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Does the Android OS supports playing two or more audios simultaneously?
Does the Android OS supports playing two or more audios simultaneously ?
I am asking this because I have seen some apps playing audio without stopping the audio that's already playing in the background.
I am confused whether it is the feature of the app or the Android OS. Please provide some information about its support.
Thanks in advance !

If the background music is played by App1 and the foreground music comes from App2 it is obviously a feature of the OS, because App1 can't access the audio of App2 and the other way round.


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Can any computer connect to a SSH server running on an android phone connected to a wireless mobile network?
I run a ssh server on an Android phone using SimpleSSHD.
When the phone is connected to a wifi network, I can connect to the SSH server from a computer in the same wifi network.
When  the phone is connected to a carrier's wireless mobile network, I found an IP address on the android phone in "Settings-> About Phone -> Status". How can I find out if the IP address is a public IP address for the phone's network interface, or shared by many devices in the same LAN? Can any computer connected to the Internet connect to the SSH server using the phone's IP address?
It seems that I can't, and I was wondering why?
$ ssh -p 2222 11.22.333.444
ssh: connect to host 11.22.333.444 port 2222: Connection timed out

Thanks.

For running a SSH server on a Smartphone connected via mobile data to the Internet you need a public IP address on the mobile network interface.
You can simple check if your IP is a public one: Enable mobile data and disable Wifi on your phone and check the IP address you have (Phone status in Android settings). If the IP address starts with 10.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x it is obviously a private IP address. If not open your web browser on the phone and go to https://www.whatismyip.com. Compare the IP address shown there with the one one in your phone settings. If they match your IP is a public one.
Unless you have a special mobile data plan, the majority of mobile network operators (MSO) will not assign your device a public IP address. Instead you are getting a private IP address that needs to pass a NAT gateway running in the MNO's network. The main reason for this situation is that the IPv4 addresses are rare - most MNOs don't have enough IPv4 addresses to assign every mobile device a public IPv4 address.
Some MNO offer special data plans with a public IP address - usually only for business customers and with higher prices.
The whole situation is similar to a Smartphone connected to a Wifi in a network with a NAT router that is connected via DSL/cable to the Internet. But in difference the NAT router is not accessible so that nobody can open up ports (port forwarding) to make a service accessible running on a system in the network behind the NAT router.

This is also known as Carrier Grade Nat, right?

@DavidPostill You are right.

Can any computer connected to the Internet connect to the SSH server using the phone's IP address?

depends on how your ssh server is configured, along with TCP wrappers.  By default, that is typically yes.  However you can restrict who and from where can successfully connect via SSH by editing /etc/hosts.allow and changing
SSHD : ALL : ALLOW

to something more restrictive.  There is also /etc/hosts.deny you can play with, along with editting /etc/ssh/sshd_config.  Realize SSH is the protocol and is completely independent of the computer system... if my dell laptop follows the SSH protocol  and a coke machine follows the same version of the SSH protocol, then a valid communication link can be established between the two... over TCP/IP.  When this will not work is when that communication is blocked via some other means.  Not to mention firewall settings...

How can I find out if the IP address is a public IP address for the phone's network interface.

use a browser on the phone and go to a website that will report back to you the [public] ip address it sees your phone as.  If that reported address matches what is in Phone_Settings, then that would be a yes.  But I can tell you what ip address your phone settings is saying is not a public ip address, for the same reason my home computer through the comcast modem gives my home computer 10.0.0.1.  Simply web search what is my public ip to find any of a hundred sites that will tell you your public IP.
unix&linux > AndroidEnthusiasts :)

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Forgot Password
I can´t remember my Samsung Galaxy J7´s phone password and I have to reset it. But I don't want to lose all of my pictures and etc. How can I still have all of that stuff without downloading it or getting on my phone?

•Note this is an advance task
 •This is created by me and I've tested this many times

First of all if you have enabled oem unlocking you must have heard custom recovery and twrp is one of them.
Install a twrp using Odin you can go here Samsung j7 pro or Samsung j700t here. If you're phone model is not in the list then tell me your phone model or just search on your own.
After installing twrp power off your phone then press volume up + power ** + **Home button together then you will be booted to twrp to delete your passcode goto advance > file manager then navigate to /data/system/ and delete all .key files and also locksettings.db after doing those just reboot to system then the passcode/pattern/pin is gone

