text:
Flashing update.zip signed with OEM keys return "failed to verify whole-file signature"
I have an update.zip which include an APK in the system/priv-app/ folder, a boot and shutdown animations and an SSH server among other things. I have the private and public keys of the OEM who sold me tablet so I used sigapk.jar to sign the update.zip file. The command I used is the following:
java -jar signapk.jar -w certificate.x509.pem key.pk8 update.zip update-signed.zip

Then after trying to flash this file via stock recovery using sideload (adb sideload update-signed.zip) I get the following error:
Verifying update package...
E:failed to verify whole-file signature
E:signature verification failed
Restarting adbd...
Installation aborted.

Previously, I was trying to flash the update.zip without signing it and the result was the following:
Verifying update package...
E:footer is wrong
E:signature verification failed
Restarting adbd...
Installation aborted.

Actually I do not know if the difference in the error (footer is wrong --> failed to verify whole-file signature) is because the keys are working or not, or maybe because the file didn't have any signature at all. Can someone help me with this and tell my why is it not working if I am using the OEM's .pem and .pk8 keys?
EDIT:
I also tried adding the certificate.x509.pem file inside the META-INF/com/android/otacert folder inside the update.zip file and then sign it, but that also didn't work.

The correct tool for signing is apksigner.jar from the Android SDK build-tools.

Try @Robert's suggestions. Also, are you sure that those keys are correct? How did you verify that the key you get is the preinstalled key on your device?

I have not verified. How can I do it?

@Robert apksigned.jar does not use pk8 and pem files so how can I do it?

Use KeyStore Explorer to convert it to a JKS keystore (new keystore and the import).

@Robert I tried múltiple to convert it to JKS but have no idea how to do it. It says that the pk8 file is encrypted.

Use the "import keypair" function.

You are on the right track.
The message "failed to verify whole-file signature", means that the file could not be deemed valid for the provided certificate.
The missing error message indicates that this is the case as the signature could not be matched to the trusted certificate store:
https://android.googlesource.com/platform/bootable/recovery/+/2c6c23f651abb3d215134dfba463eb72a5e9f8eb/verifier.cpp#258
The Android application which runs while sideloading uses a different certificate store than the recovery:
https://source.android.com/devices/tech/ota/sign_builds#signatures-sideloading
Assuming the keys you have are valid for the recovery, you might get away with directly booting into recovery using fastboot, then selecting your signed ZIP from there.


text:
How to make URL coming in via Bluetooth open in browser?
When receiving an URL from Nokia phone, my Galaxy 3 shows the URL as text file and I need to first open it via Opera browser, then manually select the whole URL and only then I can open it all (for some reason Opera lacks "Select All"...).
So, what do I need to install to make this go like it goes on Nokia phones, ie. receive URL, tap to open in browser, done?
Opera is not the default handler, but because Android handles incoming link like any text file on file system, the default browser is not offered at all. Picking the other option works even less.

Is Opera set as your "default" browser or are you selecting it from a list of applications to open the link with?

Selecting form a list. The default browser is not listed at all, and even in Opera the file opens like a text file on filesystem.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
turn off mobile after some time when done factory reset
I lost my data from android device manager app from web. I have mistakenly click erase button in web.
I have wipe data factory reset in samsung s2 i9100 using ClockworkMod Recovery (Process).
Done, succesfully  and open my mobile .but after some time (1 min to 3 min) it switch off my mobile.
First i have done using root kernel: Siyah-s2-v6.0b4.tar first then recovery(Process).
Any problem of my devices. or Any idea how to get my data working condition. or Any other method in ClockworkMod Recovery to get recovery data. please waiting your response.
Now: *

My Mobile charging successfully, but when press power on button, i
  have saw only samsung splash screen. notheing further my mobile go or
  doesn't open my mobile.

*

As you're mentioning CWM: Have you made a Nandroid backup before that accident happened? If so, and the backup being at least half-way up-to-date, you could restore that – which should bring the device into exactly the state it was when you've created the backup (as Nandroid "images" all partitions).

No , i have not no any backups? Ok if i don't get data recovery. So can i simple start fresh new mobile os. it means, sacrifice all data . I just want to simply run my mobile. would you suggest any idea?

No backup = no restore, sorry (should always be the first thing to do after installing CWM: Make a Nandroid backup!). And all that could be done, has been done by hitting that button. But try again: Enter CWM, do a factory-reset, wipe cache, wipe data (thought the latter two are just repeating the former, it cannot hurt). Flash another ROM, try without tampering with the "special kernel" (which also could be the cause). Switch on USB debug, and immediately start adb debug from your PC to hopefully catch the event issuing the shutdown.

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


text:
How can I speed up image transfer from my Android to the internet?
I have installed an app on my Android phone which can be used for uploading photos to the web. The problem is images can't be upload due to network weakness. Does anyone know a way in which I can speed up my uploads?

The speed of an upload, or download, is determined by more than one factor, and can not simply be "increased". If the network connection is weak, there is little you can do about that. The speed will be determined by your upload speed, the receivers download speed, and how the communicating devices handle it all. As you are likely using wireless on your phone, things that can interfere with the wireless signal has also a lot to say. The more clear space is between you and the router, the better. Even then, other wireless devices can cause disturbance in the signal.
So the answer is, you really cam't, unless you know exactly what is slowing the speed down, and even then it is a gamble. What you can do is of course connect the phone to a computer, and upload the pictures manually from there. If the computer is connected to the net with wire, your pictures should take no time to upload/download ... unless you are on a 20 year old net line, that is...

thanks to response me, one more thing that can we run apk file via w7.

I sadly do not know of any way to do that, perhaps someone else do, tho.


text:
Best Practise for deploying a 'clone' image across 200 android tablets (Samsung GT-P7510)
My objective is to be able to create a master 'image' of an android tablet, and then duplicate that image across about 200 identical tablets to streamline the administration of a university's pool of loan tablets (e.g. to roll out updated/new apps, to 'clean' them when they are returned, etc.)
What would be the best way to do that?
(I've seen a number of posts around the subject, using nandroid backup, adb, zen toolkit, and so forth, but all rather old and nothing definitive)

Currently the tablets are Samsung Galaxy 10.1 (GT-P7510) running
stock Android 4.0.4 - but it'd be nice to have a procedure that ought
to work if these are replaced by some other tablets.
The tablets aren't currently rooted, but could be if that made things
much easier.  It'd have to be a real advantage, though, as that might
compromise the warranties on future new stocks of tablets.
These tablets don't have external SD storage, but it'd be great to
have a process that would re-initialise ALL aspects of a tablet, even
if it did have external (or ancillary internal) SD storage.
I'd ideally like to create/document a procedure that someone in basic
first-line tech support could follow.
If it could avoid having to buy 200 paid app licenses, then that'd be
great too :)

I'd appreciate any pointers you folks could give on how best to do this:  I would imagine with android tablets becoming much more popular over the past year, that there must be corporations, education establishments and the like doing this...

the only way, am afraid, its catch 22 though, root devices, take nandroid backup from master, copy that across to others, and restore it, yes, requires custom recovery, the cheat way, factory reset every single one of them... then they would all be identical?

Thanks t0mm13b - I'll do some reading on nandroid backup/restore (unless you have a specific good current writeup to reccomend?).  Unfortunately a simple factory reset would be inadequate, as part of the objective is to roll out suites of software, content and so on - that wouldn't be present in a factory reset.

Related  Is it possible to clone a Phone then flash image on other phones?

That is exactly what happens with the nandroid backup. You root, then do all installation of applications pre-stage, then remove the bloatware, remove all email accounts, then take nandroid backup. This becomes your gold ROM so to speak. It is stored in another partition of the master tablet. You need to move it to a removable SD or USB.
All rest of the 199 tablets will be rooted with TWRP/ClockworkMod, and then nandroid restored from the master image on the USB.
It is fugly, but until Acronis or Symantec come out with a tool, I am not sure how else do it. Clearly hardware companies have something that clones the disk.


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App Memory Hog Problem
I swipe apps closed and they still appear to be using memory. Then I use task kill, but I can immediately refresh and they're open again. So I goto manage apps and force stop. Once again if I click back and go back into the app setting it's open again! Why is this and how can I stop it? It's mostly system apps I don't want/need and I'm afraid to uninstall them and possibly wreck my phone. Already had too many problems fixing errors because of just that.

It seems you're not "getting" how Android manages the apps.
Note: do not use task killers! There's an extensive Q&A on this
When you launch the app, it appears in the foreground, note, I am not getting into developer specifics about life-cycle of apps themselves.
There are two scenarios:

When you press back, depending on said app, it will either go into the background, Android will eventually reclaim the memory occupied by the app.
A high priority app that appears, incoming calls is one prime example of this, Android will push the app behind, and bring forward the dialer screen where you can either lift the handset to engage or cancel the ringing.

To further embellish more:

There is a background app, called a service that is running intermittently, perhaps, polling on checking a website, Google Play Services is a prime example of it, and if there's any app update, the service will trigger the package manager to download the update and proceed, in the background.

That is primarily the reason why you should not force-stop an app, because, they may have a service running and killing that will only re-start the service which has a knock-on effect, more CPU cycles wasted in bringing up the service again, and therefore wasting yet more battery juice in the process.
Also, to force-stop an app can actually induce bad behaviour on the app itself, what if it's saving data or querying a backend content-provider, terminating it can lead to corruption or mis-behaviour. Again, this statement is only a brief example which is beyond scope of site, i.e. relating to developer in how to handle the situation in event of force-stop.

they still appear to be using memory

"appear" is the keyword, give it a few minutes, Android will run a sweep across the memory and reclaim it if apps are inactively running or not using in fact, that memory sweep is carried out on a regular basis very actively.
At the end of the day, Android does a pretty darn good job in reclaiming memory so should not interfere with that process.

So then how do I stop my phone from lagging so bad. I have Cricket Kyocera Hydro C5171. It just seems that there is simply not enough RAM to support the phone without even adding apps. I rooted and uninstalled like 30 system apps and the phone IS faster, but still lags pretty bad at times. Any ideas?

