text:
How can I configure BlueStacks to have Android use dark mode?
How can I configure BlueStacks to have Android use dark mode?
On Android 10 I can use:

but I can't see the option on Android on BlueStacks:

The simple answer is you can't.
BlueStacks 4.2 bases on Android Nougat - also known as Android 7.x and therefore there is no Dark Mode.

I know it's not the best solution, but if you are on Windows 7 or 10 (the script was only tested out on those, perhaps it works with other Windows versions newer than 7), by using this autohotkey script, written by teadrinker and other contributors, you will be able to draw multiple inverted color rectangles on the screen (as seen with the 1 and 2 regions in the 2 images below):
/*
This script works on Windows 10 with 64 and 32 bit AHK
and on Windows 7 with 64 bit AHK (but not 32 bit), if DWM is turned on (Aero theme).

Use Shift + LButton hotkey to select a new area on the screen, where colors will be inverted
Use Shift + RButton hotkey to delete the previously selected area
Use F9 hotkey to hide/show selected areas and turn off/on Shift + LButton and Shift + RButton hotkeys
*/

/*
; try uncommenting this block, if the scrit doesn't work with some needed windows

If !RegExMatch(DllCall("GetCommandLine", "Str"), " /restart(?!\S)") {
   If (A_PtrSize = 8)
      RunWait "C:\Program Files\AutoHotkey\AutoHotkeyU64_UIA.exe" /restart "%A_ScriptFullPath%"
   Else If A_IsUnicode
      RunWait "C:\Program Files\AutoHotkey\AutoHotkeyU32_UIA.exe" /restart "%A_ScriptFullPath%"
   Else
      RunWait "C:\Program Files\AutoHotkey\AutoHotkeyA32_UIA.exe" /restart "%A_ScriptFullPath%"
}
*/

#NoEnv
#UseHook
SetWinDelay 0
SetBatchLines -1
toggle := true
DllCall("Dwmapi\DwmIsCompositionEnabled", "UIntP", bool)
if !bool {
   MsgBox, 64, DWM, DWM is turned off, this script will not work. Choose the Aero theme and launch the script again!
   ExitApp
}

F9::
   toggle := !toggle
   Magnifier.ToggleShow()
Return

#If toggle
+LButton::
SelectNewArea() {
   Magnifier.stop := true
   area := SelectedArea.Start(0x82FFC800)
   if !(area.w > 10 && area.h > 10)
      Return
   timer := ObjBindMethod(Magnifier, "CreateMagnifier", area)
   SetTimer, % timer, -10
}

+RButton::
DeleteMagnifierUnderMouse() {
   DllCall("GetCursorPos", "Int64P", POINT)
   for k, gui in Magnifier.GUIs {
      if DllCall("PtInRect", "Ptr", gui.area.pRect, "Int64", POINT) {
         Gui, % gui.hGui . ":Destroy"
         break
      }
   }
}

class SelectedArea
{
   Start(colorARGB) {
      area := {x: 0, y: 0, w: 0, h: 0}
      this.ReplaceSystemCursors("IDC_CROSS")
      this.Select(area, colorARGB)
      this.ReplaceSystemCursors("")
      Return area
   }

   Select(area, colorARGB) {
      this.hGui := this.CreateSelectionGui(colorARGB)
      Hook := new this.WindowsHook(WH_MOUSE_LL := 14, ObjBindMethod(this, "LowLevelMouseProc"))
      KeyWait, LButton
      Hook := ""
      WinGetPos, x, y, w, h
      Gui, Destroy
      for k in area
         area[k] := %k%
   }

   CreateSelectionGui(colorARGB) {
      Gui, New, +hwndhGui +Alwaysontop -Caption +LastFound +ToolWindow +E0x20 -DPIScale
      WinSet, Transparent, % colorARGB >> 24
      Gui, Color, % Format("{:X}", colorARGB & 0xFFFFFF)
      Return hGui
   }

   ReplaceSystemCursors(IDC = "")
   {
      static IMAGE_CURSOR := 2, SPI_SETCURSORS := 0x57
           , SysCursors := { IDC_APPSTARTING: 32650
                           , IDC_ARROW      : 32512
                           , IDC_CROSS      : 32515
                           , IDC_HAND       : 32649
                           , IDC_HELP       : 32651
                           , IDC_IBEAM      : 32513
                           , IDC_NO         : 32648
                           , IDC_SIZEALL    : 32646
                           , IDC_SIZENESW   : 32643
                           , IDC_SIZENWSE   : 32642
                           , IDC_SIZEWE     : 32644
                           , IDC_SIZENS     : 32645
                           , IDC_UPARROW    : 32516
                           , IDC_WAIT       : 32514 }
      if !IDC
         DllCall("SystemParametersInfo", "UInt", SPI_SETCURSORS, "UInt", 0, "UInt", 0, "UInt", 0)
      else {
         hCursor := DllCall("LoadCursor", "Ptr", 0, "UInt", SysCursors[IDC], "Ptr")
         for k, v in SysCursors {
            hCopy := DllCall("CopyImage", "Ptr", hCursor, "UInt", IMAGE_CURSOR, "Int", 0, "Int", 0, "UInt", 0, "Ptr")
            DllCall("SetSystemCursor", "Ptr", hCopy, "UInt", v)
         }
      }
   }

   LowLevelMouseProc(nCode, wParam, lParam) {
      static WM_MOUSEMOVE := 0x200, WM_LBUTTONUP := 0x202
           , coords := [], startMouseX, startMouseY, timer
      if !timer
         timer := ObjBindMethod(this, "LowLevelMouseProc", "timer", "", "")
      if (nCode = "timer") {
         while coords[1] {
            point := coords.RemoveAt(1)
            mouseX := point[1], mouseY := point[2]
            x := startMouseX < mouseX ? startMouseX : mouseX
            y := startMouseY < mouseY ? startMouseY : mouseY
            w := Abs(mouseX - startMouseX)
            h := Abs(mouseY - startMouseY)
            try Gui, % this.hGui . ":Show", x%x% y%y% w%w% h%h% NA
         }
      }
      else {
         if (wParam = WM_LBUTTONUP)
            startMouseX := startMouseY := ""
         if (wParam = WM_MOUSEMOVE) {
            mouseX := NumGet(lParam + 0, "Int")
            mouseY := NumGet(lParam + 4, "Int")
            if (startMouseX = "") {
               startMouseX := mouseX
               startMouseY := mouseY
            }
            coords.Push([mouseX, mouseY])
            SetTimer, % timer, -10
         }
         Return DllCall("CallNextHookEx", "Ptr", 0, "Int", nCode, "UInt", wParam, "Ptr", lParam)
      }
   }

   class WindowsHook {
      __New(type, callBack, isGlobal := true) {
         this.BoundCallback := new this.BoundFuncCallback(callBack, 3, "Fast")
         this.hHook := DllCall("SetWindowsHookEx", "Int", type, "Ptr", this.BoundCallback.addr
                                                 , "Ptr", !isGlobal ? 0 : DllCall("GetModuleHandle", "UInt", 0, "Ptr")
                                                 , "UInt", isGlobal ? 0 : DllCall("GetCurrentThreadId"), "Ptr")
      }
      __Delete() {
         DllCall("UnhookWindowsHookEx", "Ptr", this.hHook)
         this.BoundCallback := ""
      }

      class BoundFuncCallback
      {
         __New(BoundFuncObj, paramCount, options := "") {
            this.pInfo := Object( {BoundObj: BoundFuncObj, paramCount: paramCount} )
            this.addr := RegisterCallback(this.__Class . "._Callback", options, paramCount, this.pInfo)
         }
         __Delete() {
            ObjRelease(this.pInfo)
            DllCall("GlobalFree", "Ptr", this.addr, "Ptr")
         }
         _Callback(Params*) {
            Info := Object(A_EventInfo), Args := []
            Loop % Info.paramCount
               Args.Push( NumGet(Params + A_PtrSize*(A_Index - 2)) )
            Return Info.BoundObj.Call(Args*)
         }
      }
   }
}

class Magnifier
{
   static GUIs := []
   CreateMagnifier(area) {
      static onExitSet := false
      this.show := true
      (!this.onDestroy && this.onDestroy := ObjBindMethod(this, "WM_DESTROY"))
      if !this.GUIs.Count() {
         this.MagInitialize()
         OnMessage(0x0002, this.onDestroy)
      }
      (!onExitSet && OnExit( ObjBindMethod(this, "Clear"), onExitSet := true ))
      Gui := new this.MagGui(area)
      this.GUIs[Gui.hGui] := Gui
      this.stop := false
      this.MainLoop()
   }

   MagInitialize() {
      if !this.hLib := DllCall("LoadLibrary", "str", "Magnification.dll") {
         MsgBox, 16, Error, Failed to load Magnification.dll
         Return
      }
      Return DllCall("Magnification\MagInitialize")
   }

   Clear() {
      if !this.hLib
         Return
      DllCall("Magnification\MagUninitialize")
      DllCall("FreeLibrary", "Ptr", this.hLib)
      this.hLib := ""
      OnMessage(0x0002, this.onDestroy, 0)
   }

   MainLoop() {
      while !this.stop {
         for k, gui in this.GUIs
            this.Update(gui)
      }
   }

   Update(gui) {
      area := gui.area
      params := A_PtrSize = 8 ? ["Ptr", area.pRect] : ["Int", area.x, "Int", area.y, "Int", area.r, "Int", area.b]
      DllCall("Magnification\MagSetWindowSource", "Ptr", gui.hMag, params*)
      if !DllCall("IsWindowVisible", "Ptr", gui.hGui)
         try Gui, % gui.hGui . ":Show", % "NA x" . area.x . " y" . area.y . " w" . area.w . " h" . area.h
   }

   ToggleShow(mode := "toggle") {
      static areas := []
      Switch mode {
         case "toggle":
            this.show := !this.show
            if (this.show && areas.Count()) {
               timer := ObjBindMethod(this, "ToggleShow", "timer")
               SetTimer, % timer, 100
            }
            if !this.show {
               this.stop := true
               Sleep 100
               for k, gui in this.GUIs
                  areas.Push(gui.area)
               this.GUIs := []
               this.Clear()
            }
         case "timer":
            timer := ObjBindMethod(this, "CreateMagnifier", areas.Pop())
            SetTimer, % timer, -10
            if !areas.Count()
               SetTimer,, Delete
      }
   }