You need to have your stock boot where its stored on your stock firmware download your stock firmware from here or here. After that extract the firmware, you should get something like AP, PDA, CSC open the AP using winrar or other archive tools if there's no AP then open PDA find boot.img then extract it. After getting your stock boot you need to download assayyed kitchen here. After download extract it to some folder then open assayyed kitchen.exe after that it should create work folders, put your stock boot on the work folder then goto assayyed kitchen then type 12 then 1 to unpackimg after that you need to type the number of the -enable USB debugging by default (I forgot the number) then after that recompile the boot press 2 and enter .
Copy your moddedboot then create an archive to it using any archive tools archive it as an .tar file after that copy he boot.img.tar to the desktop then power off your phone after powering off hold volume down + Power button + Home button together then your phone will be booted to download mode after that open Odin choose PDA/ap choose the stockmoddedboot.img.tar then click flash after that connect your phone to the computer then the flashing process will continue.
After installing the stockmoddedboot power on your phone then connect the phone to PC then type  adb devices, there would be a information that will pop up to your phone just click grant/accept then type adb shell rm /data/system/gesture.key then adb reboot
Your phone would be booted without a passcode/pattern/pin

P.S. if anyone try removing there frp you can use the method 2 but you need to download some software to remove frp using adb and fastboot

There are a couple of ways to do so...

First, if your phone has a Google account logged in go to Android Device Manager's Website and Login with your Google Account...You'll find an option to change the device's lock code along with several other options....IF this fails...as sometimes Google denies you the privilege to change the passcode in case your Google account shower suspicious activity by saying that the phone is already protected ....go to method 2
IF YOU HAD A SAMSUNG account logged in on the phone go to Find my Device and Log into the account which was on the phone...this will Surely work and get you an Option to Change your phone's Password/Pattern

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


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Is it possible to access Face ID sensors raw data?
My Honor 10 has facial recognition capability in the dark, I suppose it works like Apple's Face ID which would rely on and IR camera and an Infrared pattern/dot projector.
So, since the Settings app and the Screen lock app can access those sensors, could it be possible to activate/ access those sensors data in another custom built app (on a Rooted smartphone) to use it for 3D scanning objects or simply recording the face of the user in order to 3D print a functional facial recognition "key"?

FaceId is based on infrared light sensors and depth sensing technology.
All the captured data is saved in the form of Encrypted hashes in the secure enclave.
First of all, the system doesn't allow you to read these files. But in any case
you are able to read the encrypted files, you can not decrypt them for your purpose.
All the encrypted data is saved locally.
If you are creating a new app, you can use these sensors for capturing data.


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Allow android chrome to load unsafe scripts
When any site has mixed content (HTTPS + HTTP), and when you try to open HTTP content, on Desktop chrome, it shows a "shield" icon like screen below,

This allow user to load unsafe script.
However, the above option is not coming or not available when i open the same page in Android phone's chrome browser. My chrome app version is 71.0.3578.99
Any idea how to get above pop-up in android chrome to allow user to load unsafe scripts?

Can you provide a URL as an example?

the 1 i had an issue with i cannot share as i am not the owner of it. But basically this is easy to reproduce on any site whose page-1 is served over https and then page-2 is http. I will see if i can share such an example...

Starting with Chrome v79 the desktop version of Chrome will no longer load mixed content: https://blog.chromium.org/2019/10/no-more-mixed-messages-about-https.html

I just now encountered this problem. On my PC there was a warning "sheild" at the right side of the address bar, and I was able to click it and choose the option of load unsafe scripts.  On my Android tablet no such shield was present.  Just trying things, I clicked the address line, and it showed the URL along with a short menu of three choices, among them a pencil icon for editing. I chose that, then removed the "s" from the "https" in the URL, and that worked.

So, essentially, modify the address to http:// to eliminate the certification checks and the safe route? Spent alot of words there to say that without explaining the danger.

thanks, it works for me. I know there are security issues but i am only working on testing.


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How high is the risk of bricking a phone by installing LineageOS or /e/?
I am going to buy a phone soon and I would rather buy an Android than an iPhone. However, I do not want to run any Google software on the phone, and I am planning on installing one of the custom ROMs LineageOS or /e/ (which is based on LineageOS).
How high is the risk of bricking the phone by installing one of these custom ROMs? Just to be clear, I do not plan on rooting the phone and I will install the phone on a supported device, probably the OnePlus 5.

Possible duplicate of Bootloader/BIOS, flashing ROM and correlated risks. Why Android devices are more brickable than PCs?

