text:
Audio & Video Codecs not working on Android 7.1.2 phone
Since recently the phone i have been using for about 2.5 years has developed an issue with it's audio and video codecs.
Videos won't play in the Google Chrome app, in the YouTube app, not in Whatsapp or Telegram either. Downloaded videos won't play from the gallery except when i use VLC app (Which is known for having it's own codecs bundled).
Audio won't play either, i don't hear a ringtone when i am being called, when i set an alarm for in the morning it goes off but only vibrates (no sound), and music players either don't play the song or skip through all the songs at a fast pace.
I am not debugging something i wrote, this is my phone's system failing on it's own. I tried to unlock the bootloader 2 years ago but never got any kind of special access to the system. I also didn't get any updates on the system since i bought the phone sadly.
I used ADB to get the error logs from me setting an alarm with default ringtone, and it confirms a codec error like i suspected (vorbis codec this time, but other codecs also have the same issue):
[ 01-02 16:07:00.342 13560:13560 E/SoftOMXPlugin ]
unable to dlopen libstagefright_soft_vorbisdec.so: dlopen failed: library "libstagefright_soft_vorbisdec.so" not found

[ 01-02 16:07:00.342 13560:13560 E/OMX      ]
FAILED to allocate omx component 'OMX.google.vorbis.decoder' err=ComponentNotFound(0x80001003)

[ 01-02 16:07:00.342   611: 8727 W/ACodec   ]
Allocating component 'OMX.google.vorbis.decoder' failed, try next one.

[ 01-02 16:07:00.342   611: 8727 E/ACodec   ]
Unable to instantiate a decoder for type 'audio/vorbis' with err 0xfffffffe.

[ 01-02 16:07:00.342   611: 8727 E/ACodec   ]
signalError(omxError 0xfffffffe, internalError -2)

[ 01-02 16:07:00.342   611: 8727 E/MediaCodec ]
Codec reported err 0xfffffffe, actionCode 0, while in state 1

[ 01-02 16:07:00.342   611: 8726 E/NuPlayerDecoder ]
Failed to create audio/vorbis decoder

[ 01-02 16:07:00.342   611: 8722 E/NuPlayer ]
received error(0x80000000) from audio decoder, flushing(0), now shutting down

This goes beyond what i know about Android system, but a full reboot seems to fix the issue temporarily but this is not a good way to make sure your alarm goes off several hours later..
I pasted the full ADB log in a pastebin for those interested.
What can i do except do a hard reset or buy a new phone?

You might have a problem with Media Storage. Just for test, find Media Storage on the app list, clear its data, restart the phone. Check of the issue re-occur.

@ReddyLutonadio That sounds like it's worth a try, i did it, i'll let you know in a few days if it worked, thanks

Looks like only solution is Factory Reset: Configuration > Personal - Security Copy > Factory Reset (in my device).

Same problem here on Moto G4 with Android 7.0: no audio in videos, remote (YouTube, Facebook, etc) and local files. Different messages in different players. Symptoms:

YouTube: Plays videos, no audio. It used to work fine.
Facebook Videos/Stories/Reels: sometimes plays video, no audio, shows message "There is a failure in audio, would you restart the device?"
Other online applications with video: plays video, no audio
VLC/VideoLAN play mp3 freezes and crashes (it did not crash before).
Default video player, shows message "cannot show video" even thought video plays with no audio. It used to work fine.

Tested solutions:

Already checked all volume settings
Already tried restarting the device 10+ times, made no difference.
Tried drfone_repair windows application, only works on Samsung devices.
Tried droidkit windows application, also repair only for Samsung devices.
Tried reiboot windows application, it would delete data after fixing.
Tried clear data in Media Storage (Configuration, Applications, 3 Dot icon, System, Clear) and restarting the phone, no good.

EDIT 2024: finally found the cause, the phone hit the ground a couple times and something in the audio hardware got loose, that was the problem. A few years later the phone fell again and the audio got fixed.


text:
How to find the files (.apk) of a certain app like Google Play Services
I have a rooted device and I tried the find / -name "*Play*" command and got some files from com.google.android.gms and a couple of Playlists but nothing like Google Play Services.apk
I wonder if it is possible for an app to not have an .apk file and if this is the case is there any chance of finding the files associated with the app from the app name?

Check /data/app/com.google.android.gms-   BsVSA3EfHVEHqoT_2Mu_nw==/base.apk  Play Services are com.google.android.gms

.apk files of all system and user apps are accessible even without root. GMS is usually installed to /system/app and /system/priv-app (or possibly in /product partition). Updates go to /data/app/ like user apps. The string after package name is randomly generated at install time: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/215904/218526

The apk file name usually bases on the package name of an app, not of the localized app name which is defined in the AndroidManifest respectively the app resources.arsc file within the apk.

adb shell pm path com.google.android.gms | awk -F':' '{print $2}' should do the trick. The resulting string can then be used with adb pull $path to grab the APK from the device and store it on your computer. No root needed, as was already pointed out.

You won't need root for that, but can utilize the pm command either on-device from within a terminal, or via adb:
adb shell pm path com.google.android.gms | awk -F':' '{print $2}

will give you the full path including the file name, so you could use that to pull the APK from your device to your computer:
adb pull $(adb shell pm path com.google.android.gms | awk -F':' '{print $2})

To answer the other parts from your question:

every app has an *.apk file. Some might even have multiple ("split APKs").
finding the APK by the (localized) app name is not trivial. You'd have to parse the entire app list to get the package names, use those to get the location of the APK as described above, and then use aapt to extract and match the localized name (I haven't yet found whether and if where Android might store that outside the APK). aapt usually isn't present on-device.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Whatsapp restore error on new phone, stucks at %24
I got error while transfering whatapp from old phone to new phone.
My old phone is mi5s plus xiaomi
New phone is red mi note 9 pro xiaomi.
I uploaded to drive and put to local. So, I have backup both place, drive and local. Then I put local file backup to pc and get from pc to red mi note 9 pro. And put to whatsapp/databases folder
I tried everything here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/help/whatsapp-restore-stuck-24-restoration-t3816605/page3
I enter my number, I got verification code. THen it asks to restore from drive or skip. I tried both. I have problem at %31 while restoring from drive.
If i disable and click skip for drive restoration, it finds local but this time it stucks at %24 and then it goes to application settings, profile photo. But i immediately force stop and open again but again comes as I would start application so i clear data and it again asks verification code . But i have to wait hours when i want a code. Now, I have to wait 12 hours for example. It increases for every try.
There is only crypt file. Please help me to fix.
Size is 1.25 gb but whatsapp show 3.9 gb to restore. in whatsapp folder, there is 3.9 gb data.
I tried lots of things but it keeps failing.
For old phone, I still could not enable internet so whatsapp is still there logged. I can do backups, it makes again 1.25 gb. I think if i enable wifi, it will logout.

I fixed. I tried for days. Every time I requested a new verification code, the time I had to wait increased every time. Last time, it was 49 hours. Luckily, I fixed and did not wait so much.
I tried lots of time but i will tell what i did for latest try.
Firstly, I deleted drive backup. I did not disable sycn or google accounts.
I had 2 local backups. Deleted one.
And maybe those are important: I gave all permissions from settings to whatsapp. I gave also autostart permission and I gave no battery restriction.
Sim card is on different phone. This is not important i think.
I started to restore. It restored local backup. When it came to %24, i was worried. So, I switched to screens once a second, to settings screen.
Normally it was showing 3.9 gb at first. But when it reached %24, it was 3.18 gb when I was switching to settings screen, i saw it. And 2.5 millions messages are restored and it is 3.18 gb.
I waited it to be 3.9 gb when it was at %24. So that is why i was switching to check but it did not stuck this time. Maybe because i was switching.
Maybe because i removed from drive. This was the first time i tried after removing from drive.
So, switching a lot of times between settings of whatsapp and restoring screen, showed succesfull screen at last. IT said "restored 2.5 millions messaged"
I was shocked. I went to check. 5 days ago, i wrote last message and that 5 days messages also came.
If it was stuck again, i would force stop and continue without waiting restore. I read it from somewhere. But i fixed, i am happy :)

I assume you lost all your images and the like. Can they copied back to the WA directory in order to be able to view them again in the chats? (I´ve backed up everything on a hard drive before switching phones)
I´m also waiting the 49 hours

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


text:
Add D-Pad Support To App
Nowadays, flip phones run android. You are able to install any app, as long as it supports the framework. But, the one problem is that there is no touchscreen on flip phones. Is there a way to add "D-Pad" functionality to a common android app, much like the way you use the remote to navigate on AndroidTV?

Gamepads are mapped to keys on Android but as Android devices usually don't have a keyboard most developers don't process key events, therefore the gamepads don't work. Making an app work with a gamepad would require to modify it's code which is technically possible for skilled developers (unless the app is somewhow protected and obfuscated) but also a legal problem.

@Robert I know that, I'm looking for some help in the adding of functionality/editing of the source code- and the app I am editing belongs to me.

I am sorry but this site is for end users not app developers. Check the link in my first comment it describes how to implement key handling in Android apps.

@Robert ok thank you, this is also the way I would need to go with other apps too?


text:
Samsung Galaxy S6 not booting to TWRP
After flashing the 3.3.1 twrp image to my S6 (SM-G920F)
After TWRP is downloaded, I switch off with (vol down and power)
When the phone is off (holding vol up + home + power, releasing power after the logo is visible)
I can see the TWRP Logo for a second, but then phone restarts into stock OS.

I needed to upgrade the stock OS to the newest version. Even after that the installed Telekom AG branded OS did not receive the newest patches. Using an older TWRP (3.2.x instead of 3.3.x) version did the trick.


text:
Utilizing an old Android as a security camera and saving footage to HDD
I would like to create a small security camera network utilizing devices I already have, namely Android phones. All phones can have a constant sources of charge, as well as be attached to my wifi network, which has a custom NAS attached. I understand there are already apps that will stream to a Google Drive, however my lack of bandwidth makes this quite unappealing. Are there any apps that will allow me to do this that I haven't found, or are there any recommendations for creating an application that will allow me to do this.

