text:
Android Chrome - shortcut icons shown on Chrome home page
there are up to 8 shortcuts on the android chrome homepage. How do I specify which web pages I want them to link to?

You can't edit the shortcut manually. The workaround to add a shortcut is:

Step 1: Remove one that you don't want.
Step 2: Open a new tab, type/paste the URL of the webpage you want, and go to that site.
Step 3: Repeat Step 2 once or twice more. The next type you open the homepage, the webpage shortcut will be added/listed.

Thanks, I've also found out that it won't add a shortcut if that page is bookmarked. Seems a flakey system.


text:
Getting McAfee warnings despite not having McAfee?
I own a Galaxy S10, and after the recent update I've started getting warnings from McAfee in my Chrome browser telling me sites I've been visiting for years are suspicious... except I don't have and have never had McAfee installed on my phone or browser. I've searched my apps and turned up empty-handed, and searching online hasn't helped either, so any idea what this is?

Do you think the warning is displayed by an app or can the warning be caused by the web-site itself (e.g. a dialog created by JavaScript in the HTML page may be from an ad shown on the page)?

If possible, could you take the screenshot when it happens and upload it here? Currently, I believe it's kind of the usual scareware to make you "download/buy" (fake) antivirus app.

After further investigation it appears to be the digital secure app. I'm not sure why it says McAfee in the browser.

Is this Verizon's Digital Secure? Looks like Verizon is working together with McAfee.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Import pdf Files to Samsung Galaxy Tab S7
How do I import pdf files from my computer to my Galaxy Tab S7 5G?

You can just connect them using a USB cable.
Alternatively you can use Bluetooth (if your computer supports it), or upload the PDF files to the cloud (e.g. Google Drive), or send them via email to youself.

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


text:
How to find out which app icons disappear after updating?
It happened a few times already that after updating my apps, I notice a gap on my homescreen where an app icon is missing (normally I have it completely filled so a single missing icon is easily noticed).
Is there a way to find out what happened to the app, and more importantly, which app it was? It's hard to keep track of all the stuff I have installed, but the apps I have on my homescreen are normally at least somewhat essential so I'd like to make sure I'm not missing anything important without knowing.

If you update the apps manually, consider taking a screenshot of your homescreen before updating.

@Ak. Sure, would make sense, I'd just prefer some sort of log or whatever where I can see what happened.

Upvoted.  I've seen this happen too.  I think it's a longstanding bug in either Android, the Google Play store, or the launcher.


text:
i cant go to recovery mode NO Command error, Boot-loop
I recently tried to install a custom ROM in my samsung j6+ but halfway through it my PC turned off(disconnected while flashing).
Then the problem starts i decided to reboot my phone but it shows this message
"No command" " #Reboot recovery cause is [[check_bootmode]RebootRecoveryWithKey]#
Block-based OTA
Supported API: 3
MANUAL MODE v1.0.0#
E:Failed to mount / cache: Invalid argument
The error message keeps appearing for just a fraction of a second then disappear and appear again
I tried to go to recovery mode but no luck i cant get to it
I drained the battery to turn off the device then go download mode but after get to it, it also keep restarting
Please help me thanks so much

Does this answer your question? What does the "no command" screen mean? (Trying to execute hard reset Recovery)


text:
Is it possible to run an X Server and a window manager in TermUX
I am running the TermUX application on an Android 10 smartphone, and can type in it with my Logitech K480 keyboard. I want to run a window manager like fvwm (see fvwm.org).
I have found an article on the internet which seems to mention i can run VNC server and client or XSDL although the latter is unstable, but as far as I understand I can only do this if i have a separate computer running the server, and then my Android smartphone can run the client window manager from TermUX after changing the DISPLAY environment variable
Is this correct?
How can I run an X Server in TermUX and then simply run the window manager with the startx command like in Linux?
Thanks.

Termux is a terminal emulator. Original implementation of X Server runs on a Virtual Terminal (kernel console). Is your kernel built with VTs and Framebuffer Console (physical display) support? Most probably no. So you need an Android specific X Server (like the almost abandoned XServer XSDL app) or need to run the original X Server in headless mode which directs its output to a virtual display like VNC. You can then run a VNC client app on localhost (the Android device itself) or some other host on the network (like a PC) to receive the display and interact with the GUI environment.

Btw X Server programs are built for PCs. Most of them aren't very usable even on a 10-inch tablet screen. So X server running on a phone isn't of much practical use. That's what my experience is. I run Linux distros on Android devices but only with CLI controls.

Related links: Is it possible to install Linux on Android device? and How to quickly understand the Android UI? and How to boot Ubuntu on Android? and How to Play Sound from Termux when using Linux?

Termux officially supports the two methods I mentioned above to run X Server: https://github.com/termux/x11-packages#using-x11-on-termux. But if your device is rooted and want to try your luck with the existing framebuffer support, start from here: https://github.com/meefik/linuxdeploy/search?o=asc&q=framebuffer&s=created&type=issues. However FB isn't very likely to work with the standard Linux tools because its functionality is very limited or non-standard in many cases and Android relies on closed-source HALs provided by OEMs for most of its interaction with hardware components.

Afaik what OP is asking for is not possible, however the hacky solution @Irfan Latif mentioned is, and is also given in the termux wiki(https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Graphical_Environment)

You can run either an x-server or a vnc-client on the same Android device you have installed termux on. You don't have to use another device for that.
Instructions are available here https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Graphical_Environment
I suggest you use VNC instead of an x-server.


text:
Question about spacing in .ttf fonts for android
I've been having trouble setting up a font to work well on my phone. I'm using an app that allows me to load ttf files into my system, the problem is spacing between lines/titles being too large (see attached screenshots).
I'm trying to figure out how to edit the ttf on font forge to resolve this, but it's been to no avail.


text:
Faster Install on a bulk of devices
I am currently faced with installing a large amount of applications on a bulk of devices (100+ at a time).
The biggest issue I am having is the download time of apps and the effect it is having on the WiFi, I am looking for a solution to this, I looked into side-loading via usb but this was just as long to plug in each device and then install the APK individually.
Preferably I need a quick way of installing APKs with minimal interaction as I am using an MDM software that limits my access on the device
Thank you for any answers in advance

Bulk installation is usually (or should be) a part of MDM: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=canonical&q=Android+MDM+install+apps+silently

Use one or more own WiFi access points dedicated for this task and place each in a faraday cage. Reduce the max Wifi power or each AP.  Then place just a few devices in each "AP-cage". This eliminates the effect on the normal Wifi system.


text:
Is it possible to get vendor-specific files (e.g. drivers) from a phone and use them in combination with AOSP?
I was wondering whether it's possible to get these files, because to use AOSP on a device, you need these even just to boot. They aren't publicly available from some vendors (IIRC Google provides them?), so I thought about getting them directly from the Android device. I have found some answers regarding where they are, but I don't know, if it's possible to use them from there, or even if there's an option to.
I know there are existing custom ROMs such as LineageOS, which for each device work out of the box, so that isn't a problem, regarding devices they support. But what about devices they don't support? For example the 2020 Samsung Galaxy Tab A7. They support the 2016 version, but not the 2020.

Some custom ROMs use the original kernel which contains the drivers and combine it with a new ROM.

To my knowledge no OEM officially provides binary blobs (userspace HALs). But they are bound to release kernel code due to GPL. Binary blobs are always extracted from a working device by custom ROM developers. And it's one of the steps in custom ROM development: https://wiki.lineageos.org/proprietary_blobs.html. // Please note that development related questions are off-topic here.


text:
Will play services run on a dual-boot device with 2 roms once I boot into a rom without play services installed?
I have an OnePlus5 device with installed lineageOs. Because of my company's and software development needs I need to run apps that require play services. But I do not want to run all over the time.
Therefore I thought to dualboot the OnePlus 5 with the stock rom thewrefore there will be 2 roms in my device:

The stock one with play services where apps will run.
The lineageOS one that wi will use personally wiuthout playservices.

But once I boot into lineageOS would result running the playservices as well?

I am thinking to keep them seperated therefore with seperate userdata.

Typically company rules disallow custom or modified ROMs, and such a dual-boot is only possible with heavily modified ROMs.

Well in my company that's not an issue.

Your question isn't clear how you will be achieving dual boot. Simply, if the /system/app and /data/app you are booting from do not contain Play Services (the GMS suite), they won't run. Otherwise they will.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3725636


text:
Replacing Android OS on Android phone with Linux OS
I'd like to entirely replace Android on my phone, which I plan to eventually root.
I've learned so far that Linux Deploy can be used to run a full Linux distro alongside the Android OS, but really I want to replace Android OS.
I'm willing to put Mobian (mobian-project.org) on there or just pure Debian.
Is this possible yet in 2021?

Does this answer your question? How to boot Ubuntu persistent live USB on Android?

Short answer: NO.
Reasons:

Hardware drivers are proprietary
Building them without the source is extremely difficult
Requires a lot of expertise and time
Not possible unless you have low-level access to your device hardware (Meaning being able to flash without fastboot or EDL)

So yeah, stick to the answer that, NO, you can't replace Android entirely with Linux.
Something you can do is:
You can of course try using other AOSP-based OS like Lineage OS which are built on AOSP, so it is compatible with the default kernel for your device (This is also only possible if it is already built for your device)
If you want to run Linux alongside Android, there are a few ways:

As you said, you can use Linux Deploy. (I have personally not used this)
Or you can use PRoot with Termux which is a user-space implementation of chroot thus you can a virtualized Linux environment (similar to using chroot) but without the need for a rooted device. You can either use PRoot with scripts created by others via AnLinux or Andronix.
Or you could always learn how it works and manually set it up :>

And no, as time goes on, things won't change. You won't be able to install Linux on an Android device. This is not due to hardware incapability but rather it is how the smartphone industry works.

I could be entirely wrong, but here I go.
With postmarketOS and in recent years, people have worked hard to bring Linux to phones. One of the examples is OnePlus 6 - one maintainer worked hard to get it running. But here we are. It's not yet really in a daily-driving state where one can replace it, but for example, calling works.
So to answer your question, you could but would you be happy with this yet buggy state of Linux?