Your internal storage space could be running out, minimum threshold is at least 35MB free, there could be crash logs lying around (ANR logs) that may be chewing up space.

I have a lil over half a gig left on internal storage. Could it be possible that some of the system apps I moved to the SD card are causing the lag? I had to use System App Remover Pro v. 3.0.1035 with superuser permissions to force those apps to the SD card.

Yes, very much so, system apps have a preference to run from internal storage regardless if rooted, moved about, there's your answer.


text:
Can't connect Samsung Note 3 to Windows 7
I am having problems connecting my Samsung Note 3 to Windows 7 64bit on my laptop. I have installed Kies and drivers already and still nothing. Under device manager it is still labeled "Unknown Device". When I plug in my Note 3 in it will attempt to install device driver but ends up saying "Device unplugged".
I tried both of my USB port on laptop and none of them works. However when I plugged it my desktop it work straight away. Also the weird thing its that the first time when I plugged my Note 3 into my laptop it actually worked for a while. I could access the files in my phone but all of a sudden it just stopped.
Any someone give some advice?

What i would try the following:
Remember to try to connect to the laptop between each stage and if it still doesnt connect, go to the next step.
Doublecheck that your phone can connect to another computer, since my list assumes that the problem is on the pc, and not any settings on the phone.

Use a short usb cable without extenders, and use the best usb port to make sure that your phone gets enough power and speed for the connection. If you have a blue usb port(USB3.0) in your laptop, use that one And use the stock usb to micro usb 3.0 cable.
Make sure your phone is up to date by going into "Settings"-> "General"-> "About device"-> "Software update" -> "Update"
In early stages of new samsung updates, you need to do it via Kies. Check for an update via your other PC(desktop). Open Kies -> "Tools" -> "Firmware upgrade and initiation"
Reinstall Kies and make sure Kies is up to date(under "help"->"check for update")
Reinstall the USB driver. Open Kies -> "Tools" -> "Troubleshoot connection error"
Reinstall the USB driver manually. http://developer.samsung.com/android/tools-sdks/Samsung-Andorid-USB-Driver-for-Windows


text:
passwords on restricted accounts (KitKat)
I created a restricted account on a nexus 7 (gen1) with KitKat for my 9y/o daughter.
She has worked out how to add a password to the restricted account. I understood it wasn't possible to this, but seems I was wrong.
Q. Is it possible to retrieve the password from the main account?
Q. Is it possible to prevent a password being applied to the restricted account?

It seems that restricted users can add a 'screen lock' in the 'security' page in 'settings' - an of feature to leave to the restricted user!


text:
Entering recovery mode when plugging powered off tablet to charger
I installed Philz Touch 6.59.0 (ClockworkMod 6.0.5.1) in my Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7" Wifi (SM-T230) and modified the /system/bin/lpm (also called playlpm in other devices) to reboot the device as soon as it is plugged.
The modification of the lpm file works great when I don't have Philz Touch 6.59.0 installed on the device. Every time the device is off and I plugged it to the charger, it starts Android just fine.
The problem comes when I install Philz Touch 6.59.0 which works great by it self but when I modify the lpm file, every time I power off the device and then plug it to the charger, it start in recovery mode which is incredibly anoying.
Next is my lpm file:
#!/system/bin/sh
/system/bin/reboot

Does anyone knows what can I do to solve this issue or change this behaviour?
EDIT
I also tried the TWRP and the same thing happens. When powered off and plugged in, the device starts in recovery mode.

I've no clue about this issue, although it makes me think about the jig device, which is a little electric circuit used to force the Download mode in a powered off device. Its mechanism is simple: it limits the voltage to a value which is interpreted as the value which triggers the booting in Download mode. I guess that the CWM modified some parameter in such a way that the voltage value in input triggers the Recovery, instead of the OS, but I've zero proof of it.

It was simply a problem of line endings. Somewhere along the road I modified the lpm file and the line endings of the file were changed to Windows and they were supposed to be to Unix line endings.
When you edit a file in a text editor make sure to the correct line endings. Next is a picture of how to do it in Sublime Text:


text:
Transfer settings from Lollipop to Marshmallow (with EMUI)
I am migrating from a Samsung S6 (Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow) to a Huawei Ascent Mate 8 (Android 6.0 Marshmallow).
On the Huawei Phone, I am not prompted for a Google Login or the option to synchronise data with Tap&Go.
Are these peculiar features of EMUI or is it not possible to use Tap&Go from Android 6.0.1 to Android 6.0?
I am happy to ditch the Huawei EMUI interface if it means a smoother transfer of my account and app settings from the Lollipop phone. I have no data on the Marshmallow phone and I'm happy to do a factory reset if it is required.
I have seen a variety of explanations on line, but many of them are steered toward selling software utilities.
In the past I have found that many core apps such as SMS require the use of additional export / import apps. Others involve copying individual XML files between the phones. I am not expecting that there will be a perfect solution. It would be good if there was a process or product that at least transferred the data, settings and accounts of the 20% of apps that 80% of us use.
What would be the smoothest way to transfer data (SMSes, contacts, photos, emails), accounts (google, email, fb, twitter) and various app settings between these two devices?

way to transfer data what is data here? you mean all your photos, videos, contacts etc. ? accounts  what is account? you mean Google Account or WhatsApp Account or Skype Account?

Yes particularly app settings & deeper data such as SMS, google account etc at the very least..

i guess for google account, you can always add an account later also, through the Settings app of your new phone. that should fetch all your google account settings easily. i am not sure of app settings because its very generic. if you talk specifically about an app, say WhatsApp, then there can be a way. But it will be hard if nothing is specified and people does not know, what and how many apps we are talking about. here

I've upgraded before & been through a lot of export/import procedures for individual apps (eg SMS).

So curious as to what current best practice is.

IMHO i guess u may need to make ur question bit more specific. app settings means which app we are talking about? all apps on ur phone? certainly not...Only SMS? certainly not... Spell that out explicitly for any1 to answer it

I've done as you suggested, & also modifed the question as the source phone has now been updated to Android 6.0.1.

If you are willing to root both phones safest way is to use Titanium back up. Huawei phones warranty is not voided by rooting, my last phone was a Huawei

As @beeshyams said, Titanium Backup is the best way out. It needs root, however, and try not to restore apps (especially pre-installed system ones) between devices with it (they may not work afterwards). Transferring data, however, should be ok.

So a basic procedure involving SuperSU would work OK & I presume that the Samsung phone could be unrooted at the end. Assuming that no simpler answer appears, I am happy to award a bounty to an answer with this kind of approach.


text:
Can the Android YouTube app display annotations?
I run the stock YouTube app on my HTC One X phone.
There are a couple of channels I follow who post videos narrated in their local language, but with translations added as annotations on top of the video stream. These are perfectly viewable in my desktop browser but are not displayed in the Android YouTube app.
Is there a setting for this I am missing, or are they just not available?

Actually, MixerBox 3 did display annotations.

Annotations are unfortunately not supported on Android at this time:

Notes

Annotations appear on standard YouTube players and embedded players.
Annotations do not appear on custom YouTube chromeless players.
Annotations do not appear in video playbacks taking place on mobile, tablet and TV devices.

Someone from Google has evidently acknowledged this feature request, but I don't believe there's any kind of timeline for its implementation (or official word that it, in fact, will be implemented).

It was technically possible!

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


text:
Lock screen shortcuts Android Lollipop
I used to swipe to text and so on, without any external apps. Now, with this new "update" I can only access phone (swipe to the right) or camera (swipe to the left). Can one change these?
BTW I'm on a Nexus 4 google LG phone.

I don't remember you can have custom shortcut on lockscreen on Nexus 4 on previous Android versions either... or, did you mean the lockscreen widget?

Yes lock screen widget.

I used the SMS shortcut all the time but now there's a phone there instead (who casks people anyway? )

I'm afraid I have to say that Google has done away with the lockscreen widgets. As of current, I haven't found and done further research the alternative.

Yep it seems like that. Oh well.


text:
What app allows me to block "probable" spam calls
I receive 2 or 3 calls per day from random spammers. I have tried blocking the numbers, but it is no use as they just call with new numbers. Is there anyway to avoid this? I suppose the end solution could be changing my number with a new sim card.
I have tried the app MrNumber, and I have tried a few other apps, but they all suffer from the problem of only blocking single numbers. Spam callers have too many number to utilize. Are there any apps that come with an extensive black list pre-installed? Or some method of detecting what other people have marked as spam?

FYI: We find it's better to describe the problem you're trying to solve rather than asking us to help you find an app.

Enable your call blocklist and use whitelist method (block call from strangers)

A friend just recommended Call Control to me for this very reason. I'm starting to get spam calls on my cell phone and it disgusts me. Plus there's a black list feature as well.

Try True caller, it comes up with the preloaded blacklist and spammer numbers and keeps on updating..it has some interersting features too..

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Your answer would be more valuable if you included a link to the app.


text:
How can I fix this Nexus 4 erratic ghost/phantom touch input issue?
I have a Nexus 4 16GB stock on 4.2.
It is experiencing a ghost/phantom touch issue, as you can see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f61TPtL4WBk
This doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen regularly (every 5-10 minutes) in Chrome, Dropbox, the stock Settings app and an app I'm developing.  It doesn't happen on the homescreen, though - at least not that I've noticed.  It may happen only when the device is warm, but I can't really tell as it's not that consistent.
I tried updating to 4.3 (using the standard OTA) and the touchscreen becomes completely unresponsive, like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSt5GFSTr0E
In this state you can't even unlock the phone, though it is responsive as you can see.  I also tried sideloading 4.4 onto the phone, and this didn't work.  I tried rebooting (by holding power for 10 seconds), going into fastboot and wiping the phone and nothing would enable the touchscreen to come alive.
I then restored the phone back to stock 4.2 (using instructions from here) which allows the touchscreen to work, but the original ghost/phantom touch problem remains.
Any ideas please?