   WM_DESTROY() {
      if !this.GUIs.HasKey(A_Gui)
         Return
      this.GUIs.Delete(A_Gui)
      if !this.GUIs.Count() {
         this.stop := true
         this.Clear()
      }
   }

   class MagGui
   {
      __New(area) {
         this.area := area
         area.r := area.x + area.w
         area.b := area.y + area.h
         this.area.SetCapacity("RECT", 16)
         this.area.pRect := this.area.GetAddress("RECT")
         for k, v in ["x", "y", "r", "b"]
            NumPut(area[v], this.area.pRect + 4*(k - 1), "UInt")
         this.CreateGui()
      }

      __Delete() {
         try Gui, % this.hGui . ":Destroy"
      }

      CreateGui() {
         static MS_INVERTCOLORS := 0x0004
              , exStyles := (WS_EX_TRANSPARENT := 0x00000020)
                          | (WS_EX_COMPOSITED  := 0x02000000)
                          | (WS_EX_LAYERED     := 0x00080000)

         area := this.area
         Gui, New, +hwndhGui -Caption -DPIScale +AlwaysOnTop +Owner +E%exStyles%
         Gui, Margin, 0, 0
         Gui, Add, Custom, % "hwndhMag ClassMagnifier +" . MS_INVERTCOLORS . " w" . area.w . " h" . area.h
         this.hGui := hGui, this.hMag := hMag
      }
   }
}

Here's a short video of it, but in this instance it was used only one rectangle:
https://streamable.com/m6ni9j
Please read the start of the script to see how to use it.
You can further modify the script and make itself turn off / on when certain things show up on the bluestacks android screen, but you'll have to do your own research on how to do that.
Here is the thread where the script was taken from.


text:
Adding music to the Play Music queue
In "play music" mode must I be using a play list for the 'add to queue' function to work?  Can I create an empty playlist with which to start queuing function? Add to queue does not seem to work when playing off the music library. Why?

No, you don't need to be using a play list to add stuff to the queue. As soon as you select music to play it adds it to the queue. To add more to the queue, navigate to an artist, album, playlist, or song and there should be an "add to queue" option in the overflow menu.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Move applications to SD card in Samsung Exhibit?
I have just acquired my first Android phone -- a Samsung Galaxy Exhibit (SGH-T599N) running Android version 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean).  Because the internal storage is fairly small (only 1.34 GB) I've inserted a 16 GB SD card.  I downloaded the program AppMgr III (formerly app2sd) and attempted to move applications to the SD card; however, when I click on the "On SD Card" tab, I see the following message:

This device doesn't enable users moving apps to the SD card.  Usually, it's because of the manufacturer removes [sic] the function of moving apps to SD from Android, or a SD card is not inserted.

I see there are many similar threads for other devices, but none explicitly address the Exhibit.  Is there a way (preferably without rooting) to override the manufacturer's removal of this function?

Without rooting: No. With rooting: See our app2sd tag-wiki (and watch out for e.g. Link2SD).

It's impossible to move apps without root if this function is not supported natively. And 'overriding manufacturer's removal of this function' means you are trying to have extra access apart from native support. And that's possible only when you have root access
If you are willing to root your device, you may check this link:
http://androidforums.com/threads/root-t599-t599n-t599v.763393/

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


text:
Tried rooting my Nexus 5, did something wrong and now it is stuck rebooting
So, today I tried rooting my Nexus 5 with Nexus Root Toolkit. I have done it before, but I did something wrong. After rooting it, I had to reboot it, but it got stuck in the part with all the circles with colors, before it says ANDROID and the phone starts. I researched, and it seems I have to reinstall the ROM with the Nexus Toolkit. It says the phone has to be completely turned off, so I have to wait until my battery dies or I do a battery pull. Any solutions? My phone was at 20 percent when this happened, so, how long will it take for the battery to die?

Wiping cache normally fixes boot-loop issues. Before you proceed you will need to install ADB on your system.

Connect your device to your PC using a USB cable
Open a terminal and enter adb reboot recovery
Use the volume buttons to scroll to "wipe data/factory reset" and press the Power button to select it.
Scroll down to "Yes - erase all user data" and press the Power button to select it.
Reboot the phone.

If your phone becomes unresponsive at any point during these steps, you can restart it by holding down the Power button for several seconds.


text:
Which charging cable should I use? Short or long, and why?
I have a 7" Android RCA VoyagerII tablet.  The instructions say I must use the very short cord charger that came with it and not even try anything else.  Is this true or can I use a regular long corded phone wall charger that matches the connector?

Why the OEM is advising you is to use the charging cable that was supplied since

Shorter cables are normally thicker and offer less resistance
Impedance of the cable is matched to the charger

On the other hand, longer cables are generally thinner and offer more resistance for charging current and takes longer to charge, besides the  impedance mis-match at phone and charger ends for charging to happen as rated.
You can measure the current output of OEM cable using apps like Ampere and 3C Battery Monitoring Widget
Do stick with OEM recommendations, unless you find a long cable that matches same performance as cable supplied.
Edit: For a detailed explanation which answers "why short cables are better and how to select a USB cable", see my answer How to choose micro USB cable for my device?. I believe that would fully equip you in making a right choice

Generally a good cable to go with is a 24/28awg rated Micro Usb. I have had very good success with these on a variety of devices.


text:
Slow charging, random wake-up and dead USB connections
My phone, Asus Zenfone 5 (A501CG), takes too much of time to charge (6-7 hours).
Also, the screen wakes up randomly every 5 seconds (approx.).
The phone doesn't connect to a PC (it's not recognized) and OTG doesn't work either.
In Settings, it shows that the phone is charging on USB even when it's charging on AC.
It happens in safe mode too.
What can be the issue? Can a faulty micro-USB port cause this?

It seems that the micro USB keeps disconnecting slightly and reconnecting. This will cause the screen to wake up, because your screen will wake up when charge state changes (discharging, charging, and full battery). Additionally if the USB disconnects slightly, your phone may register as being connected and charging as the USB was not fully disconnected, at least on my phone. The reason you probably can't connect it with your computer is because your phone isn't connected long enough for the computer to recognize it. Try a diffrent cable. If this works, then the old cable was faulty, and shouldn't be used with your phone.

I tried another cable too, but it still didn't work. I'll get it's USB port changed now.

It could also be the USB connection on your phone.


text:
Uploading photos to dropbox
Have Samsung Galaxy  Tab 3.
All of a sudden when I send photo to dropbox to upload doesn't work.
I check dropbox and have the message "waiting to upload", but never loads.

Make sure you are using latest version of Dropbox app.
Try to clean Dropbox app data and cache using Application Manager, to do so go to: Settings > Application manager > Dropbox hit Clear data & Clear cache this will clear your account information and cached data stored on your device. After this just log in to Dropbox with your account once again and it should work.

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


text:
Transfer ownership of in app purchases to new email address?
I made some in-app purchases a year ago with email address foo@foo.com.
I have since changed my email address to new@new.com. Is there any way that I can transfer my purchases from my old email address to my new email address in the Google Play app?

You can try asking the developer if it is a few apps .

No there is no official way to transfer purchases from one account to another. You could contact the Google Services to maybe figure out a way if you had a good reason which you could explain.
There is a Reddit thread regarding this topic if that is any help.

Consider quoting the " meat (Reasons)", from the Reddit link in your answer. That way your answer well gain more credibility and visibility

With google expiring google accounts that haven't been used for a while, this means that you can lose content your purchased.
How is it legal for google to "sell" you a movie, but then close your account without giving you the ability to either transfer to another account or reimburse you?
Given that you have "bought" the rights to watch that movie, can you legally download an illegal copy and watch it?

Unfortunately there is no way Google can transfer in-app purchases from one account to another. This is actually up to the application developer to help resolve your issue. I highly recommend contacting the developer to either (1) transfer your content from the old email address to the new one or (2) getting a refund for all those purchases.


text:
How can I condense the icons in the quick settings panel on Android?
Icons in the  quick settings panel look like:

But instead I would like to make the icons smaller:

How can I condense the icons in the  quick settings panel on Android?
Interestingly the two above screenshots were on the same unrooted phone, but it was the first time I saw the small icons, and it reverted back to the normal sized icons the next day. No idea what happened.

The screenshot show the "quick settings panel" with "tiles" for actions.
The number of "tiles" per row is defined by ROM and you can't change that (unless your ROM provides a setting for doing that). If your device is rooted, there could be solutions. This is defined by a system UI property quick_settings_min_num_tiles (not sure if it is ROM dependent)
Gravity Box EdXposed module is one way to do this on rooted devices (See this
 How to install EdXposed on Android 10 without triggering safety net)

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


text:
How can one increase the number of suggestions for the next words in Google Keyboard?
I wonder how one can increase the number of suggestions for the next words in Google Keyboard. By default, only three words are shown (a, the and one in the screenshot below):

I use Android 10 with Samsung Galaxy S9.

Gboard does not have this feature, hence no setting for it. You can request Google to add this in the Android help community (Gboard does not have a dedicated forum).
Alternatively, use a keyboard that let's you do this (I am not aware of any but then I never looked for this feature)


text:
How can I skip the "verify your purchase instantly" screen in Google Play?
Google Play started displaying that screen:

How can I skip it? I don't want to activate it.

It seems to be a sort of advertisement to ask you if you want to "upgrade" to biometric authentication for purchases. If you choose "Use password" it should keep the same behavior and (hopefully) not display the same prompt again.


text:
When connecting two Android phones via a cable, how can I choose which phone is charging which phone?
When connecting two Android phones via a cable, how can I choose which phone is charging which phone? E.g. when I connected a Samsung Galaxy S9 (Android 10) with a Google Pixel 6 (Android 12) via a male-to-male USB-C cable, the Google Pixel 6 got charged.

Under USB preferences, whichever device has Charge connected device as enabled is charging the other device.
Snapshot from Pixel 4a (Android 12) connected to and charging One Plus 7 (Android 10)

And the reverse (One Plus charging Pixel)

If you want to switch charging when connected, toggle the switch on any device and the selection on the other device gets reversed.
Edit: To address the comments, charging cannot be switched off on both devices. I couldn't find any documentation around this.