You could improve your answer by adding a link to the mentioned Linux for OnePlus 6 and also include more details on the problems of this release why it has to be considered not read for a daily use.

You're right Robert, my bad, ill edit this once ill be home.


text:
Whenever I tap the empty space below the spacebar, while using Chrome, the keyboard closes unexpectedly
Ok, so this has to be the most annoying thing for me about Android phones. If you look at my screenshot, I've circled the empty space below the keyboard. I am ALWAYS accidentally tapping this empty space, and when I do this... it acts as if I had tapped the little downward arrow to the left of that empty space!!! I'll be typing in some search terms in Chrome, only to accidentally tap the empty space, and there goes everything I was typing. Poof. It's INCREDIBLY annoying, and I just might buy an iPhone if I have to continue to endure this. It is SO easy to accidentally hit that empty space.
It happens with both Gboard and the stock keyboard, and swiftkey. It seems as though this is an intentional feature.
Is there anyway to completely disable that little downward arrow?

I have experienced this on Android as well.  Many virtual keyboard apps have a resize/reposition feature.  I was able to fix this issue by using this feature to manually move the keyboard to the bottom of the screen.
The location of the feature varies for each keyboard app, but it's typically available via its Settings UI.


text:
Automatic Do Not Disturb for Calendar events on Samsung
Does anyone know of any free apps that can control the Do Not Disturb based on Calendar events? I know this is built into Android OS10, but Samsung has removed that from their phones. I know of one app that should work but it does a lot of things I do not need and costs money for what was originally built in but removed by a second party.

You can try IFTTT, Automate, Macrodroid app and automate that. look given examples and try to create automation script for those calendar events.

This one works great on modern Android devices:
Check out "Silent During Meetings"
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.ysharon.quietinmeeting
I made one with some nice settings in Tasker back in 2013, but that one doesn't work anymore on modern Android systems. I imagine Tasker would still work fine nowadays.

Frustrating that Samsung removed that from their phones. I used the built in Android version for ages.


text:
Samsung a71 virus detected
so uh, i just went onto a website, and I apparently have 4 viruses on my phone, it said "Your sim card has been damaged by a virus!" I dont know if this is fr and I'm only 14, but i know when not to click on something stupid. But I have to ask, is this real? I know how to deal with it if it IS true, but it is weird. It says my sim card is already 48% damaged.

i just went onto a website → 100% scam. Close immediately and you'll have nothing wrong.

Welcome to the Internet. You will find web-sites telling you that you are the most intelligent person of the world and then they want to sell you something or they try to steal something from you. Therefore if a web-site claims something be distrustful and first start thinking if this can be really true - e.g. a if a web-site can really scan your device...

The comments on your question already cleared things for you. It is a scam. If a website or an app suddenly or  ever claims that something is wrong with your device, its accessories, its OS, a web account, your bank account, you can be damn well sure that the other  party is trying to scam you.
10/10 times these scams appear as ads, so using an adblocker for both your web browser and and your device is suggested. I use Ublock Origin addon (on Firefox for Android) which greatly helps in reducing ads nonsense when browsing. To stop nonsense ads on Android apps I use AdAway (you can also use Blockada) adblocker app. Some folks give moral reasons not to use adblockers but I keep security, privacy and web sanity over morality. You are on your own with morality here.
In a browser, 9/10 times these ads are able to load through javascripts, often third-party scripts. Using a solution which blocks at least third-party javascripts is recommended to everyone for browsing the web with sanity. I use NoScript addon (on Firefox for Android).
You also need to know about WAP billing frauds (you click something on some [often] not-so-popular webpage, and guess what XY amount of money is automatically deducted by your carrier. You apparently gets subscribed to some XYZ value-added service!). WAP billing frauds are facilitated by third-party javascripts.
The list can go on but it is best that at this age you spend a couple of hours to learn about privacy and security on the web, Android or whatever OS your mobile and PC are using, on at least a monthly basis. What you would learn would be far better than a quick fix I have suggested.

You can check any unknown apps is installed remove it.
Clear cache of web browser.
You can scan your mobile using antivirus. You can use avg, Avast or panda antivirus. You can use free trail of anti virus.
You can erase your mobile.


text:
Booting TWRP custom recovery from SD card
I have a bootloader locked nokia 6.1 PL2 2018 and I want to temporarily boot TWRP for backup using an SD card. is it possible???

no, by-passing locked bootloader is only possible by flashing modified partition into device itself

https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2018/05/demystifying-android-physical-acquisition

On Android devices the physical location (offset) of the recovery and boot partitions (among many other things) is hard-coded in bootloader. You cannot make it boot from a different location, except on some development boards which provide a switch to toggle boot location.


text:
Internet access via external Wi-Fi adapter
Good afternoon, colleagues.
There is:

Samsung S7, LineageOS 15.1, root, terminal, kalinethunter, drivers for AR9271 in kernel;
WIFI USB adapter Alfa atheros AR9271;
USB-miniUSB cable.

Required:
Internet access by a browser, not through the built-in wifi of the smartphone (wlan0), but through the external one (wlan1).
Tried:

turn on wifi in the smartphone settings;
delete the memorized network in the wifi settings (so that the smartphone does not automatically connect anywhere via wlan0);
in the terminal:

sudo ifconig wlan1 up (in any, kalinethunter, androidsu)
wpa_supplicant -i wlan1 -c / etc / wpa_supplicant / wpa_supplicant-wlan1 / conf (only in kalinethunter terminal, androidsu gives wpa_supplicant not found)
dhclient wlan1 (only in kalinethunter terminal, androidsu displays dhclient not found).

after that pass successfully:

from the terminal kalinethunter ping 8.8.8.8 and ping google.com;
from the androidsu terminal - ping 8.8.8.8 (if I add ip google.com to system/etc/hosts, then ping google.com also work);

But browsers (firefox, chrome) do not see the network. How can I go to the Internet with a browser (firefox, chrome) through wlan1, can you have ideas?

See my answer to Connecting to WiFi via ADB Shell. Also related: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/225741/218526


text:
Google showing places I haven't been
I am shown on google that I have visited Liverpool and Cornwall both of which are 100's of miles away from where I live.  Any ideas why?
My Facebook was hacked could this be the same thing?

Unlikely... We see this sometimes as well when GPS signal isn't available and Google is attempting your location by WiFi names, IP address, and cell tower ID's... We can occasionally appear to be hundreds and even thousands of miles away from our actual location when looking in location history. It's not super common, but it definitely happens. That said, you should do a Google Security Checkup and make sure nothing looks out of place. https://myaccount.google.com/intro/security-checkup

No. Your location history is never completely exact. It is because GPS location is often bad, particularly in these cases:

If you are inside reinforced concrete buildings or trains. It is because the metal in wall (of the building) or the case of the train shadows the signal of the GPS satellites.
If there is no GPS signal, google maps tries to use the MAC address of the available Wifi APs what your mobile can see - and compare it to the GPS signal of other google users, whose GPS at that position worked. It works in many cases, sometimes it does not (for example, the Wifi AP is actually another telephone of another Google Maps user who shares its mobile network with it).

If you see your position history (timeline) on the google, it shows you all the cities what the google thinks, you visited.
If the Wifi-based localization worked 10000 times in your life correctly, and 3 times badly, then you will see 3 cities where you never were. It does not matter that it worked correctly 9997 times, the first what you will think that you were never in Zürich or Philadelphia.
Your position timeline overweights the mistakes of the google localization. You can see these false points, many of them are airports or train stations.
Probably there are some option to change your google maps timeline retroactively.


text:
How to install a post-market operating system on a Samsung Galaxy S7 with a broken screen that has "OEM unlock" still disabled?
I want to use my old Samsung Galaxy S7 (with a broken screen) as a headless device in my home network.
(Rationale - for the curious readers: Even with a broken screen it could possibly become a Bluetooth audio receiver (A2DP sink) or a CCTV-like device. And with its multiple CPU cores, I could even make it part of my home Kubernetes cluster to crunch some CPU-intensive tasks. This way it can remain of service in its afterlife.)
To prepare the device, I would either like to install PostmarketOS or Lineage OS on it. The installation procedures for both operating systems require installing/flashing TWRP onto the recovery partition. (Installation guides: Lineage OS; PostmarketOS)
Unfortunately, the device has most likely never been OEM unlocked before the screen broke. Based on my reading so far, this seems to be a pre-requisite for any kind of image flashing. At least, this is the most likely reason to me why all my flashing attempts failed. (See below what I've tried.)
Since the screen is broken, I cannot enable "OEM unlock" via the normal user interface-based procedure.
Now my questions are:

Is "OEM unlock" being enabled a pre-requisite for flashing custom images onto my Samsung mobile device?
How do I enable "OEM unlock" without having access to the device's screen?

Since I'm not too attached to the device, I'm really willing to go far in experimentation. Any data on the device has most likely become inaccessible in my previous flashing attempts already (I cannot check with a broken screen), so keeping data is not a concern. I'm also willing to cut an USB cable open to solder myself an USB/UART connector cable if necessary.