Did you ever resolve the issue?

I didn't - but as I'd only recently bought the phone from a second hand shop I decided to return it and switched it for a Galaxy S3.  I'll happily accept any answer that has upvotes enough to suggest it works, but I can't help any more - sorry!

have the same issues as the first bloggers that posted.
I have the Nexus 4 16Gb and in February 2014, I cracked the screen and changed the digitizer.  In the process I tore the lithium polymer bag for the battery and subsequently the phone started to have a sweet smell. After 5 days the phone started acting up with these ghost images which was typing the same random characters in Google Plus, the camera took photos by itself, it shut off by itself and made squealing noises and just have been crazy. Only upon plugging in the phone into the adapter charger would stabilize and use it on a regular basis.
After reviewing several blogs, one person recommended changing the battery, which I did and this has fixed the phone. I've had a new battery in the phone for over 4 days now and it's working perfectly fine. I am running Kit Kat 4.4.2 and have all of the different kinds of apps installed on the phone. screen replacement and battery replacement can be found on YouTube.
FIRST! Change your battery, don't give up the phone. Spend the money ($21 Amazon) and don't regret because you didn't try to change the battery and see if it works again.
Hope this helps and pass it on to others you may know!
**UPDATE:  Apr 13, 2014.  Phone is working as normal using USB charge and wall charger.  IT'S THE BATTERY CAUSING THE GHOST IMAGES.

You can try side loading 4.4.2 and then a factory reset from that android version


text:
How can I force Google Contacts to respect "File as" (or "NickName") field for sorting and display?
Let's say one wants Android to display their father not as "FirstName LastName", but simply as "Dad". This seems to be a pretty essential feature; and, as I have heard, it is implemented even in an old systems such as Windows Mobile.
However, while Google Contacts offer the "File As" field (which does what I'm looking for), Android does not seem to respect this field: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=5724 , http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=8578
The issues are pretty old; did anything changed since then? I cannot find any options to use the "File As" field on my Xperia P with Android 2.3.7 installed.
Are there any alternatives to the default Google "Contacts" application that make use of this field?

It's 2023 and still appears to be an issue. contacts.google.com in browser seems to respect "file as" but "Contacts" on my Android Phone does not. Further, if I do an "@ mention" of someone in Gmail, even in browser, it fills it in with their full name, not "file as". I like to have record of their full names in my contacts, but refer to them by their preferred name (even if it's a nickname) so it's awkward, for instance, when a colleague goes by their initials and it spells out their full name when I "@ mention" them.

It would be better to split your post in an question and an answer part. At the moment the question part is very small which makes it hard to understand what you want to do and why. Please edit your question and answer accordingly.

Hi Mike, this site works differently to others.  It is question and answers.  So, please split your post.

2024 and it still persists. Can't really find a way to do so.

As of 2019, Google contacts respect the "file as" option.
If you have contacts named as "FirstName LastName" and use "fileasname", the display name will be "fileasname". Also, you can search even by "FirstName" or "Lastname" or any of the entries made in google contacts. (Yeah even notes are searchable).

This does not appear to be respected on Android itself however. Google contacts on desktop/Gmail appears to override the name details with the contents of "file as" but the Google contacts app on Android (in my case Samsung Galaxy S10e) doesn't use it, likewise the Samsung variant behaves the same.

Google Contacts WILL default to a 'File As' field as the main Contact name.
You just have to create the Custom field labeled File As. Follow these steps and you can change the names to whatever you'd like, AND keep all the real information in Contact records. Very handy! Thanks
To add a “File As” field to your Google Contacts, you can follow these steps:

Open Google Contacts on your computer.
Click on the contact you want to edit.
Click on the Edit button (pencil icon) in the top right corner of the screen.
Scroll down to the Show More link, click on it.
Select 'Add Custom Field'
Type in what you want to file the contact as, then (MOST IMPORTANTLY) type File As in the Label field.
Click on the Save button to save your changes.

That's it. Now why it's not already a field, nor in the Help section, who knows? But as of November 2023 it still works.

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


text:
How to block a range of phone numbers without any third-party apps
Is it possible to block a range of phone numbers
e.g. 02079460***
as I keep getting accident companies and personal injury calls.
I have read that these are fake numbers for  use in TV and radio dramas

I am ideally looking for a built in solution without having to install a separate app

Related: Number recognition of company number ranges / Can I block calls based on a specific number prefix or pattern?

Yea that's all third party app's which cannot be installed on my work phone

Yupp, sure. I didn't say "duplicate" :) We like to link "related" question so people can find them easier. I was aware it's not exactly what you're after – sorry if that caused any confusion.

There's no functionality built into Android to do this. If you want to block a range of numbers, or numbers matching a pattern, and you can't install apps on the phone to do it (as per Can I block calls based on a specific number prefix or pattern? or Free app to block calls and SMS based on pattern), then all you can do is contact your carrier and hope that they can set up the block for you at the exchange. Carriers tend to be quite obliging about blocking nuisance callers, but of course they too may be limited by what software they have available, and they may just tell you to use one of the apps mentioned in the linked questions.

I know this question is from 2 years ago but in case anyone is still wondering about this, I can say that at least on old LG smartphones like mine (LG Magna, also known as LG Magna H502F, H500F), it has built-in number blocking functions, and there you can block specific numbers, numbers that begin with the digits you specify and numbers that end with the digits you specify:
Android Version: 5.0.1

UPDATE September 2020:
I have had two more LG smartphones (LG Q6, LG K51S) and they also have this same blocking features. Seems like this brand always have that function in their android systems.

On a Samsung Note II with Android 4.4.2 this can be done from: Phone / Menu / Call settings / Call rejection / Auto reject list / Create / Enter partial number and specify 'Match criteria'. On a Samsung Galaxy Note9 (Android 10): Phone / (Ellipsis) / Settings / Block numbers / Add partial number, select 'Match criteria' and tap the + icon to the right of the number.

For Redmi PR MI phones
Goto Settings->search for blocklist -> open blocklist -> Click Block Numbers -> Click on Add -> Choose Add prefix
Now add prefix to add same number range


text:
Country restricted apps: how to programmatically find out where the app is available
It is well known that some apps can only be downloaded in specific countries.
There are a lot of tutorials on the net that show how do bypass this restriction and download the app anyway.
However those tutorials require you to know in which country the app is available.
Is there are an automated way to find out in which country/countries an app is available (except from stupidly trying out each and every country)?

Why not downloading those apps from e.g. ApkMirror, which shares only legitimate APK files (the same as the Play Store ones)? You'll just need the app's name, by doing so.

Googling for the app doesn't provide informations on where it is released?

@DeathMaskSalesman because a user may not willing be to trust any third party site to fetch the APK, no matter its reputation.

@esQmo: That works some times, but it is based on human intelligence and therefore can not be automated.

To find out these countries manually, see this question: How to see which countries the app is allowed?

42 matters seems to provide this. I haven't checked out by signing in. It claims to provide this information

Country Availability API for Android Apps
Check in which countries an Android app is available on Google Play Store™.

Source: Andrea, On Quora

It works. But their pricing is quite high. Nothing for a small developer or a private user.

Not really good due to prohibitive pricing (300$/mo). Free trial isn't a real trial, only dummy.


text:
Photos received from SHAREit are not displayed in gallery
Photos and videos received from SHAREit is not downloaded to gallery and I cannot view it in gallery.Why is this happening?

Check if those files are physically present on the device using file explorer. Delete files prefixed with dot in that folder  if present.

Community bump prevention: this question was closed because the question seems to have been abandoned (OP hasn't visited the site for more than 5 years, and no answers have been upvoted). If anyone can evaluate the existing answers, feel free to vote accordingly and reopen the question (or mod-flag the question requesting for reopening). For anyone else having the same issue, please post a new question and refer to this question as additional context.

Shareit  latest version have some changes are occurred  , one of the change is it hides downloaded files, so we can't see downloaded files in internal , external storage or gallery etc.... , you can see downloaded files  using shareit app only, it is one of the way user can use permanently app

(Click image to enlarge)

Just Cut(or Copy) the Files from Shareit Folder and Paste it to your SDcard/Phone Memory.


text:
Whatsapp: Export pictures from certain conversations
Whatsapp stores ALL media files within ONE huge folder, i.e. I've got about 6000 pictures in it, including much trash ;-)
Now I would like to extract/copy all pictures which were send between me and a specific contact (i.e. my girlfriend) to another folder so that I can transfer them on to my computer.
Do you know any way? Couldn't find anything when googeling as my keywords gave much too many hits.
Thanks in advance!

Go to Whatsapp Settings. For me that the three dots button at the top right of "main" screen of whatsapp. From there go to chats, chat history, email chat, select contact, and it will prompt you to email it. You must say you want media files attached. If there are a lot of images it may fail.

NIce idea, totally forgot about it. I used it once in the past with my girlfriends chat, but it did fail with hundreds of images. But still, for small "vacation" groups it's a good idea to use it. Maybe some one will come up with another alternative :)

Ah, ok. No problem, it probably failed at the point where google attempted to attach so much data onto one email. I think the limit is 34 MB which can easily be used within 20 or 30 pictures these days, with high-res cameras and stuff.

For me, it failed to go past 11 photos and 2 videos, so it wasn't that useful.

I think there is no native way of doing that, and I have not seen any app that does it.
From my experience, the best way is via WhatsappWeb. I used this quite a few times.

Select the target conversation, on the left.
Click on the conversation name, at the top.
Expand Media.
Make sure all files are loaded, by scrolling/waiting.
Select all files you want.
You can Forward, Download, etc.

I found the same idea here.

The trouble with WhatsApp web is that you can't see old messages and images any more. But this is a great solution if the photos aren't too old.

You cant download when more then one selected. Forward is not download.