Hi, take note that questions directly asking for app recommendations are off-topic. Instead, we prefer the asker to just state the underlying problem that they want to solve and not putting any restriction for apps-only, so we'd appreciate it if you could [edit] the question, add some details and/or remove the restriction. Otherwise, you might be interested in our sister site, Software Recommendations Stack Exchange instead.

And additionally app development questions are also considered off-topic. For that topic please use stackoverflow.com.

You could try using IP Webcam, installing the computer driver on a computer on a LAN, and then using PC webcam software that points at your NAS.  Not sure on how to write directly though.  If your NAS allows you to host an FTP server from it, however, you could write directly.
On the topic of FTP, you could use Filezilla Server on a Windows computer, and point it at your NAS, if you didn't want as much overhead, although if you are usiing the lite version you will get a watermark in this mode.


text:
My Google Pixel 2's touch screen suddenly quit working--how can I fix it?
My Google Pixel 2's touch screen suddenly stopped working. The screen itself works fine and shows everything perfectly, but the touch sensor is not working anywhere on the phone screen! It cannot detect my touch gestures. I was actively using my phone and noticed the battery was at 1%, so I quickly plugged it in. I was too late, however. As I plugged it in, it started to turning off due to low battery, and it did an automatic soft (proper) shutdown. With it now plugged in and charging, I turned it right back on and attempted to type my unlock password. No luck. The touch screen wouldn't respond!
I held down the power button for like 10 seconds or so until it automatically did a reboot and I saw the "Google" name in color on the screen again, indicating it was turning back on. The touch screen was still totally unresponsive. I did this about 9 or 10 more times over the next 45 minutes--each time unresponsive.
How can I make the touchscreen work again?

I got it to work again!
What DID work for me: press down on the screen with both thumbs to ensure the screen connector (circled in yellow below) is in firmly, and the capacitive touch grounding strip (circled in cyan below) is in good contact with the phone's ground plane.
I am a DIY kind of person. I replaced my battery and screen myself a few months ago, following these battery replacement instructions, and these screen replacement instructions.
When I was done, my phone worked perfectly with zero problems until today. After many hard phone reboots by holding down the power button, with no success to get my touch screen working again, I remembered this image:

...from this tutorial. This is what the phone looks like just underneath the screen and touch panel under the screen. Notice the connector I circled yellow in the image above, and the rectangular grounding strip I circled in cyan underneath it. The yellow-circled item is the connector for the screen and touch sensor to connect to the phone, and the cyan-circled one is the grounding pad for the capacitive touch sensor. The connector has a plate/cover on top of it (shown here) which screws down to hold the connector in place, so it is unlikely to move or lose contact, but perhaps may. The cyan-circled grounding pad is likely very critical to the phone's touch sensor operation, since personal electronics experience making capacitive touch sensors work with Arduinos (ex: see the touch lamp video at the top of my website article here) teaches me that capacitive touch is very sensitive to grounding issues.
I thought maybe pressing on that connector and grounding pad would help (truth be told: I actually was just thinking about the connector, and had forgotten about the grounding pad until after I had done this). So, I pressed firmly but carefully down on the top of the screen near that connector, and then near that grounding pad. I then repeated this process, pressing with both thumbs, moving down the screen lower and lower from on top of that connector and down, until I reached about 1 inch from the bottom of the phone. I couldn't remember where the connector was exactly at the time, so I pressed in these several places, with both thumbs at once. Then, I tried the phone again. Voilà! Magically it worked! Touch sensor seems fine now. It must have just re-seated that connector better is all, or: even more likely: regrounded the metallic strip from the capacitive touch sensor to that grounding pad circled in cyan/bluish. I hypothesize that the adhesive-attached grounding strip connected to that pad had come loose, so that the instant I touched my charge cable to the phone to charge it, the electrical potential of the phone's ground got altered (charged or discharged) by the charge cable's ground, causing the capacitive touch to quit working. Re-grounding the capacitive touch grounding cable to that ground pad underneath the screen must have fixed the capacitive touch sensing system (I think)!
If this doesn't last long-term, I'll buy this replacement screen again for $40 (same one I bought before and have on the phone now) and replace it again (note: I used this iFixit toolkit and this iFixit iOpener heating pad--this heating pad is waaay safer and better than a heat gun!).
If this "pressing on the center of the screen trick", followed by another screen replacement, doesn't last, I'll upgrade to the latest brand new Google Pixel. But, I really hope to hold off for 2 more years or so to get the full life out of my current one (goal is to replace my phone only every 4 years).
Other notes (ex: the phone can be used withOUT the touch screen, using a standard keyboard and mouse)
1. Use the phone withOUT the touch screen by using a USB OTG adapter and standard computer mouse (and optionally: keyboard too)
Note: if you need to use the phone until you can replace it, I was able to plug in a standard mouse into the phone with an OTG (On The Go) USB adapter and continue to use it just fine, albeit it was a pain of course.
Here's some good OTG adapters that will work. You can plug in a standard USB hub into the USB port on the OTG adapter if you want to use both a computer keyboard and mouse at once. Once you plug in the mouse and begin moving it, a cursor will show up on your phone just like on a regular computer. I was able to type with the mouse too just by clicking on the visual keyboard in place of touching it. A keyboard, of course, would be better.

USB C OTG adapter with charging port AND USB plug, $12
Standard USB C OTG adapter, 3 pcs, $8
Or, if you have a micro USB OTG adapter already on-hand, you can convert it to USB C with one of these: micro USB to USB C adapter, 8 pcs, $7. This is what I did.

2. Try rebooting into "safe mode" too to see if the touch screen problem is somehow software-based
Once I had my mouse plugged into my phone so I could click around, I was able to reboot into safe mode to see if the problem might have been software-based and due to an interfering app or something.
Here's how I rebooted into safe mode, again, using my computer mouse and OTG adapter to click on the phone since the touch screen wasn't working:

Press and hold the power button until the power/reboot screen comes up.
Tap (click with the mouse) and hold the power off icon until it gives you a safe mode reboot option.
Choose the safe mode option and wait for the device to reboot.

Safe mode didn't fix the touch screen problem, making me think it was probably a hardware issue. That's when I found the "fix" above by pressing on the center of the phone screen to jostle the hardware and apparently re-seat the connector, or (more likely) re-ground the capacitive touch sensor to the phone's ground, or something.
Other References:

Once I figured this out, I also put it on my website here: https://gabrielstaples.com/google-pixel2-touchscreen/.

Update to anyone wondering: I got by with this "fix" for a few months, and ultimately bought a new phone when the problem slowly returned. Replacing the screen is a nightmare (I bought $100 of repair tools, plus a new screen, and did it myself, and broke a screen in the process). The phone may never be quite the same again since they are so stinking hard to take apart and repair, and I'm an avid DIY person and electronics/soldering enthusiast.


text:
Is there a way to tell if my car uses USB 3?
I use Android Auto. Currently, I have a genuine USB 3.x cable (I think it's 3.0 not 3.1), but due to some issues with how far out of my phone the plug extends, I am considering alternatives. The problem is there are very, very few genuine USB 3.x cables with lower profile plugs, while there are a ton of USB 2.0 options.
I have seen some reports that AA works better with USB 3.x, so I don't want to artificially limit myself to USB 2.0. However, if the car doesn't support USB 3.x, I might as well use a USB 2.0 cable.
Is there any way to tell (using a non-rooted Android device) if I am actually getting USB 3.x speeds?
(I know there are some indicators, such as if the port is blue or has the "SS" logo, but I'd prefer an answer based on something that would work for any vehicle without having to rely on the port being properly marked, i.e. if the port is USB 3.x despite not being properly marked, how would I know?)

Have you tried reading the manual? I would think it would be prominent. Newest capabilities and benefits would be something the company would eager to advertise.

Perhaps, but much like port markings, I expect that to be a one-way test, i.e. while I might definitely determine it is USB 3.x, it wouldn't definitely tell me it isn't. Besides, even if I can find an answer some other way, I am really interested to know if there is any way to find the answer from my Android device. I know on a "regular" Linux distro, and thus probably on a rooted Android device also, there are tools to inspect the connection speed; I wan to know if there is something comparable for non-Rooted Android.

p.s. If it helps, using USB debugging (e.g. plug in to the car, then later use adb to inspect the device's logs).

USB 3 has more connectors. Therefore carefully examine the USB socket may get you the answer. USB 2.0 has only 4 connection pads, AFAIR USB 3.0 adds another 5. See for example this USB 3 plug: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Connector_USB_3_IMGP6024_wp.jpg

Thanks, I'll try that. However, I am still interested in an answer to the question as asked, even if it ends up being only for educational purposes .

Can you transfer files between the two – and does the "non-rooted Android device" support USB 3.0? If so, simply copy a large file and count how long it takes. Knowing the size, you can easily calculate. USB 2 is limited to 480 MBit/s. If you get more, it must be USB 3. Right?

@Izzy, I don't know of any way to transfer a file to my car. I'm looking for a method that doesn't rely on measuring transfer speed or on use of a desktop OS or rooted phone. For example, on desktop Linux I can use lsusb; is there anything like that I can run on a non-rooted Android device?

Ever tried lsusb from within a terminal app? The command is certainly there. Just tried it, but I had nothing suitable to connect. lsusb --help just says "List USB hosts/devices" – but while my computer is connected via USB (I ran that command via ADB), it's output was empty. Might look different with the car connected (a car drives, so it should be a drive #D).

@Izzy, at least my phone doesn't have lsusb. I suspect few if any android devices do; what would be the use case?