Looks like this feature was added since Android 9 Pie.

If you want to switch charging when connected, toggle the switch on any device and the selection on the other device gets reversed seems less than ideal - what if you want no charging to take place at all?

@ChrisH: Then presumably you'd set it to "off" on both phones, instead of "on" on one or the other.

@PeterCordes that's what I'd hope to happen, but "toggling one reverses the other" means that when you turn one off the other turns on

Regarding charging not being able to be switched off completely on both, I bet this has something to do with USB certification. There are all kinds of seemingly odd edge cases involved there, and it would not surprise me if one o them is ‘no data transfer without power transfer’.


text:
How can I change the resolution of Iriun 4K Webcam?
I use Iriun 4K Webcam for PC and Mac to use your Android phone's camera as a wireless or USB webcam in Windows 7 SP1 x64 Ultimate. It is supposed to support resolutions up to 4K. (Max resolution depends on the phone).
I use a Samsung Galaxy S9 with Android 10. However on Windows 7 SP1 x64 Ultimate it says that the resolution of Iriun is 640x480:

I don't see any option on the phone:

and https://iriun.com/ (mirror) seems to have no documentation.
How can I change the resolution of Iriun 4K Webcam?

Skype doesn't allow me to change the webcam resolution (clicking on "webcam setting" doesn't do anything):

Two things: 1) this might be device-depending, there are several reports like this in the ratings; 2) your Windows screen says to "check the settings of your video application" – have you checked them?

@Izzy Thanks, "2) your Windows screen says to "check the settings of your video application" – have you checked them?" -> I thought this referred to the options on the phone that I took a screenshot of. I am not aware of the other options.

OK, just thought there might be more (e.g. in the app you want to use the cam with, like Skype or whatever). Sorry, I'm neither using the app nor Windows, so my "guess-limit" has been reached at this point. Good luck, hopefully there will be some solution! If you have the chance, maybe test with a different Android device and computer, to narrow down things.

Upgrading Iriun 4K Webcam from 2.5.7 to 2.5.8 on Windows fixed the issue:

Turns out you have to change the resolution in whatever program you're using the webcam with and Iriun will sync with that resolution. For example I use OBS and in OBS you can change the res in Sources>Video Capture Device. If you're using Skype, Discord or whatever, you're gonna have to change the res in the settings. Once you do that the Iriun window will also change it's resolution to whatever you selected. Hope this helps.

Thanks, Skype doesn't allow me to change the webcam resolution (clicking on "webcam setting" doesn't do anything). https://i.sstatic.net/ZyMHb.png

had the same problems with you by the version of 2.5.7 but I figured out the version of 2.5.4 has worked to change its resolution. maybe upgrade problems?


text:
Sell a device containing Google apps without very first boot experience?
I bought a Chinese smartphone yesterday in its sealed package, but after powering up the device, It started from Home screen and the SetupWizard was pre-configured by default.
Is it possible for the end user to buy an Android device coming pre-configured without the very first boot screen AKA SetupWizard?
Edit: Does Google prohibit this habit, any sources please!

Of course no if its brand new. It could be a refurbished one.

questions around legal issues are off topic. Please amend the title and question accordingly

Thing is, manufacturer ROMs could come without any setup wizard entirely. Many custom ROMs do exhibit this behavior.

I modified the title, the main issue is not about legal/illegal issues but it's about buying an Android device preloaded with with Google apps without Setupwizard.

Do not confuse Android with Google services, specifically Google Play services. Android is a purely open source OS that anyone can use and implement as they see fit within the terms of the Apache 2.0 Software license. Many implementations of Android use Google services, such as Google Play, but it is not mandatory. Google has guidelines for using their services and part of Google service is a setup wizard but I could find no reference to state that it has to be used or even installed, you could very well have to do it all manually.

Thanks, so manufacturers are not blamed for this habit of bypassing setupwizard while there is no obligation from Google. And end user should not worry about that point.


text:
Rooting Android phone 2nd Attempt
I rooted my smartphone Huawei Honor Bee five days ago, after a successful root, I uninstalled some unnecessary system apps. then I unrooted it successfully.
Question: If I attempt to root the smartphone again & again, is there any problem arising?
Thanks in advance.

Is there any problem arise rooting my phone again No, there's no problem.. You may do it.

No, there is no danger in you case with a Spreadtrum device, unless you have an issue in the following situations:

Warranty: In some countries/regions warranty will be void because they don't want you to bother their after sales. maybe this is the only reason. But if you have a full flashable factory firmware you will avoid this case.
Bootloader: Google/ODMs/OEMs/Carriers locks it because they simply don't want you to alter their configurations.
Bricking: If you don't know exactly how to deal with root. rooting a device maybe dangerous and may lead to soft brick it, unless you have again a full flashable factory firmware. personally i never encountered a hard brick case while rooting MTK/Spreadtrum devices.
Grant access to Adaware/Malware:- rooting is dangerous for newbies, it will let malicious apps to install unwanted Lock screens, unwanted software, view ads everywhere, etc...)

Why rooting a device is needed?

You are bored from factory OS and want to try a custom OS if available.
You a modder and want to tweak factory OS by removing bloatware or alter some system apps.
If you are a developer, in some cases you should have root (controlling a serial device for example).

@vsal : you're welcome, if you feel this is the right reply, don't forget to accept it.


text:
error: device unauthorized. Please check the confirmation dialog on your device
Is it possible to authorize the device while it's in Recovery Mode (Stock Recovery)?
My device has Marshmallow 6.0 and is authorized in normal boot mode, but unfortunately, it can't be authorized when reboot to recovery.
When i type in Recovery
adb shell

it keeps saying:
error: device unauthorized. Please check the confirmation dialog on your device.

there is an option in recovery menu called "Mount System", and I want to use adb in order to delete some system apps maybe!

Trying  the "mount system" option and delete some system apps


text:
Recent apps button not working on Motorola Nougat 7.0
I recently added another user to my Android device. I am using 7.0. Now, recent apps button is not working, i mean... Sometimes it do sometimes don't.

The 2nd part warrants a separate question.

Ok, I'll add that a separate question.

I have the same issue bro. You nailed it though we need further answers.I have one solution to make it work again though the problem goes back after a minute or two. I do manual screen shot,pressing the vol+power for my phone.


text:
"Internet not availabe" Error on Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016)
I have a Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016) model.
My mobile Wi-Fi keeps connecting and disconnecting; showing that the internet isn't available, this usually happens when my roommate connects to the same Wi-Fi network, as he starts using Wi-Fi, my mobile starts disconnecting, he has a Samsung Galaxy A7(2016) model.
When he resets the mobile Wi-Fi setting, my wifi works normally for some days then agin this problem starts.
So, my question is described above, and your solutions are welcome.

If the same thing doesn't occur on public networks (i.e. School or coffee shop networks) then I would imagine it's a problem with your router.


text:
Change locale system language via ADB in starting from Android 6.0
For manual UI testing purposes, on my Android 6.0 & 7.0 devices, I use a shortcut to access language preferences via ADB, then choose one of the three languages ar_DZ, en_GB, fr_FR manually
adb shell am start -n com.android.settings/.Settings\$LocalePickerActivity

Question: is is possible to automate the task of changing the system locale (without root) via ADB?

This solution doesn't use adb directly but meets the end result using automation on unrooted devices
macrodroid is preferred choice of automation for me,  being simple and free up to 5 macros
Preliminary Steps

Install Macrodroid and grant all permissions it asks for
Actions desired by OP require root. Macrodroid offers a way to do it by without root using adb methods, explained here. In essence, it is granting WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS and CHANGE_CONFIGURATION by running the following commands

adb shell pm grant com.arlosoft.macrodroid android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS
followed by
adb shell pm grant com.arlosoft.macrodroid android.permission.CHANGE_CONFIGURATION
Reboot to ensure commands are updated in the app
Creating Macros and Testing

Trigger : Select Empty Trigger
Action : Set language → French → France ( corresponding to fr_FR)
Constraints : Leave blank
Test it by selecting Test Macro from the 3 dots menu of the macro. The system language should change to French . Save the macro for example French. Create two similar macros for other two choices

Creating Home Screen Shortcut
Usually, if you long press the home screen, you will find the icon for widgets collection. Among them you will find Macrodroid widgets. One of them is Macrodroid shortcuts. Drag and drop that to your home screen , it will ask you which macro it should be assigned to , while displaying a list of Macros. Select the macro and rename the widget e.g., French.  When you press on that widget corresponding macro is executed. Repeat for other Macros. If you are using a custom launcher you will need to search how to access the widgets collection
Notes

Drop down menu selection for languages can be implemented but that would require another Macro. Besides this  method of one desktop icon shortcut for each language keeps it simple and easier to debug
This method will not work on Oreo (You do not get the set language action, maybe due to the way it is implemented)

Yes, I have issue with shortcut option, because it's not available in the widget settings, but bypassed this by using a shortcut maker app, I guess this solution is the fastest to change locale until now, I will accept it unless there is a better solution without third party apps. because the question was asked about using ADB only.

I have an issue with RtL allignment in settings with Arabic language, maybe the shell refreshing isn't implemented like the LocalePickerActivity.

The https://android.stackexchange.com/q/105258/131553 question involving Arabic was fixed by Google in Nougat, and the current device doesn't have an issue with RtL but while using Macrodroid only this time.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.


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Why can't use the external SD card with my voice recorder app?
I'm the owner of an Honor 5x.
The external SD card inside the phone works fine with the photos/video application, and I can write/read from ES file manager but the apps for voice recording that I tried (Total Recall, Voice Recorder, RecForge) don't let me save the file on the external SD.
Can anyone help me and/or explain what's happening?

What version of Android? On Marshmallow, apps request permission to access SD Card. If the apps don't request, are aren't designed to target Android M, the OS won't allow the apps to access the SD card

The versione is Lollipop (5.1.1).

How to save files to external SD card on a non-rooted Android?


text:
How do I copy a link from Google search results to clipboard on Android Chrome?
On Chrome for Android, when I do a Google search and some of the results are non-HTML documents, like PDFs. How do I copy a clean URL to the clipboard?
Example search: https://www.google.com/search?q=sodium+polyacrylate+msds

Tapping the result just opens the document for viewing, so there is no address bar to copy the URL from:

Long-press then copy link gets Google's indirect links instead, like:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.hmsmedical.com/images/44-oc%2520msds.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwj2msqg3tDOAhXKox4KHdRoAMYQFggeMAA&usg=AFQjCNGEptV-_ZvoTUjoL68GOAAyrYtP0A&sig2=4XRpaDAeBjkQZlxEUXWH9A

Manually deleting all that other stuff then hand decoding the URL parameter is a massive pain on a phone.
How do I just copy the link?

