone's Play Store to update the apps on the phone.
From Android Developers - Package and distribute Wear apps

Distribution to Wear 2.0 watches
On devices running Wear 2.0, when a user installs a phone app that has an associated watch app (either an embedded APK or an APK uploaded via the Play Console), the user gets a watch notification about the available watch app. Tapping the notification opens the watch Play Store, giving the user the option to install the watch app.
Additionally:

[...]
When you upload a watch APK via the Play Console, you can update your Wear APK independently from the phone APK, and users receive updates via the watch Play Store.
[...]

(Emphasis mine)

Previously on Wear OS 1.x (and before, i.e. Android Wear), wear apps are embedded in the phone apps. To update the wear apps, the user has to update the phone apps first, then the Play Store will install the embedded wear apps from the phone to the Wear device.
Also from the same article,

Distribution to Wear 1.x and 2.0 watches
The standard distribution model for Wear 1.x was embedding a watch app inside a phone app. [...]. When a user installs your phone app, if you have a compatible Wear app in the Play Store, it will automatically be installed on Wear 1.0 watches.

Additional note: Ticwatch S2 runs on Wear OS 2.2.

Right now the notification is 1 new update, 9 updates total (on the watch). Just checked on the phone, there are 5 there. When I opened the play store (on the watch), there are actually 0. ☹ (BTW: The phone can produce a similar notification, on the phone, in which case "new" means since the last notification and "total" is higher if I've been holding off installing an update — so I had expected the similar notification on the watch has similar meaning.)

@derobert looks like you've updated some of the apps on phone and Wear device? Perhaps the notification is already stalled, try to clear the notification and wait for the new notification (if applicable)? I'm afraid I can't help further since the Wear OS
and Google Play Store help centers don't provide much info either...

I'll keep an eye out for the timestamp and see if that explains it. Good idea to check that.


text:
Deleting multiple backed up photos
I am trying to un back up my photos from my Gmail account.  There are many and it would take a long time to go into each one and click on the trash icon. How can I select multiple photos to be sent to trash?  Every time I click an image it opens up and doesn't give me the option to delete lots at once by using SHIFT.  How do I send lots of photos to trash in one go?

If you are using Google Photos app, long-press on a photo. That would put a checkmark on that photo. Now single tap on as many photos as you want to select them. Afterwards, tap on the trash icon to delete them altogether.


text:
New Samsung Note 9 battery charger compatibility
I just bought a new Samsung Note 9 (Exynos 9810). Little did I know that the model I ordered was the EU version and not the US version, so the charger I received was unusable with any of my power sockets. I ordered an adapter online but thanks to my impatience, instead of waiting for the adapter - decided to just charge the new device for the first time with my old Asus Zenfone charger. The Note 9 charged pretty slowly, even though the Asus charger is a fast charger (5V, 2A or 9V, 2A similar to the Samsung's 5V, 2A or 9V, 1.67A). I charged it to 100%.
I've been experiencing pretty average battery life, which is weird since the Note 9 has a 4000mah battery. I have however been using the phone pretty heavily as I've been setting it up with my accounts.
Did using the non-OEM charger for the first charge-up of the device - mess up the battery performance in any way?
I've been beating myself up over this, so I decided to do a Geekbench battery test (Partial Discharge), which returned a score of 4653 with "Medium confidence", which is lower than the score posted online (approx. 5000) However, I don't know if the online scores are for Partial Discharge, and the comparison scores my phone displayed for example for the Galaxy S8 were also lower on my phone than the ones posted online...
Am I worried over nothing? Would charging the battery for the first time with a non OEM charger hurt the battery/ phone? Is the battery charged at the factory with the OEM charger before it is sent to market?

Charging the device with a non-OEM charger is not likely to harm anything at all, as you have noted it will likely take longer. In fact it is probably better for the device to charge slower as there is less heat buildup in the battery while charging. And no, the battery is not charged with the OEM charger at the factory, the batteries are likely installed pre-charged prior to the package being sealed. Battery life is a tricky thing and can vary from device to device even within the same model do to a number of factors.

I agree.. just wondering if this being the first charge-up made any difference. FYI the battery was already at 48% out of the box when I charged it upto 100%. I expect the battery test results to be different... I'm gonna run the battery test once again to see how different it is just from instance to instance.

First charge up or last, shouldn't make a difference... although I don't have any information to verify that specifically. A slow charge is better for a battery than a fast one, regardless if it's the first or most recent charge. Most devices are shipped with the battery at 50-75%, as 50% is the optimal long-term storage level for LiOn or LiPo battery and their self-discharge rate is about 2-3% per month, plus keeping batteries stored at 100% or 0% charge is known to shorten their lifespan. BTW, I don't trust ANY of those battery testers in the real world, get GSAM and see where it's going.


text:
Possible to connect Android phone to a port on router
My son wants to connect his Android phone to a port on his router. The details of phone and environment follow.  Any advice on whether this is possible would be much appreciated.
Phone: WIKO
Model: U FEEL
Android version 6.0 (08)
Developer Optoins: ON
USB Debugging: ON
Verify apps over USB: ON
Select USB Configuration:
(possible options)
- Charging
- MTP
- PTP
- RNDIS
- Audio Source
- MIDI
Disable USB audio routing: ON
Show all ANRs: ON

With "port" you mean an RJ45 Ethernet port, right? For doing so you need an USB Ethernet adapter and an USB OTG cable. Of course this requires that the device supports USB-OTG and USB-Ethernet adapters.

Possible duplicate of Which USB-C to RJ45 adapter for SONY Xperia XZ Just the device is different, which does not make a difference - it works for an device or not.

How to make Ethernet work on Android over OTG?

Sorry I violated the forum's strict posting rules....
I found answers to both my questions on a couple of other forums - so, sharing KNOWLEDGE
 1. both my son's WIKO and my SONY XPERIA XZ have reportedly had the driver removed or incapacitated in the Linux kernel and as neither phone is ROOTed there's no way strightforward way to install a driver
 2. and yes Robert, I meant the RJ45 Ethernet port


text:
Virtual addresses managed by Android
I have the following questions:
How Android map virtual addresses to physical addresses?
Does Android use virtual memory like desktop OS?
What is the replacement algorithm used by Android?
These questions are quite simple to Desktop OS's and there are a lot of books about it, but Android looks like a black box in a matter of these concepts.
There are three questions and answers to any of them are welcome.

Mapping virtual addresses to physical addresses is handled in kernel space, not by applications in userspace. Since Android uses Linux kernel (with some modifications), what's true for Linux is also true for Android. Going in depth, it's a development related question, off-topic here.


text:
Not granting permission because it was previously installed without?
An app i installed fails at startup, in the logs i see this permission problem:
Not granting permission android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION to package com.nianticlabs.pokemongo because it was previously installed without

and
Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE in package: com.nianticlabs.pokemongo at: Binary XML file line #35

My phone is a Fairphone2, it runs Android 7.1.2
Buildnumber 18.09.2
Kernel-version 3.4.0-perf-geaadfcc5a2djenkins@lxc-slave05 #1 dd:20180928
The app in question is Pokemon go.
I have wiped and factory reset my phone at least 3 times, had the battery out and everything.
Is there any way to fix the permission problem via ADB?

The second message can probably be ignored, as it details a mistake in the app's AndroidManifest.xml file. To address the first one, could you try executing pm grant com.nianticlabs.pokemongo android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION after running adb shell?

@DeathMaskSalesman if only, trying  to grant the permissions via adb causes the warnings. Is there any way i can alter the AndriodManifest.xml?


text:
Can user application enable mobile data even when they are user disabled?
I am trying to localize app that is connecting to the internet even when I have mobile data disabled.
Is it possible that user installed app (on Android 9) can enable mobile data when they are turned off (probably on background)?
I think that only option is root access / system admin app only. Or device manufacturer preinstalled apps.
Is it possible on standart stock ROM? Does any of Android system privileges have access to such function?