No idea. I was rather surprised, too – especially as the device I looked on was a cheap one running an Android Go stock ROM.


text:
How to see my location log in the Google Maps without a working network connection?
I would like to see my google maps position log even if I was offline, or I did not use my phone.
My impression is that the position logging works only if either the phone is active or if I am on wifi.
I would like if I would see my position log more often. I think, the best would be if some background task would continuously (or, maybe in every 10 minutes or so) log my position data, save it, and upload to the google maps if I am online.
Is it possible somehow? It is not a problem, if it would require some other map application, although the gmaps would be ideal.
This answer works only if I manually turn it on every time. I do not want to do that, I need an automatic solution.


text:
How to disable in-app browsers
I am currently using Google Family Link for my child's Samsung Android to disable web browsing but they are still able to click links within certain apps and open in-app browsers. This is the case in Skype and just about any other app with links within it.
Is there a way to disable in-app browsing altogether?
Thanks for the help.

You can try disabling Android WebView and all the browsers that are installed in your device. It is unlikely those certain apps have built there own in-app browsers and so must be depending on external browsers with webview offering. To know how to disable an app, search pm disable-user term in our website.

Are you able to use family link to disable all browsers, including the Samsung browser? Just in-app browsers are still available?


text:
What is the format for an Android ROM?
I downloaded a ROM for a Xiaomi phone to see what's inside. It's a zip file, that has these inside:
boot.img                    META-INF               system.new.dat.br     vendor.patch.dat
compatibility.zip           product.new.dat.br     system.patch.dat      vendor.transfer.list
dynamic_partitions_op_list  product.patch.dat      system.transfer.list
firmware-update             product.transfer.list  vendor.new.dat.br

I understand that boot.img is what is loaded on boot. It has the kernel and a ramdisk. But how can the bootloaded, or the kernel, or the ramdisk access the other files like system.new.dat.br? Both system.new.dat.br and product.new.dat.br are 1gb large, so I guess they have the system.
So my question is: what are these files and how does the boot.img contents load them?
ps: .br is a compresses archive. It decompresses to .dat, but what are the contents of these?

Based on the file names I would assume that you don't have a full system firmware, instead you have a partial OTA update, hence those files only contain the changes that are applied to each partition on your device. How such a patch is applied can be seen e.g. in this tool: https://github.com/erfanoabdi/imgpatchtools

Does this answer your question? Is it possible to flash a custom ROM without a custom recovery image

brotli --decompress --in system.new.dat.br --out system.new.dat;
python sdat2img.py system.transfer.list system.new.dat system.img;

@Robert do you know a full ROM that I can take a look? I'm intersted in seeing how it looks fully

@alecxs thanks, there's a folder images/ with lots of .img. Do you know where I can read more about it?

very good explanation of android partitions on xda-developers
https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/215683/trying-to-understand-the-options-in-twrp-backup#comment276228_215683

Mediatek partitions explained https://blog.csdn.net/zhangbijun1230/article/details/81092381 Mediatek secro seccfg special partitions https://blog.hovatek.com/so-whats-all-this-talk-about-meditek-secure-boot-and-da-files

you might have already noticed but of course the partition naming for qualcomm chipset is entirely different from mediatek. also kirin, spreadtrum and nvidia tegra have their own layout, it's always OEM specific https://android.stackexchange.com/q/219699


text:
Is there a window zoom shortcut on android 10 without using physical buttons?
On android 9 I was able to utilize the "window zoom" vision accessibility feature by triple tapping on the home button to bring it up. On android 10 I cannot find that option. The only shortcut I can find for accessibility settings is to press the volume up and power button at the same time. Is there any way to get window zoom by tapping virtual buttons on android 10?
To clarify, there is a zoom feature that magnifies the whole screen by triple tapping anywhere on the screen, but I do not like this feature as it causes apps with virtual buttons like calculators to become laggy and less responsive. I specifically want the "window zoom" feature for when I play a game with text that is too small at times and I would like to activate it in-game without using the volume and power buttons.
Edit: My phone is an LG G7 thinQ

Is there no setting named Magnification?

@Firelord I get no search result in settings for "Magnification"


text:
How to disable the ghost touch and use device with mouse in android 4.0.4
Got an android tablet iBall i6012 with ghost touch. Its screen is touching in keyboard area with some fungus between touch screen and LCD. This is an hardware issue, have around 7 touch area in screen touching every second. want to use the tablet with USB mouse. Tried Touch Lock by kidscrape. It is locking the screen completely including mouse input.
Looking for a touch input blocking solution with mouse input support in Android 4.0.4

related https://android.stackexchange.com/q/224255

@alecxs solution mentioned in related link requires scrcpy, with minimum os Android 5+. iBall i6012 is Android 4.0.4 cannot use scrcpy.

maybe someone can have a look into source code and tell you which adb command is executed from --turn-screen-off

@alecxs scrcpy didn't use ADB to turn off the screen, it used Android code SurfaceControl, interfacing with the device


text:
asus phone data recovery with broken screen
I have Asus Zenfone selfie but the screen is broken and black and unfortunately USB debugging is not yet enabled.is there any way to recover data from it .please help. thank you

Is the phone protected by a pattern, pin or password?

I would replace the display. But I agree, you have a problem.

flash (adb enabled) magisk_patched.img from QPST and control your screen with scrcpy. for better answer better question is expected first (modelno ZD551KL? android 6? bootloader state?)


text:
Camera doesn't save with new SD card and how to decrypt files from old SD card
it seems I had a bad idea yesterday. I got a new SD card for my Fairphone 3+ (running Fairphone OS/Android 10). There was already an SD card inserted I assumed not to be in use. So I turned off the phone, exchanged the cards, booted the device and when asked to extend the phones memory I confirmed that.
Now I have two problems:

I'm missing a couple of pictures.
I wondered if these were on the old (luckily only 8GB) SD card and recognized that there are two partitions on it: android_meta and android_expand. As far as I learned, this means the SD card also was used as phone memory extension and thus encrypted. And the posts on Android Enthusiasts read like the phone has only one encryption key and won't recognize the old SD card anymore.

The Camera can't save pictures anymore.
Whenever I take a photo I'm able to immediately open it by tapping its preview. Then I see a black picture, I'm told its size is 0 bytes and it's located in /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Camera. Using the cx File Explorer I'm able to open that directory, but it's empty. And I'm not able to create files there.
Using the ADB shell I was able to ls -la /storage the directory and got this:
total 7
drwxr-xr-x  4 root root        80 2020-12-21 06:52 .
drwxr-xr-x 21 root root      4096 2009-01-01 01:00 ..
drwx--x--x  4 root sdcard_rw 3488 2021-01-12 21:38 emulated
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root        60 1970-01-01 01:00 self

So only root is able to write in /storage/emulated. BTW: "total 7"?

Currently I'm trying to find out the following:

is it possible to decrypt the pictures on the old SD card? Would be fine for me if it meant some work :)
is the encryption key for the old SD card still on the phone or could I reset the phone without making things worse regarding the old encrypted SD card?
is the phone in a bad state?

The Camera doesn't save pictures.
All other apps seem to work as expected.
The SD card overview in the Memory settings tell me there are apps on the new SD card (about 5GB). But when I tap the App category to get all apps listed, the list is empty.
When I eject the SD card, a couple of apps start, but only show a blank canvas.

if the phone is in a bad state: could this easily be fixed? If yes, how?

Would be great to get some hints. Thank you very much in advance.

Sorry, forgot to link accounts before asking. My bad. But I got the Camera working again by "formatting the card as mobile" (translated from German, I hope it matches somehow). There was no new data on the SD card, so it seemed reasonable to me. And it worked (this time I saved the remaining pictures :) ).

Would it be possible now to create an image from the old SD card (using dd on Linux), let the phone use it as memory extension again, remove the card and restore the image (android_meta and android_expand) and then trick the phone to use this card again with old data? Seems feasible to me if the encryption mechanism is not based on some random data but only on some static card and device information.

Why not simply give it a try – what can you lose? Either the adoptable storage is still recognized (in which case you can recover all data from it) or not (then you will have no chance anyway). As long as you did not trigger "forget this card", there's still a chance.

as Izzy said, swap the cards back! do not factory reset

Thanks. Unfortunately, it did not work. After I restored the old image on a newly created adoptable storage (same card), the phone tells me the storage was broken :( So I assume there is some dynamic information in the encryption key.

you must not re-create adoptable-storage that will of course force new encryption key. instead clone 1:1 disk image of the entire old (broken?) MicroSD Card (including all partitions) with gddrescue and write it back to another (working) MicroSD Card with dd. encryption key for old SD card is still on phone, just insert, boot and check from df or mount

Thanks for that hint and the link. You said the encryption key for the old SD card is still on the phone. I'm wondering if this holds true: as I told in the initial post, the old card (adoptable storage) got inaccessible after I inserted the new card and turned that new card into an adoptable storage. If the phone kept the encryption key of the old card I would give the instruction in the referenced post a try.


text:
Android 11 update for Samsung Galaxy S10 devices
When will an update come to Android 11 for Samsung Galaxy S10 devices?
Currently Android 10 is installed.

The update is currently in preview on this devices. The update is planned starting in January 2021 (this month)_ and will be the second update of the OS.


text:
Digitizer calibration or hardware issue?
I recently obtained a new galaxy tab A and have been noticing that touching small buttons in certain places is particularly hard (specifically the "read more" button in youtube comments).
After doing some experimenting with the developer options that show touch information, I found that the touch screen didn't want to register touches in vertical lines all across the screen. In particular, when swiping diagonally the registered line meanders to avoid moving horizontally then jumps across to follow my finger, like I'm pulling it across a washboard. Two lines in particular at dx 331.7/332.7 and dx 943.2/944.2 seem to catch the pointer like a cliff.
Is this a software/firmware issue? Or is this digitizer screwy despite being new? Can this be fixed with a factory reset, or not installing a recent patch, or updating firmware?
I've seen this behavior in an older tablet (Memo pad 8) but much worse, so much so that tapping on one of these lines would register a tap on either side of the vertical line, and scrolling would often create double taps. That issue manifested while playing a rhythm game, so I assumed some hardware cracked.