WhatsApp doesn't want to give you this power (for legal reasons perhaps). The "export conversation" only exports most recent media. So I have elaborated a tidy 4-step solution to collect all media from a specific conversation group into my computer. Lets suppose you want the "Fishing Club" group media. Follow this steps:

Export the entire Whatsapp/Media folder to your computer (this may take a while).
Delete from your phone the entire set of media from the "Fishing Group" at once using WhatsApp's "Manage Storage" feature. For that, go to WhatsApp home screen, and navigate to the menu (⋮) > Settings > Data Storage > Manage Storage, find the group and delete all media from it.
Rename the Media folder in your machine to "Fishing Group", then repeat step one to backup a second copy of the entire Media folder again (but this time it won't have the media that is specific from that group, which you deleted in step two).
Now that you have the two copies side-by-side, use a file comparison tool in your computer to delete from the "Fishing Group" folder all unnecessary files which are also in the Media folder.

Done. Now the "Fishing Group" folder has only the medias which are from that specific conversation group. You may repeat steps 2-4 if you want to do the same thing with other conversation groups and free more space in your phone. When you are done, you can just delete the last Media folder copy if you wish.
Tip for the Mac OSX user:

For the file export steps, use "Android File Transfer" app and connect to your phone via USB, activating file transfer mode In your Mac, then navigate to /Whatsapp folder and drag the entire Media folder to your machine.

Tip for the Linux/Unix/Mac user:

To delete the duplicates (step 4) and also empty folders, you may just use this commands:

groupName="Fishing Group"

comm -12 \
<(cd "$groupName" && find . -iname "*" -type f | sort) \
<(cd Media && find . -iname "*" -type f | sort) \
| while read line; do rm "./$groupName/$line"; done

find "$groupName" -type d -exec rmdir {} 2>/dev/null \;

Tip for Windows user:

To delete the duplicates try this commands (not tested):

cd Media
FOR /d /r %%f IN ("*.*") DO del "..\Fishing Club\%%f"
cd ..

By last, you may also want to export the full conversation into a text file by entering the group then nativate to menu (⋮) > More > Export Conversation. This can be exported to many formats, but in this case I like to export to a folder in the sd card using the "Send to SD card" App, then move them to my computer. The generated text file will have the names of the files from each media that was in that group. Contact cards will also be exported in .vcf format.

Nice option will give a try

Ok, this does not answer the question directly, but comments on a feature that might be helpful to the same audience. This does not work for past media but for any new media from the moment you set it up.
How to sync whatsapp media for some conversations and not others?

You have to set for each conversation whether you want the media to
be visible, that is, that the media goes to the whatsapp media
folder or not.
If you go to any conversation, once inside it,
>> Three dots >> View contact/Group info >> Media visibility >> Yes/No

Once you set that for all the conversations, you can sync the
whatsapp photo and/or video folders, and only the ones set as
visible will synchronize.

Of course having to do this for every conversation is not very
handy.
Most likely you want to sync everything but some conversations (as
the groups where people send a lot of trash) or you want to sync
only some conversations, like your girlfriend and family (where only
pictures are being sent).
If you are in either of these two cases, you can set the default
visibility value,
>> Settings >> Chats >> Media visibility >> Yes/No

So you only have to change the ones you want/don't want to sync.

You mean sync in google photos?

Yes, but it applies also to any other sync engine that you use, because now that folder is 'filtered'.


text:
VS98523c updated successfully but 4G Data doesn't work
The 4G connection is there but I can't use it.
I went into the Mobile Networks to check the signal strength and there is a 4G signal, but the phone doesn't want to use that connection for data.

I am not roaming
Mobile Data is turned on

I turned it off and then on again twice with no results.

I switched the "System Select" to all the options and no results

default was global - didn't work.

Airplane mode is turned off
I am able to make phone calls

What other troubleshooting steps are there?
Is this a known issue and is there a solution?

after the 3rd or 4th reboot the 4G data now functions again.  sounds like other phones and other versions were having this issue as well.
Cellular data not working since 5.1 Lollipop flash
How do I get my mobile data to work again, after the new Android 5.1 update?
Nexus 5 upgraded to 5.1 and mobile data wont work anymore
Moto G 1st Gen - Mobile Data not working after upgrade to 5.0.2

authors: Слава Истелеев


text:
Insufficient Storage Available when installing Google Play Services
I have rooted my Kindle Fire 7 (4th Generation) and installed Gapps using the Jmz Fire HD7 Tool. Everything went well, but, when I was trying to start Gmail, it asked me to update my Google Play Service. When the installation was nearly finished, a message "Insufficient Storage Available" popped up.
What can I do? I have tried to clear all data and force stop Google Play Service, and it still can't be updated. Any help would be appreciated.
EDIT
Pasting the result of df here... looks no good.
Filesystem               Size     Used     Free   Blksize
/dev                   435.9M   288.0K   435.6M   4096
/sys/fs/cgroup         435.9M    12.0K   435.8M   4096
/mnt/asec              435.9M     0.0K   435.9M   4096
/mnt/obb               435.9M     0.0K   435.9M   4096
/storage/usbotg        435.9M     0.0K   435.9M   4096
/storage/emulated      435.9M     0.0K   435.9M   4096
/mnt/secure            435.9M     0.0K   435.9M   4096
/mnt/asec              435.9M     0.0K   435.9M   4096
/mnt/obb               435.9M     0.0K   435.9M   4096
/system                  1.1G     1.1G    23.9M   4096
/cache                 852.4M   483.7M   368.7M   4096
/data                   12.3G     1.3G    11.0G   4096
/mnt/sqfs              124.6M   124.6M     0.0K   32768
/persistbackup          10.8M   184.0K    10.6M   4096
/mnt/shell/emulated     12.3G     1.3G    11.0G   4096

How much available storage does it have?

@RockPaperLizard This is very funny. I have 10.78GB free storage left. It could fit 50 Google Play Service in it.

I'm thinking the partition that hold Google Play Services is much smaller or there is a problem with write privileges.

@RockPaperLizard I'd like to know how I can see the size of that partition...

Install SystemPanelLite or SystemPanel by NextApp; either will show you the size of all easily accessible partitions.

@RockPaperLizard take a look at the result... hmm... 23.9M left? What can I do?

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

First, turn off power on and off your phone and see if the problem still exist . If so,
Go to your storage usage located in your settings and try deleting one unimportant app
If steps #1 or #2 didn't work or go through, just simply unmount the SD card the correct way. Don't just pull it out. If you have been doing this, it is probably why it's doing that now.
If you have done these steps, it should work. If not, go to a little side store that fix phones or the mall. You can also go to your service provider and see if they can fix the problem. Otherwise, go to amazon.com and look up SD card installment kit and you should be able to pick which one you want from them.

Welcome to [android.se]. I removed the signature because this site is a Q&A site, not a social forum. If you want to be contacted, you can put your contact on "About Me" on your profile.

I can tell you that I have already done all above before you answered; I even deleted several (unimportant) system apps so the remaining space is about ~130 MB; but I still can't update the Google Play Service. BTW, my Fire is Fire HD 7 (4th Generation) with no SD slot.


text:
Android tablet does not receive notifications when screen is off
I have a Ainol Novo 7 Aurora v3 tablet using unofficial ROM, rooted, CM10.
Android OS version is 4.1.2, and I found that it cannot receive notifications such as WhatsApp.
After the screen is turned on, notifications are received.

Wi-Fi Settings > Advanced > Always ON
valid Wi-Fi Internet connection is connected

How can I resolve the issue ?

Update I found a thread about this issue, and I verified the issue is happening on my device with ping tool. When the screen is off, ping is immediately timed out.
However, Android 4.1.2 does not have the /system/etc/wifi/WCNSS_qcom_cfg.ini file. I'm stuck.

Possibly a silly question: are you SURE the cfg file isn't there? Have you enabled "Show Hidden Files" in your file explorer. ES File explorer has this option for sure, so maybe try that first.

I use Root Explorer, double checked with other 4.1.2 devices. No such config file

Do you have a battery saver app like Juice Defender link?


text:
How to show local language fonts in Chrome?
How to show Gujarati language font in Chrome for Android? I cannot read any Gujarati site like divyabhaskar.com, etc.
By the way in Opera Mini for Android browser there is the ability to show bitmap fonts for complex scripts. After enabling this option in Opera Mini I can read Gujarati fonts very easily. I tested all browsers available for Android but only Opera Mini seems to work. I regularly use Chrome so I want this function in Chrome so I can read my local language news sites online.

Why no body answer?


text:
What is the difference between Android user app with root access and a system app
The answer I am looking for is in the aspect of permissions.
Can a system app do everything? Can a user app with root access (on rooted device) do everything?
If so, are they the same?
For example I want to turn the GPS on and I know it is possible on rooted device.
For that requirement should user app with root permissions be enough or should it be installed as a system app?

Check this out: What are the differences between a system app and user app?

Undeleted my answer, though it's incomplete. I'm aware that even with root access, there are certain things a rooted app can't do. Elixir 2, for example has a System add-on which allows the GPS toggle to turn on GPS directly through its widget. Without this, the GPS toggle opens the screen for you to turn on the GPS manually. Maybe someone else can explain.
An app is either a user app or a system app. A user app is stored in the /data folder, while a system app is stored in the /system folder. To access either folder, you need root access.
Giving a user app root access means it can perform actions that requires root access, such as accessing / modifying system files.
But what makes a system app unique is that it doesn't get deleted if you do a Factory Reset. It becomes part of the Android Operating System.
Related questions:

What are the differences between a system app and user app?
Permission is only granted to system app, in Manifest - see the answer here


text:
Uninstall Spy Apps
There are a lot of spy apps, that can record audio of the surroundings of the phone, take pictures and trace the phone using GPS, Cell towers, and transfering the information to the spy (husband/wife/parents/stalker/criminal) using internet or SMS. Some of these spy applications hide once installed and the user cannot detect them.
Question 1:
Does the factory reset uninstall those spy apps?
Question 2:
Is there any way to see these kind of hidden apps?

What spy apps?