Have you activated the option Voice over LTE (VoLTE)? In this case it may be possible that the phone opens a data connection even if it is disabled (which would be a bug in my opinion).

@Robert I have this issue about 4 weeks. Last week I even disabled VoLTE, because I have exactly same thoughts :)
But it still does not help.
Thats why I am askting if user installed app can do this, so I can search in installed apps. Otherwise its almsot sure something in the ROM itself.

I assume your device is not rooted... because user apps with root access on a stock ROM can do this (example: automation apps).


text:
How to power off Samsung A6 without screen
The screen on my Galaxy A6 is dead. Until I possibly get it repaired, I would like to shutdown the phone, mainly to stop the alarm which I cannot turn off without the screen.
I have seen plenty of instructions on how to force it to reboot (power + vol. down), and on how to hard reset it. But that is not what I want. I just want to turn the phone off.
(it would be easy if I could remove the battery, but that is not possible either, and I didn't think of checking that before buying that thing...)

Why don't you let the battery drain out completely? That would automatically turn off the device. Afterwards, charge the device when it  is powered off.

Do you have debugging enabled?

@DanishShakeel: I'm not certain, but I think I did enable debugging a few months ago to have easier USB access. But that also required confirming on the touch screen if I remember correctly.

@mivk, you may cross-check that by running adb devices on your machine. If it detects your detects your device then follow my answer.

To shutdown a device with debugging enabled, run:
adb shell reboot -p

This works, but of course only if USB debugging has been enabled AND the connecting computer has been authorized before to always connect without having to confirm it on the phone. So these things must have been done before the screen is dead.

You can take out the battery, as shown here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVl9EGJdTHE
if you are willing to DIY
(You might need to go that route anyway, if you plan to replace the screen yourself -- which is probably much cheaper and faster than using a repair shop)
P.S. Actually, it's probably best to let the battery drain before opening the phone, but I'm not sure.


text:
How To Install New Android Apps without Uninstalling Other Installed Apps?
I'm using Android 8.1.0 on my latest Huawei smartphone.
I'm constantly using several apps at a time & installing new ones as required..
but this problem (a sort of nuisance) is that I need to uninstall older installed apps just to download the new one.
Is there any solution to fix that?
2nd problem I face, an app(of say 5 mb) requires up to 180mb space to be installed & that much amount of apps(& their spaces) needs to be emptied.
Is there any solution to fix that even?

its getting in my calmly nerves...

This is not a normal case since a user can always install a new app, provided there's a sufficient free space. Thus, looks like the issue is about low free storage space? Some apps (including most of modern apps) only installs the base app & resource to reduce the space, but then downloads more data/resources to run properly.

You need to buy a device with ample storage, preferably 64GB or more in size, or a device that supports an external SD card and re-location of apps to SD card.


text:
I can't open my tablet (even after long press) when someone manually shuts it down
If someone clicks the "Shut down" button (not power button) on Asus Tablet, it will stay shut down and it won't open even after I long press the power button. It only opens after I connect it to a charger, and then long press the power button. But I don't have the charger with me all the time, what can I do? Is there any software or something to download? I forgot the exact name of the tablet but it's made by Asus and I got it in 2016

What long is a "long press"? Have you tried to enable a force reboot by holding the power button for more than 10 or 30 seconds?

One or two times it was very long, maybe like 3 or 4 minutes

Is there any application or something I need to do?


text:
Broken Phone Power Button and ADB not detecting device. NEED HELP!
So the power button on my phone (Asus Zenfone 3 laser) no longer works and the phone is powered off. I have charged it up and gotten it to the android recovery menu by holding down power and simultaneously plugging it into my laptop. Unfortunately, I don't think USB debugging is turned on as adb devices and fastboot devices comes up empty. The phone does charge from being plugged in.
Since the power button doesn't work, I can move up and down in the recovery menu all I want using the volume keys, but cant select an option (which requires the power button).
Does anyone have a method of just getting it to turn on that doesn't require opening up the phone (as I don't want to buy the special screw driver to do so). I just want the photos inside, the phone is pretty much scrap metal.

If bootloader is unlocked you can boot twrp recovery from fastboot. fastboot mode is the other vol-key. you don't need usb-debugging for fastboot its just a cable/driver thing, and twrp has adb access by default

there is also a fastboot setting to boot when charging, try fastboot oem off-mode-charge disable

Thank you. I tried the second option and I think it may have worked. I used it in cmd and it said successfully finished. Will know if it worked or not tomorrow once my phone exits fast boot mode so I can put it on charge

Thank You SOOOOO much. It worked. I was a little scared it wouldn't since secure boot is enabled but it did. Ur my hero :)))))))


text:
Any way to find the list of webpages I added to homescreen from Chrome Android?
I had to disable Chrome Android on my phone today due to an unrelated software install issue. In the process, all the webpages I had added to my homescreen on my S8 phone from Chrome Android disappeared.
Is there somewhere I can find a history of all the pages I added to my homescreen? There were like 18 pages and I can't remember them.

Unfortunately, the information you are looking for is simply lost. The shortcuts that a user adds to the homescreen are saved inside the default home launcher's data directory. Typically, it is a database (named launcher.db or similar to it), usually within a table often named "favorites".
I checked the relevant database (for Nova Launcher) after adding some Chrome shortcuts to the homescreen, and then disabled Chrome, and then checked again. The relevant entries were no longer there, and they were also not restored when I enabled the app again.
Unless your default launcher was provisioned to be backed up by Google and was indeed backed up recently, or if you manually backed it up (highly unlikely), it would be futile to proceed in this direction any further.

I have no launcher. Just the default from the phone. So how come disabling Chrome removes the homescreen shortcuts but all the tabs I had open in the browser are still there?

It doesn't matter which launcher you are using. The home shortcuts are stored by the default launcher, so the answer applies to any launcher you are using as default. As for the tabs, they are not part of launcher app's data but of Chrome browser's data. Disabling an app doesn't delete data or cache of that app. It simply makes the app inaccessible to the user and the apps.


text:
Disable Alt+Tab physical keyboard shortcut
Is there any way to disable the Alt+Tab shortcut when using physical keyboard on android phone ,I'm using xiaomi
Mi a2 phone.


text:
Sign in to Google in Chrome without signing in on Android
On desktop, you can sign in to multiple google accounts by clicking on your picture and selecting "add account".
You used to be able to do this on Android. Chrome would automatically sign you in if you were signed in to a google account in Android, but you could sign in to as many google accounts as you wanted.
That feature seems to be broken/gone now.
Now I can only "manage device accounts" which takes me to the Android screen for adding a Google account to Android.  I don't want to add a Google account to Android, I just want to sign in to some Google accounts in Chrome. I don't want the Google account device policies or mixing their contacts with mine or accidentally being in the wrong Google Play account when downloading an app or any of that.
Is there a way to force Chrome to let me sign in to multiple Google accounts without adding the account to Android itself?
I've tested this on a factory-reset Pixel 1 with all the updates and a Pixel 4.

Perhaps using another browser will also help you to achieve this.

Firefox on Android supports logging in to multiple google accounts but there are several drawbacks to this which prevent me from using it as my default browser.


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Root to set a battery limit and unroot again?
I dont have any practical experience with rooting my phone. There is one thing that's been bugging me for a very long time: I need to be able to set a charging limit on my Pixel 2 since I dont feel like replacing the battery soon and destroying the water resistance.
My question is: if I root and set a charging limit and unroot again, will this setting be erased? As I said, I am not too familiar with the risks of having my OS more vulnerable towards viruses, thus the only thing I want to do is to set the battery charging limit and then just go back to unroot.
Thanks,
Alex

I can help you (hopefully) retain the things you achieve with root after un-rooting. Do you know the steps to set charging limit and root, unroot your device?