Here's what I've already tried:
1. Directly using PostmarketOS's flasher functionality (which uses Heimdall), i.e. without using TWRP
pmbootstrap init
    [I cut the output of the installation wizard]

pmbootstrap install
    [I cut some of the output]
    [17:06:59] (native) format /dev/installp1 (boot, ext2), mount to mountpoint
    [17:06:59] *** (4/4) FILL INSTALL BLOCKDEVICE ***
    [17:06:59] (native) copy rootfs_samsung-herolte to /mnt/install/
    [17:07:07] (native) make sparse rootfs
    [17:07:13] *** FLASHING INFORMATION ***
    [17:07:13] Run the following to flash your installation to the target device:
    [17:07:13] * pmbootstrap flasher flash_rootfs
    [17:07:13]   Flashes the generated rootfs image to your device:
    [17:07:13]   /home/hauke/.local/var/pmbootstrap/chroot_native/home/pmos/rootfs/samsung-herolte.img
    [17:07:13]   (NOTE: This file has a partition table, which contains /boot and / subpartitions. That way we don't need to change the partition layout on your device.)
    [17:07:13] * pmbootstrap flasher flash_kernel
    [17:07:13]   Flashes the kernel + initramfs to your device:
    [17:07:13]   /home/hauke/.local/var/pmbootstrap/chroot_rootfs_samsung-herolte/boot
    [17:07:13] * If the above steps do not work, you can also create symlinks to the generated files with 'pmbootstrap export' and flash outside of pmbootstrap.
    [17:07:13] NOTE: chroot is still active (use 'pmbootstrap shutdown' as necessary)
    [17:07:13] Done

pmbootstrap flasher
    [17:09:09] (native) flash rootfs image
    [17:09:11] (native) install
    < wait for any device >
    Heimdall v1.4.2

    Copyright (c) 2010-2017 Benjamin Dobell, Glass Echidna
    http://www.glassechidna.com.au/

    This software is provided free of charge. Copying and redistribution is
    encouraged.

    If you appreciate this software and you would like to support future
    development please consider donating:
    http://www.glassechidna.com.au/donate/

    Initialising connection...
    Detecting device...
    Claiming interface...
    Setting up interface...

    Initialising protocol...
    Protocol initialisation successful.

    Beginning session...

    Some devices may take up to 2 minutes to respond.
    Please be patient!

    Session begun.

    Downloading device's PIT file...
    PIT file download successful.

    Uploading SYSTEM
    11%
    ERROR: Failed to confirm end of file transfer sequence!
    ERROR: SYSTEM upload failed!

    Ending session...

2. Trying to flash TWRP using Heimdall
heimdall flash --verbose --no-reboot --RECOVERY twrp-3.5.0_9-0-herolte.img
Heimdall v1.4.1

Copyright (c) 2010-2014 Benjamin Dobell, Glass Echidna
http://www.glassechidna.com.au/

This software is provided free of charge. Copying and redistribution is
encouraged.

If you appreciate this software and you would like to support future
development please consider donating:
http://www.glassechidna.com.au/donate/

Initialising connection...
Detecting device...
      Manufacturer: "SAMSUNG"
           Product: "Gadget Serial"

            length: 18
      device class: 2
               S/N: 0
           VID:PID: 04E8:685D
         bcdDevice: 021B
   iMan:iProd:iSer: 1:2:0
          nb confs: 1

interface[0].altsetting[0]: num endpoints = 1
   Class.SubClass.Protocol: 02.02.01
       endpoint[0].address: 83
           max packet size: 0010
          polling interval: 09

interface[1].altsetting[0]: num endpoints = 2
   Class.SubClass.Protocol: 0A.00.00
       endpoint[0].address: 81
           max packet size: 0200
          polling interval: 00
       endpoint[1].address: 02
           max packet size: 0200
          polling interval: 00
Claiming interface...
Setting up interface...

Initialising protocol...
Protocol initialisation successful.

Beginning session...

Some devices may take up to 2 minutes to respond.
Please be patient!

Session begun.

Downloading device's PIT file...
PIT file download successful.

Uploading RECOVERY
0%
2%

[...]

98%

100%
ERROR: Failed to unpack received packet.

ERROR: Failed to confirm end of file transfer sequence!
ERROR: RECOVERY upload failed!

Ending session...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending bulk transfer. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending bulk transfer. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending bulk transfer. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending bulk transfer. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending bulk transfer. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending bulk transfer.
ERROR: Failed to send end session packet!
Releasing device interface...

3. Trying to flash TWRP via Odin
Output log:
<ID:0/011> Added!!
<ID:0/011> Odin engine v(ID:3.1401)..
<ID:0/011> File analysis..
<ID:0/011> Total Binary size: 43 M
<ID:0/011> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/011> Initialzation..
<ID:0/011> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/011> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/011> NAND Write Start!!
<ID:0/011> SingleDownload.
<ID:0/011> recovery.img
<ID:0/011> FAIL!
<ID:0/011>
<ID:0/011> Complete(Write) operation failed.
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)

I also tried flashing original Samsung firmware onto my device, also using Odin. That resulted in a "success" message, making me believe that my ROM is not fried (yet).

A similar question with a more narrow focus had already been posted back in 2016. Back then, the answer was "there's no public knowledge how to do this". Since the scope of that other question was focused on a way to enable "OEM unlock" through the modification of a file, I have created this new question with broader goal in mind.

https://android.stackexchange.com/q/159551 it would have worked to unlock with usb-otg adapter and external keyboard. unfortunately i see no realistic chance to finish the whole initial setup blind. the only way left is flashing combination firmware with pre-enabled usb-debugging

Oh, there is firmware around that has USB debugging enabled by default? Sorry if this may sound stupid: But where & how to look for finding such firmware?

search for "combination firmware" (although i doubt you will find some according to your bootloader level)


text:
How to unlock with face recognition for multiple users?
We are using our tablet together with my wife. I have added another user profile to the Android tablet (Samsung Tab A7, Android 10). I have switched to her account and we added her face for the recognition.
Question: is there a way to directly unlock the device with either of our faces? Otherwise the experience is awful. I need to turn on the device, click on the profile icon on the top right, catch the correct user in 1 second (otherwise screen turns off), then do the face recognition.

Upvoted.  That is awful OOBE/UX.

AFAIK, Android doesn't offer an integrated lock screen. There have been questions asked in the past about unlocking an existing user so long as the corresponding correct PIN/Password/Pattern was entered. The solutions are absent for them too.


text:
Galaxy tab charging dock stops charging when USB device is attached
I recently bought this charging dock by Brodit for my Samsung Galaxy Active 2 (v. 3.9.0) with Android 9: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00UASMT2Y/. I was hoping to constantly keep the tablet running at a fixed place.
If I put the tablet in the Charging dock, it starts charging as it should. If I now connect an OTG USB device (namely a SkyController 2 for a Parrot Drone), the dock seemingly stops charging. A measurement of the current between dock and tablet seems to confirm that.
The charging symbol in the tablet still stays on since the SkyController delivers the usual 0.5A. Of course, this is not enough to compensate for the energy lost, so the tablet's charge slowly decreases.
Is it really usual behaviour that connecting a USB device disables charging through the dock and, if yes, is there a switch in Android to change this?
If this is really not possible, is there another solution to keep the tablet charged while using a USB device at the same time?
Thanks in advance

In USB OTG mode the phone/tablet does not only stop charging, OTG is designed to deliver power from the phone/tablet to the attached OTG device. At least with micro USB I think it was standardized this way. But some devices may work differently. Charging and using an USB port at the same time was first standardized as far as I know in USB-C with power delivery.


text:
Can applications access users information without having permissions?

When i scan apps with
Am pre_release Some apps have this access, which is in the photo. My question is, what is this access?  Can you explain about it first?  And in the second place While camera permission is closed for the app ( in setting )
It can use the camera without user's knowledge or not? And if  app can not use it directly, is it possible to do this through intent?

your picture is pretty much self-explaining. once revoked, the app will ask again until granted. in your example the pkgname is 'android' (no app)


text:
Do a Factory Reset on an HTC Desire 530 with a missing Recovery
I got an HTC Desire 530 for free with the data of the previous owner and I want to completely wipe it. The thing is, the device for some reason does not has the Recovery environment, which the 530 needs to do a factory reset.
How can I restore an HTC Desire 530 with a missing recovery? (either via installing a 3rd party Recovery like TWRP)

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

@alecxs I have undeleted the room. It was auto deleted. Try that chat room link again.


text:
Is it possible to change maximum battery capacity to a lower value?
AccuBattery says my phones battery health capacity is around 80-90%. Android and all other devices naturally keeps charging to 100%, even though it will only be 90% charged. To me, this seems to be the reason some capacity ranges might be unstable and the phone quickly die when it reaches 15%, because it tries to stretch the capacity without knowing it is doing it. So the question is, is there any simple apps to just replace or use a different battery percent viewer, or some other options, that lets me set the maximum capacity to the health of the battery? So in that way it will be as stable as it was when it was new, still charge to max, but rather spread the 90% health on 90% capacity and then dont have any sudden drops and unstable battery life.
Prefered non-root options or any launchers with these options, but if there exists a root-way i would love to know it

If your device is rooted the chance is high that you can use an app that stops charging when a certain level is reached e.g. Battery Charge Limit. Alternatively on non-rooted devices you can use an app that notifies you when the specified battery level is reached so that you can disconnect the device from charger.

Its not about stopping charging, but changing the max value from 100% to the realistic 90% and make it therefore more normal when decharging

The battery charging uses a special controller chip which determines how full a battery is based on the charging current. That is like a self-learning system as the max battery capacity can change at any time because the battery gets weaker. Not sure if it is possible even with root permissions to modify the charging process.

Thats true and might cause big problems. Unless you can modify the code of the chip to say the max is the battery health left, you could make a program that simply divided health by 100% capacity, then multiplied with what should be left in the original. So with 80% health, having 50% would be instead 80/100*50 would give 40%. It may be inacurate and maybe not allways right but its maybe better than unstable full 100%

I don't think that this chip is programmable at all but I am not an electronic expert.


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How change language of location names in google maps
It seems google maps recognizes my android's phone language & configs itself based on that language.
My phone language is english.(But this is not my local language)
So google maps shows all location names in english language.
How can i change those names to local without changing my phone's language?


text:
Flash system.img file without fastboot over USB
I want to flash a different version of a system.img and normally this would be done with fastboot via USB but the device I am trying to do this to I cant use adb/fastboot over USB and I have to use adb over Ethernet instead. Once I reboot into the bootloader to try to use fastboot it obviously wont see the device since I use Ethernet so is there a way to just flash the new system.img file without fastboot?
Device has an sdcard slot, is there a way to use that?
Also note I dont have any of the other image files (boot,recovery,etc...) so I wont be able to create a zip file

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.