@t0mm13b Probably safe to say that he's looking for a way to check if there are spy apps (or services) on a device, and if a factory reset can uninstall them.

As Colin already pointed out, a factory-reset clears all apps, data, and cache from things installed/edited in user mode (i.e. without root or system privileges, see our factory-reset tag-wiki for details). So yes, if you didn't root your device, it's pretty safe to assume a factory-reset removes those "spy apps" along.
Concerning "checking for spy apps": There are plenty of apps on Google Play claiming to do that. However, it might be hard to decide what makes an app a "spy app": Recording audio? Fully legit for an audio recorder. Taking pictures/videos? A video recorder/camera app is supposed to do that. Still, there are several "frameworks" or "ad-modules" known as being suspicios, and apps using them will be presented by e.g. Lookout Ad Network Detector, Privacy Scanner (Antispy) Free, AppBrain Ad Detector (to name my 3 favorites here), and similar tools – which often even offer you to remove "offenders".

Every modern spy app (unless it's not a fake) admit that factory reset of the host phone deletes the app client. So yes, answering your first question, you can delete them in this way.
Regarding second question, it depends on the type of the app. Every app leaves specific tracks which are unique, has its own algorithms and so on - but neither is completely untraceable.

To uninstall specific app like "iKeyMonitor Android Spy App", you can follow its FAQ.
For general guide about how to uninstall other spy apps, there are 2 methods you can try:

Go to Android Settings - Application Manager, find the app you want to uninstall. The name may be masked. You should know what's the real name before trying to uninstall it.
Factory reset of the Android device will remove all the apps installed.

Answer 1: In short yes, the factory reset (as the name suggests) brings the phones software back to the state it was when it left the "factory". There are most likely some hypothetical cases where this wouldn't fix it, but they would require some personal time with your phone and some hardcore technical skills that seem extremely unlikely to occur and are most definitely nothing to worry about (it would be like worrying Anonymous is going to hack your personal website).
Answer 2: There is a very similar question to this one located here: Android Spy Apps
with two answers that should be satisfactory.

You can uninstall the apps simply by GOING IN THE SETTING-> SECURITY or PRIVACY-> DEVICE ADMINISTRATORS-> UNALLOW SPYAPPS (YOU HAVE).
Then you simply uninstall the spyapp just GO THE SETTING-> INSTALLED APPS-> UNINSTALL THE APP.

THE QUESTION DOESN'T ASK HOW TO UNINSTALL THE APPS

Yes.
Question 1: Does the factory reset uninstall those spy apps?
Answer   1: It will be better if you uninstall from Application Manager
            after unhide the application from Device Manager.
Question 2: Is there any way to see these kind of hidden apps?
Answer   2: Yes. We can see these types of apps
        Settings  :>   Security :>  Device administrator :>

        Here is the list of these types of apps.

authors: Андрей Андрей


text:
How can I control wi-fi data use?
I'll be taking a vacation next summer, and on the cruise data use is sold per megabyte. If I JUST want to check e-mail on my android device, how the heck do I do that? How do I prevent all the other apps on my phone from accessing the wi-fi (cellular will be turned off, or I'll be using my wi-fi only tablet).
My objective is to limit network use to just the one or two apps that I really want to see results from. I can't seem to find anything in the settings that would allow me to do this.
Is there any way? I'm probably willing to root my tablet if necessary.
Devices available are the moment are a Droid 4 phone, and an Acer Iconia A200 tablet.

Go to settings, accounts and disable Sync. It will reduce your data consumption by a lot.
You still can check for emails manually though when sync is off. Remember this is the only way to get fresh mails then :)

If you go to "Settings>Data Usage>More>Restrict Networks' and select your WiFi network, I think that has the result you're after (I'm on Android 6.0.3)!
EDIT: to confirm, this probably has the equivalent of restricting background data, rather than enabling you to specify apps to have data access but might be a suitable solution.

I don't know in which Android version was this option first available, but I can confirm that it was already present in the Nexus 4 running Android 5.1.1

Depending on how comfortable it should be, what Android version is in use, and whether root is available, there might be multiple approaches:

turn WiFi off completely, and just activate it for checking mail/initiating a sync, after which you disable it again. This should work on any device, regardless of the Android version.
Disabling background data unfortunately is restricted to mobile data only, but you could "trick" that with higher Android versions: I'm not sure when this was introduced (for sure after 4.0, as I can't find it on my phone), but it's possible to define certain WiFi networks as "mobile hotspot" (i.e. another mobile device is providing it), so it would be dealt with like a mobile connection – which means, the "restrict background data" setting should apply when connected to it. Then use the "restrict background data" feature to disable all "background traffic" (i.e. all transfers you did not explicitly trigger in the foreground app).
This way your web browser would still work if you load it, mail check should do when manually triggered from within your mail app, etc.
root access on the device gives you even more flexibility. You could use any firewall app to keep apps from using any data, etc.

Your device must be rooted if you want to control per apps connection ability. You may use avast's firewall feature than.

The app "My Data Manager" will not prevent certain apps and processes from using your wifi, but it is a mighty tool to analyze your traffic.
If I was you, I'd first of all check what's using how much data at home in normal life and then try to find out how to allow or disallow certain apps the wifi access.


text:
How to retrieve Google contacts
November 2013, I had changed my phone and I did not face any problem retrieving my all contacts through my Gmail account. After that, in my new phone (Gionee E6), I kept saving all contacts in one of the options (Google). Unfortunately yesterday I lost my phone. Today when I am trying to retrieve my contacts, I could  retrieve only those contacts which were saved before November 2013 (when I had changed my phone.
Moreover, on my desktop Gmail it is showing 6800 contacts whereas in my mobile, after sync, I find about 6000.
Is there any way I could retrieve contacts saved during last 4-5 months?

That rather sounds as if your "new contacts" have never been synced (maybe sync was turned off?). If that's the case: No way without physical access to your lost device.

@Izzy If that were the case, they wouldn't show up in Gmail from the desktop machine.

@DanHulme OP didn't state the 800 additional contacts are the new ones entered, or that the new ones are showing up in Gmail from the desktop machine. Though this seems to be a logical assumption, admitted.

I believe that the "Other" contacts you refer to i.e the 800 which do not show up on your phone (I am going to presume that they are valid and have numbers in them as well) are not assigned to "My Contacts".
If they are in a different group, try shifting them all to where the other 6000 contacts lie. This should fix your problem.

You can login to your Google Contacts at http://contacts.google.com and see all your contacts in the web browser.


text:
What are the Bluetooth profiles supported by the Nexus 7 (KitKat)?
I would think this is a simple question, but I am not finding the answer after searching.
What are the Bluetooth profiles supported by KitKat on the Nexus 7?

The full list of profiles is:

Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP)
Headset Profile (HSP)
Health Device Profile (HDP)
Health Thermometer profile (HTP)
Heart Rate Profile (HRP)
Human Interface Device Profile (HID, InputDevice)
Message Access Profile (MAP)
Personal Area Networking Profile (PAN)
Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP)
Generic Attribute (Gatt, HOGP, BTLE): Bluetooth 4.0 required
Generic Attribute Server (Gatt Server, BTLE): Bluetooth 4.0 required

Wow, this is interesting! How did you get this list?

Compiled it from multiple sources.

New Bluetooth profiles
Android 4.4 support for two new Bluetooth profiles to let apps support
  a broader range of low-power and media interactions. Bluetooth HID
  over GATT (HOGP) gives apps a low-latency link with low-power
  peripheral devices such as mice, joysticks, and keyboards. Bluetooth
  MAP lets your apps exchange messages with a nearby device, for example
  an automotive terminal for handsfree use or another mobile device. As
  an extension to Bluetooth AVRCP 1.3, users can now set absolute volume
  on the system from their Bluetooth devices.
Platform support for HOGP, MAP, and AVRCP is built on the Bluedroid
  Bluetooth stack introduced by Google and Broadcom in Android 4.2.
  Support is available right away on Nexus devices and other
  Android-compatible devices that offer compatible Bluetooth
  capabilities.

Source: Android KitKat

What I am looking for is the complete set of profiles for the Nexus 7 running KitKat; not just the new KitKat introductions.


text:
Help with moving ALL data from one galaxy 3 to a new Galaxy 3
I need to transfer everything from phone A to phone B (pictures, contacts, apps, and text messages).
How can I do that?

Unfortunately I do not know of a fresh and safe way to do this absolutely automatically but there are some tools which can help you with the same.

For Call Logs and SMS you can comfortably use these two apps and then transfer the backup files they create to you new phone. - SMS Backup and Restore and Call Logs Backup and Restore
For getting a list of your applications which you have currently installed, you may use AppBrain App Market. Some time back this had a companion app to it called Fast Web Installer. I believe APKs are still available on the internet. This one will take a backup of your app list and Fast Web Installer can restore the same on the other device.
Personally I recommend that you sign into your Google Account and go to all applications you have ever installed and manually handpick. This prevents useless or unused applications from your old phone to carry over to your new phone.
Contacts are automatically backed up at Google and you can do the same for the pictures as well. If you want to transfer pictures, you can also transfer them via External SD Card and just use the same SD Card on your other phone.


text:
How can I build the TextSecure app from source code?
Unless I’m mistaken, the TextSecure app (which provides encrypted text messaging—both over the wire and on disk) was pulled from the market a while back, leaving no way to install the app is readily available from the Market. Just today, however, the source code was released to the public. How can I build the app from source code and get it onto my phone?

Still shows up in the Market for me https://market.android.com/details?id=org.thoughtcrime.securesms this is the same app that their product page (on the site you linked to) links to.

If it was in fact pulled, you may want to find out why it was pulled before reinstalling it.