That depends on the phone. If it officially supports "unlocking" (OEM unlock) you can install a matching custom recovery for your device. From that point on it is rather hard to brick the phone by installing a well maintained custom ROM.

I don’t think my question is a duplicate of the other one because I am asking about how likely it is that the device will get bricked, rather than why this could happen.

@Robert Thank you for your response. I am not sure if it does officially support unlocking, or how to tell if it does, because I am new to this kind of stuff. These are the directions for installing /e/ on a OnePlus 5. https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/wiki/en/wikis/device/cheeseburger/install

Every where you read fastboot oem unlock the device needs to support unlocking. If the manual is specific for a certain device this usually indicates that this device can be unlocked.

I did this a lot in the past as well as some porting myself and didn't brick anything at all but I know what I was doing so close to 0. If you don't know what you're doing, you might think its bricked when its not or actually do something that bricks it so somewhere above 0 to 100 depending on what you do and what knowledge you have or what help you get.

@CmosBattery Are there any specific precautions I should take or anything that might lead to bricking it to avoid?

Technical ones like don't disable anything that checks to make sure the rom is being flashed to correct device, etc. Follow what good devs have instructed to the T, double check everything before flashing, make sure users are actually using it as often devs might post something that doesn't actually boot yet (if ever). Make sure you understand and are comfortable with the process before doing it.

@CmosBattery Thank you. What does “T” mean though?

https://grammarist.com/usage/to-a-t/

@CmosBattery Ohhh I thought T itself meant something. Okay, thank you. I will try to keep these in mind when I download and install the ROM.


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can't find mapping of "android.permission.INTERNET" permission to famous methods which should use it
I was trying to evaluate effective permissions usage of an apk using axplorer mapping files.
During evaluation I obtained an effective use of the android.permission.INTERNET permission equal to 0.
This sounds pretty weird considering that this is maybe the most USED permission of all (android doc just tells an apk must declare this permission "In order to perform network operation"...)
This weird result depends on the fact that in axplorer mapping files there aren't mappings of famous "internet using" methods (java.net.HttpURLConnection, java.net.HttpsUrlConnection, java.net.Socket etc...) with android.permission.INTERNET permission.
I also knew that axplorer project replaced pscout project, so I took a look at pscout's mapping files either and found that in pscout's mapping files of android versions from Jelly Bean to Froyo there actually ARE mappings of java.net.HttpURLConnection, java.net.Socket etc.. methods with the permission, but for 4.11-5.11 android version, there is no mapping with these methods, and the mapping files become very similar to axplorer mapping files of android more recent versions.
Someone can help me find out why I'm seeing this strange case in permissions mappings?
I need to evaluate permissions effectively usage, but a "zero usage" of android.permission.INTERNET has really to be false... Someone can help me with that? Maybe there's something wrong in my idea?

The readme states:

Maps are currently missing APIs with permissions checked in native code (Camera, etc.). We hope to provide these soon.

The permission android.permission.INTERNET is a permission that is mostly checked on native code level. Therefore you won't find much references to it in the API mapping files.
Update: The old mapping files that did include APIs for the Internet permission were as far as I know generated by manually reviewing the AOSP source code for permission checks. Over the time AOSP got larger and larger and the release frequency increased therefore this toot too much effort for providing those info for each and every Android release. Therefore the people who created the mapping files concentrated on the Java part which is much smaller and easier to check.

Thank you, that can be a point...
How you managed to know android.permission.INTERNET is only checked on native code level?

@Alessio I read it a long time ago. Additionally you can also derive it by logic: Android as Linux system allows to open socket connections using native Linux functions. Therefore if you want to enforce the Internet permission you have to implement the permission check also on native level. Once you have done that there is no need for additional checks on Java API level.

I did a check and actually it seems that THERE ARE some some mappings for the android.permission.INTERNET permission in axplorer mappingFiles... But these are NOT on the "famous 'internet using' " methods I mentioned... But on other java and method classes. The list of classes/methods follows:

com.android.providers.downloads.DownloadProvider
com.android.server.NsdService.getMessenger()
com.android.server.ConnectivityService.reportBadNetwork(android.net.Network)
com.android.server.ConnectivityService.reportInetCondition(int,int)
com.android.server.ConnectivityService.reportNetworkConnectivity(android.net.Network,boolean)

@Alessio That makes sense calls to services should be RPC calls to other processes, therefore before calling Internet relevant methods you have to check if the current app has the Internet permission. Otherwise you could (mis)use the service to do Internet related actions without having the Internet permission.