I know this is really an old thread but none of the options here worked for me.   What did work is to drag the link to an input field.   For example, while visiting the page if you first clear out the URL address field in the browser, then tap and hold on the desired link then drag it up to the address field and release there it will paste the PDF's address there, then you can highlight and copy it in the normal way you would for an address (depending on the browser you're using)

Instead of using the google search bar, open chrome for google and type what you want to search for in the address field.  Now when you click and hold on the link you'll get the menu that lets tou copy the link address

I think you are using slow internet connection because I searched the link you provided on my android google chrome and when I long press the search results I got actual link not google redirect. Actually when we have a slow connection so the google automatically compress the results upto 80% so we not go through original links instead it redirects to googleweblight

@Jason C check out my answer

I simply copied the url you   posted in question and pasted it in   chrome

you may try to update your google chrome or try to reset to default setting

does your problem is solved

As an alternative option that should work on any browser, I wrote a little web page to clean up links copied from Google search results: https://urlclean.com


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Internal storage not mounting on all Android M ROMs
I have a problem with my HTC Desire 816G (MT6592). Whenever I install the Android M ROM, internal storage doesn't mount. My phone's internal storage doesn't appear in USB mode and nor in file manager. The phone's features like Gallery, Camera, Recording, etc., are not working on all Marshmallow ROMs. Lollipop and Kit Kat work fine. I didn't have this problem with Marshmallow ROMs before. I've been stuck for around 2 weeks now.

Try to format internal storage with /system, /data, /cache. Do these format with recovery, whatever you are using.
Do it multiple times until all of them get mounted and internal storage shows your space.
Two days before on my new rom flashing I got hell out of that situation by doing so as written above.

tried it, didn't work :(


text:
Dismiss autocorrect suggestion without space+backspace+space
Sometimes when I'm typing a unique word or proper noun on my phone, Google recommends for it to be autocorrected (I can tell because the word itself is underlined, and out of the suggested replacement words, the middle one is in bold). If I hit space to proceed to the next word, the underlined word (which I don't want changed) is replaced by the bold recommended word. This can be undone by hitting backspace (which reverts the word to what I had originally typed) and then space again (at which point it doesn't attempt to autocorrect).
Is there anyway to keep my word, as originally typed, without having to hit space+backspace+space? On Gboard for my iPhone it will always have my word as currently spelled as a suggested word that I can just touch to maintain. Is there a way to enable this for my Android?

Install a different keyboard like hackerskeyboard.


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How to run multiple whatsapp accounts?
My Android device is rooted.
I use Parallel Space for running two WhatsApp accounts but Parallel Space gets stuck very frequently.
Please let me know how to run multiple WhatsApp accounts in my Android device in both cases; device is rooted and device is not rooted.

Maybe using Knox?

I'm using parallel space on my not rooted Oneplus 3 and it is working just fine. It may be due to you're using the older version of Android or an older device.

WhatsApp now officially lets you do it. More details here no root needed!

There is a custom app based on original whatsapp , named Whatsapp PLUS , it allows you to edit complete user interface and as well you can run multiple whatsapp account on a single phone .
whatsapp-messenger

My advice is, don't use this app. It will lead to getting your account banned by WhatsApp developers.

You should try GBWhatsapp. It runs smoothly here on my 4.2.2. It's arabic website but hope you will find what you need

Follow these simple steps to go run multiple whatsapp accounts:

Root your Android device.
Make sure that you have WhatsApp app installed on your smartphone.
Install SwitchMe Multiple accounts on your smartphone.
Run SwitchMe Multiple accounts, it will ask for Superuser request that you need to grant.

Hope It will help you.

Simple steps: 1- Root your device. Almost half of all questions on this website are about how to root or how to save the device after failed root attempt. Too much for calling simple I guess.

There is one way to do that without root.
If you have a device with the Google Play Store, go and download Parallel Space app. If you have an arm/arm64 processor, download its extension Parallel Space 64-bit support as well.
After downloading this app, you can run two accounts of not just Whatsapp, but also of Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat etc. This will not affect the first app installed in any way. You don't need to do any switching at all. Just add the shortcut of the Parallel app from Parallel Space on your launcher, and it will launch Whatsapp of the second account.
Regards.

If you actually read the question, you'll notice that the OP has already tried Parallel Space.

That is the best suggestion I can speak of. Others need device to be rooted

My device is already rooted. And I am using Parallel Space. I like this app for multiple accounts but unfortunately this app stucks very frequently.

One quite simple way of doing this that often gets overlooked, is adding a new user to the phone if you have android 5 or above, and installing whatsapp on there.
Hope this helps

You can use this App Cloner.
From the description:

Using App Cloner you can create and install multiple copies of your existing apps.

Note: WhatsApp is available in their premium version. So you can try it on another app and if satisfied - continue to the premium.


text:
How to disable app background data usage via adb without root
I'm trying to disable unnecessary apps and their background data usage on an Android 10 device, using the following commands:
 adb shell appops set package_name RUN_IN_BACKGROUND ignore
 adb shell appops set package_name RUN_ANY_IN_BACKGROUND ignore
 adb shell appops write-settings
 adb shell pm disable-user package_name

Question: How to disable background data usage for the package with ADB without root access?

There's no straightforward way. You can use cmd netpolicy add restrict-background-blacklist <UID> but it only restricts background data for the app if the network is metered (sets REJECT_METERED_BACKGROUND policy). You can achieve the same by disabling "Background network access" in the app's setting. A related answer here.

Thanks, so by adding "adb shell cmd netpolicy set restrict-background 1" it will restrict data usage system wide for all metered network? right?

Not system-wide. But for the given UID only. Every app has a UID.


text:
What is the folder called /storage/emulated/0/.photoShare/thumb/lcd

I have a folder named lcd or Icd (can't tell if it's a lowercase L or an uppercase letter i) which is inside the Hidden Folder called photoShare.
It contains over 300Mbs of images, all of which seem to be duplicates of images elsewhere in my Android Phone (Honor 9 lite).
There is a .thumbs folder beside it. It's 30 odd Mbs and is full of images too.
Oddly, despite many Google searches using every combo of words possible, I can find no mention anywhere of a folder called lcd/Icd, not one mention anywhere.
Question being,
Is it safe to delete the images inside /.photoShare/lcd/Icd?

it is safe to delete complete folder .photoShare. thumbs are smaller version of pictures for preview, they will be recreated anyway

@alecxs you mean "it's safe to delete the whole folder .photoShare"

yes, hidden folders with .dots are usually temporary files

.photoShare is a folder used by Huawei devices for it's Cloud service.

If Huawei's Cloud is enabled on your device, your gallery may have been synced to your Huawei's "personal" cloud storage.
You can turn off the cloud backup option for your photos, but maybe you need this service in case of emergency, where you accidentally deleted your pictures, at least you'll be able to restore what was synced before in the cloud service.
It's safe to delete the folder, but doing it from settings will be better to avoid any data loss if you're syncing your folder with the cloud service.


text:
A question about bricked phone (moto g xt1032)
I hav moto xt1032. In short I can only access recovery and cmw. However it seems that either my usb debugging was turned off or there is somehow some sort of malfunction and in cmw adb does not detect my device (I have seen posts claiming that cmw does not required usb debugging off to use adb but still it does not work while it used to work previously). Mount as usb does not produce any effect neither
I need to somehow push a stock rom into my phone so I can use cmw to install it. Adb not working, sideload does not work as well. So is there any way out of this? Thanks
update:
0- my fastboot recovery command is working so I tried flashing recovery from twrp which works.But it can not for instance mount as usb neither.
1- I have tried using fastboot update rom.zip it says android-info.txt missing (and some more txts)
2- I can use fastbppt to flash files into to a flash partition but I guess they are not reachable by twrp or other recovery apps

Does RSD Lite work for you model phone? I had a vague idea it worked for all Motorolas. http://download1158.mediafire.com/ze67ww4bbw7g/7puan3uzhwu1pm6/RSDLite_v6.1.x.zip  And you'll need a blur file to go with that: http://sbf.droid-developers.org/

Well okay instead of using recovery, I just followed the command line instructions in the rom zip file which goes as
 <step operation="getvar" var="max-sparse-size" />
<step operation="oem" var="fb_mode_set" />
<step operation="flash" partition="aboot" filename="emmc_appsboot.mbn" MD5="7ab4571da9966ecbe0455984ebe5d277" />
<step operation="reboot-bootloader" />
<step operation="flash" partition="partition" filename="gpt.bin" MD5="7778bf62e78dd8ed152e2234ba818fb1" />
<step operation="flash" partition="motoboot" filename="motoboot.img" MD5="b4cb31c6b875dbb13ae2a155ae44e305" />
<step operation="flash" partition="logo" filename="logo.bin" MD5="187908e994f5b42710d13dbb5126d6d2" />
<step operation="flash" partition="boot" filename="boot.img" MD5="2a0134f7dca00ab28ca3644febbe6bc7" />
<step operation="flash" partition="recovery" filename="recovery.img" MD5="25989942e94890fa2ab6e48fc488d569" />
<step operation="flash" partition="system" filename="" MD5="f6ea25745eab9f8368d5b276811ffa82" />
<step operation="flash" partition="system" filename="system.img_sparsechunk.1" MD5="d776d764c00627bcb7d0313657297ab4" />
<step operation="flash" partition="system" filename="system.img_sparsechunk.2" MD5="a17ebd36c45389a139e8f30e56241fa2" />
<step operation="flash" partition="modem" filename="NON-HLOS.bin" MD5="a964128abc6fa5ac4a253bd105ed6748" />
<step operation="erase" partition="modemst1" />
<step operation="erase" partition="modemst2" />
<step operation="flash" partition="fsg" filename="fsg.mbn" MD5="03d822a8e01a8edee85e12286dcc81ed" />
<step operation="erase" partition="cache" />
<step operation="erase" partition="userdata" />
<step operation="oem" var="fb_mode_clear" />
<step operation="reboot-bootloader" />