Oh, don’t listen to me—it looks like it was never pulled. I don’t know why I had such trouble finding it before. Anyway, my real motivation was to get the .apk without going through the Market since I don’t have the Market installed on my phone. :)

I know nothing about Android development, so keep that in mind. Following various instructions online, however, I was able to build the source and put it on my phone. Perhaps someone who knows what they’re doing can come along and explain how it really should be done. Until then…

Install and configure the Android SDK. Make sure you add the SDK tools to your PATH. I’m building this on Linux, but if you know what you’re doing it should be possible to follow along on Windows.
You may need to run android and install various platform software for the build to work. I did this a while back, so I don’t remember exactly what I had to do. Sorry.
Download the source code (requires git):
git clone https://github.com/WhisperSystems/TextSecure.git

Enter the source directory and build the app.
cd TextSecure
android update project --name textsecure --path . --target android-7
ant release

Cross your fingers. Hopefully the build succeeds. If it does, we will need to sign the newly built .apk file, textsecure-unsigned.apk, before Android will let you install it.
cp bin/textsecure-unsigned.apk bin/textsecure.apk
keytool -genkey -keystore mykeystore -validity 10000
jarsigner -keystore mykeystore bin/textsecure.apk mykey

Running keytool will prompt you to enter a bunch of information, as well as a password. Enter whatever you please, as it shouldn’t matter.
Copy the apk file, textsecure.apk, to the SDCard on your phone. Install it like you would any other non-Market application.

Note that the typical Android app development is done on Eclipse with ADT plugin. The ADT plugin will handle compiling, signing, and uploading the app to your phone. The process of compiling and installing is much easier if you use Eclipse, although Eclipse is a (very) huge IDE, so if you don't have further interest in developing Android application, doing it the manual way as described by Michael could be a viable alternative.


text:
Personalize Text Wallpaper
Anyone came across a android application (preferably Gingerbread, 2.3) that allow you to set personalize Nice text as your wallpaper? (I know there are some not nice application around) I search for Android market but most of the application displays clock, temperature, weather, etc which I don't really want. I saw someone on the train having their own customized word on their phone which is kind of Co0l!
Much Thanks!

Do you want text that changes in some way, or just some static text that doesn't change?

If all you want is static text that doesn't change in any way, then by far the easiest way is to open your wallpaper image in an imaging editing program either on a PC (something as simple as Windows Paint would do) or on the phone (search the Android Market for something like "image editor" or "photo editor" and you should find lots of apps that can do this like PicSay or Pho.to Lab) and add the text straight onto the picture.


text:
How to add an old podcast episode to Google Reader, so I find it in my Google Listen app?
I subscribe to podcasts via Google Reader, which puts them on the Google Listen app on my phone. But there are some podcast episodes that are very old that I can see in reader which I want on my phone.
How do I tell reader I want a specific old podcast episode to appear in Google Listen on my phone? Searching old podcasts from the phone is a miserable task.

Do you mean some very old podcast episodes?

I now edited your question to specify that you're talking about old podcast episodes instead of old podcast feeds. That way the question is more clear. I hope my assumption was correct.

The syncronization between Google Reader (web) and Google Listen (phone app for listening podcasts) is limited to podcast subscriptions and marking episodes as read/listened and unread/unlistened. There is no direct way to add episodes to your Listen "My listen items" queue from Reader.
You can still access old episodes from Listen by scrolling down and clicking repeatedly on the "Load more episodes..." link at the bottom, and you can add them to queue from there. Of course, this isn't as friendly as selecting them from Reader.
However, here's a workaround that might work:

In Google Reader, add a specific tag of your choice to the old episodes you are interested in.
In Google Reader, go to "Manage subcriptions -> Folders and Tags" to make your tag public.
Access the public page of the tag to get its Atom feed. That link should be a valid podcast feed containing only the episodes you have tagged (even from multiple different podcasts).
(This is the step I cound't get to work) Somehow subscribe to that created feed from Listen. Since you can't add a tag directly to a folder in Reader, you need to subscribe to the Atom feed of the tag, and from "Manage subscriptions" add that feed to the "Listen Subscriptions" folder. However, I coulnd't get Listen to show any items in that subscription, even though it looks ok when viewed in Reader.

These questions might also help:

Podcast app which supports old episodes well?
Alternative to Google Listen?


text:
How to disable Settings & Google Play in a restricted profile?
Using the new 4.3 restricted profile feature I'm able to remove most apps from a restricted profile.
How can I remove the remaining icons (Google Play & Settings) from the App Drawer and the Quick Settings menu? This would be ideal for a complete kiosk mode.

Whilst the Play Store icon is still available, it doesn't seem to work on a restricted profile - pressing it on my Nexus 7 results in:

You don't have permission to use Google Play Store.

Note that Google Play Store doesn't even appear in the list of apps you can enable.
The Settings app is still there, as it allows the user to force stop running apps, etc.

Better than nothing, I guess.


text:
Change swipe up home button shortcuts
I have a Nexus 5 with ParanoidAndroid and I'd like to change that Google Now shortcut to lightbulb, how can I do it?

You can use SwipeUp Utility to change the behaviour of the search action (swiping the home button) to launch a different app or shortcut.
I've contributed to this app (I helped the author fix a bug) but I've no financial interest in it.


text:
Add 2nd number into Google play
I recently bought another android device. How to add my 2nd number to Google play account? So that, I can easily choose to install apps from google play into my 1st number or 2nd number.

Added a photo to my answer. Don't forget to upvote and accept if it works for you.

Google Play is not tied up to phone numbers, but to Google accounts.
Just add/sync your existing Google account into your phone via System Settings > Accounts > Add Account. You will then be able to download / use the paid apps that you had in your other phone, assuming they are compatible with your second phone.
Then from Google Play, just select the account that you'd like to use.


text:
"Loading video..." seems to take forever on Android
For some reason, whenever I try to stream a video on my Galaxy S3 (running the latest stable Cyanogenmod 10) it takes up to 1 minute before it eventually starts playing. The exact same video on my iPad will load instantly on the exact same connection.
Does anyone please know why this is? I usually play videos through the default app, 'Gallery' I think it is, but I have tried other players too (ie MX Player and Hubi) and get the same problem.
Thanks!

Their could be a number of possible problems such as the format of the video; either the phones hardware or Cyanogenmod 10 may not support the format in which the video is in. I believe the video format is most likely the case because as you describe:

The exact same video on my iPad will load usually instantly on the exact same connection.

and

I usually play videos through the default app, 'Gallery' I think it is, but I have tried other players too (ie MX Player and Hubi) and get the same problem.

So check the video format of the videos in which you view. In this link, they describe the possible video formats that the Galaxy S3 can play. If the video is not in the correct format, I suggest trying to convert the video files localy on your PC.
Also another solution may be to re-image the phone to possibly earlier version of Cyanogenmod could possibly work.
Hope this helps.

Thank you, it happens across many different sites though in what I believe are different formats. The video does play eventually (sorry I didn't make that clear in the original post) it just takes ages to start.

@Nick That is quite alright, just be sure to edit the original post.


text:
Cannot see phone under 'My Computer'
My Galaxy S3 (running CM11) isn't showing at all under My Computer. The phone is set to MTP.
Under my computer the GT-i9300 shows up under 'Unspecified'. When I go into the device properties it shows up as Google Galaxy Nexus ADB Interface even though I have debugging mode turned off.
When I try to update the device manually to MTP USB Device or Samsung Mobile MTP Device I get an error saying "This device cannot start. (Code 10)"
I've tried un-installing and re-installing the drivers, as well as the registry tweaks mentioned in this XDA thread but I do not have the UpperFilter key present. I've also tried installing Kies and running the connection troubleshooter with no luck. Any suggestions please?
Many thanks

It appears that you are using Android Studio (or another IDE). Try turning on developer mode and then connect the device.

Thanks, when I run under developer mode it still won't work unfortuantely :(

@Nick Did you enable USB Debugging? What about verify apps over USB? What happened to me was, I had to wait for an RSA certificate to pop up on my phone to verify that it is connected properly....


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Converting an existing user to a restricted profile
With Android 4.3 comes a new feature, restricted profiles. It allows creating new special "restricted" users, for which an admin user can control access to apps.
However, in addition to my own admin user, I already have a secondary user for my kid, which has all of the user-specific data, such as saved games. If I create a new restricted profile, those will be lost.
How can I convert an existing (secondary) user to a restricted profile?
Note for the interested: The restricted profiles feature doesn't provide a complete secure access block, but it works well as a hinderance and prevents accidental blunders - which happens to be excatly what I'm interested in.

Your second account is a user, not a profile, right?

What device are you referring to, IIRC, multiple users only confined to tablets?

The device is Nexus 10, an Android tablet with vanilla Android OS.

@geffchang Yes, a user. I was confusing the two concepts. I now cleared up the terminology of the question (and deleted my earlier response).

I'm glad you were able to distinguish between a user and a profile. However, you have an interesting (business) case. If you report it to Google's support channels, maybe they can support it in the future (at least for transferring existing data to a new profile).

As of this moment, it is not possible to convert a user into a profile.
However, you could create a profile based on the existing user. Downside: Since a profile doesn't have a Google account tied to it, they can't have a GMail app. And as you have already mentioned, they would also lose those user-specific data.
UPDATE #1: From Android.com, it says that a restricted profile is a subset of a user's account. It's using the same user account, albeit restricted. So the profile is quite different from a User, where it's tied to a different Google account.

Each restricted profile offers an isolated and secure space with its
  own local storage, home screens, widgets, and settings. Unlike with
  users, profiles are created from the tablet owner’s environment, based
  on the owner’s installed apps and system accounts. The owner controls
  which installed apps are enabled in the new profile, and access to the
  owner’s accounts is disabled by default.

I was afraid so. Any reference for this? Are you sure there are no hackarounds for doing this, even though it isn't directly supported?

@IlariKajaste Based on what I've read on What's New, users and profiles are really different entities themselves. A profile is a subset of a user, while a user is like any ordinary user.

@IlariKajaste From what I've read over at XDA, there is no way to convert a user into a profile.

@IlariKajaste I added Update #1 to my answer.

Thanks, that is very interesting information! I wonder if there is a simple way to transfer app data and settings from an user account to a restricted profile. I guess at least app data should be possible by using some backup app, like Titanium...