Sorry, I'm not getting it... Precisely what makes sense applying your reasoning and why? The presence of the mappings I showed in contents or the abscence of mappings for, f.e., java.net.HttpURLConnection?

@Alessio HttpUrlConection is a Java wrapper for the native Linux socket function. It is always executed in the current app process and therefore covered by the permission checks of the native Socket function. The external services are not part of the app and the app process. If you use a service that belongs to a different process (via RPC) your permissions no longer apply, instead the permissions of the app the service belongs to apply. E.g. the DownloaderService I assume is a system service and therefore has the Internet permission no matter by which app it is used.


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Oreo 8.1: Day of the week not displaying in notification drawer
I'm running Android Oreo 8.1. How do I have the day off the week show up next to the date in the notification drawer drop-down?
Thanks.

You can use Date in Status Bar. It will display the day of the week in short format above the date. However, the month and year are not shown (I have not seen them when testing). When you expand the status bar, the day of the week, date, month and year are all shown.
Here are how the date is displayed:
a. When the status bar is not expanded

b. When the status bar is expanded


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Need urgent help in fixing soft-bricked Moto G5s
I was trying to root my Moto G5s. I did a mistake while flashing twrp, I flashed cedric instead of montana. As a result, whenever I reboot, I am getting error:
    Start Up Failed:
Your device didn't start up successfully. Use the Software Repair Assistant on computer to repair your device

And the FastBoot terminal kind of thing that appears below shows
Error: Failed to load kernel
Boot up failed

I downloaded a boot.img of stock rom but don't know how to flash it. I tried using command
fastboot boot boot.img

This boots up to stock rom but whenever I restart, I get same error. Also when I boot with that image, my wifi doesn't work. Can someone please help me. It is urgent as I don't have another mobile.

Why don't you boot directly into the correct TWRP using fastboot? Run fastboot boot YOUR_CORRECT_TWRP.img. From there, flash the correct recovery, and if needed, correct boot image too. Also, note that we are  volunteers here. So, please don't expect  urgent help.

@Firelord can you please tell me any site to get latest Moto G5s stock rom. its name is montana


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How large can a "recovery" like TWRP be?
Perhaps someone can correct my understanding.

True or false: TWRP is copied into the "recovery" directory and can be executed after reboot.
True or false: Running TWRP does not require an unlocked bootloader. (If so, why not?)
True or false: The size of a program such as TWRP is limited only by the size of the partition it is being copied into, and could be quite large.
True or false: An entire OS could in theory be run as a "recovery" if it were so desired.

You're right, TWRP is a custom recovery which is based on specific device recovery so its size would be the same as the recovery  partition

How large is that partition generally?

False. Many newer devices utilizing the A/B partition layout don't have a dedicated recovery partition. See landing page for Google Pixel for a full explanation.
True. Certain devices have exploits that allow recovery on locked bootloaders - this kind of recovery is often referred to as "Safestrap". Do note "exploits" - most devices don't have such discovered.
True - partition size is usually the same as boot. On my Xiaomi Mi Mix 2, both are 67108864 bytes, i.e. 64MB.
True - recovery can be considered a minimal OS by itself (with complete display, input, file management subsystems). If you want to start a regular OS by booting into recovery, just flash a regular boot image (one that usually goes into boot) to recovery.

+1 last point - TWRP by itself can be considered as bare bone OS in addition to letting you boot into one


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How to find out what slows down a freshly installed OS?
I have two Fairphone 2 devices here, one owned by me, one by my mother. She got hers in September 2017, I in January 2019. Mine has a few slightly upgraded pieces, like a better camera and battery, but is otherwise identical. I first installed Fairphone Open on mine and it ran smoothly. Then I installed it on my mother's phone, which was already slow with the old system.
When going through the initial setup, it was so slow that some screens stayed white for ~30 seconds and it didn't get any faster later.
So the usual performance troubleshooting steps like "stop background apps", "factory reset", etc. don't apply here. It's also not the operating system's fault, because I used the same on a nearly identical device. For that reason, I suspect a hardware problem, caused by higher than usual wear (she doesn't handle her devices too carefully). But how do I check that? Are there special tools that I can use to detect for example lower than usual battery voltage or check the CPU and RAM for faults or anything like that, which could help in narrowing down the cause or the performance issues?

Did you perform a "clean install" (i.e. wiped cache and data) when installing FO on your mother's device? If not, that might be the reason (internal structures might have changed with the new system, and so it might have problems accessing things that have the "wrong" structure).