As it is a new device, perform a factory reset and test it again. If the result is still the same return the device back to the vendor as a hardware defect is very likely.


text:
Can't make and receive calls with good signal
Sometimes my smartphone can't make or receive calls (haven't tried SMS) despite signal being good. I can connect to LTE internet though. Turning airplane mode on and off solves the problem however it's not a proper solution because that problem can happen again and I won't know it.
Anyone can advise?
Thanks.
Samsung Galaxy A71
Android 10, One UI 2.1

Does your carrier (and your device) support Voice over LTE (VoLTE). Without that for a voice call the device has to drop LTE connection and fall back to 3G or 2G depending what is available. Of course this means that the signal strength can change if the cell towers are different to the before used LTE tower.

My carrier supports VOLTE and I also see VOLTE symbol next to cellular signal strength bars.


text:
What level of permeability is there between Android and installed apps?
I just installed Protonmail on my Android device, and I was wondering how much data can Android (Google, really) can get from my use of that app, or from any app in general for that matter. I write this post with a faint level of paranoia, as you can guess - with all the mail scanning that gmail does to get data on you, one can tend to think that anything entered or typed on a Google-powered platform is being analyzed, be it Gmail or Android. But of course, I'm assuming it must not be that simple or even that bad. The problem is that getting actual data on what is going on can be quite cryptic.
So, what can Google really get from my use of any given app? Can they somehow "see" what I type in my Proton mails (I'm not thinking about keylogging, that would be illegal), do they collect any kind of metadata that are a bit too comprehensive, etc?

Most installed Google apps are just regular apps and are thus restricted so that they can't access private data of other apps. Only system apps can theoretically access app data from other apps. Some Google apps like PlayStore or GoogleServices are system apps, but these apps are often decompiled and often investigated therefore I don't think that they contain such illegal code to spy on other apps.

Ok, thank you !

Regarding "see what you type", a more relevant topic is the Keyboard apps themselves, which can indeed see what the user types. The user will see a warning when enabling new keyboards to let them know that the keyboard is possible to see what they type and whether they trust them. Most trusted/popular keyboard apps are usually safe, but we can't say the same for every keyboard app...

Probably they can not see what you write in proton mail. As comment explains, typically the apps have no access to the data of the others, thus the apps of the google have no special permission, and no access to other apps (and not even to the data of each other - for example, gmail can not see your google maps timeline).
However:

The OS itself is developed by the Google, and although it is open source, it is very complex. Furthermore, this is customized by the phone manufacturer company, and their version of the source code is already not public, but it arrives in binary form, as system update to your phone. Thus, both google and the phone manufacturer can access all the data what is your phone, if they really want to.
Even if it has no access to your protonmail, a large part of the people with whom you are exchanging mails, use gmail. Google obviously can see what you send or get to/from a gmail user.

Snowden's leak revealed that U.S. secret services have big data processing facilities where they collect information from many sources (gmail, facebook, yahoo, your bank account operations, your phone calls). The important thing is, that they listen from many sources and collect them.


text:
where is the "Keep wi-fi on during sleep" settings in Samsung s9?
My Samsung S9 phone wi-fi connection goes off when it goes to sleep mode (after a while whenever the screen turns off ).  I've found there where a setting option called "Keep wifi on during sleep" in the wi-fi settings advanced menu before the Android version 9, but I can't find such an option in my phone setting. It is very annoying nowadays during remote work from home.
any help would be appreciated.

Welcome on the Android SE! I find it surprising - I have never seen such a phone which turns wifi off on sleep. But I experienced many times that the wifi part of my phone far from the typical quality of the laptops. It might be because making a good wifi in the size (and power consumption) requirements of the typical phones is far more hard. Possibly it can be the cause of your problem, i.e. only your wifi connection is sub-optimal, but hopefully you will get an answer, too.

@peterh-ReinstateMonica Hi, I don't think the problem is the wifi connection, there are many other phones in the area with no problem. the main problem is why there is no  "Keep wifi on during sleep" option in phone settings?


text:
Is there a one click way to make a kindle fire a pure Android device?
For non-technical users, is a one click way to get rid of the amazon stuff & install stock Android?
I am trying to help a friend on another continent who has a kindle fire 7 running OS v 5.6.8 (auto-updated just a few days ago, which looks like it might be a problem).
Solutions seem to involve downloading scripts to a PC, then using Android Studio to side-load the scripts to the kindle, then running them, which would beyond my friend, even with assistance - even if they had a PC, which they do not (nor access to one), just the kindle fire.
Does anyone know of a one-click solution, or something close to it, involving only the kindle fire (7 OS 5.6.8)?

freeze app from settings. don't know kindle os, so universal way is via package manager. unfortunately that is from cmd line. but you may find some app doing this

I suppose that I could accept a command line solution, as my friend could copy/paste, as long as it i snot too complicated. Free free to post an answer, if it is simple, although it seems like there maybe complications with the newer OS. However, we can only try.

can you share links to scripts please? maybe there is a way to run that scripts from tasker https://www.xda-developers.com/tasker-5-9-2-beta-run-adb-shell-commands-without-tethered-pc

https://www.wikihow.com/Remove-a-Default-or-Core-System-Apps-from-an-Android-Phone

that is the universal method from cmd line (adb shell) https://www.xda-developers.com/disable-system-app-bloatware-android

that is such kind of app, just find some with better reputation ;) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.slajedteam.systemappdisabler


text:
How to disable Google news (clickbait) article notifications?
Every time I check my phone there is a list of 'news article' summaries in notifications. On the rare occasions I find any of it interesting it almost inevitably turns out to be a low quality fluff piece worthy of the description clickbait..  What is this 'service' and how can I opt out!
I am unaware of any third party news apps on my phone so presume it is some official google thing being pushed on me.

Have you tried this? https://android.stackexchange.com/q/20368/96277

Thanks for the lead - have already cleared the notifications that accumulated over night but will try the long press info trick the next time one appears.


text:
How to debug the kernel if the device only boot to fastboot
I am tring to compile the kernel source provided by the manufacture of my phone(OPPO PCCM00 precisely). Since it's not "well-opensourced", I changed quite a lot to make sure the kernel would compile without any errors.
However when I tried to boot the device after fastboot flash boot boot.img, the device only comes to fastboot.
I tried pull the dmesg out with TWRP developed by another owner and it goes like this.
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0
<5>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Linux version 4.14.117-perf+ (root@cp-ubuntu-123-78) (clang version 8.0.12 for Android NDK) #2 SMP PREEMPT Thu Mar 5 03:47:08 CST 2020
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Boot CPU: AArch64 Processor [51df805e]
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Machine: Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. SM8150 V2 PM8150 MTP
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]earlycon: msm_geni_serial0 at MMIO 0x0000000000a90000 (options '')
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]bootconsole [msm_geni_serial0] enabled
<3>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: OVERLAP DETECTED!
<3>[    0.000000] disp_rdump_region (0x000000009c000000--0x000000009e400000) overlaps with cont_splash_region (0x000000009c000000--0x000000009e400000)
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Reserved memory: created CMA memory pool at 0x00000000ff400000, size 8 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node sp_region, compatible id shared-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Reserved memory: created CMA memory pool at 0x00000000fe400000, size 16 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node user_contig_region, compatible id shared-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Reserved memory: created CMA memory pool at 0x000000027dc00000, size 36 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node mem_dump_region, compatible id shared-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Reserved memory: created CMA memory pool at 0x00000000fbc00000, size 40 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node linux,cma, compatible id shared-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Reserved memory: created CMA memory pool at 0x00000000f6000000, size 92 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node secure_display_region, compatible id shared-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Reserved memory: created CMA memory pool at 0x00000000f5000000, size 16 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node qseecom_ta_region, compatible id shared-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Reserved memory: created CMA memory pool at 0x00000000f4000000, size 16 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node adsp_region, compatible id shared-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Reserved memory: created CMA memory pool at 0x00000000f3c00000, size 4 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node cdsp_region, compatible id shared-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Removed memory: created DMA memory pool at 0x000000008b700000, size 5 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node camera_region, compatible id removed-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Removed memory: created DMA memory pool at 0x000000008bc00000, size 1 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node pil_wlan_fw_region, compatible id removed-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Removed memory: created DMA memory pool at 0x000000008bd80000, size 0 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node pil_npu_region, compatible id removed-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Removed memory: created DMA memory pool at 0x000000008be00000, size 30 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node pil_adsp_region, compatible id removed-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Removed memory: created DMA memory pool at 0x000000008dc00000, size 160 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node modem_region, compatible id removed-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Removed memory: created DMA memory pool at 0x0000000097c00000, size 5 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node pil_video_region, compatible id removed-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Removed memory: created DMA memory pool at 0x0000000098100000, size 20 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node pil_slpi_region, compatible id removed-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Removed memory: created DMA memory pool at 0x0000000099500000, size 0 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node pil_ipa_fw_region, compatible id removed-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Removed memory: created DMA memory pool at 0x0000000099510000, size 0 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node pil_ipa_gsi_region, compatible id removed-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Removed memory: created DMA memory pool at 0x0000000099515000, size 0 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node pil_gpu_region, compatible id removed-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Removed memory: created DMA memory pool at 0x0000000099600000, size 1 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node pil_spss_region, compatible id removed-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Removed memory: created DMA memory pool at 0x0000000099700000, size 20 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node cdsp_regions, compatible id removed-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Reserved memory: created DMA memory pool at 0x000000009e400000, size 20 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node qseecom_region, compatible id shared-dma-pool
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]Removed memory: created DMA memory pool at 0x00000000a4c00000, size 12 MiB
<6>[    0.000000]  (0)[0:swapper]OF: reserved mem: initialized node cdsp_sec_regions, compatible id removed-dma-pool

I couldn't find any thing useful because it looks so much like the prebuilt kernel extracted from stock firmware, there is no kernel panic and I found and the timestamp in the second line does not seem to be right.
My wild guess is that I am not debugging it in the right way, the actual log for my compiled kernel is flushed when it boots to recovery or the system.
So is there any advice for me the to debug the kernel without booting to other environment?
I really apperciate your help.
the kernel source can be found here

you can't debug because it is not booting. what you flashed just brings phone to dead, there is no log. TWRP has it's own kernel and dmesg is of no use at all

@alecxs Linux kernel has some options to log not only to the console. Surely it can log into an rs232 port. Maybe it can log even to the network. I don't know, how do they work. Possibly also other options exist. I don't know the details. In the case of the Android, I think it should log into a raw partition which could be later analyzed by twrp. I also do not know if it is possible, but if not, probably it does not need a very complex patch.