Setting a charging limit is not persistent. Therefore the call has to be made (with root permissions) at least once after every reboot.
Rooting/unrooting requires at least a reboot. Therefore you can't "temporarily root" your device and set a charging limit.
If your device does not provide something like an intelligent battery charging optimization the only alternative is to use a battery charging notification app.
There are a lot if battery charging notification apps on Play Store. One example is Battery Full Charge Alarm  which can be configured to notify at a specific charging level.

I know, AccuBattery also has that feature. I wish it was something you could set to happen automatically without having to root your device. My other idea was to use Tasker and get a smart plug but the sheer thought of having to buy additional devices is kind of frustrating.


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How to disable Enter SIM card PIN window under Android 9?

hello see the picture.
I took my smartphone with me and the battery was empty. When I recharged the device I got this typical SIM card message. Enter the PIN.
but unfortunately I didn't know the PIN anymore and couldn't use the device. how can I deactivate it under Android 9? without removing the SIM card from the sim card slot?
Under iOS system I can restart the device. just hold down the POWER button and activate the flight mode. then the "Enter SIM PIN" screen is gone.
Here's a little guide to what happened with me and it's not conveniently solved in Android system:

insert one or 2 SIM cards into my Android device. Because not always my PIN notice, I have on the Android device in password manager app. The PIN is stored.
go to friends or shop. sometimes it can happen that i am not always at home. and my android device has no more battery and device goes out.
when I turn on the Android device
the "Enter SIM PIN" screen appears
now you don't want to enter SIM PIN or forgot it.
unfortunately i can't access my password manager app because the "Enter SIM PIN" screen blocks the android home screen. You get stuck.

in this case I have to go home or ask people if they have a needle so I can remove the SIM card from the device.
I tested with Android 9 and compared it with iOS 10.
Can somebody test if Android 10 fixes it?
I still have a slight reminder that it can deactivate this "Enter SIM PIN" screen in Android 2 via flight mode, just as it can in iOS.

Eject the SIM card - usually there is no other option. See also Access phone without SIM PIN

It depends of your device but usually you can find that settings under:
Settings->Security&Location(or privacy, it depends)->Advanced (this is some times)->Sim card lock->Then sisable Lock Sim card option


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Are quantum RNGs on an Android device possible?
I edited out the term quantum in this question on SoftwareRecs.SE on the assumption that actual quantum effects on an Android device cannot be measured/harvested from - things like radioactive decay, photon counting, laser phase noise, zener noise (more options mentioned e.g. here).
But maybe I'm wrong: are random number generators using quantum effects in Android devices possible (and available)?
(I'm not asking for software recommendations, that should be on the other question).

Err, I'm not sure where to start since I lack the knowledge on quantum. However, as you might have known, Android has many types of sensors which can be accessed by 3rd-party apps, so RNG based on their output is possible (can't speak on the "entropy"-thing). Looking from the list, I don't think those are considered quantum phenomena...

However, Android OS itself is open-source and very customizable, and there are Android devices for specialized purpose (e.g. TV, Watch, IoT). So, if there are external devices that can detect quantum phenomena and has communication channels like Bluetooth or WiFi, then I think Android device can use that, potentially needs some modifications though.

@AndrewT. That's exactly the distinction I want to make, noise should be based on quantum effects. And there are indeed quantum devices

There is a very good RNG source on nearly every Android device available: the CMOS camera sensor, or in detail the noise of the captured images. It can even be used to measure nuclear radiation (there are scientific papers on that topic available).


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How to patch `system.img` using MagiskManager patch feature to root the device?
I have a treble and system-as-root but it is not an A/B device. I have rooted it with the help of the MagiskManager patch feature. My understanding is: MagiskManager has modified the following three files for rooting:

boot.img to remove the signatures.
vbmeta.img to remove the AVB checks(to stop flashing unauthorized binaries).
recovery.img to actually root the device by patching init and adding some files like .backup/.magisk, .backup/.init(original init) etc..

Magisk has patched the recovery.img to boot the device into root mode if you release the recovery mode key combination at a splash screen.
But my requirement is to always boot as root without needing any key combinations.
I know Magisk needs to patch the SE-Policies and init file before the init process is actually started(as it will turn ON the enforcing mode). From treble device, my understanding is that the system partition is mounted before running the init script.
I think Magisk developers have patched the recover.img because they want to follow the systemless-root approach and support for the OTA updates.
So, I want to know if MagiskManager is capable of patching my system.img file to root the device?
I know the root will be lost if any OTA will come or maybe my device will fail to update the system but this is ok with me as long as I can root it again with the same method :)
This is also fine if instead of rooting on system.img, I will be able to patch the zImage to always boot in recovery as root mode.
Please suggest if it is feasible or not. If yes then how?

It doesn't need to modify the system image – that's the idea behind it. Magisk uses "overlay file systems" to achieve that goal. And it comes with its own SuperUser, which you can configure from inside MagiskManager.

I understand that Magisk doesn't need to modify the system.img and is not recommended but my requirement is different: I can not go with recovery boot and don't need OTA updates. I just need a device that always reboots as root.

That's what Magisk already does. No change needed.

@Izzy you need to press key combo for recovery mode to boot with magisk root for some newer devices

@VatishSharma interesting question, maybe you can request this as feature in magisk support. how about other (older) classic root methods with SuperSU or KingRoot they can be installed in /system

Just a stupid idea, what happens if you swap boot and recovery partitions (flash patched recovery.img to boot)? Shouldn't it then boot into magisk by default?

@alecxs interesting. On non-A/B SAR devices boot.img doesn't have a ramdisk, kernel mounts system.img as rootfs / and then executes /init. Recovery kernel executes /init from recovery ramdisk. So both partitions have different headers and bootloader passes different command-lines to both kernels. If recovery.img is flashed to boot partition, I think bootloader won't extract recovery ramdisk since key combination isn't applied. But it depends on bootloader implementation, may work on some devices.

related/background https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/218222

@alecxs yeah I answered that. Actually it's possible to patch system.img for permanent root in normal boot without booting to recovery. But that requires some hassle (unnecessary in my opinion).

... it was easier the days before selinux, just pushing /system/bin/su and /system/app/supersu.apk and chmod 6755 or something

how about 'reboot recovery' as init.d script (kinda stupid hack)?

feel inspired by the "bootless root" method (suboot script) maybe this will give you idea https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/development/amazing-temp-root-mediatek-armv8-t3922213/post79626434

@alecxs Apps can't reboot device, so reboot recovery needs to be done from adb (which isn't a less hassle than keeping keys pressed on reboot). Or init.rc (and hence system.img) needs to be modified to run some reboot script. If system.img is to be modified then it's better to run magiskd from there, rather rebooting to recovery. // su with 6755 (even with permissive SELinux) doesn't work because zygote starts apps with PR_SET_NO_NEW_PRIVS and PR_CAPBSET_DROP. set-uid is of no use.