Execute a benchmark for CPU and GPU - and keep on eye on the temperatures. May be the heat spreader lost contact because of the "higher than usual wear"?

@Izzy I don't know the internals, I used the official Fairphone Open installation script for Linux.

@Robert Can you recommend a benchmark app?

Found one, Antutu, that name is familiar.

To put it in other words: you wrote "the usual performance troubleshooting steps like "stop background apps", "factory reset", etc. don't apply here" – but they do, at least factory reset. Because after a "dirty flash" (i.e. without wiping cache and data) of a different ROM there might be issues, a "clean flash" (i.e. with wipe of cache and data) is recommended. Wiping cache and data is exactly what a [tag:factory-reset] does.

So you mean a factory reset from the settings could help? Or should I also clear something else from TWRP?

The Antutu benchmark only gave me "CPU performance", otherwise nothing that looked useful. The CPU performance seemed not too much different. A factory reset seems like it could have improved performance, but I haven't tested that too much yet.

There's some people who've had show fairphones's. I feel its notable to mention only one where there was a 2-3 second delay and re-mounting the screen module solved it https://forum.fairphone.com/t/touchscreen-response-is-slow-very-very-slow/18172 so it kind of shows a possible problem with these devices where the hardware may not get connected correctly causing extra problems. Though its not the only thing that could cause slowdown. I do also feel though its likely hardware related since it does it on setup. Probably won't do any good to check cpu/gpu problem as these appear to be non-replace

Interesting find. But it's not the touchscreen, I see the touch dots from the developer settings instantly most of the time, it's just the apps reacting to it that is slow.


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Shutdown/Reboot Process Hangs Device
Is there any reason a programmatic or command-line shutdown (or reboot) process in Android 7.1 might randomly result in a hard freeze-up, requiring a long (~8 second) press of the power button to force the shutdown? It doesn't happen every time, but seems to randomly happen infrequently, but frequently enough to be a problem.
Background Info...
I'm developing a "kiosk" style tablet, which runs 24/7. It's rooted and I have full control over it. It also has a customization from the supplier to automatically turn on when power is connected.
To keep things fresh and responsive, I want to issue a nightly reboot command. The reboot command was originally just a call to /system/bin/reboot -p via my own app "watchdog" kind of service that always runs in the background. (Yes, I know the -p causes the tablet to turn-OFF, but then our custom auto-boot will turn it back on immediately, if power is connected, resulting in a reboot situation... doing a pure reboot without the -p causes more problems)
Anyway, I've since moved on to experiment with all of the following commands to cause a shutdown/reboot, and none really fix the problem.

/system/bin/setprop sys.powerctl shutdown
/system/bin/svc power shutdown
/system/bin/am start -a android.intent.action.ACTION_REQUEST_SHUTDOWN
/system/bin/busybox poweroff -f
/system/bin/busybox poweroff -d 10 -f

One more bit of info... I made an app to shutdown/reboot the device every five minutes. I've been running it on about a dozen devices, and have about 4 or 5 failures every 24 hours.


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Does encrypting an Android phone also encrypt old, deleted files?
I'm going to be selling my phone soon. The advice seems to be to encrypt it then performs a Factory Reset. But does the whole internal memory get encrypted, or just the current, visible files? If so, surely that leaves old, deleted files recoverable.

That depends if a full disk encryption (FDE) or a file based encryption (FBE) is used. See https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/195713.

The problem is it's a 5.0 phone updated to 6.0. So I'm unsure. I'll be doing several 100% memory overwrites, along with Factory Resets and encryptions, just to be sure.

How do you do "100% memory overwrites"? Note that your device may have multiple partitions. Therefore you have to overwrite each of it that contains user data. Some partitions should not be overwritten as they don't contain user data and are required (e.g. on some Samsung devices there are partitions containing IMEI and other related stuff, without this partition the mobile network will not work.


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What is wrong with my Galaxy Tab A model SM-T380A
Galaxy Tab A Model SM-T380 will not shut off and has info on screen such as Odin Mode ( HighSpeed) Current binary, system status, FAP LOCK, OEM LOCK, WARRANTY VOID: 0x0, QUALCOMM SECUREBOOT, AP SWREV:S1,T1,R1,A2,P1, SECURE DOWNLOAD

If you dont know that, Its the download mode of Samsung phones. To get out of there just hold power button + home button + volume down if it doesn't work try holding all the buttons or volume up + power button + home button together.