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Why is web page opened
I restored os on my android phone, and when I go to google browser(first time on fresh os), it opened some website that I haven't visited in years. I check all settings and can't find why I got that page... Why is this, and how can I fix it?

May be you once had enabled synchronization of browser data and later turned it off? Now on the new installation it is enabled again and you got your old data synced. That would be a potential reason.


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I formatted my SD card as internal storage, downloads still go to the phones internal storage
Yo, I just formatted my SD card as internal storage, and the storage section says that in my device storage I have 30 GB, but downloads still go to the phones internal storage, is this how its supposed to be?

https://android.stackexchange.com/a/43522

How to free Internal Storage by moving data or using symlink / bind-mount with Adoptable Storage?


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Audio file not Supported
So I just went from the LG ThinQ to the LG Velvet and transferred some of my music over. However, when I try to play certain songs, they come up as "file not supported". They will play on my ThinQ but NOT my Velvet. Is there some sort of software issue?

What types of audio files are you talking about? MP3, M4A, FLAC or a file created with a special codec?

They are merely Mp3 and WMA files.

Hello. Which app are you using to play those files? Have you tried using a different app, such as VLC app or PowerAmp?

Hello, in both cases, I have been using just the standard music app that comes with the phones. It is just strange to hear it works for one but not the other.


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How does deodexing work?
As far as I understand, odexed apps come in two: the "apk" and the "odex" files, both containing different information. And I understand that the odex file has crucial information that loads first and speeds up the booting process.
But I tried to deodex an odexed app with UltimateDeodexer, and it only asked me to upload the .odex file, giving me in return an .apk file. Seemed like it turned the .odex into .apk.
How does that work?? Is it missing all the information from the original .apk file? Is my resulting .apk file complete, or am I supposed to do something else afterwards?

The returned APK must be containing the deOptimized Dalvik EXecutable file like any APK contains classes.dex file. Did you check? It'd be better if you explain what you want to achieve with deodexing. For a general understanding see this answer: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/225620/218526

The returned APK files will only contain the dex files, not additional resources and other files you can see when opening the APK file in an ZIP tool.

@IrfanLatif I do have a classes.dex file. I had a quick look through both apk files' folders, and the only difference seems to be that file. The deodexed apk is slightly bigger, which makes sense, so I guess my resulting apk is complete...? I don't think it's of any help, but I'm trying to change the keyboard apk to use it in a newer phone running another version of android; and I'm a noob, this is the only reason I'm trying to learn android

"so I guess my resulting apk is complete...?" please see Robert's comment.


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Im concerned about my android phone
So i just recently got a new phone. Android - LG K51 - however after running a root checker it says my phone has two available android versions. Android 9.0 and Android 10.0. Ive checked and the phones is running on Android 9.0. Ive also looked into the credentials and theres a whole list of apps downloaded that have the name Root in them. As well as a system file saying RootPA. Is my phone as risk or is it still safe?

This website din't let me comment so I'm answering. Did you root using kingroot or something like that, if yes then flash the stock rom and try magisk,supersu. Good luck!

remove all google accounts. do factory reset. check your bootloader is locked. check if you can install OTA via settings menu. both together indicates the device is healthy

the question is tagged unrooting therefore i don't think OP ask about rooting. concern is about malware

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/what-is-rootpa.2824458

Just want to clarify, I assume you bought/got the (refurbished?) phone already with root apps, but not root access? And now you're trying to make sure that the device is secure/unrooted?

The LG K51 has many variants. All variants have Android 10 except the LG K51 for Boost Mobile which has Android 9.

Ive also looked into the credentials and theres a whole list of apps downloaded that have the name Root in them. As well as a system file saying RootPA. Is my phone as risk or is it still safe?

When trying to root via 3rd party apps, they download files (and bloatware) that must be use to root. If you really want to root your phone, better search Xda-Developers to find if there are methods for your phone instead of using the one-click apps.

@alecxs And there is also root-access tag, plus there is no mention on the OP about how to unroot the phone.

I've asked the OP to clarify the question. Currently, I'm interpreting as alecxs', but we don't really know until the OP confirms it.

@AndrewT. No problem.


text:
Finding which process writing to storage
I suspect my phone being infected by malware. Every now and then, there's a folder named LSF_PUSH in internal storage, containing APK from app called SnackVideo and other random pictures from its screenshot. I never install this app, but this LSF_PUSH folder keeps created and filled everytime I delete one.
I want to know which process performing this directory creation. How do I find that out?
I've used McAfee and AVG. It doesn't even detect anything.

Related I guess, about LSF_PUSH: Lenovo Forums - LSF_PUSH

A related question: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/214229/how-to-identify-the-app-process-which-re-mounts-partitions-r-w-creates-files-an

Does this answer your question? How to identify the app/process which re-mounts partitions R/W, creates files and changes file permissions?


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My Android phone keeps restarting in short cycles
I have Xiaomi Mi A2 and yesterday when I was using it, it started to restart continuously only loading the android one logo then crashing again. I've tried things like holding down power+voldown and power+volup to reach the safe boot, but the thing is that it restarts again before even loading it. I also though the power on button might be stuck so I've tried to click it through multiple times but does not seem so. I also tried removing SIMs. I did not install anything new in a long time. It discharged itself after multiple hours of repeated restarts.
Anyone has the same experience and would know what to do? Also is there a way to at least wipe the phone contents somehow before returning it to the shop?

Connect it to a charger. If that changes the restart behavior your battery is near death and has to be replaced.

your power button stuck or is short circuited/wet

@Robert I tried that and it just kept restarting with low battery. I suppose battery should be OK then, but thanks for the idea.

@alecxs Hey I realise now that I indeed splashed a bit of my drink on it but I went and cleaned it and it worked like 20 minutes before this happened. Happened to me already multiple times and never really was an issue so I did not though of that as the spill was little. But I guess it could get somewhere and after further manipulation it could slide deeper into the device. Anyways, I tried to recharge it after like 15 hours so I would expect the water to dry out by now. I will probably try to wait longer and see if anything changes. Thanks for the idea.

@alecxs Thanks for the info. I might try to put the phone into uncooked rice (wrapped in paper towel) maybe that can speed things up. It should not make it worse at least.

@alecxs Yeah, but I've read that if not cautious enough the heat can damage the phone. Because I don't really know the materials and specs of the phone, I'll probably stay on the very cautious side on this one. But thanks for the tip.

@alecxs Hey, thanks for asking. I've tried the rice in closed casket with additional heating (roughly 30-40 celsius) for couple of days and also hair dryer cautiously on the lowest setting (roughly 50 celsius) for like 10-15 minutes, because I was desperate. Sadly still not progress. I think I will try the hair dryer once more for longer period as it clearly did nothing to the phone and if no progress, I will take the phone to shop. I would even try the oven but my oven is currently behaving very unpredictable because its quite old so I'm thinking its probably not worth the risk.


text:
Controlling an Android phone's audio player via the buttons on the headset?
I am interested in finding documentation about controlling an Android phone's audio player (e.g. play/stop/skip forward 20 seconds) with the buttons on the phone's headset.  Based on my searches this doesn't seem to be a well-documented topic.
Is there another forum in which I should ask this question?
More specifically, I am shopping for a new Android cell phone (I am leaning toward a Moto G Power).  I use my phone as an audio player and would like to buy a phone that:

supports the use of the wired headset button(s) for such functions as play/stop/skip forward 30 seconds and;
supports the use of an app(s) [1]  that control the cell phone audio player and;
Performs 1 & 2 with a wireless headset.

Every few years I find myself looking for information on this topic and never seem to find much that is useful.
Ref.
[1] head set button controller apps such as ...https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.irishin.buttonsremapperhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=flar2.homebutton
OLD-https://beebom.com/5-apps-to-control-and-tweak-your-headset-buttons-in-android/

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! While we probably might help in solving the issue software-based approach, take note device recommendation is off-topic here. You might be interested in our sister site, Hardware Recommendations Stack Exchange, but please ensure to follow their guidelines to get the best device for your need.

From a hardware perspective, as can be seen here, all Android phones with 3.5mm jack are required to support the following functions: play/pause/hook (Short Press), Trigger Assist (Long Press), Next (Double Press). They can optionally also support: volume up/down. I believe that these days all new phones support all of them.
It's then up to each specific application (e.g. a music player) to make use of these capabilities. Here too, I also believe that most of them do. Of course you also need your headphones to come with the relevant buttons.


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How does Android interpret physical keyboard inputs?
I thought I had a grasp of how they work in a general sense, but I've been trying out several keyboards lately and have run into some inexplicable behavior.  For example, pressing the ESC key on one keyboard will functionally trigger the back function in Android, but on another keyboard it does not.  Same with mouse inputs' right clicks, seeing incongruemt behavior.  I know some keyboards have proprietary technologies that render special keys non-interoperable, but I thought the basic standard keys all trigger the same scan codes?  Why is this not the case?

Android seems to contain multiple key layout files may be those layout files had an impact in your case?

@Robert I select the same layout in all cases though?  I've also just noticed, the behavior seems to be application-specific, particularly Chrome.


text:
How do I edit/view android system.img files located SDK emulator images
I want to edit a few files inside android-30\google_apis_playstore system.img which resides in sdk/system-images. I'm using WSL ubuntu 18.04, I do fdisk -lL system.img to mount with the right offset
which returns
Disk system.img: 2.7 GiB, 2832203776 bytes, 5531648 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 419B5BC3-59EE-4BEA-AA53-FF67E1D7406E

Device      Start     End Sectors  Size Type
system.img1  2048    4095    2048    1M Linux filesystem
system.img2  4096 5529599 5525504  2.7G Linux filesystem

and by doing sudo mount -t auto -o ro,loop,offset=2097152 ./system.img /mnt/loop
it fails like this
mount: /mnt/loop: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/loop1, missing codepage or helper program, or other error.