And the new system was installed suprisingly.


text:
How to get Google (Play) Services on Huawei phones bought in China?
I have bought a Huawei Nova 3e (aka Huawei P20 Lite) from China but it does not include Google Play Store / Gmail and other Google services.
I have tried several things

Installing and running "Google Installer" (version 1 and 2.0)
Installation Google Framework, Google Play Services, etc. in different orders (as seen on different websites), either by copying from a phone with a working Google Play Store or from apps.evozi.com

Previously, I was using some Xiaomi and I had to install a Global ROM which included Google stuff.
Shall I also install a new ROM on my Huawei phone?
Or shall I root it?
Thanks

I spent 3 days struggling to solve the issue.
The trick has been suggested by a friend who is working in the phone industry in China as developer: you need to install Core GMS Packages.
There is an app which helps to install the GMS (gmsinstaller.apk): running it will download what you need and install it during a reboot phase.
I have found the information, as well as a link for the app, here: https://www.skmlifestyle.com/destinations/china/living-in-suzhou-jiangsu-china/core-gms-package-for-huawei-android-phones-google-play-services-apk-download/
There might other ways to download this app somewhere on the web.
Cheers


text:
Perfect voice recognition, but Voice Commands don't work
I'm using a Dutch Nexus 5 with stock Android 4.4.4 KitKat but have the voice language set to English (US). I have the latest files for offline speech recognition for English (US). Google Now, "OK Google"-detection and audio history are enabled, and it all works like a charm. It instantly responds to "OK Google", and transcribes my (English) statements flawlessly.
However, Google Now always starts a search. Whatever I say, it is never recognized as a command. So, whether I say Say 'How are you' in Spanish, Set alarm for 8 PM or just Help, it just starts a Google search on the exact phrase I said. Obviously that's not very helpful. How can I fix this?
(There are only three commands that I've found that do work: call, dial and text.)

Is your Nexus 5 stock, or running a custom ROM with GApps?

Also, you say "English (US)" is selected.  Is this in Google Search app preferences, or system-wide?

I believe the system-wide language setting must be set to English.  I'm searching for confirmation right now.  Can you try this in the meantime?

@Chahk I can confirm. Due to your previous comment I tried changing it to English, and lo and behold voice commands worked. I was just typing it up as an answer as you commented.

Found confirmation: Voice commands only work when the system is set to the following locales only: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, or Brazilian Portuguese.

According to Google's help pages on using Voice within the Search app, the Voice Actions only work for a limited set of languages:

For most of these tips, you need to be using Android 4.1+ in English,
  French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, or
  Brazilian Portuguese. Some voice actions are not available in all
  languages and countries.

They are not referring to the Search app's "Language" setting, as that only governs language in which search results are returned.  You must change the system-wide Language setting to one the supported locales under Settings -> Language & input.  Unfortunately there is currently no way to use Voice Actions under other locales.  Google however are always improving their Search app, so it's possible that Voice Actions will become available in your country's language soon.

Setting the system-wide language to English (US) (in addition to having the voice search language set to English (US)) made Voice Commands work. I tried this because of a comment by Chahk.
However, I'd rather see a solution where I can have my system-wide language set to something other than English.

authors: بشير العمارت


text:
How can I download a torrent to the SD card using BitTorrent?
How can I download a torrent to the SD card using BitTorrent?
I tried to go to Settings -> Default Download Folder, but I can't see to be allowed to browse to the SD storage location (see error below when I click on the back arrow):

I use BitTorrent.

Saving to SD card  isn't officially supported - this is not documented in the support (at least, I couldn't find it) but it's mentioned in reply to user review (user name - Sujeet)


text:
How can I see which location has the most reviews/ratings in a given area on Google Maps?
How can I see which location has the most reviews/ratings in a given area on the Google Maps Android application?
Using the "Top Rated" filter doesn't sort by number of reviews/ratings:

There does not seem to be any option directly in the Google Maps app to do this. However, the Google Maps API provides this information for developers.
Searching further, this website seems to provide an approximation of what you are looking for, probably using the API. You can search for top rated places in a given city, filter by place type, and also view all the places on a map.
Screenshot for reference:


text:
How can I configure Android 12 so that my phone (Pixel 6) is screen mirrored when connected to a monitor via HDMI?
I'm  connecting my Android phone to a monitor via USB-C -> Hub -> HDMI cable:

My phone  Samsung Galaxy S9 screen is mirrored without any issue, but that  doesn't work with my Google Pixel 6. How can I configure Android 12 so that my phone (Pixel 6) is screen mirrored when connected to a monitor via HDMI?
I use this Lasuney "Triple Display USB Type C" hub.

Pixel 6 does not support DisplayPort / HDMI output via USB-C so it will not work for you.
It's possible to do it via DisplayLink adapter (with extra apps on the phone to provide DisplayLink output for a compatible adapter), but the performance will most likely be pretty poor.
Support for display mirroring using DisplayPort via USB-C was added in Pixel 8 series. 1

I believe the issue is that the grey dock that you're using is not compatible with Google Pixel 6. I don't know how to get a list of docks compatible with Google Pixel 6 though.
From https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/2865484?hl=en:

Project with a wired dock
For a faster connection when you play games or compete in esports, use a wired connection. Certain wired docking stations are compatible with Pixel phones. On a compatible dock with an ethernet port, you can also connect to LAN.
To set up and project on your Pixel phone, follow the steps that came with your compatible dock. For example:

On your phone, from the Play Store, install the DisplayLink Presenter app.
Tip: When you connect your phone to the docking station, the app doesn’t need to be open.

With a USB-C cable, connect your Pixel phone to your compatible dock.

With an HDMI cable, connect your compatible dock to your monitor or TV.

Plug in your compatible dock's power cable.

Tip: Pixel 3 and later Pixel phones work with the MediaGear USB-C Hub Docking Station (item 853265008171). Other docking stations can also work.


text:
Is there any way to find out which application if any uses the camera?
I got a camera failed warning (which disappeared after rebooting): is there any way to find out which application if any uses the camera?

I use Samsung Galaxy S3 with Android 4.1.2.

All Android Apps on the Google Play Store have a list of Permissions they use which includes the use of the camera.
It is tedious to look through the permissions of each app manually from the Play Store.
Instead try using an app that lists the app permissions and list apps using the Camera/Microphone permissions.
Eg. Permissions Observatory (I have no connections with this app, I found it randomly, and I don't use it)


text:
Moving big apps to SD card on 4.4.2
My Android is 4.4.2, Phone model: Panasonic eluga s.
I have a 32 GB SD card in my cell. Please tell me how to shift big apps to SD card. I also have root access. There is no option of move to SD card on Settings › Apps Manager Any app chosen.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Have you already checked with our app2sd tag-wiki for the basics?

If you have root, than use app called link2sd, I would post link but I can't open store idk why.

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


text:
Google assistant on Google pixel can't find a contact on whatsapp
I have a Google pixel and I Google assistant can't seem to find a specific contact when I say "send a whatsapp message to contact".  The name is spelt correctly, and if I scroll down the whatsapp contact list, it's there.
Other contacts I've tried are fine.
What could be wrong?


text:
How can I disable voice commands when double pressing the home button on the Galaxy S 4?
How do I disable the Voice Command on my Galaxy 4s when pressing the Home key twice?

This seems to be a function of S Voice, which can be activated with the Home key. To disable it, open S Voice, and open its application settings.
Uncheck 'Open via the Home key'.
See this article at AndroidCentral.


text:
HTC Desire 820 dual sim root failed
I tried to root my mobile phone HTC desire 820 Dual sim.
I unlocked boot loader, flashed TWRP2.8 but none of Super SU could root my phone (Android version 6.0.1).
Recently been to HTC service center to replace battery. They mentioned that if we change battery for unlocked phone, phone may not work.
How to remove TWRP and get my phone back to early setting and lock it?

I guess you couldn't root phone probably because phone use lz4 format (I just guess) or you was doing something wrong. However, that what they said is bullshit, what battety has to do with that if bootloader is unlocked? Maybe they said they WON'T fix it if bootloader is unlocked because unlocking bootloader is way to lose warranity? To get your stock recovery back you'll have to flash stock firmware, you have a guide for that on their site, if not then there is guide on xda. And to lock bootloader that is not possible not fully because you can relock bootloader (command is I think "fastboot oem relock" or something like that), in that case bootloader state would return 'relocked' so even than they will know that you played around.

Can i flash stock firmware without rooting the phone?  I heard that stock rom can be flashed only on rooted phone

Stock firmware doesn't require root, you'll just maybe need pc and software by manufacturer

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


text:
are there more special characters on my phone keypad such as "#"?
I get frustrated with Android because I can't find all the special characters on it for passwords etc that I have on my windows 10 computer.  Is there a trick to finding more special characters?

That very much depends on the keyboard app you are using. Some (like Hackers Keyboard) offer more "special characters" than others.

Yes there are. For example try holding letter F it will show $ € £ ¥ ¢ . Try other letters as well.

All of the special characters are there in the default Google keyboard, but you may need to go two screens into the symbols in order to see them.
You probably already know that you can get to the first symbol screen with the numbers by pressing the ?123 button.
Once you are on that screen, you can get to the second one by pressing the key that used to be the Shift key, which now says =\<.


text:
Clean Data of an Android App
Sometimes we need to do Clean Data for an android app.
And to do Clean Data of a specific app, we need to in that app. For cleaning data of more apps, we need to go all apps individually.
Is there any way so that I can do Clean Data on one page/ place for all installed apps?

No, you cannot do it through the Settings - Apps menu, however  you can do it via an adb shell with
adb shell pm clear packageName
Where packageName is the name of the actual package (not the application), such as com.android.browser for the built in Browser app.
Shouldn't be too hard to create a script to do this for multiple applications.

Do you mean to say, I can create a script one time for all required apps. And just after running a single script, Clean Data will be processed for all required apps? Will that work on all android platform, irrespective of hardware specifications and android version? And does it require root access for its execution?

It should... you would create a Windows/Linux script to send each line individually, this would be run from a computer and NOT from the device. I would say it would work with Android 4.x and up that has ADB Debugging enabled and you have the proper drivers installed on the PC.


text:
How to download files larger than 4 GB on Android external SD card
So I wanted to download a file that is 7GB to my memory card on my Android phone (Lollipop). What should I do? I have heard that I should format my SD card to exfat, but I don't know how to do that. Any help will be appreciated.