Stuck here: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/218371/stuck-in-boot-loop-when-unpack-and-pack-system-img

https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s10/samsung-galaxy-s10--s10--s10-5g-cross-device-development-exynos/g97xf-multi-disabler-encryption-t3919714

I am out of my work place; will try it later. Thanks for your help.

seems it is a classic chicken-and-egg situation. the cat bites its own tail


text:
How to make SELinux permissive with `systemless-root` on a `system-as-root device`?
I have a Samsung S10 5G device that is actually a system-as-root device. I have rooted it by following the instructions given here.
As the system-as-root devices have no ramdisk in boot.img but in recovery.img so, I have to always boot the device with a recovery combination to get the root access.
I have an app that requires some SELinux policies to work. I have injected them with the help of sepolicy-inject using following commands:
    sepolicy-inject -s init -t su -c process -p transition -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t system_file -c file -p entrypoint -l
    sepolicy-inject -s init -t su -c process -p rlimitinh -l
    sepolicy-inject -s init -t su -c process -p siginh -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t shell_exec -c file -p read -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t shell_exec -c file -p execute -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t shell_exec -c file -p getattr  -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t vendor_toolbox_exec -c file -p execute_no_trans -l
    sepolicy-inject -s init -t su -c process -p noatsecure -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t toolbox_exec -c file -p getattr -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t toolbox_exec -c file -p execute -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t system_file -c file -p execute_no_trans -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t storage_file -c dir -p search -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t storage_file -c lnk_file -p read -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t tmpfs -c dir -p search -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t mnt_user_file -c dir -p search -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t mnt_user_file -c lnk_file -p read -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t sdcardfs -c dir -p search -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t sdcardfs -c file -p append -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t toolbox_exec -c file -p read -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t toolbox_exec -c file -p open -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t sdcardfs -c file -p read -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t sdcardfs -c file -p write -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t sdcardfs -c file -p open -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t media_rw_data_file -c file -p read -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t media_rw_data_file -c file -p write -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t media_rw_data_file -c file -p open -l
    sepolicy-inject -s su -t media_rw_data_file -c file -p append -l

but after reboot, I need to run this command again as they are not persistent. I don't want to use a key combination on the device to use my app on the root mode of the device. So, I am searching for any way to inject them permanently.
I can think of the following solutions:

Modify init.rc file of system.img to run these commands but when I have tried to modify init.rc with just adding a comment and flashed it on the device then that comment is lost. Don't know what happens. I have flashed it with all Odin files and within AP file. This AP file is patched by Magisk.
Change the SELinux from enforcing to permissive. I am not sure how can I do it with either root access or Modified ROM Flashing.

Any suggestion?

I am searching for any way to inject them permanently.

As explained in my answer to your previous question: How to make SELinux injected rules persistent without unpacking-packing boot.img? you need to modify SELinux policy file in order to inject rules permanently.
Policy could either be monolithic (pre-compiled sepolicy file on initramfs or /system or /vendor) or split.
In latter case it can be either pre-compiled SEPolicy (/vendor/etc/selinux/precompiled_sepolicy) or you need to compile it from .cil files in /system/etc/selinux/ and /vendor/etc/selinux/ using SEPolicy compiler (/system/bin/secilc).
In former case the hashes of both platform and non-platform policies (/system/etc/selinux/plat_and_mapping_sepolicy.cil.sha256 and /vendor/etc/selinux/precompiled_sepolicy.plat_and_mapping.sha256) must match, otherwise init won't load it.
In either case you can't retain systemless approach.

Modify init.rc file of system.img to run these commands but when I have tried to modify init.rc with just adding a comment and flashed it on the device then that comment is lost.

As explained in my answer to your previous question: How to boot system-as-root device always as rooted? on rooted SAR device system.img is mounted at /system_root by Magisk init, contents of ramdisk are then copied to / cleaning everything previously existing, files are added / modified in rootfs /, /system_root/system is bind-mounted to /system, and finally [/system]/init is executed for normal boot. So you need to edit /system_root/init.rc for permanent changes. Please note that modifying system.img (or vendor.img) would break dm-verity and OTAs.

Change the SELinux from enforcing to permissive. I am not sure how can I do it with either root access or Modified ROM Flashing.

SELinux is set enforcing by init (if it's not already enforcing), so you need to modify init source. Or on userdebug ROMs pass androidboot.selinux=permissive kernel command-line parameter. For details see What sepolicy context will allow any other context to access it?
With root access just execute the following in any .rc file:
on property:sys.boot_completed=1
    exec u:r:magisk:s0 -- /system/bin/setenforce 0

For details see How to fix SELinux “avc: denied” errors?


text:
What does the "Volume Level" in Spotify do?
What does the "Volume Level" option in the Spotify settings do?

I don't notice anything when changing it. A coarse volume level like this also seems redundant to the system-wide volume level.

I haven't used Spotify for a long while but from memory the volume setting affects the next song, not the current song.And you would need to disable Normalize Volume logically speaking.
This reddit says the same with more description

.... changing the volume level in setting will affect the next song you will listen to but not the one you are currently listening to


text:
Disable "Unkown sources" setting in Android Oreo
In previous versions of Android one could go to Personal > Security and there disable the Unknown sources setting in order to install freely APKs from unknown origins. In Androi Oreo this was changed and this field is no longer in the Settings. I looked everywhere and was unable to find it. So now, when my app tries to install another APK from an unreliable source, I get a Popup saying "Allow Google to regularly check device activity for security problems..." with a Decline and Accept options.
My question: imagine that I factory reset my Android Oreo device, is there a setting that I can set or a system property to modify that will prevent this anoying popup to appear? Does someone know how to disable its appereance?
PS: Please don't answer "just hit decline". That is not the answer I am looking for, nor a viable option.

Related: How is the list of apps allowed to install another apps populated?

In previous versions of Android, one could control the system-wide app installation from unknown sources, which saved time but was risky. Having refined control over settings makes your device more secure.
Moreover, the mechanism has now been shifted to app-specific instead of system-wide, that is you can now control app installation from particular apps. In order to modify that, head to settings and search for 'Unknown Sources', and you'll find Special App Permissions. In order to always allow a specific app to install apps, toggle it 'allowed'.

Hello @Danish Shakeel, the app I want to allow installation of unreliable apps is in the /system partition but does not appear in the list. I can only see Chrome and Explorer. Do you know why?

Which app is it? Please share the complete location.

It is an app called ProvisioningManager that we built and installed it in the /system/priv-app/ folder. The full path to the APK is /system/priv-app/ProvisioningManager/ProvisioningManager.apk.

DOWNLOAD_WITHOUT_NOTIFICATION is irrelevant here. @Storo you need to request permission INSTALL_PACKAGES (only for system apps) or REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES in app manifest. In latter case send intent ACTION_INSTALL_PACKAGE.

@IrfanLatif a third-patry app installed in the /system/priv-app/ can have the INSTALL_PACKAGES permission even if not signed with system keys?

@Storo I'm not a developer but as docs say “Not for use by third-party applications”: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission.html#INSTALL_PACKAGES

@Storo Does your package's Manifest.xml have  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INSTALL_PACKAGES... I was trying to allow an app through adb but it is trailing an error that is because of how the app's manifest.xml is built.

@DanishShakeel system permissions can't be granted or denied, those just need to be requested in Manifest. But the app must be a system app, not just placed in /system directory. You may try to trick the OS grant a system permission to non-system app, if rooted: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/217522/218526. REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES can be granted to a non-system app (if requested in Manifest) by appops set <PKG> REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES allow or through GUI.

@IrfanLatif, I need to sign my app with system key or having it in priv-app is enough?On a side note,  please post your comment as a solution since it is clearly a candidate.

@Storo as I said I'm neither a ROM nor app developer but AFAIK you need to sign your app with platform key, plus whitelist required permission in /etc/permissions/privapp-permissions-XYZ.xml. However REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES isn't a bad option either. Related: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/216092/218526. I think my answer would be more development related, not suitable on https://android.stackexchange.com.


text:
What is the file path of a sd card when it is formatted as internal?
I know that sd cards formatted as "portable" will be located in /storage/sdcard<1,0>/ but where would a sd card be mounted or located when it is formatted as internal?

It would be located in the /mnt partition under the expand folder.
For example mine is located:

/mnt/expand/ee031623-1634-40d1-9f9f-902d68eceaee/


text:
What private data can apps access without any specified permissions?
Let's say an app doesn't require any permissions at all. What could that app access that could be a potential privacy risk? Other app usage? List of installed apps? Check is my screen unlocked? Google Analytics?

Nothing prevents a seemingly an innocent app to exploit a privilege-escalation vulnerability to take control of your precious and private data. Learn about QuadRoot to know more. https://blog.checkpoint.com/2016/08/07/quadrooter/ // Related question: https://android.stackexchange.com/q/208508/96277

Closely related: Are multiple-users protected from each other differently than apps?.