@Poldie Is that an answer that works for Ilari's problem? Why don't you post it as a separate answer? I can't verify, because I don't have 4.3 nor a tablet.

@Poldie If I understand correctly, Google's app data backup only works on apps that support it. It very possible I'm mistaken on this, though.

On rooted system change in xml file for user in /data/system/users/ flags from 16 to 24
Example:
user id="11" serialNumber="13" flags="24" created="1373565328127" lastLoggedIn="1376779161829" icon="/data/system/users/11/photo.png"
Here are the constants https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base.git/+/android-4.2.2_r1/core/java/android/content/pm/UserInfo.java
/**
 * Primary user. Only one user can have this flag set. Meaning of this
 * flag TBD.
 */
public static final int FLAG_PRIMARY = 0x00000001;

/**
 * User with administrative privileges. Such a user can create and
 * delete users.
 */
public static final int FLAG_ADMIN   = 0x00000002;

/**
 * Indicates a guest user that may be transient.
 */
public static final int FLAG_GUEST   = 0x00000004;

/**
 * Indicates the user has restrictions in privileges, in addition to those for normal users.
 * Exact meaning TBD. For instance, maybe they can't install apps or administer WiFi access pts.
 */
public static final int FLAG_RESTRICTED = 0x00000008;

/**
 * Indicates that this user has gone through its first-time initialization.
 */
public static final int FLAG_INITIALIZED = 0x00000010;

EngyCZ


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Change Margins on Kobo App
I've recently installed the Kobo App for Android on a Galaxy Mega running Android 4.2.2.
The default margin width is way too big for my liking. Is there are way to change the margin setting?
I can see options to change font and colour settings. Are there any additional config files that give more control over this app's display style?

Possibly because your phone is so ridiculously large the app is giving it the screen layout it would have on 7in tablets. You should complain to the developer and ask them to fix it.

Many apps just upscale to the screen, with very mixed results. It's very apparent on a Nexus 7, worse on a 10. As Dan said, get on to the app developer, with a nice polite email it may only be a few tweaks (s)he needs to make and if he's a decent developer (s)he'll want to know!

Thanks Dan and RossC. I've notified Kobo and got a message back from their support team that my feature request has been received. Others with the same issue might consider doing likewise.


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Tasker does not recognise incoming calls
I have a Galaxy S4 I9505 on KitKat. I use Tasker for various things. I am trying to set up a "caller announce" when I am in the car. So I want to create a profile which when a call comes in announces the caller name (if in the contacts) or the caller number. That part I have working.
Where I am struggling is to get Tasker to activate the profile when a call comes in. I have tried Event - phone ringing and have that linked to my task. That task does not activate on incoming calls. So I tried state - phone - call (incoming), the same result. The phone starts ringing, but the profile does not activate the task (I have tried with a test task too, which sets a variable). From what I have read either of these profiles should activate when I have an incoming call.

Hi, have you got any progress on that?

The one you want is Event->Phone Ringing.  The State->Phone Call would not activate until you've answered the call.  Event Profiles activate and deactivate rather quickly so you probably wouldn't see it if you were trying to watch for the green active color.  However, you mentioned that it did not even set a variable through a test task.  Were you using a global variable for that or a local variable?  Try using the Flash action to flash the caller's name and see if that pops up.
Once you get that working and confirmed, you might need to do some more work on your announcement.  I'm guessing you're using the Say action.  You'll need to uncheck Respect Audio Focus in order for Say to talk over the phone ringer since the ringer takes precedence.  You'll probably also want to turn the ringer off temporarily using the Ringer Volume action to allow the Say action to finish and then turn the ringer back on.


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S Memo home screen shortcut
How can I add a S Memo note as a home screen shortcut? When I first got my Samsung Galaxy S3 there was a shortcut which I deleted.This was not  a shortcut for the app but for a saved note.Now I can't find a way to do it

Go to "Widgets" folder, there should be an S Memo widget in it. Push and hold it. It will give you an option to move a generic S Memo note onto one of your home screens. Once you've done that, you can open it and choose between making this shortcut an existing note and creating a new one.

Can you find S memo in application menu?
if Yes then long press on S Memo and add to home screen.
if No then Download from HERE and do above step
Also search in widget


text:
How to enable double-click
Is it possible to do double-click on Android like you do on a regular computer? Some websites require double-click to operate, and I was hoping I could do the same on Android and get a computer double-click behavior instead of Android double tap zoom.

What websites are you using that require double clicking? I can't think of any at all that use that (except if you want to select text, which is more of a browser/OS thing than it is a website design). There are plenty that use hover actions which can be problematic.

its a trading website on steam platform. screenshot here link To push items from my inventory to trade i need to double click or drag them

Somewhat, a good question. Anyway, website for testing double-click: http://unixpapa.com/js/testmouse.html, since I couldn't do it even on the latest Chrome on Lollipop 5.1.

Related Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 doesn't recognize double-clicks..Not all website are meant for mobile and not all website work in all browsers..

Just created this account just to share this priceless information... Try and instal "Puffin browser" on googleplay.. It has the virtual mouse that works like a charm! Thank me later and the developer!

You can try using Firefox for Android with the plugin NoDoubleTap that lets you disable double tap zooming.
Hopefully that will let Android pass both taps through to the website so it can register a double click.

i tried it. it doesn't work

NoDoubleTap addon is gone: "If you’ve followed a link from another site for an extension or theme, that item is no longer available."

I had the same issue and the only browser I've found that works is Puffin.  I have to use the virtual mouse and a BT mouse together but it does work.

I should clarify the two mice.  I have to place the virtual mouse on what I want to double tap and then I have to use the bt mouse to actually double click it.  It might just be a bug in my work's webpage but it works for me.


text:
Google now frequent crash
I have installed Google now in  CM 11 beta 5 running in htc explorer ,every time I make a search it freezes and crashes.I have rebooted again and again but no relief .it keeps on crashing.Can any one suggest me what to do

Can you try getting the logs of the crash?

how can I get the log?

CM 11 BETA <-- the word beta is a clue here, CM is generally quite buggy outside of stable releases. You'll have to raise a report with CM and see if it is a know issue and maybe a later build will address it. However, if you want a daily driver for your phone you are better off with a stable build of CM or another ROM. Otherwise you are nearly guaranteed to have issues. Alternatively, re-flash you gapps making sure you are using the correct KitKat ones from the CM site.


text:
Google Now launches when headphones are plugged in
I recently got a new LG G2 from T-Mobile and it worked perfectly fine but now When ever I plug in my headphones it randomly opens Google Now. It always says "speak to search" or it turns the music or what ever I am listening to maximum volume. And when my device is locked with my password it just repeats "Please unlock the device". Can someone help me?

Are you using the headphones that came with the phone? If not that could be why.
Even if they're genuine Apple EarPods or Beats - it looks as though the main issue is the middle button in the headphone is stuck while pressed in.

SO this has to do with the 3.5mm audio port on thje device.
With special headphones (the ones with controls on the wire) this feature gives you the ability to voice search without taking out the device. but for you (and me) it just bugs out.
basically the male headphone port is brushing up against the designated special area on the female port (top kek) and giving it the signal to do whatever (google now, modify volume, ect)
You cant fix it as of now, but if the device is in sleep mode or whatever google now wont open, and powerAmp has an option to disable volume modification.
and thats about it.

I don't understand how every one is saying this is a headphone jack issue. I've more than 50 apps installed on my phone, some of them with microphone permission too, yet none of them opens when headphone is connected. The problem exists only with Google Assistant/Now app.

I used Titanium Backup to freeze the Google app responsible for Google voice search (I don't use it). Now everything is back to normal again, like I expect it too.

Please take the [tour] of this site. This is not a forum or any discussion platform which means no ranting is allowed. If you have any problem with Android or Google, contact AOSP or Google team. For the time being I've removed fluff and left only the crux.

Go to Settings->Installed Apps. Find Google Now app or Google app (whichever one is annoying you). Either disable the app or deny the microphone permission. Thats it.

authors: วุธธา นะคร้ะ


text:
Problems with Huawei Phone
I have a Huawei Android phone with 512 MB ram and a 1.2 GHz quadcore processor with 4GB internal memory with JellyBean on it. For the past few days no game is running on it. I have tried Riptide GP2, Dead Trigger, World at Arms but to no avail. They install but when I open them they load 20-30% and then it comes back to the menu screen with a wheel rotating.
I thought it was a problem with my ram but I researched that RAM frees itself to run apps. I have 30-40 MB free ram so please tell me what to do as I am really annoyed. I know it has good hardware as its antutu benchmark score is around 14000.
I do not want to root my phone.
I've uninstalled many apps just to make the games work, but it didn't work. I would like to play these games.

Can you tell which exact phone you use? The model name?

i have huawei g520-5000 phone.
|

@edvinas.me i also think that it is enough to run a game.so what should i do to make it enough to play a game.and also ho wmuch is required to run a game like dead trigger.and will i be able to play it?isn,t 512 mb RAM enough?

@iknowitsme Your best bet would be contacting the developers of these games and asking what the minimum hardware requirements are. For example, according to the Riptide GP2's Play Store description, support will refund your purchase if they can't help you with getting the game to run: "We GUARANTEE if we can't fix your problem we'll give you a refund."

and also if anyone can tell me what to do in order to free more ram?

Android already manages RAM on its own fairly well by closing other background apps automatically if more memory is needed. Not much else you can do really.