@peterh-ReinstateMonica if you flash garbage to boot partition then there is no kernel and no log

@alecxs Op can boot twrp, so booting should work.

@peterh-ReinstateMonica how is the relation between boot and recovery here? at least on non- system-as-root devices they are completely independent, and it makes absolutely sence because recovery is a separate fallback OS in case boot is broken

Thanks to both of you, sorry I might have not post my situation clearly, but I do think @alecxs is right, because the twrp I used was compiled by another person with prebuilt kernel, my own compiled  one also only boots to the bootloader/fastboot. I might need to re-check the configuration  I use, it's a SAR device running Android 10, the deconfig file I used  is in arch/arm64/config/vendor/sm8150-perf.deconfig(link), any advice on where to start? Thx


text:
List of all actions protected by given permission
I am supposed to perform static analysis of an APK that has a lot of permissions requested in the Manifest.
I would like to find out whether all the permissions requested are really needed by the app to perform some action.
When I read documentation for a specific permission, it hardly mentions what actions (API calls, object initiations, broadcasts etc.) are specifically protected by that permission.
For example: When I read the docs of READ_PHONE_STATE here, it never mentions the actual API calls protected by the permission. I need to google and find that the user needs this permission to call some methods of TelephonyManager, which is something that I can try to find in the Smali code of my APK to verify that the permission is really needed.
So my question is: Is there some documentation, website or list, where I could easily find all assets protected by various Android permissions? The documentation usually contains all permission needed by a specific call, but it does not contain all calls protected by a specific permission.

I don't think you'll find all information at one place. It's scattered over https://developer.android.com and AOSP source code. In particular Android platform's manifest file can be of a little help.

In recent versions of Android the Android source code for the API used by AndroidStudio  contains RequiresPermission annotations on methods that specify which permissions are required to cal it. Of course there are other ways to make use of a permission that those API calls.


text:
Mi Box 3 startup issue from remote
I tried searching on various forums and couldnt found any similar case reported. I received Android 9 update Mi Box 3 last week. Since then i am facing a major issue of remote getting disconnected after a few hours of mi box's sleep.
I replaced the batteries on remote just to be safe but still, after 3-4 hours of sleep the device dont respond on remote's power button or any other button for that matter press.
Second surprising issue is the TV dont register MIBOX as a HDMI CEC valid device while the Mi Box is asleep.
The above mentioned issues started after I updated Mi Box 3 to android 9 last week

Mine was doing the same thing. I did a factory reset and that seems to have fixed it.


text:
Restore functionality to press home button to go to home screen
On my Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) with Android 8, I used to be able to press the home button to directly go to the home screen.
Some configuration must have changed because now when I press the home button, it only activates the screen but doesn't take me to the home screen.
I need to press the home button to activate the screen and then swipe to go the home screen.
Anyone can help me restore the previous functionality?

Did the old behavior you mention (go to the home screen) occur when the screen was on, off, or both?

When it was off. I would press Home button once to enable screen and then a second time to show the pin lock screen. Once entered the PIN, it would take me directly to the home screen.


text:
Can't install any apps that were previously saved on SD card
Recently my SD card stopped working and all apps that were saved to the SD card were obviously gone however the problem is while the phone, LG G6, still works and I'm able to install apps through Google play store I can't install any of the apps that were previously saved on that SD card. I've tried all the troubleshooting options, except resetting my phone, I don't want to lose what's left on my phone. The SD card was removed as soon as it became a problem, with it in the phone wouldn't work at all. Any suggestions?

consider 1:1 clone with gddrescue that way you may get all your data back from broken MicroSD card https://android.stackexchange.com/q/222394

if you don't want to recover MicroSD card you must forgetting sdcard in settings. be aware that will delete encryption key and sdcard is not recoverable anymore. make sure you forget the right one or you will lose more data again


text:
Is it safe to use an old mobile phone as modem / router for Wifi?
(Related to A phone as a home 4G modem/router?)
I was wondering if it is plausible and safe to keep an old phone charging all the time with a sim card in order to use it as a modem/router for Wifi.
I thought about this idea in order to have a low-cost Wifi for an alarm system. However, my mother is afraid the mobile phone, if left all day charging and running, might explode and start a fire. Is it possible this would happen?

Does this answer your question? Does mobile hotspot have security vulnerabilities in older phones?

I have seen a lot blown up batteries because of charging 24/7 but to my experience batteries usually do explode very very rarely. Usually such batteries are physically damaged.

@IrfanLatif I was more worried about physical safety (a fire hazard), rather than security vulnerabilities.

Interesting idea. Your mother's concerns are valid for the simple reason that it's not the designed usage to be on charge 24 by 7 (they are meant to be used in mobile mode). If you are comfortable with rooting a device, look for a device that supports battery idle mode and keep it on charge as explained here

Further, in light of heating concerns, read this, if you plan to use mobile phone without battery


text:
Compress a video for android using ffmpeg
I'm trying to compress a video to send it around in a messenger. Normally I would use something like
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec libx265 -crf 28 output.mp4

but if I send it around in a messenger app like telegram afterwards, I can only watch it on my PC but not my smartphone (I tested different devices) although the codec is said to be supported: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/media/media-formats
What is the best way to compress a video for messengers in mobile devices?

The solution may be just to reconfigure (install) ffmpeg with x265 headers by setting --enable-libx265 for build as in the documentation
However keep in mind that x265 encoding/decoding is still relatively new and is not implemented/present well enough in Android devices unless you have a newer/branded device*.
(hw support, optimizations)
*generally speaking. - even 2017's Galaxy S8 has built-in HEVC support even in official camera app


text:
How do I test the headset microphone on android, whilst ignoring the phone's internal microphone?
I can't find any apps that do this on Google Play and testing the microphone in Discord isn't any help either.

use a long long cable ;)

If you want to see if the headset microphone works at all just touch it with your finger. This will cause sounds that are only recordable by the microphone you touch.


text:
All apps deleted
Please help, I was trying to power on my Android phone, it took longer time than usual but when it eventually Powers on all my third party apps had been deleted but my files are still intact, what caused this and can I recover my phone back?

Backup. Backup everything. What if you lose your phone? That no one can recover. There are a lot of apps for that. Probably you can not recover your data, because rooting it deletes everything. There is a little chance that there is some loophole what you make an answer for you, but don't have too much hope.

But how can I back up some app data for example I have 7gb of courses i downloaded on pluralsight app for offline use and I can't see the files on my phone storage

Sounds like you may have booted up in SAFEmode on your Android device. When you boot into SAFEmode all 3rd party apps are organically disabled to allow for more accurate troubleshooting of the device. You will know that you are in SAFEmode by looking at the bottom left corner of the device, If it reads SAFEmode than that would be your issue. In the event that is not the issue please let me know

Safe mode is not the case because there's no safe mode displayed and I even tried later and was able to put the phone on safe mode and back to the normal State but the problem persists


text:
Stuck in boot loop after "Fixing SELinus contexts"
So, let's say that I have already "Fixed SELinux Contexts", and I am now in a boot loop. How could I resolve this issue.
I am quite new to all of this, but I am eager to learn and fix my mistake.
TWRP-3.3.1-1210
Redmi Note 8 Pro
Havoc-OS-v2.9-20190914-phhgsi_arm64_ab

May help understand what you have done: What does TWRP “Fix Contexts” do?


text:
How do I disable emergency call after three power button clicks on my Samsung S10?
I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S10 (on Android 10). One of the features that constantly irritates me is the accidental dialling of the emergency number. The system by-default looks for triple power button tap and automatically dials the emergency number (112). I read on XDA here that this is a feature specific to India and Indian SIMs, and I also bought this in India and used an Indian SIM for a short while during my stay there, but have since switched with no effect on the issue. Other regional users, per some threads of Samsung subreddit and Samsung forums, do not have this problem.
How do I change this behaviour? I'm looking to prevent emergency number dial on triple power button tap, and if possible, please provide a non-root based solution. I am willing to install Magisk, but only if there is a definite solution, and no alternative, as it adds another layer of complication. Thank you!


text:
NFC: Spotify URIs open app, not specified resource
My goal is to program NFC tags in such a way, that Spotify starts playing a specific track/album/playlist.
But after writing a Spotify URI (e.g. spotify:track:6rqhFgbbKwnb9MLmUQDhG6) to my tag, it only opens the app and disregards the resource.
The problem seems to be the way Android handles the tag, because the URI works without any problems when I call it from another app.
A related problem is the way URLs are handled: When I open a Spotify URL like https://open.spotify.com/track/6rqhFgbbKwnb9MLmUQDhG6 from another app, it directly launches Spotify, whereas it would unsuccessfully try to open it with a browser after touching the tag.
It seems like Android only processes the scheme of the URI. Is this correct? If so, is there something that can be done to circumvent this? Why would that be the case?


text:
Disabling "Notification Bubbles" in Dev Options is Irreversible
I have a Samsung Galaxy S20FE, running Android 10 and One UI 2.5. After enabling "Notification Bubbles" in the developer settings I decided that it wasn't to my taste and toggled it back off.
However, even though the switch says that the setting is off, apps are still displaying notification bubbles - it seems as though the change was permanent. I have tried a restart, clearing the cache, and deleting the setting as per this article. It appears that no matter what I do, the notification bubbles remain.
I am comfortable with using ADB, and would be exceptionally grateful for any help here.


text:
Android Navigation Buttons Not Touchable On Top
My navigation buttons are not touchable at the top of them, just above their icons. I recorded a video of this issue, but it's too large to upload here, so I put it on YouTube. (https://youtu.be/q43QheBsSnI) I have the Show Pointer Location setting on so if you maximize the video, you can see where I'm tapping at the bottom. Does anyone know how I can fix this issue? I've tried restarting, searching the internet for people experiencing similar issues, and digging through my phone's settings.