Permissions change with practically with every Android version , so without specifying the Android version, it is difficult to answer. Notwithstanding that, for a primer on permissions and to see how how crazy, it actually is, see The Android authorization model: a perfidious construct

Sourced from Izzy's blog (thanks)
*Permissions do not define what all an app can access, which is covered in Irfan's answer. Also see Izzy's primer on permissions

App description of XPrivacy Lua, which is an Xposed module, to protect privacy. Information below can be accessed without permissions (readers are welcome to add)

Use analytics (Fabric/Crashlytics, Facebook
  app events, Firebase Analytics, Google Analytic, Mixpanel, Segment)
Usetracking ( user agent for WebView only, Build properties,
  network/SIM country/operator)


text:
Phone gets stuck after charging
My phone is somewhat older sony xperia v. still running on android v4.1 jelly bean.
recently it behaves abnormaly. whenever I put it in charge (wall adapter or usb plugged into a laptop) , it only sometimes very slow to respond while chargin and almost always slow to respond after i remove the charging cable. its usually working very much fine but in only these situations it acts abnormly.
i don't have many apps installed and i usualy force-stop them after i use them. and also phone works very much fine in normal situations. only after charging this happens.
why is this happening and what can i do to avoid this? please help

Your device is very old and contains dozens of vulnerabilities. Therefore one very likely scenario is that malware has infected your system using one of the vulnerabilities and now uses your CPU to do something, e.g. Bitcoin mining or something similar.
As on Smartphones heavy CPU usage results in high battery usage (which is usually easy detectable by the user) this malware only abuses your device while it is charging.
As it is so old I assume it has only one CPU core and if the malware is active the CPU operates at full capacity and hence the device is nearly blocked.
The detection if the device is charging or not is a bit slow therefore this effect continues some time after you have disconnected the phone from the charger.

Thank you for your answer, but please consider few points here. it works fine while charging most of the time, but problematic behavior comes after I remove the charger.No my phone has 2 cores(Qcom snapdragon s4 krait with Adreno 225). Anyway if what you said is the reason, what can I do? what can I do to fix this?


text:
How to use 2 sim cards & SD Card?
I have xiaomi redmi note 5 pro, and the sim tray has a hybrid configuration, Either using 2 sim cards or 1 sim and one micro sd card.
Is it anyway to use 2 sim cards and a micro SD card in the same time?

It is not really possible to do all of this in the phone, but you could insert both sim cards to the phone and use an SD to USB adapter.


text:
'Recycling' off-the-shelf Android devices as server ('Toaster-Net')
Since Android devices tend to be relatively low-power un*x devices, this seems like an obvious usage, I was already able to run the basic setup of what I had in mind, but I think it's a right time for me to consult about this.
I have a few unused Android devices (tablets and phones, some with a broken display), I've seen there are several ways to install various Linux distributions on them, installed some scripting environment (Node.JS or Python) I've successfully ran a few that did not require rooting, and I've ran some server software from them (like Node-Express based REST etc) I'm left with the following open questions, maybe there are much simpler solutions to this scenario.
I'd be happy to hear of such a usage scenario.

All these non-rooted Linux apps I've installed - were running as long as the device did not go to 'sleep', I've tried several 'insomnia' apps, but actually non of them worked correctly, and they were all trying to keep the Display awake. I would actually prefer the Display to be Off, but the device to not sleep, is there a scheme for that, or is that not the general design of a common off-the-shelf Tablet let's say?
The app seemed to randomly go into 'background' even with the display on; Is there a settings to prevent that, so that I would have a reliable HTTP listener?
I understood that Battery life / performance - might be deteriorate severely - by keeping Tablets Changed 24/7, is there a standard solution for that? I've seen some recommendations for rooted apps that prevent charging on and off, but lacking another solution - a timer-AC-mains-Socket can be installed

Generally this seems like an ecological idea for 201x style ARM based Toaster-Nets; I found that I often need some 'cronjobs' to run and serve some not very CPU demanding experiments. It also seems like a good exercise in local net setup;
I can see this setup being used in schools for example to provide students a network they can play with and setup web-apps.
If there's a proper guide for this anywhere, please point, I've seen good guides for how to install Linux / a similar setup - on your phone for example for 'on and off' usage, but nothing that covered the actual aspect of leaving a bunch of these machines as a small server-farm.
Thank you!

I don't think you would be able to run something on a non-privileged app persistently. Android manages resources allotted to apps in its own way. Root your device, run the server as root and gain a wakelock. That's all. Process won't be killed, neither network connectivity would be dropped.

Thank @IrfanLatif! So Rooting a device, would help that, is the way for something like that? that's good to know, I'll keep on reading online for that direction then. I just didn't know whether the whole rooting procedure is necessary or helpful in the described use case; especially that rooting is Device-Dependent, right?

Rooting is danegerous to the degree of being fatal. It isn't the proper way to do things like that but it's the way how things like that work. And yes, rooting is device dependent most of the times as it involves unlocking bootloader, requires a custom recovery or needs some security flaw in device etc.


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Moto G back up without booting
I have a Moto G first generation that is stuck on the M boot screen.  I have tried going to recovery and wiping cache but the cache wipe does not complete even after hours (it stays on wiping/formatting cache).  Is there a way to back up what's on the phone without it booting (so I can then try the factory reset)?  Thanks!

I assume the device bootloader has not been unlocked, right?

Right, the bootloader has not been unlocked.


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Configure Emergency Alerts on Android Pie
My phone is in either vibrate or DND mode at night. I enabled developer mode in order to be able to allow the emergency alerts to ignore DND, since otherwise they make no sound at night (don't know why this requires developer mode, I would have thought it would be the default setting).
I would like more fine-grained control than just that setting. When I'm sleeping, there's no reason for me to be woken up by one of the frequent Amber alerts, since I'm not going to be much help from my bed. If there's an Incoming Ballistic Missile alert on the other hand, I wouldn't mind be roused for that.
Currently, it seems that I have the following options:

Prevent all alerts from breaking through DND - Makes alerts useless
Allow all alerts to break through DND - Get woken up constantly by
Amber alerts
Turn off Amber alerts and allow other alerts to break
through DND - Prevents me from helping with Amber alerts when I'm out
of the house

Is there a way to configure the alert settings between the various types of emergency alert in Android 9? Maybe an app that give me better control? I'm using an Essential PH-1, if the phone type matters.

Are you sure the emergency message system is used in your region and by your mobile network operator? Some countries/regions do use an app-based emergency notification system instead.

I forgot to mention that I'm in Canada. I do receive messages from the emergency message system (I've received some severe weather alerts and many Amber alerts)


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How to root without triggering Knox?
I wonder, how do I root a Samsung phone without triggering Knox? Because not only the warranty gets voided, also some Samsung apps don't open.

I never experimented with a Samsung device but this quote from Magisk documentation: “Installing Magisk WILL trip KNOX”.

OK, but I need it to be installed and I just want that my Samsung apps don't become trash. Warranty is not the case.


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How to remove someone's google account off my phone when asked to verify
We are going through custody battles atm, and I allowed my child to take her phone to her mother's, in case she needed me or felt unsafe. Her mom took the phone, removed my google account, added hers and make it to where it needs to verify the account before I can make any changes. So now she can control all the parental locks, send messages when she shouldn't be, ect. How can I remove her account and replace mine since they are my phones to begin with?

Please describe the phone model and operating system.

Go to settings, accounts, Google, select the account to remove, tap 3 dot menu, select remove account.
U maybe asked to enter device's pin or pattern.
The process may be different in different versions of Android

What you're basically trying to do is unlock the device to re-establish control and that will be done first through Google's "find  my device" and is that doesn't work just unlock the device through factory reset and use FRP bypass if you need to!