I have also tried to use simg2img which is said that it will convert the image to a raw image in which I can mount it which yields invalid sparse file
simg2img system.img raw.img
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Failed to read sparse file

Do you have any idea of how to open or mount the system.img file and edit a few files?

guess off-topic but try dd skip=offset count=size | simg2img or kpartx. there is also --writeable-system flag for modifications on runtime


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How to pull within adb shell
I didn't find a way to use pull command within adb shell.  I'm using adb from version 30.0.5
so pull command doesn't seem to exist within shell.
adb pull doesn't work neither pull only.
Probably it's part of some other command like list packages is
pm list packages

Thanks

pull alone or adb shell pull aren't valid commands. Only adb pull is i.e. pull is an argument passed to adb binary. adb pull is run when you are working on a PC and it pulls a file or directory from the connected Android device. When you run adb shell you are moved to Android device. Now your commands are not being executed on a PC. So pulling doesn't make sense. // Can you please explain what you are trying to achieve?

Thanks @IrfanLatif, I just wanted to copy some files to local system.  It works when I exit adb shell but not from within.
It makes sense not possible to copy if those are commands within the phone.

That is what Irfan told you pull only works from "outside" it is acommand-line option of adb. Therefore if you are in an adb shell pull is not available.

Yes @Robert I got it.  It makes sense, Thanks

Yes clear adb runs locally from terminal ie linux.  adb shell directly on the phone, thanks

adb help will give you a list of commands. maybe you find this link(s) helpful to start https://android.stackexchange.com/q/233402


text:
Can I enable USB debugging and recover data via PC from a phone with broken touch?
One of the possibilities is attaching a mouse via an OTG adapter and enable USB debug from there. Or just replace the touch screen, of course.
At the moment, I don’t have an OTG adapter and the cost of replacing the screen surpasses the phones price.
So I am left wondering, is there any other way?

Is your data deleted or corrupted? If not, you may be able to simply to copy the data off the device in MTP mode.

If the screen itself is still working you could do so theoretically. The main problem is that if you have  enabled ABD and connect the phone to your PC a dialog comes up and asks if you allow adb access form the currently connected PC. This dialog disappears if you disconnect the PC (e.g. because you want to connect the mouse via OTG). Therefore you may need to (temporary) use a Android remote control software like  TeamViewer, AirDroid, ...

there is another way (for some ancient devices) https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/bypass-secure-usb-debugging-prompt-on-phone-with-broken-screen.2965462/post-76618122


text:
Use Android device as external monitor from a Linux box **in a fluid way**
My need is to setup a VR headset with a smartphone inside, displaying the game that runs on a computer. I've done my homework and I already know about all the VNC-based solutions, but here the latency and fluidity are paramount.
I've setup a windows 10 box with the spacedesk software (a server on the pc, a client on the smartphone) and it works flawlessly when I connect the usb cable, setup the phone as connection share and use this direct IP address. I haven't fully tested it but it seems perfect for my need, so I know the hardware is not a limitation.
I want to do the same on a linux box (mint 20) so I tested variations of this idea, using x11vnc. It works but it's not usable for a game (it might be for office work). I get about 1 FPS, many glitches when the image changes suddenly, I cannot imagine to play this way. If I reduce the color space drastically it's slightly better (not even good) but of course ugly.
So my question : are there options I can set to make it fluid ? Is there another protocol better suited ? I don't need the taking control capability, a simple video stream fits my needs, that's an idea I havent explored. I don't mind having a cable attached, so maybe there's a way using adb, I know the reverse is possible but I didn't find a solution to my need.

I am sorry but that VNC does not work well does not surprise me. VNC is old and the protocols are usually not performance optimized. I would suggest to use a different approach: Take the phone as video-streaming client. If you use a codec that can be decoded by the phone in hardware the performance should be outstanding compared to VNC. And the PC could do the video encoding using it's GPU. That should provide a minimal latency.

I would search on "desktop streaming" and "WebRTC" for possible solutions.


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Why does android has only one zram but linux distros use many zram equal to the number of cpu cores?
Most android roms have only one zram device [zram0] but linux distros use many zram like zram0, zram1 ....
Why is it like that? Does using many zram consumes more power or adds complexity? what's the exact reason?

It's a debatable topic whether or not multiple ZRAM devices add any benefit. E.g. see this: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1171950. Apart from that, you can create as many ZRAM devices as you want on Android too. Pass zram.num_devices=<NUM> parameter in kernel commandline. After boot do: echo -n <SIZE> >/sys/block/zram[N]/disksize; mkswap /dev/block/zram[N]; swapon /dev/block/zram[N]. That's all.


text:
Samsung Phone write protection
I just bought a new Samsung Galaxy M11. I'm trying to transfer my files from my old phone to the new phone connected to a PC but it won't copy. I get the pop-up that says the internal storage is write protected. I have tried the developer options too by switching on and off the USB Debugging but it still doesn't work. I have searched the web but all I get is related to external storage or SD card. Is there anyway to remove the write protection on the internal storage?

check mount for ro flags


text:
Retail Android devices with OOB multi-user ability?
I'm looking for an Android tablet that I can share between multiple users. From the little research I've done online, it looks like you can set up multiple users on an Android device, but it's a bit of a hack, and you have to get root access.
Are there any retail Android devices that support multiple users OOB? Or am I wrong about the difficulty level of enabling multi-user on any old Android tablet?

Why do you think a rooted device is needed? Most Android devices support multiple user profiles. However this system has it's limitations. And some manufacturer may disable the multi-user option on certain devices.

See the comments here : How can I know which android phones support multiple users profiles?

Hi, take note that device recommendation is off-topic here. You might be interested in our sister site, Hardware Recommendations Stack Exchange, but please ensure to follow their guidelines to get the best device for your need.


text:
Restore android google drive backup after factory reset
I have google drive backup. I am using android 10 on nokia mobile. I did factory reset / erase all data. during set up I skip restore backup.
I check on google drive. I have backup on 23 February. But How do I restore that backup.
I do not find restore backup option on device. I check in setting.

As far as I know restoring is only provided as part of the setup-wizard after factory reset. See https://support.google.com/android/answer/2819582?hl=en

On pixel and LG mobile, Under setting devices we can get restore option. But on Nokia and android 10 I am not able to find this option.


text:
Non-root user in rooted Android phone?
In my Arch Linux setup(and most others), the default user is non-root. Any admin work needs access to root account which is given temporarily with a password(generally using programs like sudo and doas).
I have recently rooted an Android phone(Redmi 4X "santoni") and installed LineageOS (android 9 version). I have TWRP, Magisk installed.
I want to setup an account which is non-admin, ie: no app can ever request superuser access and the Magisk Manager App,TWRP app will not even be visible to the user. How do I go about it?
In LineageOS' system settings there is an option called multiple users. However when I have used the "guest account" there, it still seems to have root access, ie:apps can request superuser access and Magisk is accessible too.
I looked around online but didn't find anything substantial which catered to my specific question.

Would it not be sufficient if the root-management app would require a user entered password to grant an app superuser access? That would be equivalent to a user account on the sudoers group but without the knowledge of the password. There are root management apps that have such a password protection: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/require-password-on-superuser-request.3711966/ IMHO the main problem is that Android was designed to be a completely "root-less" system from app perspective. The current way using su is a hack that was never planned for Android.

The concepts of users and how su, sudo work on normal Linuxes and Android is entirely different. I recommend you read my answers to these questions for a general understanding: How Magisk works? and Why are superuser permissions needed to acess /data partition? and How to quickly understand the Android UI.

you can set up magisk superuser to silently deny every request


text:
How do I move apps to SD card on Android 7
I'm getting tired of deleting apps to install an app. Right now I need every app I got but also need to download another app. I got no more space left. I've searched high and low for a way to move my apps, completely, to SD card but to no avail. And I don't want to "link" them to SD. I want to "move" them to create space.
Can anyone point me in the right direction please? Thanks!
Android 7 | Rooted | Moto C Plus

See How to move apps from internal to external storage? and How to free Internal Storage by moving data or using symlink / bind-mount with Adoptable Storage?

@alecxs So does linking using Link2SD actually move the files and it's data, thus freeing up the space they were using in the internal storage?

@IrfanLatif Thanks for the links! That's a tad bit too advanced. Can I get a little more guidance? Considering I'm using Android 7, which method would do the job without going the adoptable storage route?

Adoptable Storage is the easiest way to avoid manual setup (though personally I don't like it much and never used it). Everything else requires something advanced, and starts with rooting the device.

@IrfanLatif Like mention in op, my phone is already rooted. I'm not a complete noob so the advanced route shouldn't be that complicated. Could you point me in the right direction? I'd like to give it a shot. I don't want to do adoptable storage because I have bad experience with it.

@alecxs OK. What's the difference between that (Linking) and the method Irfan is talking about?

adoptable-storage is native app to sd method where android is aware of the location, while other methods are cheating

@alecxs I think IrfanLatif is talking about two methods...adoptable storage and something else. It's the something else I'm wondering about.

asec container was predecessor of adoptable-storage

There are numerous possibilities. Mount a partition or a directory from SD card to /data/app or /data/data or /data/media. Or bind mount specific app directories. SD card must be of app grade for a smooth experience. You can create init services to automatically mount them on every boot. Also take care of UIDs, GIDs, modes and SELinux labels. See this answer to get started: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/217936/218526. And please don't say that's a different question. Basic concepts are the same.

@IrfanLatif How many methods are there in what you posted above? And is it better than doing it the Link2SD way?

https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/56744757#56744757

You can not move all apps to SD card. You can install some app to SD card. Part of the app also install on internal memory.
You can use SD card as internal storage. You can add SD card and choose as internal storage not as portable storage.