Can be a displacement problem between screen and digitizer. Or your screen has dead zones where it does not detect touches. Use a screen test program to check.

I thought that as well at first, but if you check out the video, the cursor appears in the correct place, which means the digitizer is correct and there are no dead zones. It's as if the button height is too short.

Or there is an invisible overlay that partially covers the button bar and does not pass through the touches.

Second what @Robert said. Go to your settings and see which apps have screen overlay permission and  check//If you are using some screen related app, disable that! //Try a different launcher

I tried a new launched and tried disabling a number of the apps with the "appear on top" permission, to no avail.


text:
Find what's crashing my phone
I have a Galaxy M51. At times, when I wake up in the morning, the phone is dead - No response to any of the buttons, when I call it from another phone, it says "the number is switched off", no response on connecting charger. Only when I press power button and vol. down together (hard restart), does the phone turn on and then starts working perfectly normal, only to show a similar behaviour in a few days

It is difficult to guess if it is a hardware or a software problem. The only safe way to get an answer is to perform a factory reset and not installing all your commonly used apps. Instead use the phone plain for some days and check if the problem occurs again. If not re-install your apps one-by-one to find the app that causes this problem.

Is there no way to find the culprit other than factory data reset of the phone?


text:
Can't access phone as forgotten work profile password
A while back I set a password for my work profile. For the life of me I cannot remember it (tried so many different combos).
I want to access my phone but it's asking for the password, which I don't know. I tried quite a few times and it eventually said if I input the wrong password again my work profile would be deleted. This would be fine as I could gain access to my personal account and set up my work profile again.... but no, after inputting another incorrect password, it just says try again in 30 seconds.
I can't even access my personal account as it's just asking for the password.
I don't want to go "nuclear" option to factory reset my phone as not all my data is backed up.
Is there anything else I can do to gain access to my phone?

https://android.stackexchange.com/q/232182


text:
Samsung s7 is on dead mode, buttons are also not working, usb debugging is also off.. Please help me to recover my phone
my phone is Samsung Galaxy S7. Suddenly while using the phone, it stuck on black screen with lights on both navigation n back button.  Then after 1-2 minutes,  it stuck on restart on loop mode. After few minutes the screen again got black with blue led notification light on & no button was working till whole night it was like this. Then in morning, the led light turned off automatically but the phone condition was same, black screen with no button working. Even when i connected charger then also charging red light was not on. It wasn't charging at all.
USB debugging is also off on my phone so couldn't connect it to the computer to fix it.
Please help me to recover my phone or to let me know how tk turn on debugging when phone & buttons are not working.

https://youtu.be/qfSJmwUGATA


text:
Accessing the antenna of an Android system
I am asking a similar question to this
Tap off raw RF data from antenna
but would like further explanation.
First off, I'm an electrical engineer, so I have no experience with android systems besides the average phone user experience.
What I am trying to do is use a mobile device that can read RFID data at 2.4 GHz. This is as low-level as you can get, but I know we don't have access to raw RF data. Is there a way I can collect the RFID data without needing any external peripherals?

Maybe search on [SO]? From a user perspective, I I am not sure if it can be done for the same reason in linked question

NFC in android device operates at 13.56 MHz.


text:
ODIN - Error <ID:0/004> Complete(Write) operation failed
I am currently trying to root an android 10 device (a samsung sm-j600f) using ODIN 3.14.1 and TWRPbut when I hit the start button I get <ID:0/004> Complete(Write) operation failed. error. The whole error message is as below:
<ID:0/004> Added!!
<ID:0/004> Odin engine v(ID:3.1401)..
<ID:0/004> File analysis..
<ID:0/004> Total Binary size: 25 M
<ID:0/004> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/004> Initialzation..
<ID:0/004> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/004> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/004> NAND Write Start!!
<ID:0/004> SingleDownload.
<ID:0/004> recovery.img
<ID:0/004> RQT_CLOSE !!
<ID:0/004>
<ID:0/004> Complete(Write) operation failed.
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)

I have tried using different cables and different TWRP and ODIN versions but none helped. The TWRP and ODIN versions I used are as follows:

ODIN v3.14.1
ODIN v3.13.3
TWRP-3.2.3-j6ltedx-unofficial
TWRP-3.2.3-TwrpBuilder-j6ltedx-2018-08-21_14-15

Also, I have enabled OEM unlock and USB Debugging modes as well.
What could be the reason behind the problem? All help will be appreciated.

I also saw that TWRP might not be supporting Android 10 devices yet actually. link. But still trying other ways like installing it using ADB fastboot etc.

I have a OnePlus 7 on 10 and it's long had official TWRP., so that may not be true always. Better to check developer forums on XDA//I am not familiar with Samsung devices but if it's just to root, you don't need TWRP, isn't it? You can do with Magisk by patching boot image

It is actually just for root. I thought I needed TWRP and above steps for that. That would be great if you can tell the steps to follow for rooting an android 10 device. Currently I am trying to use ADB fastboot but it doesn't work either. I get tons of errors.

Posted a self answered question here.


text:
Can we consider Huawei phones as unrootable?
Huawei unlocking happened until 2018/05 by getting an unlock code on the manufacturer's website page1 and giving it as an argument to a fastboot oem unlock.
In 05/2018, Huawei simply stopped this service with a hardly believable "explanation" citing "customer experience":

Today, two years later, I did not even find any trace on the Huawei's website that this service ever existed.
My google searches shown that probably there is no way more to unlock (= to root) Huawei phones.
I think, some way still remains: the flash chip could be soldered out from the phone motherboard, and modified/rewritten externally. But it requires a well-equipped electronics lab and the company still has various ways to harden it (like building various signature checking in their SoC, which can be disabled only on un-documented ways).
The situation remembers me to the Apple mobile devices, where iOS is sold while users have no way to modify/remove it or gain root access. Thus, Apple can do with their devices as they want to - they can only do what Apple allows.
What is the case now? Is there any known opion to unlock (root) Huawei devices, or we can consider them in the future as an Apple with an Android?
1Reference

Does this answer your question? How to root Honor 9 lite

Only if they work. If they do not work, we have a list of scams. My doubts are raising from the fact that the first link already says "first universal rooting solution", which is impossible, and from the fact that the developers of these paid apps have no more way to unlock the bootloader than us.

there is no general solution, the service has listed some devices where unlock codes available. if your device is not listed your device is not unlockable

related https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/112709/2020/9/6

Ok, now I see some chance that the developers found some way by reverse engineering and maybe by other sources. If it is so, they deserve the reward for their results.

Rooting itself does not necessarily require an unlocked bootloader. On XDA you can find a lot of examples for devices that can't be bootloader unlocked but rooted via exploit. Even custom ROMS may be possible (I remember my first HTC Desire which was not unlockable but you could even run custom ROMs, except from the kernel which could not be changed). Therefore I would say Huawei devices are not easily rootable, but they aren't 100% unrootable.

@Robert Some public db could exist from all android manufacturers, ordered by their rooting-friendliness.

flashing magisk_patched ramdisk.img via edl.py on locked bootloader worked, but even it is AVB signed the boot chain was broken. will buy unlock code for ATU-L21 and report

someone claimed that dc-unlocker is driven by huawei. if true that explains :) forum.xda-developers.com (be aware the first one is teamviewer scam)

some more links for collection https://twizzyindy.github.io/2019/01/26/Sneaking-into-Huawei-Bootloader-And-ATCMDSERVER https://github.com/SkyEmie/huawei-honor-unlock-bootloader

I readout bootloader code with HCU-Client
15.08.2021 21:24:20
HCU Client   v1.0.0.0378
Account: alecxs

Before detection connect cable to usb and enable Manufacture mode !

Qualcomm and HiSilicon: *#*#2846579#*#*
MTK: *#*#14789632#*#*
Windows: ##2846579#

ProjectMenu
1.Background setting
2.USB ports setting
Select Manufacture mode

Read Bootloader code

2021-08-15 21:24:20.419 Autodetect COM port and phone type start!
2021-08-15 21:24:21.489 Found COM port: COM25
2021-08-15 21:24:21.499 Found phone type: Huawei Android phone (Qualcomm CPU)
2021-08-15 21:24:21.599 Open COM port COM25 (DBAdapter Reserved Interface (COM25))...
2021-08-15 21:24:21.719 Connecting to server...
2021-08-15 21:24:21.849 Connected!
2021-08-15 21:24:25.391 Read phone secure info...
2021-08-15 21:24:25.611 Read phone basic info...

2021-08-15 21:24:25.671 Phone info data backup saved to file C:\Android\HCU_378\Backup\20210815_212425_866248042878049.BAK

2021-08-15 21:24:27.041 Read bootloader code success!

Bootloader code: POIXF6OJK4QQME0D

I was able to unlock bootloader Huawei Y6 2018 ATU-L21
fastboot oem unlock POIXF6OJK4QQME0D

I dumped ramdisk.bin from edl.py and patched with Magisk
- Device platform: arm64-v8a
- Installing: 23.0 (23000)
- Copying image to cache
- Unpacking boot image
- Checking ramdisk status
- Stock boot image detected
- Patching ramdisk
- Repacking boot image

****************************
 Output file is written to
 /storage/emulated/0/Download/magisk_patched-23000_4A2bd.img
****************************
- All done!

Finally flashed from fastboot and got device rooted.
(had to adb pull file from device because it was invisible from MTP)
fastboot flash ramdisk magisk_patched-23000_4A2bd.img

paid 4 credits (4 €) with paypal

https://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f1004/hcu-error-meta_dll-dll-2756015/#post13961222


text:
Why I'm unable to set a WIFI static IP address?
On my Android mobile phone (a recent Huawey MAR-LX1B), I would like to permanently set a static IP address on a specific WIFI LAN router connection.