As others have mentioned in the comments, 512 MB RAM with 30-40 MB free might be insufficient for running newer, resource-hungry games.  Your version of Android (4.1, according to Huawei g520-5000's specifications) already handles memory quite efficiently by terminating background apps when more RAM is required for games and such.
Your best bet would be contacting the game developers over e-mail and asking for help.  Many will provide some support, just be prepared to know how to extract and send over the phone's logs.  Some, such as Vector Unit (developer of Riptide GP2) even go as far as issue a refund if they can't help you with the problem:
Quote from Riptide GP2's Play Store description:

• • CUSTOMER SUPPORT • •
  If you encounter a problem running the game,
  please email the device you're using, Android OS version, and a
  detailed description of your problem to support@vectorunit.com.
  We GUARANTEE if we can't fix your problem we'll give you a refund. But we
  can't help you if you just leave your problem in a review.
  For fastest support on most common issues please visit: www.vectorunit.com/support

hey!these games actually ran on my phone.i checked the free ram and it was round 130-180 mb.i do not how this amount of my ram was free.i guessed that i had some ram issues and i was true.so if you all can suggest some ways of regularly keeping my ram this much free.

The fact is, that your phone is really outdated. In other words, too old to run these games. Even in previous days, the SoC on your phone, Qualcomm Snapdragon 200, is a low-end processor, as well as the 512MB RAM being a fairly small amount. I suggest that you should give up attempting to run those games, because even if they launch properly, they would run extremely laggy and will likely end up being irresponsive due to insufficient system resources.


text:
Titanium Backup vs Android data backup
So somewhere along the line Android got a native "backup my data" option but I haven't gotten to use it. I used to use Titanium Backup and it was the main reason I rooted my phone, but I don't have Titanium or Root anymore.
Is there any significant difference in what's backed up between the native Android Backup from Google's servers vs the standard Titanium Backup? I mean a plain old backup, none of the freezing/bloatware melting/ect that Titanium also provides.
What do I end up with if my phone is bricked or I get a new phone and I restore from either platform?

I think you're better off using Titanium Backup if you want to ensure that when you restore your phone, you'll have exactly what you had when you performed the backup.  I find that Android's new built-in backup options are inconsistent.  For example, after re-installing some apps, some of the settings are magically maintained, however some data (usually authentication data) is no longer there.  I guess this is a good thing as storing everything in the cloud would be a bit scary, but when you use Titanium, there are no surprises: all of the data is restored.
Another benefit of Titanium is that you can do multiple backups at of a single app's data and restore any of those levels--not so for the built-in backup options.
So I'd advise using Titanium.

So it's mainly (or only) authentication data that's lost? That sounds consistent with iCloud (which I've had to restore from a few too many times)

This is usually the case.  However, because only some of the data is backed up (and because you have no control over when the backup occurs and when data is restored) it's a really good idea to perform your own backups, though.  This can guard you against outright data loss as well as data corruption--something that the built-in auto-backups do not really help you with.

True...maybe I'll have to try and see if Super One Click can root my phone yet

You should also be aware of the fact that for getting backed up by Google's "native" backup-to-cloud, an app must actively support that -- i.e. it must explicitely use the corresponding API, or it will not be included with those backups. While not all apps support this (<- euphemism), there's nothing excluded by Titanium Backup. As described, the latter backs up really everything -- while the former only backs up some data from some apps.
Another good thing to do from time to time is a full Nandroid backup, which is supported by most (all?) custom recovery images/modes (e.g. ClockWorkMod aka CWM). Once booted into Recovery, you can create a Nandroid backup (make sure to have enough free space on your sdcard), and having done this, you can move it from the card to your computer for safekeeping. If you've got enough space on your card, you could also keep the latest copy there: With Titanium backup, you can even extract single elements (such as a special app and its data) from a Nandroid backup. Or, if your system for some reason gets really messed up, you can restore it completely from this Nandroid backup -- again via the Custom Recovery.


text:
Change "contact" photo when making a call
I've started using Google Plus and I want my Android "contact" picture to change to the picture used in G+; a real photo of me. It's currently using an old avatar picture I once set for Google Talk, so when I call them it pops up with a silly avatar instead of my real photo. This shows up as my Phone contact picture as well, not just Google +.
Is there some way to set which image is used either via android, Gtalk or Gmail or something?
I always use Gchat via Gmail, but I don't know where or how I set my Gtalk avatar anymore, and I don't recall setting that picture for myself on my phone ever.
I am on Android 2.3.4.

Turns out I had to change this via the "Mail Settings" menu in Gmail, under the General Menu is a My Picture menu, where you can select the image used for Google +, Google Voice and apparently the icon used for contacts synched with gmail.


text:
Hide "Successfully Updated" notifications from Google Play/Market
I have a lot of apps on auto-update and I really don't care when most of them update. I almost always have 3 notifications saying some app has successfully updated.
Is there any way I can the notifications off? I'm on Android 2.3.5, Motorola Electrify. I think I have the latest version of Market since it updated to Google Play on its own. I don't see settings for this anywhere in Google Play or the device's settings. FWIW I'm not rooted.

From 4.1 onwards it's possible to do so in the System Settings/Apps/Google Play Store. Uncheck the box that says Show Notifications. That kills all notifications for the app.

Excellent! Thanks, I didn't even think to check this after getting a 4.2 device

No, i don't think its controllable. At least i haven't found any set of Advanced Settings in Google Play to enable/disable such notifications. So, I think, at the moment, you have to live with it, though a request can be made to Google for improvements at http://code.google.com/p/android/

Yeah, I haven't seen anything in Google Play or the device settings at all...was hoping I missed something

Open Market application.
Tap Menu key.
Select Settings.
Uncheck Notifications. (notify me about updates to apps or games that I've downloaded)

OP is not talking about notification regarding available updates but notification after updating app.


text:
Phone mutes ringer when I dismiss alarms
I have a Motorola Electrify (the Photon but on US Cellular) running Android 2.3.5. Sometimes when I dismiss my alarm in the morning, my phone mutes its ringer for some reason. I'm fairly sure it didn't used to do this, but I used Alarm Clock Extreme for a while so I'm not sure.
Why would dismissing my alarm mute my phone and how can I stop it? It's the default "Alarm and Timer" app on my phone which seems to be Motorola's customization. It's intermittent but very annoying.


text:
Rooting HTC Hero GSM 2.1-update-1 (3.41.61.31)
So I've been trying to root my HTC (Hero GSM 2.1-update-1 (3.41.61.31), originally Orange Spain, but unlocked by code) for few hours now, haven't managed yet.
All the articles I've found about rooting this phone seems to be quite old and none seem to be more recent than the latest OTA update they've sent.
Even the latest version of Androot (1.6.2 beta 5) doesn't seem to work; I keep getting a Failed ! No ~~~ Fu goo ~~~ seemingly clueless error.
Found some more hardcore ways to do it, but then again, all of them quite old and no one confirming if for the current version - I don't want to end up with an expensive paperweight :(
I want to root it in order to install the latest Froyo ROM (Oh, and if anyone have serious reason for opposing to the villainrom 1.7, I'd appreciate a headsup)
Please, could anyone refer me to the definite how-to-root-this-thing?
cheers mates,
f.

See also: How do I root my HTC Hero?

It sounds like no one has cracked the latest version of your firmware to allow for root access so you will have to downgrade to an earlier version of your stock ROM.  You may have already seen all this in your travels but if not, it may help.
Warning, this is by no means a definitive guide, but it's my best shot:
Downgrade your firmware:

Here is an old guide on how to downgrade, but it still should be relevant.
Here are old ROMs for your phone.

Root:
This guide over at XDA is pretty comprehensive.  It was last updated in August, but it looks like it was edited just two weeks ago so it should still be good info.  I'd read through the thread and to see how it's been working for people.  There may actually be more relevant instructions later on in the thread.
Again, I have no idea if this will work, so proceed at your own risk.

Thanks mate. That's what I've been working into. Let's see if it works. Quite a hassle actually the whole downgrade thing :(

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


text:
Manually Updating your OS?
Is it possible to manually update any Android Device?

Do you mean custom ROMs or manually updating with official updates?

Yes, assuming the device has been rooted and someone has engineered the update to work with your specific device.  How fast that happens depends on how hard the devices manufacturer has made it, and how active the community is.  Its not as simple as just loading windows on a computer.
I asked a similar question a while ago. Check out the answers for more detail: What is involved in installing Android onto a device?

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


text:
Accidentally turn on silent mode
On my LG-ally, I keep accidentally turning on silent mode.  What exactly am I doing to cause this, and is there any way to disabled whatever the action is?

If you're downvoting please explain why.  Presumably there are only a few ways to turn on silent mode, and even fewer ways to do it unintentionally on a frequent basis.. So i don't see how this question is vague or off topic

I have not voted, but your question is poorly-formed ("What exactly am I doing to cause this" - one can only guess without observing your use, and you don't even describe whether this happens in holster, pocket, or purse), and very device-dependent and therefore of limited interest.

Are you perhaps using the volume control and going all the way to the "bottom"? That turns on silent mode in my Droid.
Are you hitting the wrong option on the menu when you hit the power button?
I'm not familiar with the LG Ally, so I don't know if they might have added an extra feature to make it easy to get into silent mode. Did you check the manual?

My apologies if this is too much of a me-too, but I'll second Al Everetts comments on the volume control.
I have this problem in 2 situations:
1. In the bracket I use in the car, one of the foam blocks rests a little on the down volume button.  I've since cut the foam to reduce this issue.
2. When I'm holding it in landscape mode, I often bump the volume buttons.
There are on-screen indicators though, so I usually don't do it without noticing.

I had a similar problem on my MotoDroid, and downloaded RingGuard from the Market.  It's a simple app that detects whenever the ring volume changes and pops up an on-screen dialog to confirm.  If you don't confirm the change within a couple of seconds, it cancels it.


text:
Tool for accessing android files on a linux pc over wi-fi
What is the best app to browse, explore and access android files on a Linux machine over wifi?

FTPServer is very good, SwiFTP is another option.  I believe they're both in the Market.

Matthew, do those two work as regular FTP clients as well, i.e. login to a remote server and manage files on it?

I don't believe so.  I searched a bit and didn't see any apps that did both.

I use QuickSSHd. It costs $1.50 US but is worthwhile for me because it gives command line access as well as full root filesystem access. Does require root.

I use WiFi File Explorer.  It's for accessing (and moving, etc) files on your phone, nothing else, but it does it wonderfully.