Formatting your sd card will erase all data stored on it!
You can format your sd card easily on android. Go to settings -> storage -> sd card. Now you should have a format menu option.
You can also format the sd card with most desktop os' like Windows or macOS. In Windows you can select format in the context menu of the connected sd card.

Just a record, sometimes FAT32 is the default for a phone, making formatting on-phone useless.


text:
How to recover my contacts
I accidentally deleted all my contacts from my phone. In my Google Contacts I was able to recover some of my contacts but how or where can I find the rest of my contacts?

No way, sorry. Unless you have a backup.

If, you haven’t wiped your device completely, there is still a chance of recovering your lost or deleted contacts by checking if the old contacts database file is stored somewhere deep in your storage.
Depending on your manufacturer and Android version, you will find your database in different locations in your storage. For stock Android devices like the Nexus 5, the database file should be located here:
/data/data/android.providers.contacts/databases
The key that your are looking for is providers.contacts/databases. To get to this folder straight from your device, install aSQLiteManager, which is able to get into your Android device’s database storage and open .db files.
If you can find this folder on your device and it’s empty, it means that your contacts are gone for good.
Well… Now it’s time to blast out a message to all your friends on Facebook, Twitter followers, business contacts and your family, asking them to send you their contact details.
credit(Daniel)
also check this link


text:
Force Uber app to launch when requesting Uber ride within Google maps?
I am a fan of integrating ridesharing (Uber and Lyft) fare results into the travel directions interface of Google Maps, so that I may quickly compare the two companies to each other and to other forms of transportation.  However, I do not like having the entire Uber ride take place within Google maps.  I find the interface inferior to Uber's app (lots of info/options are missing), and I would prefer that the Maps app is available for other searches while riding in the Uber (e.g., looking up the exact location of a restaurant).
Is there any way to force Maps to launch the Uber app from within these search results?
The alternative is to

highlight the address
select "copy",
return to the desktop,
launch the Uber app,
clear out any Uber messages (e.g., rate your last driver),
paste the address into the Uber search (which doesn't work if you used something like "home" in Maps),
confirm that it's the same location on the maps you already found in Google (which might not be the case for overloaded place names),
confirm your current location,
and hit the "book"/"request" button.

Do-able, but inefficient.

You could just use the Uber app to use Uber rather than using Google maps.

But then I can't compare it with Lyft, public transit, and driving.

I'd recommend doing g it the way you are doing it then.  Pretty sure there's no way to integrate them like you've explained.


text:
Is there a way to bookmark all tabs in Chrome for Android?
I have lots of open tabs in Chrome for Android. How can I bookmark/export all of them?

I don't think there are any other ways of bookmarking all tabs on Chrome for Android apart from Firelord's method :( You could help prioritise adding it as a feature by starring the Chromium issue which can be found here: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1026222. You do have to login with your Google account but I believe that only Googlers can see it.

Follow these steps:

Sync the opened tabs in Chrome for Android with Chrome for PC.
Once the sync is completed you would see the opened tabs of your Android under History section (click Tabs from Other Devices in left panel) in your Chrome for PC.
Thereafter, click the three dots line in the upper right panel, choose Open all. Make sure to close other tabs in your Chrome for PC.
Once all of them have loaded, right click on any tab and choose Bookmark all tabs (as reported by Ed Rhee on CNET).

That's it. Since the two devices are now synced you can access those bookmarks on any device.


text:
When resetting tablet, Google password won't authenticate
I was told to reset my RCA Viking Pro 10 but now it keeps asking for Google account verification which I have input a minimum of 10 times. It keeps saying it is incorrect. The Google password works fine on my phone but not this device. I've even reset my password. How do I get past this?

In its current state, can you change soft keyboards? Look for a keyboard icon in the corner of the screen.

your problem is for google authentication OR only gmail old sync??

Did you try to open your google account from a browser on your device?
Did you setup your google account from original device setting?


text:
How to change icon shape in Android Oreo 8.0
Recently updated my Google Pixel to Android Oreo 8.0. I can't find the "change icon shape" option. Where can I find it?

Why do Google think that changing the designed icon shape is acceptable? This should be an option-in option. I'm Shah frustrated not to be able to find the option to turn to default icon shape.

Since you did not mention the developer preview version. Assuming you are using dev preview 1.
The newly added menu that’s available on the second developer preview of Android O contains a “Change icon shape” option on the main Settings screen that’s located near the bottom of the interface, immediately above the “About” section.
Tapping that option prompts a pop-up window from which you can choose the shape.
Source: https://www.androidheadlines.com/2017/05/android-o-pixel-launcher-supports-five-app-icon-shapes.html

I'm using the final release on an HTC 10 and that option is not in my settings. The rounding makes icons ugly so if lived to find an option to turn to original.

On my Xiaomi Mi A1 this setting is in the settings of the launcher (tap and hold a free spot, then tap on Settings) and not the main settings.


text:
When I try to download pictures from phone to computer, "no pictures found on this device"
I have an LG-X Power. I have tried to download the pictures from my phone to my computer. When I connect through a USB cord - I receive a message on my computer that reads: "No pictures found on this device". The pictures are on my phone, there are many. I bought a new USB cord, still the same. I have a standard Windows operating system.
I needed a few of the photos so I simply attached to an email, opened email on computer and downloaded that way. I have way too many to do that tedious method repeatedly.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

Make sure you have choose either PTP or MTP connection on phone. If still doesn't work than try this:
Go to settings>apps and find "media storage" and "external storage" (maybe you'll need to check "show system") clear data for both of them, and then reboot. After device boots wait up to 10 minutes for media database to update and connect phone via USB to PC.


text:
Trying to find Game App installation folder
I used to play this Bingo Blitz game and was trying to find where the installation folder is. I couldn't find it under Data folder, even searching the
keyword "bingo blitz" does not yield anything.
Any experts able to install the game and try to figure out where it is?
My device is not rooted.

Well, unless your device is rooted you won't find anything within /data/data. You could try your SD card for additional files, usually located below Android/data.

As @Izzy said, without root privileges you cannot see the contents of neither /data/app or /data/data.
Even if you did have root privileges, searching for Bingo Blitz inside an average file manager wouldn't have yield anything. This is because no file or folder is named after the app label. In order to turn up some results, in fact, your search term must be an app's package name. In your case, the package name is air.com.buffalo_studios.newflashbingo.
Armed with this knowledge, we can now say that the app's APK can be found inside /data/app/air.com.buffalo_studios.newflashbingo-x.apk (pre-Lollipop) or /data/app/air.com.buffalo_studios.newflashbingo-x/base.apk (Lollipop and above). In both cases, x is a digit depending on how many times you updated the app.
The app's data, on the other hand, is to be found inside a folder called /data/data/air.com.buffalo_studios.newflashbingo/.


text:
I have to talk in an American accent despite setting voice recognition to English UK
Is there a way around this, or perhaps a 3rd party voice recognition app that gets around it?
I also ran a few tests in a Scouse accent and it didn't like any of them - are people with strong regional dialects ever going to be able to use this technology?
Is there a way of training it to better recognaise the nuances of your voice?
In the past this sort of technology works best with:-

no training but a low number of words
high amount of training allowing a larger recognaised vocabulary

It's fair to assume the technology has moved on a lot but there's still scope for it to be trained to an extent. We'd all prefer it to work out of the box of course.

I'm English, but a southerner with a fairly RP accent, and using voice recognition for Google searching is pretty accurate for me. Unfortunately this sounds like it's an accent thing.
I know Google offer their 411 directory voice service in the US, apparently one of the main benefits of this for them is that they can capture a huge amount of speech and use it to train their voice recognition with the words that people really use, in the accents they really use.
Until they start offering something like that over here I don't think their British regional accents are going to get better very quickly.
UPDATE 15 Dec 2010: Things are changing. Google are starting to trial a new version of Google Voice that does Personalised voice recognition and learns based on the way you pronounce words. Unfortunately as it's a trial this for US Android 2.2 users only at the moment, but hopefully it should be going out to the rest of the world if this trial is successful. If you're an English speaking Android 2.2 user in the US, you can get the update here.

And unfortunately, it doesn't look as if that's going to happen: http://lifehacker.com/5659358/google-shuts-down-goog+411

The Google "411 directory voice service" was GOOG-411 and has been retired since October of 2010 - two months before this question was asked...

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/


text:
Samsung duos remove and re-insert battery makes battery life sudden drop
I have a samsung duos i9082 without root.
the battery life drop 10% - 50% when remove and reinsert the battery.
So my question is.
is this a battery problem or devices or software?
Does replace a new battery fix this issue?
update question
The first drop is remove and re-insert battery.
The second drop is from 15% - 0% (less than 5mins)
48% usage by screen.

In my experience as a phone technician, that kind of issue is most often the battery. There will usually be a 0-2% drop after a bat pull because of the required power for boot up. Does the battery have any sort of swelling to it? If so then it's undoubtedly the battery.

no swelling. it drops extremely fast not just 0-2%. mostly 10 - 20%.

From your observation, does the phone charge faster than it used to? Often times a phone will charge faster as the life of the battery diminishes

No, charge speed like normal.
I updated my question with picture. Please check it

I strongly believe it's the battery. Erratic readings like that tell me the battery is going bad. It reminds me of a " hollow charge " where it states its at a certain percentage but in reality its much lower. The only way to be certain is to ; 1. Factory reset phone after backing up info then experiment. However a battery replacement will likely solve this.

Ok. Will get a new battery and try

Replaced a new battery. Same issue :(

That is odd. Sorry that didn't work. If it's your phone misreading the batteries charge it may need to be recalibrated. With root this can be achieved via various apps. Without root I've seen a factory reset fix issues similar to this.it's very rare though. If that doesn't work I'm at a loss.

Factory reset tried before   not work. Will try root later

rooted + battery calibration not work as well. I notice something now. either new or old battery the 100% - 85%  and 15% - 0% are not usable. the battery life sudden drop at that area.