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Skype message to open local video file
I'm using Skype on Android 7. I have stored a video locally on the phone on the location /storage/emulated/0/myvideo.mp4.
How can I send a skype message (from another device) so that on the above mentioned device the video is opened? That means I would like to send a message containing a hyperlink to /storage/emulated/0/myvideo.mp4 and when clicked on it the video should open.

How long is the video. According to the Skype documentation only videos of less than a minute can be shared: https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA34718

@Robert The video is 5min. Actually I don't want to send the video over skype. I just want to send a link to the video which is already locally stored on the phone.

Links to local files on your phone only work on your device, not on other devices. If you want to share your video you have to send it via Skype (if it is less than one minute) or upload it somewhere and then send the online link via Skype chat.
Only if the both phones are next to each other an app that uses local sharing can be used, but that does not work with Skype.

Let's assume the video is in the local storage of device A. Device B sends a skype message to device A to open this video. So when device A opens the link the video is played. Do you see what I want? ;)

@machinery What you want is clear, however you can only use what has been implemented in Skype. On Skype for desktop there are some workarounds to send a video as live stream instead of the stream of a webcam (that would be the closest solution to what you have asked), however those hacks are not possible on Android.


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How to replace Android's Download Manager by an other default app?
I got enough of the poor functionality of com.android.providers.downloads
So I decided for a better alternative download manger.
But how can I choose the alternative as preferred download manager? My alternative download manager is listening to my clipboard. But this does not help me, because not all addresses to online files can be easily copied into Android's clipboard.

The Android Downloadmanager is a system app and can't be replaced by a regular app. My be with root permissions it may be possible to do so.

If you happen to have Android version above 5.1 and familiar with command line interfaces, then you could use termux. It has a built in binary wget to basically download anything. Just put wget https://whateverlink.exe and it will start downloading it. All you'll be needing is the link to download the file you want to download. The built in download manager being a system app, is actually a system wide download manager for all the gui interfaces on the device. If you happen to have root privilege, and try doing pm -k uninstall 0 com.android.providers.download and pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.android.providers.download.ui(you can also do this with adb). What this will do is, uninstall download manager, but will be availbale like before if phone is disabled, (also if you like to play it safe and have root, better to perform pm disable com.android.providers.download, in this way you can enable it anytime with pm enable com.android.providers.download).Now with uninstalled/disabled, if you try downloading something on your browser, you'll see that download fails. Even with a third party download manager, because everything downloadable on gui apps uses the built in Download manager. However, termux uses binaries wget to download stuffs, hence doesn't need a download manager becuase it has its own libraries and binaries writen to download. Yep, there you go. You can find termux on Google Play Store. To download wget, just type in pkg install wget on the command line, and it'll download wget for you. From then on you could use wget https://pastelinktodownload to download. Although termux is way more than just a simple download manager. Enjoy! Hope this helps (:

Thank you. Too complicated, though

Trust me its not. Download termux. Type pkg install wget, it'll install wget. Then change directory to your sdcard by typing cd /sdcard/. And then grab any download link, and to download just type wget downloadlink and it'll start downloading (:

You dont need to do pkg install wget the second time you start downloading something. (:

you can use your alternative download manager to select which storage should be used and you can't change download process to the alternate.


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Thumbanails Not Regenerating
So I recently switched to a Samsung Galaxy A50 with One UI version 1.1 build over Android Version 9.
So, I've been facing an issue with thumbnails regeneration. The DCIM/.thumbnails folder keeps deleting its content next day (which I suppose is a feature to save memory). But, the problem occurs when the contents aren't able to regenerate themselves.
The gallery apps itslef is working fine and regenerating thumbs properly but not creating new thumbs in the DCIM/.thumbnails folder due to which I'm unable to post on Instagram and Reddit.
I tried clear data and clear cache on gallery, rebooted my device but it,s still no good.

If you know where the bad thumbnails are stored why don't you just delete the DCIM/.thumbnailsfolder?

I tried that, and guess what? No thumbnails are generated. Only if I click a new pic, the folder is recreated along with the thumbnail of the new pic.

If you take a new photo is the thumbnail generated directly? Can you post such an image using the apps you mentioned? If not it is clearly a bug in the apps.

Well new when I take a new photo, the thumbnails are generated. But after one day, when the phone clears thumbnails as a memory saving measure, the thumbnail won't generate now. This causes problems when I have to post a day old pics on these apps.