The reason is that, on an application backend server, I want to "identify" connecting devices (specific
unique mobile devices). A simple way to identify clients, on the web application, is to use caller IP addresses (debatable, I admit).

On Android (version 10) I would be able to change the local IP address to static, setting an IP of my choice, but on my phone, when I fulfill configuration data in the WIFI advanced section, the save button is disabled.
Any idea?

BTW, do you think maybe ste MAC address - IP address setting on the DHCP server, here suggested: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/15827/338630 could be a better
approach (to identify clients assigning them static IP addresses)?

thx @beeshyams I read the forum thread I tried the workaround. I didn't work. BTW the MAC randomization link is broken. BuT I read this

Sorry for the broken link. Try this https://source.android.com/devices/tech/connect/wifi-mac-randomization


text:
How to fix apparently-incomplete adb backup?
I need to hand in my old phone, but before I do, I want to be sure I am not going to lose any data, including app data.
I've tried the usual adb backup -apk -shared -all, however this produced a file that is a little under 9 GiB. The device capacity is 64 G and is almost full. Also, I made a backup about five months ago that is a much more plausible 45 GiB. Alas, I don't recall what command I used five months ago. (More specifically, I don't remember what arguments; I'm 99% certain it was some invocation of adb backup.)
What am I doing wrong? How can I back up "everything"? (I don't need e.g. OS stuff, but I definitely have more than 9 GiB of pictures, user-installed apps, and such.)

First adb backup only includes private app data. What is stored inside /sdcard is not included. Additionally apps can limit or even totally deny backup. In such a case adb backup will miss some data or whole apps. Some apps may provide a app internal functionality to backup data.

@Robert, then how did I previously manage to create a 45 GiB backup? I don't have that many apps. Also, I'm aware of apps not allowing backup and am almost certain that's not the issue I'm having.

@Robert that's not quite correct. The -shared parameter advises it to also include "shared data", i.e. SD card contents. // Matthew: apps can opt-out of backup, so with one monolitic file you never know what you get. Take a look at my tool Adebar, which a.o. creates a script to backup each app separately (so you see which fail) and optionally also shared storage (though that you could backup simpler by simply copying all its files). The script will already show which apps won't backup, just look inside once it is created.

depending on how old the phone is it may exploitable. the adb backup arguments are easy to figure out. Be aware not all flags are fully implemented, behavior may differ from expectation. But if your previous backup.ab was +36 GB bigger that sounds more like lost connection. for pictures i recommend 'adb pull -a /sdcard'

@alecxs, is there absolutely no error reporting if the connection is dropped? If that's the case, that may well be what happened...

probably no error message. adb backup is very weak implemented (and most likely depreciated). at least for adb pull on latest platform-tools the progress -p flag is enabled by default

@Izzy had to run while [ 1 ]; do adb shell input touchscreen tap 540 1330; done; in second terminal for Adebar, is that intended?

@alecxs say what? And what for? This is the first time I hear something has to be run in a second terminal for Adebar to work. Where did you get that idea from, and what do those touch-events do? Wild guess: confirming the backups? If it's that, please check your config. Adebar can do that itself (not for all devices, but most). Take a look at things like AUTO_CONFIRM*; if your device requires a specific sequence, even that can be configured.

@Izzy thx will check config

@alecxs, well, after way too much effort spent figuring out how to decrypt a backup, I can confirm that what I'm getting does indeed seem to be truncated. Why it crapped out right in the middle of a file is a mystery; I've adb pulld the same file and it doesn't seem to be corrupt or anything...

always leave the password blank for unencrypted backup.ab (it's just zlib deflate compressed tar in that case which can be extracted with only gzip one-liner) https://android.stackexchange.com/q/28481

@alecxs, I can't leave it blank. Because my phone is encrypted (seriously, why on Earth would you not encrypt a mobile device?!), I can't start a backup without providing a password.

you can leave it blank. i am talking about not streaming encrypted backup.ab only (not about screen lock or disk encryption, which is completely unrelated). encrypted backup.ab is unrecoverable when just a single byte is missing, while unencrypted backup.ab still can be partially extracted in case it's broken

of course it's user decision. but it makes data recovery far more easier. same for adoptable-storage MicroSD card, becomes unrecoverable when smartphone is broken (also main reason why i always prefer unencrypted device - broken ext4 partition can be repaired, but if decryption fails the whole partition is lost)

@alecxs On (at least) Android 11 you can't leave it blank if your device is encrypted; the backup confirm screen says "Since your device is encrypted, you are required to encrypt your backup. Please enter a password below:", and the "Back up my data" button is greyed out until you do so. I don't know if it was like this on previous versions. If you have a workaround that would be great, though. Apparently Samsung phones (maybe all Android phones) are encrypted by default now.

@pizzapants184 "Since your device is encrypted, you are required to encrypt your backup" is indeed absolute unambiguous, got it :)


text:
How to check if notification delays are because of WiFi?
I sometimes get delayed or no notification of whatsapp and Instagram. How to check if it's my wifi's issue or if it's my phone's?

That depends on the delay. If it is less than about 15 minutes then this is normal behavior. Android does not keep the connection to the Google push server permanently open to save battery. Instead it tries to aggregate requests to make network requests more efficient.

Is there any way to check if it's due to google push server or if it's my phone's issue.

The Google push server is never the problem because your phone always connects to the push server and asks for outstanding messages (polling) not the other way around. On your device the Google Play Services are responsible for doing so.


text:
Is there any way to share image+audio from an android device to a pc without mirroring?
I have a robot that uses android (API 22) but it doesn't have screen mirroring. One of our clients wants to stream the screen and internal audio (not the voices from people outside) of this robot to their pc, but I have no idea how or even if it's possible to do without mirroring. I tried AnyDesk but it doesn't allow me to share audio.
I've been looking for possible solutions but I havent found anything.
Any idea on how to achieve this?
Thank you, best regards.

If the destination can also be a TV instead of a PC you could try to share the screen via Chromecast. You just need the cheap Chromecast dongle as receiver (the full-HD version without AndroidTV-UI is sufficient).

Unfortunately, the client insists they need it on a PC, but thanks for the suggestion!


text:
Can we use Odin/Heimdall to emulate a fake flash (without real hardware connection)?
As my title suggests.. is there a method to flash a (samsung) firmware on a formatted sd card (fat32 I guess? And 16gb too?) instead of an actual phone (flash emulation) using pit file in heimdall/odin or changing values in heimdall/odin to make it happen?
What I want to do : Just partition and flash the bootloader and kernel partitions to an sd card (it should be partitioned in a similar way as it happens after flashing them on internal memory normally through odin.. problem is .. phone is deadboot i.e can't go in download mode and I want to get the correct bootloader and primary partitions on the sd card and try to boot through it in download mode and reflash normally..)
I have firmware but I cannot seem to get it flashed (or in other words, partitioned according to pit file) on an sd card without actual working phone sadly. I tried and researched a lot but couldn't find exact answer.
Furthermore, repairing in a local shop or a box isn't an option. And can't afford replacing motherboard etc. Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks !

not possible. Odin is for communication with phone in download mode (proprietary protocol). there are several partitions (some ext4, some just binaries) the fat32 doesn't matter. besides one can't boot bootloader from sd slot, the whole idea is pointless. only the ROM can mounted from sd card, but that requires modified ROM or heavily modified kernel, a lot of knowledge and unlocked bootloader (and OEM unlocking requires fully working android)

buy JIG dongle to enter download mode and flash official stock ROM+bootloader+firmware+CSC from Odin it will do the proper partitioning itself https://www.xda-developers.com/samloader-download-updates-samsung-galaxy

Thanks for the input. Yeah I guess its like that and probably that's why there's nothing on web about this. But, have you came across something like dead boot repair ? Its mentioned to work for samsung devices too..

Also jig won't work as phone's bootloader has been corrupted (or am I wrong?)

you try and tell us


text:
Use same app data with another user (on Android 10)
I have a Samsung Tablet running Android 10. My kid uses a "restricted user" (password-protected) to play etc.
Now, since the Lego BOOST app is also installed on this restricted user account, I would like to make it possible for him to use the tablet without me unlocking the user - my boy does not know the password and I don't want him to know ... but specifically for the Lego BOOST app I would like him to be able to use it without me being around.
So, in technical terms, I want to "share" all his user data (already unlocked data in the app) with another user account which would NOT be password-protected - or with a password I can tell him.
Is it possible to share the same app data between 2 users? Or, alternatively, is it possible to "move"/transfer the app data to another user account?

ON a rooted device may be. On an unrooted even migrating the data from one user to another is difficult as as far as I remember adb backup only works for the primary user. Also keep in mind that after a device reboot always the primary user have to login.


text:
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mail App not syncing while set to Automatic sync(Push)
It does sync automatically(push) only when I have opened the app. But today, eventhough I had it opened it didn't.
I would like my phone to sync auto even after I close the app.
I would also download another email app if necessary.
Android version 5.0.1

Who operates the mail server? Android 5 has a very limited support of modern HTTPS/TLS versions and cipher. May be the mail server was updated and now only accepts modern TLS versions and ciphers not supported by your old device.

Gmail. Is there no way to get auto emails on Android 5? It seems to me that other apps send notifications that need internet pretty quick

Is there a reason you use GMail with the stock mail app and not the GMail app?

I can not find a way to customize the notification sound when an email arrives (I want to play an mp3 when I get an email from a specific sender).


text:
Apps recently changed, without an update from the store
I've recently noticed that once in every few days, several apps on my phone suddenly show as "recently updated", even though they didn't get any update from the Play Store.
The way I can see that they were updated, is not through the Play Store, but rather through Nova launcher's "new/updated" apps category, and also through Total Commander's "Installed Apps" sorted by date.
Since it's a Pixel phone, I wonder if that could be due to some Google-related infra/library being updated in the background (just like the Play Store app sometimes auto-updates itself without any notice), or should I start worrying about malicious code slowly crawling through my phone and injecting itself into other apps?
A few points worth mentioning:

Phone isn't rooted, and doesn't allow to install third-party apps.
Developer options are accessible, but USB debugging is disabled, and I didn't change almost any setting there.
The Play Store app settings doesn't allow any kind of auto-update unless I initiate and approve each update.
The apps that change/update in each batch seem totally random: they could be of any type, and doesn't seem related to how frequently I use them (some of them I haven't launched in months, maybe a year or more).
Usually, no more than a few apps in each batch - and no more than one batch every 1-3 days or so.
These apps continue to get regular updates through the official Play Store and everything seem fine.
There are still many apps on my phone which weren't updated/changed at all, for some of them the last change/update was more than a year ago.