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What is the system app "Bluetooth share" for?
I have a system app on my Android 7.0 android device. The app is called "Bluetooth share".
What exactly is this app used for?

Bluetooth Share does what its name says.
It sends files wirelessly using Bluetooth
Try it out by going to a picture (or file), select Share, Bluetooth, and your recipient bluetooth device


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cannot see option to turn off my google news feed
I am using a Moto G7 Power ,  android phone
When I open the Google browser (chrome I suppose), it says on the bottom
"discover, updates, search, more...".   If I choose "more..." and then 'settings', then it says

I see no news option to turn off

After clicking "more..." on the bottom, and getting that settings page up, as you did..
choose 'general' then see it says
'discover  - you'll see stories related to your interests..'
turn that 'discover' off.
That closes the news feed.


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Inaccurate Battery Consumption Metrics: Is This Behavior Normal?
I own a OnePlus6 running OxygenOS 9.0.9. I noticed that lately my battery doesn't last as long as it used to. I used the Battery Monitor app to check if there's anything suspicious. This is what I noticed:

In this screenshot my battery is at 88% (12% consumed), yet, the app consumption sums up to 8% as opposed to the 12% that is actually consumed.
Is this behavior normal? Is the remaining 4% being consumed by the OS or is there some rogue app that's consuming my battery?

You may have dozens of apps that have usage of below 1% -> rounded down to 0% and therefore not displayed. Anyway the usage stats are always just an estimation.

Tap on that three dots line > show full device usage. Then see how much difference is there.


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Upgrading a locked Android 4.4.2
I want to try to upgrade my Huawei Y560-U02 Android 4.4.2 to anything newer but it should at least be Android Lollipop.
I opened another thread in regards for this phone in order to get the firewall working on it but since that did not work I want to try to upgrade it properly.
I did not know the steps on how to do it properly and ended up causing some damage.
There is a lot of information and steps on the internet and that is what lead to having some issues now.
I have already backed up all the data that I need and ready to proceed.
So the Phone is Huawei Y56-U02 2015 Android 4.4.2 Kitkat. The phone is locked.
Because I did not know that phones need to be unlocked first it caused damage to my boot recovery mode. I can't access it anymore as it would just get stuck in that. Otherwise the phone is booting normally.
What I will need is to find a way to unlock it which I understand can be done if I unlock bootloader.
Please provide me with the best tips and steps to get this done.
I did try to use the built in Huawei updater but that just installed a different version of the same Rom.
Locked phone I mean locked ROM.

I managed to flash the phone with SPD Upgrade tool and now all is back to normal.
The damage has been repaired.


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Can I access play store via proxy?
I have an issue with accessing play store when using Fiddler as an inbetween proxy. I have a Unity app which uses http requests as well as purchases via the GooglePlayStore. Chrome browser and in-app http requests work normally. But trying to use the google play store(outside the app) gives me a no-wifi error. In the same spirit also trying to do a purchase from my app also gives me the same error(but other http requests which do download not related to google play work normally).
So my question is basically is it possible to somehow access the google play store through an ssl proxy?(I suppose that would fix my in-app problem).
This is the setup I followed for fiddler : https://docs.telerik.com/fiddler/Configure-Fiddler/Tasks/ConfigureForAndroid
I suppose one way would be to filter out
android.clients.google.com

googleusercontent.com

but ideally I would want to know if this can be achieved without meddling with the proxy server.

You are doing SSL bump on Fiddler which requires Fiddler's root CA to be part of trusted CAs on Android. But apps that target API level 24 will—by design—not honor user-added CAs: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2016/07/changes-to-trusted-certificate.html. So your https connections must be breaking. Related: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/217801/218526. You need root access to add a certificate to system's trusted credential store.


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Huawei P20 lite not recognizing external keyboard
I got this keyboard from China that has holder for a phone, but has USB-micro cable.
My phone (Huawei P20 lite) has USB-C, but that's not an issue, since I got usb-micro to usb-C converter. I tried to connect the keyboard through 3 different usb-micro to usb-C converters, but in any case the keyboard didn't work.
A friend of mine tried on Samsung S5(usb-micro) and S9(usb-c) aswell, using another 3 different usb-micro to usb-c converters. It worked well on S5 (usb-micro) but didn't work anyhow on S9(usb-c).
Tried aswell as downloading Swift keyboard (just in case it has any features) and
go to Settings > Language > Default keyboard > Input settings, but there was no options whatsoever.
I can't figure out what could possibly go wrong, while it's totally functionally working on all usb-micro devices and never on usb-c.
How to solve this problem, what to do about this?

I have the same with external keyboard, camera. It looks like the USB C Port does not support the extarnal interfaces, cannot supply. I have a small camera that lights automatically if connected to Samsung, but not on Huawei. Solution is iteressting for me also.
Have fun.


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Why can't I change my password in system settings? Nexus 6p Resurrection Remix Pie
After entering the wrong password too many times in VPN settings, I can't enter my password in settings. Whenever I do, I get sent back to the previous page. I can't even change my password!

is it possible to edit VPN profile data? Also please remind that you're on custom ROM and may have such bugs and please contact develping team.

It used to be working and stopped after I screwed with the VPN settings.

Don't worry I factory reset and it started working again!


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Detail information on running scripts on the recovery screen
I am looking for more detail information regarding the process mentioned here:
1 https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2058944
2 https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2307355
(1) says that selecting "apply zip from sdcard" in the recovery screen will run the script and perform the mentioned commands. I suppose at this point there is no concept of  android OS's root user? Is this correct? Am I allowed full access to all the files and folders in the sdcard and phone memory at this point?
The script in (1) also mentions BusyBox. I know there is an app called busybox which provides some tools, but since the android OS has not loaded up to this point, I guess the busybox in the script represents something else? Wikipedia says busybox is an old set of linux tools, so does this mean it is present by default in all android phone firmware?
The zip file containing the script in (2) contains a file called "busybox" in the zip file root (no extension, binary file) and the one in (1) doesn't. What does this mean? (1) and (2) seem to be for different phone models, but shouldn't all phones have the run_program() and delete() commands mentioned in those scripts? Would these scripts work on a different phone model? How much chance is there of the phone getting bricked? (I have stock firmware + Odin for my test phone and I am ready to format and reinstall if needed, I just want to know if there is a possibility of bricking it so badly that even Odin wouldn't recognize it)
Regardless of whether I am able to mount the sdcard/phone memory and run programs on the sdcard or not, I suppose the commands in the script such as ui_print() should work on any phone. Where can I find more commands that can be used in such a script file, and more details on how such scripts actually work? The answer can be limited to samsung phones if there are no general answers.

Yes, from custom recovery there is generally a high risk of deleting everything in theory. Your data security is completely dependent on the developer's coding ability and your trust in him. Luckily a full backup should be sufficient enough to restore everything in case of damage.
A flashable zip is usually pretty generic. in your example it's only purpose is modifying device specific things, so the reason is not the script language itself but simply the content of which apps will be removed. The first link is for indian apps, the second link is for samsung apps. Samsung is a good example because it has a separate partition for its bloatware - you need a flashable zip which delete apps from /preload instead from /system.
linux executables doesn't have file extensions like *.exe - busybox/toybox/toolbox are just such executables. busybox is a multicall binary wich emulates most of linux commands like (ls cat dd grep find ...) in a single file. it's main purpose was to safe disk space. if you see any busybox app in Playstore it is always just a install helper for this binary.
android default is toybox (same as busybox but under apache license)
http://landley.net/toybox/faq.html
Edify is a very limited script language only used in flashable zips
https://source.android.com/devices/tech/ota/nonab/inside_packages


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How can I configure Android so that any selected text is copied to clipboard automatically?
How can I configure Android so that any selected text is copied to clipboard automatically?