Be aware that formatting as internal storage means that you should never ever remove the sd-card from the phone. Also if the phone is reset or defect the data on the sd-card is lost as it can not be accessed anymore!


text:
Internet stops working on my home Wi-Fi network until I restart the Wi-Fi
I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and recently I have been experiencing a very weird problem. When connected to Wi-Fi on my home network, the internet frequently stops working. I would still be connected to Wi-Fi, but there would be no internet (little exclamation sign appears). Once I turn the Wi-Fi off and on again, it would start working fine again. This happens frequently (some times the internet only works for 5 minutes then I have to restart the Wi-Fi again). The weird part is, the problem only happens on my home Wi-Fi network, and it doesn't happen on any other devices in my home. So it basically only happens when my phone is connected to my home Wi-Fi. I tried forgetting the network, resetting networking settings on my phone, nothing worked. I am trying as much as possible not to try a factory reset.
I am not even sure if the problem is with my phone or my router. Any thoughts?

Are there other device in your home WiFi network and do they show a similar behavior (to check if the problem is phone or WiFi related)?

Yes there are many devices (laptops, android phones, iPhones). None of them show a similar problem.

I tried a guest network, it didn't work. My router only supports 2.4 ghz unfortunately.

@alecxs I tried a static IP, the same problem happens.


text:
ls: /storage/emulated: Permission denied
List all directory in storage with adb :
adb shell ls -a   /storage
.
..
emulated
sdcard0
self

I want to list all directory located in  /storage/emulated:
adb shell ls -a   /storage/emulated
ls: /storage/emulated: Permission denied

Add sudo to list again:
sudo adb shell ls -a   /storage/emulated
ls: /storage/emulated: Permission denied

How can i get the permission then?

Is the device rooted? You have use sudo but you have not indicated if the device is rooted.

How to root my android phone?

sudo on host side is pointless, adb binary is already running with sufficient permissions


text:
Home button reopens the app instead of showing the launcher
I am using a Samsung Galaxy A41 (Android 10, One UI 2.5) , and I am experiencing a strange behaviour: sometimes when I press the home button, instead of going to the launcher, the current app reopens itself.
As far as I remember, the problem started after installing Niagara Launcher and Sesame; I was actually convinced that the problem was in the launcher itself, but after uninstalling both the launcher (moving back to Nova Launcher) and Sesame, the problem still happens.
I have not found any pattern for it: it happens with different apps, and randomly. I've tried to change the navbar (buttons vs gestures), remove accessibility permissions to apps.


text:
How to transfer files from PC to Android via wifi without special software?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_11 came out in late 2020, when most home networks use wifi.
After searching for hours, I have been unable to find a built-in way of transferring files from my Windows PC to my Android Pixel (and ideally the reverse too) without downloading a special app from the Play store.
This is shocking to me.
Is it really the case that Android doesn't natively support wifi file transfer?
[I'd rather not need to search for (and decide whether I trust) a third-party app. And I'd certainly rather not use a physical cable for file transfers like it's 1990.]

There's nothing like "native wifi file transfer" exists. You need to have a file transfer protocol. Windows natively supports SMB/CIFS over network, Linux does NFS. Android's native way is MTP (over USB) or ADB (over USB or network). Or simply use some other open-source protocol like FTP/SFTP or one of the many proprietary protocols file transfer apps use. Depending on your choice you need to use proper server and/or client software on both sides. In case of Windows a simple file explorer Android app with CIFS support will serve your need. You may try MiXplorer.

The only built-in file-exchange system I know if file transfer via Bluetooth (which is limited regarding the supported file types). Smartphones are not designed to exchange data in local networks - a large number of smartphone users don't even have a local PC they could sync something to. Instead smartphones are focused on syncing itself with cloud services like GDrive.

adb over wifi is native since android 11. platform-tools required on PC. transfer with adb push/pull


text:
Device wont show up in Droid Explorer
For some reason the Droid Explorer (and other apps) wont show my Samsung device at all.
The button "Restart ADB" works, but doesn't accomplish anything.

Using adb manually works perfectly and the device shows up too.

Hi, would you mind clicking on the droid-explorer tag, maybe you can already find solution

Can you see it on the USB bus with the device manager?

Droid Explorer requires TWRP recovery


text:
How to enable treble support in old devices?
Today, I am back to challenge you all. As you would have guessed from the question title, this post is to know about enabling treble support on old phones. Of course, there are a lot of guides on the internet about this and I "will" explain how this post is different from them.
First, we have a post about this on this very site.
Link: Enabling Project Treble in non-Treble Android
Here, the question has not been properly answered so this is not helpful.
I found the next link from the above link.
Link: https://www.xda-developers.com/xiaomi-redmi-note-4-project-treble/
This is specific to redmi note 4. So, provides no help to non MIUI users.
Now, we can definitely install a custom rom to enable treble but such roms are not available for all devices.
So, now, let me be specific with my device. I have a device running Android 5.1 with MediaTek MT6735 processor. Now, I have searched a lot in the internet about custom roms and have installed many roms and have "many times hard bricked my phone". With no options left with me and you not annoyed by reading so much, can you please give me a way I can enable treble support using a similar way found in the above XDA post? Or any other way, if you know? And please don't, just don't tell me to either buy a new phone or give up trying to enable treble support on my device.
Thanks for reading.

The question Enabling Project Treble in non-Treble Android may not have an official answer but Irfan's comments contain everything you need to know. Modifying a running system to make it treble compliant is something out of scope for the majority of users. BTW: You don't need a ROM for your CPU but for your device, this means it has to be adapted to every single component in it (CPU, Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS, display, digitizer, camera, USB-chip, battery, buttons, ...)

Thanks for your response Robert. Yes, as you said, I need a rom for the device. And I don't have one yet. Hey, can Irfan's process be applied to any device? Wait... Sorry, I didn't clearly mention my device. You can find my device specifications on https://m.gsmarena.com/micromax_canvas_mega_4g_q417-7901.php. I am waiting for some more responses.

If you are a very experienced ROM developer you may be able to do it on most devices. But for your device I would assume that you simple need an ROM for this specific device. And if you don't find one this is it. Use it or replace it - and my recommendation would be to check if there are custom ROMs (or better LineageOS support) before buying a new device. And don't forget to download interesting ROMs because 5 years after the release most ROMs are already gone. Therefore having some ROMS in stock even without using them is a good idea together with an archived  how-to install page.

@VD-Flash the last part of my comment: "Theoretically Treble can be enabled on every device provided that sources are available for the device. And it's a matter of how much effort one has to put into it." As Robert said if you are not an experienced ROM developer, you can't do anything about it. Your primary concern is developing a ROM, adding Treble support is secondary (and unnecessary too), though both are off-topic here.

Well, I surely am a programmer and developer but a computer programmer and have very little experience with android. So... yeah, I cannot develop a rom myself. And one more thing. I know that phones are completely different from computers but in case I find a rom for a device having completely identical hardware configuration as mine, will it be ok for me?

If by "completely identical hardware configuration" you mean exactly the same hardware starting from BootROM, SoC (including its components), motherboard and so on... then yes that'll be OK. But that doesn't happen very often except if you find some exactly identical devices manufactured by the same ODM but branded by different white-labelers (even they are very likely to differ in some configuration). So you need to port the ROM from one device to the other. And that's what ROM developers mostly do. Building from scratch is done only by OEMs. Again plz note that development is off-topic here.

Looks good. Hey, BTW, do you know any trusted porter for this job?

No, sorry. XDA forums is a good place to find one. // Btw other users don't get notified of your comments unless you tag them.

@ As your opinion, I posted a thread on XDA. Let's see what happens. And thanks for all your help.


text:
BLE BR/EDR Security mode
I have recently started working on an Android-based device, which has a Murata 1MW chip. This Murata chip supports Bluetooth 5.0 + Wifi.
At present, I can open the Settings App from the Launcher and connect to any Bluetooth device.
Our requirement is -

The device should only support Security Mode 1 Level 4 for BLE and Security Mode 4 level 4 for BR/EDR(Classic).
It should only support the SPP profile.

What I understand through the readings is for Security Mode 1 Level 4 - Just works shouldn't work, but it is working on this device. It can connect directly to my headset.
I am a bit struggling to implement the above requirements -
Is there any way, through Android permissions or any changes in Android BLE/BT stack I can insert, to enforce the above requirements?
Or
Do I have to create a separate custom application to implement the above requirements?
Any help is really appreciated.
Thanks,
Asma


text:
Cannot Enable Certificates
I've got a Samsung Galaxy J3 Prime running Oreo 8.1 that is getting NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID on literally every website, regardless of browser.  When I check the security certificates (Settings -> Security -> Other Security Settings -> View Security Settings) I see that every certificate is disabled and if I try to enable them they seems to disable again immediately.
I've tried multiple networks and applied all the updates I can with no luck.  This is a friend's phone so I don't know if any apps have been installed recently or anything.
Hopefully someone can think of something I have not.

Is the device rooted? has somebody tried to install a new certificate? Have you performed a factory reset (best from Android Settings menu).

I never did figure out why the certificates were greyed out, but I was able to re-enable them by tapping each one and using the enable button. For some reason the enable slider in the list didn't work, but tapping them and then tapping enable did.


text:
How to Transfer Files Into Chromecast with Google TV?
The new Chromecast with Google TV has a few gigs of free storage space but I can't figure out how to place files in there? There does not seem to be an obvious way to do that but it lets people install VLC which, of course does not find anything,
How do I load media files onto the Chromecast with Google TV? If there is anything to do so that they are visible to the installed VLC, that would be good to know too.
NOTE: Posted this a few days ago on StackOverflow that has some Chromecast related questions but there were no answers. I will delete one of the two questions when there are answers on one.

Have you tried one of the file-explorer apps that also contain a server/web-ui (needs to be enabled separately in the app)?

Didn't know that existed but I understand the concept, so I'll try to find one.


text:
How to know if mediatek vcom drivers is installed on my pc
I've just installed mediatek vcom driver on my pc, to use it in flashing mediatek based firmwares. But is there any way I can know if it truly installed on my pc without plugging a mediatek phone for recognition, maybe through control panel or device manager or somewhere else please.

it's not the driver that will installed, it's the device that will installed with correct drivers


text:
Is there a way to download and use an app from Google play store with the creators of the app getting any information about me?
Basically without the app knowing anything about my Google account and consequently anything else other than the information I directly provide it.
Is there a way to achieve that?
Phone is rooted.