Any ideas on what or how to check this? Anyone else may have noticed similar behavior?

My answer might help to find apps sorted by last update time and their installer name: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/120158/96277 // Do you also happen to have new apps automatically installed or just the installed app gets updated? The first one is the case with some OEMs  sneaking into your device in the name of "recommendations", but I don't know if Google does that too or not, hence, asking that.

Adding to my own question, as a side note. Since I've just heard about this vulnerability - although it's old, maybe there's more like it that are still out in the wild? https://www.xda-developers.com/janus-vulnerability-android-apps/


text:
Is it possible to find out what apps created a given file/folder?
I want to keep track of the application that created the folder.
I use an Android phone.
And some apps automatically creates unnecessary folders in the root directory of my phone.
I want to know where they come from.(The photo below is an example.)
I can delete that folder but it will be recreated within few minutes.
Are there any apps or adb commands that can monitor whether a folder or file is being edited?
Or, is there a way to block the creation of a folder with the same name?

I have read all of the guides but may still be wrong. Please tell me if this is a duplicate question. I apologize if this is a bad question.
I want to catch the culprit!

Hello. Try the answer for the linked question. https://android.stackexchange.com/q/214229/96277

Some of them are standard Android folders: Alarms, DCIM, Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music, Notifications, Pictures, Podcasts, Ringtones, Screenshots.

@Firelord Thank you! That's exactly what I want.
But my phone doesn't have root privileges, so I have to find another way
(-> I will try to root my spare phone and install all my whole apps.)


text:
What creating bootloop when flashing TWRP?
I follow this XDA tutorial to flash TWRP and rooting Samsung Galaxy J250F. However, after flashing TWRP via Odin, the phone only boots into recovery, not system. Even factory reset or empty the misc partition cannot help. I have to reflash its stock ROM. This erases TWRP and replace with the stock recovery.
This is what the tutorial says, which I follow exactly:

Flash with ODIN in the AP slot.
Put your device in DOWNLOAD mode.
Uncheck Auto reboot.
Load the respective file below into the AP slot and hit start.
After flashing and ODIN reports PASS immediately reboot to recovery by holding POWER + HOME + VOL DOWN.
As soon as the screen goes blank change to VOL UP whilst still holding POWER + HOME.
You should now see TWRP recovery.

Yes I see TWRP recovery, but now the system cannot be booted.

I assume you have read the section IMPORTANT about  dm-verity?

In Odin did you unselected reboot option 2.How did try to boot into system after installing TWRP? Power buttons or through TWRP - boot - system

@alecxs man, the way the article is structured made me think that that section is not important until installing TWRP is done. I had had an incorrect expectation that installing TWRP shouldn't create bootloop

@beeshyams 1 yes. (Actually in the first attempt I didn't, but the result seems to be the same.) 2 Via TWRP

Thank you everyone for supporting me. I suggest the OP to write a better post here

consider in (xda) developers scene it is common sense to disable dm-verity when mess with partitions, therefore you are lucky when you even find a hint about dm-verity at all. also please note that xda has changed forum software recently and all posts became ugly (one should change dark mode to xda classic to make it look like old forum for better readability)


text:
Google Assistant routine only executing first command?
I have a Google Assistant routine with 2 custom actions: Navigate to home and Play Spotify music.
For some reason, only the first action ever completes when I execute the routine via voice command. If I swap the actions around, the first one always completes. So if I have playing music first, it plays music but does not navigate. Vice versa, if I have navigating first, it navigates but does not play music.
Any way to fix this?

Disabling Digital Wellbeing seems to fix the problem for some

@beeshyams unfortunately, I don't have Digital Wellbeing setup (unless I am missing something, but I checked in settings and didn't see anything enabled).


text:
Heimdall gives ERROR: Failed to receive handshake response. Result: -7 on samsung J5 (2016)
I am trying to connect to a Samsung J5 (2016) SM-J510FN, using linux ubuntu 20.04 (libusb-1.0.0), to flash a TWRP image using heimdall v1.4.2 (build from master a2cfdaa)
I have set the udev based on the git repository android-udev-rules
Mobile has USB debbuging on and OEM unlock. And using samsung cables for connection
Mobile phone is visible on lsusb either in normal OS boot or in download mode
Normal Boot:
Bus 001 Device 096: ID 04e8:6860 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd Galaxy series, misc. (MTP mode)

Download mode / Odin mode:
Bus 001 Device 097: ID 04e8:685d Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd GT-I9100 Phone [Galaxy S II](Download mode)

Running heimdall print-pit works without problems. But then:
heimdall flash --RECOVERY twrp-3.4.0-0-j5nlte.img  --stdout-errors --verbose --no-reboot

Initialising protocol...
ERROR: Failed to receive handshake response. Result: -7
ERROR: Failed to receive handshake response. Result: -7
ERROR: Protocol initialisation failed!

ERROR: Protocol initialisation failed!

Releasing device interface...

My computer only has usb3.0 but also tried with a porthub for usb2.0, this looks like issue #209
Any ideas or tips on how to solve this problem ?!

try JOdin3

Tried JOdin3 but the same issue

then you are left with Odin


text:
Are the Ip address of a website and the android app equivalent the same?
So recently i wanted to block website. So i found out the ip address of the website using ping command and blocked it using the ip filter on my router configuration page eg: 192.168.0.1 for D-Link.
But again after some time i also found out that that website also has an equivalent android app like facebook.com and facebook android app and my question is when i blocked the ip address of the website will it automatically block the app from using the wifi also or the ip addressess of website and android app different? if they are different how to find that out and block that ip also and make sure that app dosent connect to the internet?
Don't ask me why are you even installing the app on your phone if you want to block that badly.
The thing is i want to stop my family members also from using that app through wifi ip block because as usual they don't listen to me.
And the website and app are bad like Really bad.

@Firelord In the times of cloud services an IP can change at any time. Additionally you may block other services that are hosted on the same IP address. Russia for example tried to block Telegram service on IP level some time ago. They made a lot of "collateral damage" on other services hosted on the same cloud instance, but Telegram just switched to a new IP. Therefore from my perspective a DNS based block will be more reliable.

In continuation to the the previous comments, a service (a mobile app or website or web app) might be using multiple domain names (which is hard-coded in the app or the app fetches from remote server) which might resolve to scores of IP addresses (which may also keep on changing). So while the domain (DNS) blocking is more reliable, the blockage can't be guaranteed. You need to keep an eye on app's activity if you don't want to block it entirely on the device. This question may help: How to view network traffic requested by a specific app?

Large services like Facebook have own servers for web-site and mobile apps. Other services have one (API) server for both. Therefore there can be a relationship between the server of the website and the server used by the Android app but does not have to be.
The large services even have multiple servers distributed around the world that share the same DNS name. Therefore if you want to block something on IP level your filter list will soon be very long.
An relative simple way to get all IP addresses an app communicates with is sniffing it's traffic. Even if the traffic will be mostly HTTPS and therefore encrypted the destination IP is always visible in plain text in each IP packet.
There are apps like PacketCapture that allow you to get the complete IP addresses an app communicates with.
After identifying a few IP addresses I would re-run the app while sniffing it with PacketCapture to make sure there are no alternative addresses the app just switche to if the main IP is not accessible.
Also keep in mind that you have to periodically check the IP addresses again as they will change from time to time.
Keep in mind in the times of cloud services the IP address of a service can change at any time and your block may also block other services that are running by coincidence on the same server.


text:
Using Android phone to control a raspberry pi nintendo 64 emulator
Say I make a nintendo 64 emulator on a raspberry pi 4, and I want to use my phone as a wireless controller ether over bluetooth or WiFi.
I doubt that any Android software would have support for linux, let alone support an N64 emulator.
So what would be the best course of action here, make a python translator that catches the signal sent by the phone, reads it, then simulates button presses on the raspberry? If anyone has a better solution, please let me know!

Use your favorite search engine for "android N64 emulators". As results exist, someone has done it (but probably depends on how powerful is your phone). 2. Sending & capture signals from a Android device will add latency, but there are apps out there to emulate bluetooth/wifi controller - again use search. 3. You may have a better fit at Raspberry Pi Stack Exchange for specific RPi questions.

@Morrison Chang I've done some googling, I'm just looking for an android controller app that has at least basic linux support, and I can't exactly emulate n64 from a phone and then stream it to my tv, that's complicating a simple problem. I don't mind the latency, and I'm not asking questions about a raspi.

You should identify make/model/OS version of what phone(s) you have. If you want to use a Android device as a wireless controller, one options is to use a custom ROM to make your device a Bluetooth HID (Human Interface Device) which can connect to RPi4. Another might be to use VNC to connect with RPi. Personally I would just get a RPi/RetroPie supported gamepad for the tactile feel over a glass screen (and documentation).

Somehow missed in RetroPie - Virtual Gamepad and/or Mobile Gamepad which uses the mobile browser/Chrome browser as a gamepad. Don't know how well that works, but is an option.

The chrome browser controller seems promising, thanks!

Android 9 added support for the Bluetooth HID Device Profile which can be used to make a Android device behave like a HID gamepad:
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/bluetooth/BluetoothHidDevice
The Bluetooth HID profile isn't available on all devices, you can use the Bluetooth HID Profile Tester app to see if it's supported:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rdapps.bluetoothhidtester&hl=en_US&gl=US
I've had some luck using ginkage's GamePad app:
https://github.com/ginkage/GamePad