Its too bad there isnt another duos to test this with. Has samsung provided a reflash image of this device? I would assume so. If so, that may be an option as its much more thorough than a traditional factory reset. I cant imagine why two batteries are reacting the same way. When the battery is in the phone, is the drain normal vs how it was before these issues occurred? Also is the device older or newer


text:
"Device management downloading" notification: why and how to get rid of it?
I see "Device management downloading" notification. It appeared when I was not using the phone: why did it appear and how can I prevent it from appearing again? I don't want to update my phone's OS.

I use a rooted Samsung Galaxy SIII with Android 4.1.2.

You can find out what app is responsible by long-tapping the notification and choosing App info. When you've done that, [edit] your question.

Yep what dan said is true, otherwise we have no idea. Why not update your firmware if there is a newer official release? Security is important, as is stability in updates!

@RossC sometimes best to avoid.

Have you considered that this might be a Mobile Device Management being driven by Corporate/ IT from your place of work? This smells of MDM and I cant be sure which one given the limited info so far.

That's a personal phone which I have never used for my work.

@FranckDernoncourt Google also has in built device management feature. Maybe it's that. Check it. Did you try the above comment suggestions?


text:
How can I send many files (> 25MiB) at once as attachments?
I have 100 compressed pictures. Each of them is 2 MB. I would like to send via email everything at once as attachments (no hosting on Gdrive or somewhere else). Basically pictures will have to be sent in several emails. Is there any way to do it at once?
To put it otherwise, I'm asking for a way to automatically send multiple email messages to send all the files. Ideally not one email per file, but each email should contain as many pictures as possible based on a maximum that I would specify.
I use a Samsung Galaxy S3. I know the max size of the recipient's mailbox and pictures cannot be further compressed. I don't mind filling my recipient's mailbox.

The sending limit with Gmail is 25MB, regardless of whether you're using Android or not. Other than that, I'm not exactly sure what you're asking for. Are you asking for a way to automatically send multiple email messages to send all the files? Could you [edit] your question and specify that?

The age of sending big attachments via e-mail is over. Even if GMail would allow big attachments, no one can guarantee that the receiving mail server is also accepting it. What's wrong with hosting the file(s) on GDrive/Dropbox/Whatever and just sending the link?

@dotVezz Yes, I'm asking for a way to automatically send multiple email messages to send all the files. Ideally not one email per file, but each email should contain as many pictures as possible based on a maximum that I would specify.

I'm fairly sure there's no real way to do this automatically. The mainstream answer is to use Google Drive, and alternative answers just involve using other cloud storage options. Because of that, there's no real need for anyone to make an app that will do this for you. Like @Flow already asked, is there any reason why you can't use cloud storage?

@Flow The issue with cloud storage is that I don't want to have those files filling up my cloud account (I prefer to avoid asking the recipient to tell me when he's done, and all unlimited private cloud storage I'm aware of turn out to be crap), or have to deal with expiring links, and I don't want anyone but the recipient to be able to access it.

If you're that adverse to using cloud storage, then the next best thing to do is to just send 10-12 pictures at once (varies depending on exact size of image(s)). If you need to do this just once, then might as well as suck it up.

@WoF Well that's the thing: I need to do it more than once. Also, attachments differ for each recipient.

The best possible workaround to this (or at least the only one I can think of that would work) would be to transfer all of the pictures onto your computer, put the pictures into a folder, and then use a compression program like WinRAR or 7Zip to split up that folder into 25 megabyte chunks, and send them seperately. A self-extracting executable wouldn't work, because gmail doesn't allow for .exe files. Therefore, the recipient would have to have the know-how to extract the files from the compressed folder.

I really think that using a cloud storage provider is your best bet. If this is for your work, then the expanded storage options will probably be a justified cost. If it's personal, it's still a small fee. I think SkyDrive is something like $10/year for 25+ GiB.

It would be a long and hard way, but if you have enough time and resources you could cross compile the mail software of GNU CLI and use it from an Android app.
This way you can be sure the software won't be limiting your messages by attachment size. And if it did you could properly refactor the source code.

If he's trying to send it through SMTP (He tagged Gmail) Then the SMTP Server's settings will still limit the attachment size and mail will fail. And as Flow said, there's no way to guarantee that the receiving server will accept large attachments even if you were to work around the sending limit.

Yep, the mail servers are enforcing the max mail size, not the mail client/app.

Indeed I'm not trying to bypass the 25 MB limit, but I'm looking for a way to automatically send multiple email messages to send all the files.

Tagging gmail is not an enforcement of using a gmail client account. He might be using a non cloud mailing system. The server issues are not to mention here because the asker slightly specified not to worry about recipient account characteristics and limits.

He mentioned the recipient's email inbox size, the maximum attachment size is an entirely separate thing. As @Flow said already, there's no practical way to send large attachments over email in this day and age. Also, telling a user to cross-compile source code to run on Android is seriously not going to be an acceptable answer on this site. You can't expect a user to know how to compile code; they're not even going to be familiar with configuration or syntax of mail to begin with. You may want to check our [help] for more information on that.

authors: น.ส สุทธิชา หวังสุดดี


text:
Forced to allow automatic updates?
So I wanted to stop the Play Store from automatically updating only to find that this is literally not an option.
My version of Play Store is 8.1.73 and when in settings I press the "auto-update" fields I get the option to update over wi-fi or also over data.
What happened here? Did Google just sneakily remove the option to not auto-update? Is it a OnePlus "feature"?
I have a OnePlus 5 with the latest update for Oxygen OS for my region (Europe) installed.

Not my case. The Play Store on my OnePlus 5 gives three options: the two identical to you, and another "Don't update apps automatically".

Check out in the settings tab of google play store, there you'll find 'Auto Update Apps. There are three options,
Do not auto-update apps,
Auto-update apps at any time. Data charges may apply,
Auto-update apps over Wi-Fi only.
So you can make auto update off.


text:
Storage keeps disappearing on my Android phone
I have a Motorola Moto G with an Android OS and I've had this issue for a long while now. It's quite an old phone with 8GB storage but I don't really need a lot of storage for my needs right now, so that's fine. However, I've realised that the amount of storage I have keeps going down all the time when I haven't updated any applications or downloaded anything. This leads to me running out of storage constantly which is causing issues because it means I have to keep deleting applications which all used to fit on my phone fine.
I'm not asking for a solution, but I'd like possible explanations for what's happening with my storage and where it could all be going.

It's normal, 8 gb is too little even for few apps. Half of that is consumed by system a lot of Google apps and rest apps their cache data and media

Well it has worked for me for years and a while ago I had to start deleting apps. I know it's not a lot of storage but if it wasn't for this issue then it would work fine for my current needs. It's has worked fine in the past; its not a satisfactory answer to say "its normal"

I have the same problem with several Moto X phones.  Tech support suggests a factory reset, and that buys diminishing relief. As near as I can tell there is poor management of storage, and we get the result.  Mot tech support has only suggested different phones, and factory reset.

Try looking in Settings > Storage. It will show things like images, other files, cache. For example, I just had 2.5GB in Google Play Store cache!

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


text:
how to configure number of app-icons panels?
I just got a new Moto Z2 Play with Android 7.1.1
There's only two app-icons panels ( the panels that appear when you swipe the home screen left or right to view additional icons ).
On my Moto Z Play ( also Android 7.1.1 ) I have seven panels.
I've spent some time searching through settings and googling and can't determine how to configure the # of panels.

Umm... A new panel should automatically appear when you drag and hold an app and want to place it somewhere.

Sounds like someone needs a custom launcher, like Nova Launcher (as an example).

Unless Motorola have significantly changed the way the homescreen works from stock Android, it only creates as many panels as it needs to show the icons. To add a new panel, press-hold-and-drag an icon to where a new panel would be, then drop it on that new panel. Now you should have one more panel than you did before.


text:
Personalize Lenovo P2 LED notification
I'm new to the Android community and I've just got my new Lenovo P2. I'm really happy with it but there is one thing that bothers me.
I cant personalize the LED notification settings. For example WhatsApp has no access to the LED control.
I've tried many apps like light manager and others but without success.
I've seen other P2 phones where the LED control worked properly, so I guess it should work somehow.
Has anyone an idea how I can fix this problem? Possibly without root.


text:
Delete backed up photos on Samsung S4 mini
How do I delete backed up photos from my gallery (Samsung S4 mini).
Please note:  I took photos with my phone camera.  Those photos were uploaded to Google maps.  Once they were uploaded I deleted the photos. But those photos still show in gallery.  It won't let me delete it.  When I click on the photos there is no "delete icon (dustbin)".  It gives an options to share the photos but not to delete them.  Please help.

You need to log into the Google photo app and delete them from there.

If there's no option to delete, then they're already gone from your device. Google keeps a thumbnail available for you so that you can see the photo, share, etc., without taking up a ton of storage on your phone.
If you want them really gone, you'll need to go to Google Photos and delete them from there. (Actually, they'll go into the Trash, where they'll be auto-deleted in 3 days, but they'll get removed from your photo gallery on your phone.)


text:
"Uninstall old version" before installing, but can't find it
Spotify doesn't show up anywhere (I used to have it). When I try to install the app, it wants me to uninstall the old version. But the old version doesn't show up anywhere. Tried going through "My Apps" and through the file menu when hooked up to a PC, and I cannot find it.
Any thoughts?

Spotify may be installed as a bloat-system-app so try Apps>right upper corner the three dots>show system apps. It could be that you hided the spotify app.
Additionaly you can type in the terminal pm list packages and use grep to filter so like that pm list packages | grep -i spotify. you can uninstall it by typing pm uninstall [package name]
Note the above assumes you're either using adb or running the commands as root. pm uninstall on system apps can only be performed as root (if at all) – for the other mentioned pm calls, connecting via ADB is sufficient.


text:
Automatically add installed app icon to first screen with space
I have 5 home screen pages in my Note 5.
When a new app is installed, its icon is added to the last page and not the first one, even though there is space in the first page.
Anyone know how to fix that so the shortcut will appear on the first page (or in the nearest page which has empty spots)?