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How to know whether TrustyOS is running in Android mobile or not
I'm referring TEE(Trusted Execution Environment) for Android Here. Can anybody help me to check whether any device is runnning Android along with Trusty OS?

This question on Stack overflow may help: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48515838/client-application-and-trusted-application-in-trusted-execution-environment-tee

There is this app on Github - tee-checker, it's latest version is 3 years old (!) but it detects TEE on Qualcomm devices.
On my MiA1 it shows

(Click to enlarge)


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Problem with installing a system app on rooted device
I rooted my device to install an app as a system app. However after the installation of the app, I see the following error in the log cat
2019-03-14 18:19:19.319 4197-4197/? E/zygote64: Dex checksum does not match for dex: /system/priv-app/bmw.apk.Expected: 3853989528, actual: 1306952148

What does this error mean? How can I fix this?

If you have Magisk, you can avoid all of this hassle by using the Magisk module systemize. See my answer for more details. https://android.stackexchange.com/a/208090/96277

Thanks, can you please explain, what does this error actually mean?


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can't remove roaming letter above signal bars
I've researched a lot and I can't find any solutions to this problem. A couple of months ago I traveled by plane, and when I arrived and turned off airplane mode (I have it always turned on) I had this r above the signal bars. I think it's because I got outside my isp area when I was on the air, but now I'm back in my city and I can't get rid of it. I've trying manually selecting the isp, turning on and off the roaming and the mobile data in the configurations but nothing seems to work. What else could I try?


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Android Emulator on MacOS 10.14 has internet only after restarting machine
I've search the internet far and wide for this issue but didn't seem to have success so far. What I am experiencing:
I've set up the following environment:

Android Studio
Android Emulator using API 28
My OS is MacOS 10.14.3
Using it to build a React Native app

At the beginning I didn't have any internet, so I've added DNS of 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 to my System Preferences / Network / DNS. Also I start my avd and tell it to use those dns settings.
After I start my OS fresh and load up the avd I do have internet, loading pages via the Chrome browser. After a little while, though, maybe a minute or two the internet is dropping. Device shows I'm connected to Wi-Fi but no internet. Also Chrome stops loading pages.
Did someone experience the same problem? I've looked through logs and ran avd with -verbose option but nothing legitimate shows up.
What I'm suspecting:

Either the number of internet connections is maxed out (read of such a bug somewhere)
or file descriptors of the MacOS are maxed out

Nevertheless I don't know how to find out which is it, or how to fix it.
I'd be very happy if someone might be able to help.
Thanks in advance.

It's most likely a bug with IPv6 name resolution, removing any IPv6 nameserver in /etc/resolv.confg fixes the issue, see https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/155686508#comment3


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How to use the power provided by USB OTG?
I know that USB OTG supplies at least 5V of power.
I am trying to run a small LED or other types of loads through the USB OTG, but I was out of luck! How to enable the power supply through the USB OTG ?
Note : My phone supports USB OTG and the test LED works well even with less than 5V power.

Does your phone has an Micro USB or USB-C connector?

Yes, every phone has that.

It has micro USB.

Is that even possible ?


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Gboard suddenly changes keyboard layout
I'm using Gboard on my Android 7.0 phone in Skype. I'm using the English (UK) keyboard with QWERTZ and QWERTY layout. My problem is that when I set QWERTY the keyboard layout suddenly changes to QWERTZ after some time.
How can I prevent this random changes in the keyboard layout?

Does this happens only when you are in Skype app ?

@PuspamAdak I recognized it only in Skype app because I'm most of the time using this app.

Then that issue might be caused by that app, because I had also updated the Google Keyboard (Gboard), but till now I haven't faced any such problem.

I have also noticed that in WhatsApp, the default emojis in the keyboard gets replaced by different ones. So, these things happens because some apps try to modify the input methods.


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How to disable symbols pop-up on long press on GBoard or make the key long-press delay really long?
I am trying to disable the symbol pop-up on long-press on GBoard in Android. My device is rooted. The link here shows how to increase GBoard height above the highest level by changes the preferences file at /data/data/com.google.android.inputmethod.latin/shared_prefs/ . However, I could fine no such setting for disabling the symbol pop-up. Another way to do this would be to increase the long-press duration to 2-3s instead of the deafult max of 700ms. However, there is again no setting in the preferences file related to this. Any suggestions if this is doable by modifying the system files in a rooted device or by any other method?