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Device freezes when try to write in /system partition. None of the mount commands worked
I have a TB-X304L. I rooted this guy with magisk and whenever I try to write or try to change permissions of the /system directory, the tablet just freezes and I have to reboot it with long pressing power and the volume up button. I can't even make changes to the build.prop file. The same happens when tried with adb. I could get root access in adb shell. when I try,
cat > testfile.txt

it says read only partition. So, I mounted it with rw permission command
mount -o remount,rw /system

it runs smoothly. But when I try
cat > testfile.txt

again and type some text for the test file and press Ctrl+D,  it freezes. I am new to all these please help me guys.

Did you disable dm-verity?

@IrfanLatif Yes. It is disabled in magisk. But force encryption is enabled. Please help. I still can't figure out what's wrong.

With root privileges run: set -x; id; mount -o rw,remount /system; mount | grep 'on /system '; touch /system/test_file; cat /sys/block/dm-*/dm/name. Share exact output at https://pastebin.com/


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"No Photos" in OSX with PTP?
I delayed trying to fix this for a few years but now I'm having enough of it: photos on my Android phones do not show up in Image Capture/Lightroom/Photos.app on my OS X machines.

File transfer (MTP) mode works just fine. I can see the DCIM folder, the photos in it, and there is no .NOMEDIA file that I can find.
PTP sort of works I guess? The apps recognize the phone, but do not display any of the files.
Tried power cycling the phones, but no go.
Tried connection the cable at different stages, with the phone locked/unlocked, still no go.
Problem started with Yosemite/El Capitan/Sierra -- I don't quite remember which but a long while ago.

Anyone ever encountered this?

I have the exact same situation. Photos.app opens when I connect the phone but it says there are no photos on the phone.


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How can I change Outlook default image?
I have the application Outlook on my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and I have several accounts, but both adresses start with the same letter (see picture below).

I would like to know how to customize these icons so that I do not confuse the two accounts. Thanks in advance.

Have you tried to set a profile photo to one of the accounts? In the end it does not have to be a real photo of you, just some image that then will be displayed in the app instead of the standard "M".

@Robert No I didn't because I didn't find a way to do this in the app, that's what I am asking actually, sorry if it wasn't clear.

Office 365 is a cloud service. It is totally irrelevant which client you use for changing the profile photo. Some clients may not support to set the profile photo, in such a case you have to use a different client, e.g. the web UI via chrome or your favorite web browser.

@Robert I changed my profile picture with chrome as you advised, but it didn't update on the app.


text:
How granular can the app developer set the permissions to avoid turning the user away at the "Permissions to Photos, Media and Other files"?
When a Notes app (like Google Keep, Wunderlist, Stickynotes) etc asks for permissions to "Photos, Media and Other Files" (PMOF) on your device, the user can get a bit uncertain. So essentially, can the app just ask for Files permission and not Photos,media? Are the permissions defined at such granular level post Android 6.0?

PMOF means android.permission.[READ|WRITE]_EXTERNAL_STORAGE, which, once granted, allows app to read whole /sdcard. See this answer for details how this happens at back end. Now the app can read / write / inspect /delete / rename / modify / upload / encrypt whatever you have in shared public storage including photos, videos, documents, contacts, messages, backups and so on.
Unfortunately Android offers no more granular control over this filesystem level access. However Storage Access Framework (SAF) can be used to not let app access whole /sdcard filesystem, but only a specific file or directory (included subdirectories).
Android Q is introducing a more fine-grained control with Scoped Storage.


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Sharing gmail can 'potentially' erase my device
Me and my friend use shared email (about 15 people), then i realized from that gmail account i can see the connected phone (specially android), and i can play around with that (lock phone, ring) and wipe out the device / factory reset, and i thought this is so ridiculous, who would have thought sharing email account can do that much harm, to my question :
Can i select which gmail account (strictly personal account) have access to wipe my device and which not?
edit: currently i had find my device setting disabled

Possible duplicate of Can my phone be monitored by my family members without them ever accessing it?

@alecxs nope, it is not

i recommend to remove the google account from phone settings and create a new one

Why don't you uninstall Find my Device, or deny it administrator privileges in settings? In that way, you shouldn't fear someone else erasing your device.


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TWRP ask for password - cant mount data partition
I want to install an open ROM like AospExtended on a new Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 with stock MUI. To avoid issues with Xiaomi's anti rollback mechanism, I'd like to boot TWRP then copy its image and install it permanently as described in many posts like here.
But TWRP can't mount my data partition, it asks me for a password. I had none set. Regarding to this post I tried setting a password for the lockscreen. Altough he has the same problem with an older version of android, it doesn't accept the password.
Some threads like this recommend OrangeFox instead of TWRP. But the 9.0-1 shows the same behavior:

With 9.0.2 of OrangeFox it doesn't ask for password any more, so this seems to work. But why isn't it working with TWRP? This post said it's fixed in 3.2.3_1. Since I booted 3.3.1-0 like this:
> .\fastboot.exe boot D:\Downloads\twrp-3.3.1-0-whyred.img

This fix should be included. As a workaround, I'll try OrangeBox (especially in regard to OTA updates, havent tried OrangeBox before). But I'd like to know why those problem exist with TWRP and how could it be fixed?
I've used TWRP over the time with different devices and it always worked well (also with OTA updates).

i have experienced this with two other Xiaomi devices. first i could track it down to older unofficial variant of twrp 3.2.3 which is still decrypting with default password when official twrp 3.3.1 fails. so implementation of decrypting differs from each build, sometimes it is just a missing line in fstab, sometimes they forgot a flag during build.
But this is not the full explanation. Recently working twrp started to fail after MIUI OTA update. This means the encryption depends on ROM (system or vendor) therefore these partitions need to be mounted for decryption (which twrp normally does automatically).
encryption security may have changed/improved with new android version and twrp has not implemented that in your build. I have also seen twrp variant which does successfully decrypt userdata but does not mount /data because of a wired parameter related to disk quota. Flashing a disk quota disabler may help in this case. basically its a try and error to find a recovery which is working - which you have found.
Your question is therefore ot and should be discussed on github or developer boards


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Changing /system/build.prop issues on fully rooted and DM-verity removed device
SO, I have an MT6739 dveice with Android 8.1, it's not A/B seamless, and it is not TREBLE.
I have used a tried and tested method to remove DM-Verity. On this device it was in the DTB, in the boot and also in the vendor partitions. I use Magisk to get me root and I have removed and installed lots of /system/apps, changed the audio, bootanimations etc on the device. I even changed the backgrounds and tweaked the Launcher.
However whenever I come to change anything in /system/build.prop the device bootloops!
I have tried this with Magisk DM-verity ON/OFF with no effect. I also copied back a build.prop from my PC and it worked fine again. So, something must be looking up the build.prop and checking for changes.
All I have done is change the ro.product.model property to be super sure nothing in the build.prop is incorrect. I have tried with setting permissions (644, for some reason they are 600 (RW - - ) on the device so tried that too).
There is a build.prop in the /vendor partition. i have heard of this checking the fingerprint of the system/build.prop, but they are different anyway on the stock ROM.
I also tried just copying the build.prop from /system into here so they were identical.
Fresh out of ideas!!
Does anyone know what is going on here. I can literally change anything I want on the device as normal/pre-verity days except for the build.prop settings.

maybe you have CRLF instead of LF line ending (check with Notepad++)

As @alecxs mentioned CRLF could be a reason. Do dos2unix on build.prop. Also check SELinux label. Check kernel log and logcat for any hints to the reason of bootloop.

TY for the comments. I will try that, I have been out all day today so will try it tmw. Problem is, I am literally only changing the device name or model so I dont create a line feed or CR at all. I am on a W10 system though so it is a little bit notorious for that. Other clue is that if I edit the build.prop back to the way it was and then copy it to the device, it boots fine!!

One thing I am really poor with is getting logs from a device. Is there a decent thread anywhere that can help me set up Logcat on the device?