Unless you perform an "sign in with Google" within the app and you don't purchase something within the app and pay via Play Store the app is not linked to your Google account at all.

Ah OK. But what info can it pull?

If you sign-in with Google within the app Google shows you what data the app want to access.

Your question is very broad. There are a number of ways an app can collect and send your information over internet. Two most common cases are 1) the app collecting and sending the info itself. This can be simply prevented by using a firewall. 2) App using Google Play Services APIs e.g. (Firebase for push notifications, ads or analytics etc.). In this case you need to isolate your app from the Google account.


text:
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite screen turning off in protective case
I have a new Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite with a pen. Also I have a protective book-like case (Aceline Streak STR-008).
The device works fine, except one thing: when I open the case and fold it backwards (I mean flip the front cover backwards behind the back side of the device) - screen gets turned off. It doesn't happen if I just put the tablet onto something. Device doesn't reboot or has any kind of abnormalities with this. When I remove the front surface of the case and let it just hang down freely - the screen turns on.
What can be the reason of this behaviour?

Is the front cover containing a magnet?

@Robert quite possible.

I would assume that this magnet triggers a sensor that is designed to detect the original Samsung cover. If you flip the cover the magnet triggers the sensor and the tablet thinks that the original cover is closed.

@Robert what is interesting is that that cover consists of three connected surfaces and even if only one third of it gets pressed to the back side of a tablet then the screen gets switched off. I wonder, if there is a solution to control those sensors...

Looks like you have a [tag:smart-cover].

@AndrewT. Well, this is an irony I suppose. Cause it behaves quite dumb in my case.


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I ejected SD card through phone before factory resetting BUT card is empty. How can I recover this?
Just before I factory reset my Motorola G3 I pressed “eject SD card” through the settings. (I didn’t remove the card from the phone though) Now everything the from SD card (media/photos) are gone. What happened and how can I recover this?!
PS. I used it as a portable storage, not internal. Also, I didn’t even get the option of deleting the SD card.
Please help.

insert in card reader and recover on pc with any recovery software

@alecxs Aren't sd cards encrypted a little bit as they are first formatted on Android?

try Zero Assumption Recovery or GetDataBack for FAT


text:
External keyboard, typing blind
Here's the same question, but I don't think it's well answered because the phone will keep registering touches when in-pocket:
Method of typing input while the screen is off
I'd like to be able to take out a small Bluetooth keyboard and immediately start typing some notes into it like an Alphasmart but without seeing what I'm typing. How can I do that?
The first issue, as far as I can tell, is the screenlock.
The second issue might be delay as the keyboard wakes the phone and switching to a text editor of some kind.

If your phone has a hardware button for the camera you may be able reconfigure the button to start your text app even over the lock screen. Not sure if there is an app that already can do this.


text:
Touch doesn't scale according to the changed resolution on Android Q/10
I have an android device with a resolution of 1080px2160p and an aspect ratio of 18:9. I downloaded a resolution changing app from play store by the name of DPI Changer. It changes the device resolution and DPI to whatever values you input. I have tried changing resolution to 1080x1920, 1080x1080 and 720x1280. The resolution changes without any issues but the touch is not scaling properly according to the resolution [ the touch issue happens only when the device is in reverse landscape mode ]. There's a distance of 120px between the actual area touched and the area registered by the device. I have tried several different apps but all of them give the same issue. I am rooted and willing to try anything that would fix the problem.

You may need to select a resolution that has the same aspect ratio as your physical screen. I would contact the authors of the used apps and ask kindly if resolutions based on the current aspect ration can be added to the app.

I did email the developer and asked him. He's yet to respond. I also learnt that changing resolution isn't an issue with device running Oreo or lower version. It seems Google added some kind of hardware check in place where the resolution area is cross checked with physical area.


text:
Why is suggested to OEM unlock when LinageOS can be installed without it
I have a "LENOVO Tab 2 A10-30" which got frozen after the update in the startup loop - did not start after displaying the Lenovo logo.
I decided to reinstall it with the LineageOS, and for that I needed (according the articles) to do oem unlock.
According articles I should get the OEM unlock key from settings or allow it in the settings - which I can't access as the device won't boot up.
So I tried bunch of commands from the commandline (ubuntu 20.04), I could not OEM unlock, but I was able to install LineageOS just fine.
My question is - how come that it worked, even though it should not be able to unlock the OEM? What happened there?
Started device with holding vol up:
$ adb devices
List of devices attached
0123456789ABCDEF    sideload

Then I am not sure now what I selected in the menu, but then I went:
$ fastboot devices
84afc61e    fastboot

$ fastboot oem unlock
...
FAILED (remote: oem unlock is not allowed)
finished. total time: 0.002s

$ fastboot oem unlock-go
...
FAILED (remote: oem unlock is not allowed)
finished. total time: 0.002s

$ fastboot oem get_unlock_data
...
FAILED (remote: unknown command)
finished. total time: 0.002s

fastboot oem device-info
...
(bootloader)    Device tampered: false
(bootloader)    Device unlocked: false
(bootloader)    Device critical unlocked: true
(bootloader)    Charger screen enabled: true
(bootloader)    Display panel:
OKAY [  0.007s]
finished. total time: 0.007s

But I tried to flash in the TWRP recovery image anyhow:
$ fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
target reported max download size of 262144000 bytes
sending 'recovery' (11700 KB)...
OKAY [  0.446s]
writing 'recovery'...
OKAY [  0.947s]
finished. total time: 1.393s

$ fastboot boot recovery.img
downloading 'boot.img'...
OKAY [  0.449s]
booting...
OKAY [  0.023s]
finished. total time: 0.471s

After that, with volume up on boot I got in to TWRP menu; where I installed gaps and LineageOS zips, and after reboot it was just there.
My research links:

https://www.getdroidtips.com/unlock-bootloader-via-fastboot-on-android/
https://www.howtogeek.com/239798/how-to-unlock-your-android-phones-bootloader-the-official-way/
https://www.theworldsbestandworst.com/2020/08/how-to-use-adb-sideload-to-install-roms-updates-restore/
https://www.hardreset.info/devices/lenovo/lenovo-tab-2-a10-30/faq/faq/bootloader-moto-unlock-lenovo-motorola-root/
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/flash-custom-rom-lineage-os-lenovo-tab-2-tb2-x30l.4175085/

your bootloader is already unlocked (fastboot flash works only on unlocked bootloader)

The official way does not always work, if your phone and flashing are ok, don't touch them is the idea.
Official way to unlock a bootloader, its different for different phones, but it I post a general overview:

Back Up Anything You Want to Keep
Use Android SDK or the light verision of the SDK called platform tools and the IMEI of your phone to get an unlock key for the bootloder. The unlock key or the procedure to get it can be found on your manufacturer's site.
Go to fastboot mode and enter:
fastboot oem unlock UNLOCK_KEY

Read more here:
This is for Sony devices.
Unlocking a locked bootloader will wipe all user data (but not the ROM) from the device. This is a security mechanism, so you can't get at the data on a phone by installing your own ROM on it.
Its locked for security reasons, because it controls all the hardware, independantly from the operating system.
You can read more about bootloaders here.

That doesn't make sense at all. Bootloader unlocking is not hit and trial. If the functionality is there to provide lock/unlock support, it should always work (short of a bug that may cause a problem).

If you think that all the phones produced today make sense, its not so. I have tried it with both options and I have successfully installed with both options, despite that OEM unlocking was required and I recommend to use the official way of unlocking your bootloader. I am also following stack exchange's rulles of not including unnecessary information(including Hi and goodbye) and make things as simple as possible.

I downvoted this answer... If you can provide some peer supported documentation for this, I will change my vote, but this seems like a terrible answer.

although the question is only about "what happened" - if you at least descripe official way of unlocking bootloader including all steps (LineageOS) so that
MiroJanosik can solve his issue "fastboot oem unlock
FAILED (remote: oem unlock is not allowed)" - and maybe explanation why "fastboot oem get_unlock_data
FAILED (remote: unknown command)" not working - we will upvote as useful answer :)


text:
How to determine the boot order of auto-starting apps?
Some apps boot and run in the background when an Android phone boots. WeChat is one example. It starts automatically so that the user can receive messages in real time. My question is how to view and change the boot order of all auto-starting apps. Or else is it random?
The motivation for asking is that I installed Xposed and wanted to change some information of my phone. But unfortunately WeChat sometimes boots before Xposed and thus bypasses the Xposed hooks. I tried very hard to solve this, but to no avail. So any suggestions?

If Xposed is installed then the initial Dalvik VM instance "Zygote" is altered in the boot process. Every app that is started forks the Zygote process and thus includes Xposed. This is my understanding of how Xposed works. Therefore it should be impossible for an app to start before Xposed. May be this is a timing problem in the boot process? What device do you use and how have you installed Xposed?

Andoid fires ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED broadcast once system_server is fully up on boot. Any app with android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED can receive the broadcast and start a service or whatever. There's no boot order that Android defines. // As Robert said, Xposed replaces core framework libraries in /system. So whenever zygote forks an app, it's loaded with modded libraries.