You have edited home pages of your launcher.
you can change sequence of ui that you will able to see apps on first screen


text:
How to access home screen settings with Galaxy S5 Neo?
I just bought the new Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo that has Android 5.1.1 as the default OS OOTB.
First thing I noticed is that the home screen transition effects are gone (3D rotation/card stack) so I wanted to turn them on. This proved hard as I can't find how to access the home screen settings where the transition effects can be enabled/disabled.
I tried to press and hold on empty home screen (the way it was done with my previous phone Galaxy S3) but the only options there are themes, widgets and wallpapers so home screen settings is missing.
Does anyone know where I can turn on those transition effects?
EDIT: It also seems that there is some micro lag and stutter when quickly swiping home screens or application menu screens. I tried out a few custom launchers and I noticed that the micro lag is gone. I can only assume that the problem lies within the TouchWiz version? Maybe some bug?
Thank you! :)

Anything in the Settings Page? In some devices, there's a Home or Launcher section.

@Huey Nope haven't found anything.. it seems that the TouchWiz version of Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo is just missing those transition effects and the whole settings page for the home screen. It also has annoying lag. I've been using Nova Launcher for now while waiting for answer or updates for the TouchWiz problems. :)


text:
Is it possible to configure optical trackpad (trackball) to switch on the phone just like iPhone?
I find the power button hard to press with one hand. Pressing an optical trackpad (trackball) would be much more convenient. Are there any hacks for this?

are you referring to "waking up from sleep" or "turning on from shutdown"? If it's the latter, I believe you'd need to at least hack the phone's firmware (assuming htc does not hardwire the power on logic); the former should be trivial.

At least waking up from sleep.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/


text:
Is there a way to display calendar notifications without having to unlock the screen?
For SMS there is an application called SMS popup which will display the message over the lock-screen.
Is there anything similar for calendar notifications that allows you to clear or snooze the notification without having to unlock the screen?

what's the point of having a lock screen if you can circumvent it? :)

@LouisRhys the point of having a lock screen is to protect private data from being visible if I lost my phone. For me the easy access to the calendar is more important. That's why I have the same question. There are different kind of data. I write my diary on the phone. I want it to be only accesible by me, but calendar is not top secret.

WidgetLocker is a great lock-screen replacement that will allow you to put any widget installed on your phone on the lock-screen.  You can also configure it to allow your Notification bar to be usable.  The actual calendar popup I'm not sure about, but I know you'd be able to see it when it shows up in your notification bar, and from there you can open it up and snooze/dismiss it.

This app does not exist any more :-(

This works: Your Calendar Widget


text:
Why do the buttons on my Incredible occasionally light up?
I've noticed that sometimes the four buttons at the bottom of my HTC Incredible sometimes light up for a couple seconds at a time, even when the phone is just sitting unused on my desk.  Until now I've attributed this to a software bug, but I recently noticed it doing this while I was digging around in my email on my computer.
Does this indicate data transfer?  Or does it have some other significance?

Your phone is becoming sentient.

You phone should light up when you activate it.
When an internal process either stops or wakes up you phone (like you said to start data transfer) or on other actions the lights can light up.
When a process crashes my phone lights up the control keys too, usually with a buzz.

My Incredible does this as well.  I have been told that this also is sometimes used by applications to indicate that an app has downloaded updated data.  For instance, if the HTC mail application has downloaded new emails.  But I haven't taken the time to see if this is accurate or not.


text:
Which apps show up in the market on an Android tablet?
Is the market filtering the same as a phone (auto detects required features and OS version) or do developers need to specifically set attributes on their apps for them to be available on tablets running Android?

From what I read a few days ago, tablet cannot run Android Market (and therefore will not be distributed with it) until 2.3 is released in the early part of next year. I have heard of a few tablets being released using the manufacturers own market-type application but nothing using the official Android Market.
I think we'll have to wait until 2.3 is released before we hear about tablet support =(
Gary

thanks.  makes sense why they're pushing out all the new market changes including allowing devs to upload hi-res graphics and link to youtube videos.  that's probably mostly for tablets

Since the answer from gsteinert is a little bit outdated, I will try to give an update:
tl;dr
Apps on tablet will go to the same filter process as apps on phones on the Market.
Apps that appear on tablets follow the same filtering rules as with phones. Developers are given the ability to set attributes for their app in the, so called, manifest. For example: If an app declares that it's, for whatsoever reason, only compatible with small screen sizes, it will not show up on the Market on a tablet with greater screen sizes. Note that this case is very rare, because most apps that are only designed for small screens will either be upscaled or just use a small amount of the screen.
There is also a way to declare an app for honeycomb tablets only.

Again an update, as meanwhile Flow's answer also got a little outdated (LOL):
If you want to filter for good tablet optimized apps, for one there are specialized apps like Tablified Market or Tablet Market to help you out.
On the other hand, Google started to work on this issue meanwhile. So you find a tab titled Featured Apps for Tablets at least on the Google Play website. For details on this, you might also wish to read Google Play tablet apps getting special designation; according to that article, the Google Play Store is now only showing tablet-optimized apps in its top lists when accessed through a tablet.


text:
How do I download PDF documents from Gmail?
When I receive a PDF attachment, the Gmail app only gives the option to preview it, not download. It opens in the default PDF reader (I have Adobe's reader).
How can I save the PDF instead?

Good question. I couldn't figure out a way with Adobe Reader or Quick Office.

Attachment2SD will do the trick.
After you install it when you click on the PDF attachment in the Gmail app it'll pop-up the "Complete Action Using..." dialog.  Choose Attachment2SD and it'll download to a directory on your SD card, where you can immediately open it or save it for later.  This works with all kinds of files, not just PDF.

That does the trick, thanks. There really ought to be a download option in the Gmail app itself though.

Agreed, it baffles me how they could leave something so basic out.

Don't use the Gmail app, instead use your browser, go to gmail.com, mobile or desktop view doesn't matter,
open the mail you want to download the pdf from
click  on the pdf icon and it will be downloaded automatically.
About doing so with the Gmail app specifically, I've no idea, and that was how I dodge the pdf problem.

I use the Internet Download Manager.You open the pdf in new tab and then copy your url and then click Add url at Internet Download Manager, paste to your url.


text:
Native Exchange Email app does not synchronize folders properly
Recently I created/removed some folders on Outlook desktop app.
When I synchronized my corporate account by manually refreshing under the folders screen, it didn't bring the new folders, nor removed the removed ones.
Is this a known bug?
I have a Motorola Milestone, and I remember in the past, at least the folder addition worked.

Is this still a problem for you? I have not seen this behavior on my Droid, although it does seem to take a bit of time to get fully synchronized.

As a workaround, I deleted the account and registered it again, and it worked, but I'm not sure if this can be considered a "solution".

I think you should post that as an answer and mark it as the accepted answer.  The Mail app is very buggy and basic and until it is improved I suspect there is no other solution.

@Matthew agree, although I've started to try Touchdown as an alternative, I think it's fine for this specific question.

I ended up deleting my account and registering it again, and it worked, but this is a workaround.
As pointed out by other people, the native Mail app is buggy, so I started evaluating Touchdown.

I know you were going for the "onboard" solution for Exchange e-mail, but at my workplace a bunch of folks use Touchdown:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/exchange-by-touchdown-key/com.nitrodesk.touchdownpro
Only problem is that is is $19.99. It works well with ActiveSync policies and doesn't force you to encrypt your whole device if your SysAdmin has required as such.

another problem with TouchDown is battery drain. I finally had to uninstall it because it was draining my battery several times faster than the stock email app.


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Stop audio player from restarting music after a phone call
Whenever I receive a phone while listening music (with earplugs), I disconnect the earplugs and take the phone through the normal speakers.
The music is paused during the phone call, no problem there, but when I hang up, the music starts again, even without the earplugs. Which is kind of annoying at work, in an open space.
Is there a way to force the music to stay paused after the phone call?
I'm using the Music Mod app on an Froyo-powered HTC Legend, but I believe it has happened to me with every music player I've tried.

do your earplugs not have microphone?

@Lie they do, but I don't like using them to make a phone call.

What you need is the headset blocker widget - install it and then put it up on your home screen as a widget and then toggle it ON.
Now, whenever you unplug your headphones, the music player will stop playing. try it and see if it works.
BTW, Meridian Player has an in-built option to disallow resuming playback after a phone call.

You could use the Autostarts app to edit the end-phone-call event and remove your music app from the list of apps that get alerted on that event.  I believe it requires root.

AFAIK this could be done with Tasker even without root.


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Synchronization does not work

HTC magic
Android 1.6

A couple of weeks ago the built in sync of mail, contacts and calendar stopped working. Sync is activated for all three and it seems to sync sometimes, but not all the time as it is supposed to do (it did). E.g. mail and contacts synced at 2:34am and calendar synced at 7:30am (but it's 10:11pm now).
Any ideas?
Solution:
I went with mlevits advice. I removed my account from the phone via the trick I described now in How can I remove the default Google Account on my phone? (the "clear-all-data" trick did not work and I did not want to factory reset the phone). After I reentered my account data the syncing works again. Thanks a lot mlevit!

From my knowledge of the Sync functionality on the Android it only syncs when it has something new on one of those services. It uses Push technology to send you the latest updates as soon as they become available.
If however new items are appearing in your mail, contacts and/or calendar and it's still not syncing then I would recommend you remove your Google account and re-add it again.
NB. I did have an issue with Sync once where it just wasn't pushing any emails to my phone... it fixed itself after a couple of days.

Remove my google account? Are you serious?

BTW: The is new stuff all the time which is not synced.

Remove the account then re-add it? I don't see what the problem is? You're not going to lose any data.

Now I get it. I thought you meant deleting my google account. I unlinked my account from the phone and relinked it and now the syncing works like a charme. Thanks a lot! (will update question)


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Integration of twitter-like services (for example identi.ca) with FriendStream
Is there an application that allows integrating identi.ca with FriendStream?  If no is there any docs how to integrate one (I know that second part is off-topic and probably should go on SO but it is conditional)?

Not that I've been able to find.
Seesmic can be configured to connect to StatusNet accounts
There is also a dedicated StatusNet app for Android
HootSuite does not currently support StatusNet accounts The online client can access statusNet via Ping.fm, but not android client.
I used the Seesmic app for a while, but now I'm using HootSuite and the StatusNet standalone client. At the time I switched, I thought I could configure HootSuite to do what I wanted. So it goes.....


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Viewing all applications in an alphabetical list in 4.4.2
On Android 4.1.2 I was able to view all applications in an alphabetical list:

Is there any way to do so in Android 4.4.2? By default applications are in a grid:

I haven't found any solution so far.

So I am still interested if someone has any idea.