OK, so logcat learned, here's an update. I copied the build.prop, made 1 change to the device name, making sure to not make any line breaks etc. I ran the build.prop through DOS2UNIX. I replaced it on the device, chmodded it, made sure magisk was running and had verity checking off and restarted the device with logcat running in my ADB window. Still bootlooped. No logcat log a6t all, "still waiting for device".

OK, so today I did a couple of final things. First thing I did was to recopy fresh build.props from /system and /vendor. I then edited them changing 1 setting exactly the same in each one. Device bootlooped. I then re-edited them back and re-copied this build.prop back. The device booted fine. This really wipes out any argument for editing the files incorrectly. There is definitely something comparing values in the build.prop in /system and not liking any changes. I chmodded properly, ensured DM-verity was handled properly.

So to ask a new question: What could comparing values in build.prop and stopping boot if it sees changes? There must be some kind of file or build.prop being compared against?

Well I have now had a chance to do some more testing. So I have now tested conclusively that I can change lots of properties in the build.prop in both /system and /vendor versions. For example I changed ro.product.locale and the default ringtone, However as soon as I change anything to do with ro.product.brand or device, it bootloops. So this removes the editing issues out of the equation for good. Something somewhere is comparing these values. I have been unable to get any kind of logging set up during boot to give me any clues. Anyone have any ideas?

See when you did the DM Verity patch, have you patched the boot.img to support Android 8.1? if working on Win can use ClassyKitchen. If working on Linux, AIK Linux is the way to go. i'd suggest using classykitchen and patch for DM verity and enable 8.1 support. worked for me. running 8.0 Oreo. ;)

Hi Aleks, No I didn't patch the boot.img specifically to support Android 8.1. Would you expand a bit on that. In this device to remove DM-Verity you need to find the fstab files in vendor (easy) and also the boot DTB, (not so easy on Win10 because you cannot get write access into the RAMDISK from 7.zip). I have uised Magisk successfully to do this however, but even running Magisk the issue is present.

Hi Aleks, so to clarify this further, FSTAB is definitely removed from the device. I actually let Magisk do it and then manually find the fstab entries and remove tyhem. You can then either keep the magisk boot.img or not, all it seems to do is patch the FSTAB out of it anyway. So I am still in the same spot here. I can edit anything in build.prop files, but if I touch ro.product.brand or model it bootloops.


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How to extract `magiskpolicy` from `magiskinit64`?
I have cloned the Magisk code at my Ubuntu machine. I have successfully run build.py and get the Magisk.zip file in Out directory. This zip contains arm, chromeos, common, META-INF and x86 folders.
As documented here. I should be able to get magiskpolicy using ./magiskinit64 -x magiskpolicy /system/ but this command is not working and neither giving any error. Similary ./magiskinit64 --help is also not working.
1|flashlm:/system/magisk # ls
META-INF Magisk.tar arm chromeos common x86
flashlm:/system/magisk # getprop ro.product.cpu.abi
arm64-v8a
flashlm:/system/magisk # ./arm/magiskinit64 --help
1|flashlm:/system/magisk # ./arm/magiskinit64 -x magisk /system/magisk
1|flashlm:/system/magisk # ls
META-INF Magisk.tar arm chromeos common x86
flashlm:/system/magisk # ./arm/magiskinit64 -x magiskpolicy /system/magisk
1|flashlm:/system/magisk # ls
META-INF Magisk.tar arm chromeos common x86
flashlm:/system/magisk # ./arm/magiskinit -x magiskpolicy /system/magisk
1|flashlm:/system/magisk # ls
META-INF Magisk.tar arm chromeos common x86
flashlm:/system/magisk # ./arm/magiskinit --help
1|flashlm:/system/magisk # ls
META-INF Magisk.tar arm chromeos common x86
flashlm:/system/magisk # ls -l -Z ./arm/*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root u:object_r:system_file:s0 533856 2019-11-26 17:42 ./arm/magiskboot
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root u:object_r:system_file:s0 617216 2019-11-26 17:42 ./arm/magiskinit
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root u:object_r:system_file:s0 596736 2019-11-26 17:42 ./arm/magiskinit64

Any suggestions about what I have missed?

wrong architecture? according to the path ./arm/magiskinit64 i guess you try to execute arm64 binary on x86_64 cpu (ubuntu machine)?

I am trying on the arm64-v8a android device. My understanding is that it has arm64 architecture and so trying to run magiskinit64. I have tried it on two arm64-v8a devices but I didn't get any result.

Also, magiskboot is working fine on the same android device.


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How can I remap my camera button to switch back and forth between two apps?
For my work as a bicycle delivery man, I use the phone for navigation and thus often need to switch between the delivery app and Google Maps. I'd like to configure the camera key of my Cubot Quest Lite to do exactly that.
The functionality I want is exactly the one that happens by default when double-tapping the Overview button. Double-tapping is just annoying and hard to get right every time, so I'd like to switch this task to the mechanical camera button, since I don't use the camera anyway. I tried several remapping apps so far, including Button Mapper and Button Remapper, but none of them could override the camera function of the button.
From what I've read, rooting the phone should make literally everything possible, however I'd prefer to not mess around with this stuff as I don't feel confident. Is there anything else I could try?

I still don't know how to make this work, but I ended up using the app Full Screen Gestures instead. It lets you configure actions for when you swipe inwards from the screen edges, and I simply configured it to start my desired apps on swipe, allowing me to effortlessly switch between them.


text:
Why is the notification coming 9 hours late?
I created a full-day event in my Google Calendar using my Android-phone.
The notification is set to "7 AM on the same day".
But for some reason, it notifies me consistently at 4 PM (4 minutes ago in the screenshot below).
I did already delete the entry without effect.
What can I do to get the notification at the time displayed?
My timezone-settings seem to be correct: the phone displays the correct time and notifications for normal (non-full-day) events show up at the correct time. Also all events that are synchronized from my Exchange-account are displayed at the correct time.
The device is a Hauwei P20 Pro with a stock-rom.

Could you state the timezone of the device (and if it's okay with you, your current location's timezone if it's different than the device's)? I have experienced a similar issue related to how all-day events are created while developing a calendar app, so I want to confirm if that's the cause of the issue.

The phone runs on the same timezone I am currently located: middle European time (Berlin).


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I want to ROOT Ravoz Z8 (New Brand)
First of I already done my research about how to root without TWRP/Custom Recovery since my phone brand is new which is RAVOZ.
Now i finally found a solution which is to root without TWRP/CR but there is a problem.
On MAGISK you can root your phone without it, but it needs a ‘Stock boot image‘ but i can't find it anywhere on website. Please somebody help me to root my phone.
Phone Model: RAVOZ Z8
Android Ver: 9

https://forum.hovatek.com/thread-21970.html

https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/development/amazing-temp-root-mediatek-armv8-t3922213/post79626434


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How factory reset a android smartphone without using the volume up button
How can I factory reset my android phone without using the volume up button? The phone is a zte android. Seems like recovery mode is missing.

Please specify the phone model for easier help. But as a general concept

Please specify the phone model for easier help. But as a general concept, phones have recovery mode, factory mode and fastboot mode. All these can be used to reset, with just a few presses or a few commands, and also note entering into recovery mode needs a unique button combination as per the device model you're using. Kindly search a specific key combo for your phone and it could be easier because practically there's no android without recovery mode unless explicitly deleted during an amateur or professionally intended software flash


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How to turn off incoming text message notification vibration off in Android 10?
I would like to turn off vibrations for incoming message on Google Pixel 1, default SMS app, and I can't find a way to do this.
I searched several places, mostly messages app settings and general phone notifications settings (which anyway redirects me to the first one). There is no general setting under notifications there and I can't see anything about vibrations.
It seems this app does not provide a way to control vibrations, and there is no system option to forbid them, but it seems hard to believe.

I know I can turn all vibrations off (https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/52416/turn-off-vibration-notification-for-all-apps-at-once), but I wonder if it's possible only for this app.