The only exception is that if you are using Magisk to bind mount Xposed modded files (and not actually replacing them in filesystem) and bind mount is delayed on boot so that an app is started before that. But this should not happen technically since Magisk is loaded very early in boot process.

you can exec ps -A | grep com.tencent.mm, pid is start order
but Wechat isnot impossible to boot up before Xposed


text:
I cannot enter a new email to log in to Google again
I quite recently changed both my mail adress any my password for my google account. When I now try to use my phone (any Google services) I get a screen: Verify that it's you (You were signed out of your Google Account. Sign in again to continue.)
When I hit next a new screen comes up: Sign in with your Google Account
Then there is a text field that says Email or phone. However in this very text field my old email that used to be associated to my account is written there. When I tap that field nothing happens. I cannot edit / clear that field I can only use my old email. When I hit "forgot email?" it leads to account recovery. If i hit next it says "Couldn't find your Google Account" (fair enough I changed my email...)
What can I do, I tried restarting my phone, resetting Google Play and Google Play services in the app settings.
I do not have any issues loging in with my computer, only smartphone wise that weird phenomenon occurs. Thanks in advance for any help!

settings - accounts - google - remove

You can remove the Google account from your phone by going to the settings > Accounts menu. There may be some differences in the name or location of the settings entry based on which company made your phone, but it should be something like that.
You can then add your new email/password combo to login to your modified Google account and everything should be fine. The associated accounts are not stored within the data of individual apps (like Play Store or YouTube) and that is why clearing their data does not make a difference.


text:
Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G - cellebrite mobile forensics data extractions - locked with pattern
I've got a locked Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G (running the latest android 10 and patches)
The phone is locked with a pattern (unknown)
What are my chances of any data extraction with cellebrite or other forensics tools while I can not unlock the phone?
Also how secure is Knox efuse? will it damage the phone/data when an untrusted bootloader is detected?

The chance that you meet meet here someone who has (access to) a Cellebrite system and can answer your question is very low as these are expensive professional systems. Why don't you ask Cellebrite? They should know what is possible.

chances: zero knox: impossible


text:
Possible to activate security screen lock only when out-of-home (out-of-specific WIFI )?
I am quite a critic of every system which does not give a customization abilities. One of them is the frustration of using the security behaviors of phone - specifically, some of use have some of us lock the phone with either Pin-Code or Pattern or Fingerprint or whatever, having phone at home, and unlocking screen hundreds of times a day for no reason, is just out-of-any borders of convenience.
So, i've been thinking, what technical challenges or problems there were, which interfered the developers to implement a relatively easy (not a rocket science) solution, to have "enabled that lock" security mechanism, when we leave home (or specific WiFi) area?  So, at home, we wouldn't need to waste extra ~3 seconds everytime we unlock phone (maybe it's nothing for you, but in sum every day, it is inconvenient for me).

Check our device for "Smart Lock".

Does this answer your question? Android Smart Lock: Why is there no option to use WiFi?. See all answers


text:
I changed Mainboard in S6 its wrong country code and does not work now what?
As above the board was locked to AT&T but i got the code for that I put my open sim card in it , it picks up wifi and looks like network signal but when i try to phone with it is says dialing ...dialing and hangs up. any help would be great !

download ROM according to your region and flash with Odin


text:
Your device isn't compatible with this version - Play Store
I am the developer of an app, I have published the APK to the Play Store's Internal Testing channel. I added the Google account of test device B to the email list. For some reason, it shows 'your device isn't compatible with this version' when I try to install my app from the Play Store. I can sideload the APK generated by Android Studio without any problems...
I can install the app from the Play Store on my Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (test device A) but not on my Zebra TC26. Even though the device catalog in the Google Play Console shows the device is compatible with my app.
What's going on here?

If you can side-load the app the problem must be on Play Store/Play Console side which makes your question an Android development/deployment question which is unfortunately considered off-topic here as we concentrate on Android from a user perspective.

Thanks, will post it on Stackoverflow instead

Have asked this question on the appropriate site https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66208902/your-device-isnt-compatible-with-this-version-play-store


text:
Other than advertising ID and Android_ID, what other identifiers could an app use from the Android system to identify me?
Ignoring information I supply the app (such as my email address or phone number), what other identifiers could an app use to identify a user?
I'm referring to a modern app running on Android 10.

See Device Identifiers and Identifying App Installations and Best practices for unique identifiers and Remember your user

and What's the best way to uniquely identify Android users? and Generating Device-Specific Serial Number and Is there a unique Android device ID? and Uniquely Identify an Android Handset and How to get unique device hardware id in Android?


text:
Google Play Services has stopped
On my Samsung Galaxy A6 I keep getting the message 'Google Play Services has stopped' Whatever I try to do this message keeps appearing and I cannot get rid of it. I did manage to get into the app, but on trying to uninstall updates got the message 'Uninstall unsuccessful' At the moment this device is totally unusable. 'Send Feedback' does not work. I am unable to access the cache to clear it, so none of the fixes I have seen in previous posts seem to be available. HELP please!!

try to enable usb-debugging. once adb connection established you can get control over packages via package manager


text:
realme X50 5G - Restarting Each Night At ~3:00 AM
I'm currently using a realme X50 5G (European Edition) to tether my internet.
I've come across an annoying issue where each night at around 3:00 AM the phone seems to restart or do something that means USB tethering gets disabled.
The phone won't automatically USB tether, even with the developer settings set to do USB tethering by default.
I've also tried using Automate to both automatically tether when USB is connected (which works) and also to try and turn tethering on at 3:10 AM. That last one doesn't seem to work, I feel like the phone needs unlocking (even though I disabled the lock) before it works. Automate is allowed to start up and run in the background etc.
Yes, I've checked that auto restarting isn't enabled etc.
Please help!

So this isn't really a fix, but it's a work-around that seems to stop the device from restarting in the early morning.
I'm using the "Automate" app to keep the CPU and screen alive. There are community flows that do just this if you search, or you can easily make it yourself.
What I don't know that I'll test tonight is if I can let the screen turn off, but keep the CPU awake. I'll report back how that goes as I'd rather not keep the screen on, even if it's super dim.


text:
Is it possible to record uncompressed or > 150000 kb/S video on a smartphone or tablet?
Is it possible to record uncompressed or > 150000 kb/S video on a smartphone or tablet?
If so, how and what devices are compatible? I am able to do this with cheap logitech webcams, however the best I was able to get with multiple smartphones/tablets was with a Moto G, which recorded compressed (mp4) video at 50000 Kb/S using UHD.
Intuitively, I expected to get higher quality video from smartphones and tablets. Am I missing something?


text:
Device in fastboot mode not recognized at all as USB device
My LG G5 does not get recognized as an USB Device at all when it is connected to the PC in fastboot mode.
While it is recognized just fine as an adb device, after rebooting into fastboot mode via
adb reboot bootloader it is not recognized as an USB Device in Windows (The device manager does not show any device with wrong drivers and does not react to replugging the device). I also tried it on a different machine with the same results.
Ubuntu also does not recognize the device at all, lsusb does not output the device anywhere. It also does get recognized as an adb device when booted up normally.
I installed the necessary (I tried LG and Google) drivers and tried different USB ports (2.0 and 3.0) and cables. The phone just is not noticed as an usb device at all when in fastboot mode.
Could this be due to a broken usb port? Which seems odd because the phone is recognized when not in fastboot mode.
What else could cause this weird behaviour?
Thank You

fastboot disabled from LG?


text:
In TWRP Wipe button, the description in the slider say "factory reset" but its other description doesn't seem so. Which one is correct?
When I access to the TWRP (version 3.2.1-0) and select the Wipe button, the screen says:

Wipes Data, Cache, and Dalvik (not including internal storage)
Most of the time this is the only wipe that you need

But the description of the slider says:

Swipe to Factory Reset

Is Factory Reset the same with Data, Cache, and Dalvik wiping? What is the difference between the data it is about to wipe and internal storage?

"internal storage" is the different name for the "sdcard section" /sdcard. This is the one you can access via MTP.

The data that can be accessed via MTP is more than just data in SD cards, am I right?

You will get a better understanding on reading TWRP FAQ What should I wipe in TWRP?, though it's not updated with the latest developments.

via MTP only /sdcard and /external_sd is accessable. 2) while your question is about the difference between "normal" wipe and "advanced" wipe (formatting), it is anyway interesting question if TWRP is even able to perform "real" factory reset at all

@alecxs why is the folder is named as /sdcard when it's not actually an sd card? And why do you think TWRP cannot perform real factory reset?

you can find even such philosophical debates here https://android.stackexchange.com/q/137081 2) recently figured out that "real" factory reset will send instructions to Keymaster discard encryption keys stored in TEE https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/56532243#56532243

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

although it's deleted question you may find it helpful https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:lyaQYDN7wkIJ:https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/231411/why-do-people-consider-mobiles-inbuilt-memory-as-internal-storage-and-sd-cards


text:
Google Photos - Stop asking to allow edits?
I just got a new phone, I upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus from an LG G8X, and whenever I edit a photo using Google Photos, it always asks me to ALLOW the edit. The Google Photos app never did this on my old LG G8X, so how can I get my new S20 Plus to do the same thing, always allowing my edits without being asked?
I have a pic here illustrating what I'm asking about:

It's not really a problem, more of a minor annoyance that I can live with if there's no solution. Still, If anybody knows how I can set Google Photos to always allow my edits I'd really like to know.
I hope you and your family are all staying safe and healthy! Thanks so much. And Happy Holidays!


text:
What privacy sensitive metadata does an APK package contain?
What information possibly sensitive information is included in apk files?
The obvious metadata are of course the fields in the signing certificate. But what about (absolute) file paths, user names used on the machine where the apk was built and similar information?

APK files usually don't contain much of that data unless the developer explicitly has added them or used unusual third party programs to edit resources contained in the app e.g. images. You can simply check that by unzipping an APK file ready to be released. Use full text search tools on all unzipped files and search for data you consider sensitive.
If you want to minimize unnecessary data I would recommend to use a virtual machine with e.g. a minimal Linux installation you where the installation itself does not contain any sensitive data. As Android apps can be built easily using Gradle on command-line you don't even need a UI. Use it to build the final APK file and copy it to the host OS.
Examine the created file as described at the beginning and if you don't find anything it is ready for release.

I already looked a bit around, but I am not sure about the details. For example, it is easy not to see that tar stores usernames when you untar as a regular user, and the ownership is set to your own username anyway. Similarly, I wonder if apk may have some metadata that one may not expect. I guess using a virtual machine is the best solution to be absolutely sure, but still, it is interesting what metadata may be present in apk files.