Settings>Language & input>Google Keyboard>preference check there

That allows only up to 700ms. I want to go beyond that limit.


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Can't send emails from huawei tablet using outlook address
We have got my son a huawei tablet, and he has an @outlook.com email address. He can receive emails on the tablet, but can't seem to send any-they say they are sending but never arrive, nor do they appear in sent folder or drafts? What am I doing wrong? Thanks

You can check the SMTP server settings of your mail program. The SMTP server is the one used for sending E-Mails.
The recommended settings for the SMTP server for @outlook.com is:

Server: smtp-mail.outlook.com
SMTP port: 587
SMTP encryption method: STARTTLS

If it still does not work your network may be blocking port 587. But that would be a problem of the network and not a Android problem.

Ok thanks-I’ll try that. How would I find out if my network was the problem?

@user289433 Try different networks like mobile data, home Wifi, Wifi somewhere else. If it works using one network and not using another the networks has obviously an influence.

Have tried all those, various wifi networks and on mobile data. Still nothing. Any other ideas? Thanks


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Links always open google first
This just seems wrong. When I click a link in an email (gmail), or anywhere else on Android, it first loads a google page then opens the link. Like google is tracking every link I click. Seems inappropriate. Any way to disable it?

Hi, what do you mean by "a google page"?

What's funny is you're using gmail. They literally need to work with the url of the link so they have access to that and more. If you're paranoid about them doing something then why use gmail?

That I use gmail was just an example. If I click a link in a pdf it does the same thing. Or if I am at some other website reading an article, same thing. every link opened by chrome seems to load a google page first, unless I hand type the url into chrome.

Also, if you read the question, it says, "...or anywhere else on Android..."

As this behavior occurs with every app on your system most likely the configuration of the "Default Application" for http and https links has been changed.
You can configure all default Applications in the Android Settings. The exact path to the Default Applications settings depends on your Android version and device vendor (some vendors modify the Settings menu).
For example on Android 7 you have to open the Apps section and then the gear icon in the top right corner. Select the Browser App and you can choose which app to use as web browser.
On Android 8 there is in Settings the entry Apps & Notifications -> Extended -> Default-Apps where you can configure the default Browser app for example.

This is not the issue. If I click a link in gmail, and the link is specifically www.yahoo.com/somepage, then chrome opens and FIRST goes to a google page, loads it very briefly, then goes to the yahoo.com link. If I click a link in an article I am reading, same thing happens. FIRST it loads a google page, then it loads the link. I believe this is an inherent function of google tracking activity on android, but I could be wrong. a couple months ago, I think maybe their server had issues, because it would hang on the google page for awhile before finally loading the page I wanted.


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Prevent homescreen/desktop from showing before my start-up app?
I have this bootup app that listens to the system boot up event and will launch on system start up (pardon the verbosity).
Problem is, the system will stubbornly show the homescreen (or a static wallpaper,  I'm not so sure, basically it's a colorful, mostly blue geometry pattern, see the picture below) first before switching to my app, which is quite annoying.
I assume I need to delete files under /data/data or /system/priv-app to eliminate that?
Can someone please help me?
I'm running a customized (with heavy samsung influnece, I'm not the system level guy) build of android 5.1.

I can see nobody is answering this so I'll give you a long way of achieving this.
You need to build a Launcher application, the launcher application will be blank, it simply starts the activity of your app, or preferably it just does nothing at all.
After the blank launcher loads, the onBoot event will trigger your app to start.
A long work around...
To begin with,
Have a look on Stack Overflow, I found this question that fits perfectly in my opinion...
Make my app the home screen launcher....?
This could be a good workaround as well, probably better than my original idea haha :) hope it helps.


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When Google removes malicious apps from their Play Store, are users notified?
This Check Point Research article describes over 200 malicious apps on the Google Play Store that were downloaded over 100 million times.  Google has now removed the apps from their Play Store.
But what happens to the millions of people who have this software on their Android devices?  Are they somehow notified by Google?  Does Google automatically offer to uninstall the software for them?
Or are millions of users left with malicious apps on their Android devices?


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By looking at an Android source code, determine packets sent out protocol
is there a way by looking at the android application source code, or manifest file, I can determine what is the network protocol support for that particular application? or is it more of whether the android version supports it. For example, is it possible to see if an application does not support TLS v1.2 etc?
As far as I know, from the android API, there is a practice where people use network_security_configuration where it contains a method cleartextTrafficPermitted=["true" | "false"]>. This restricts accidental usage of clear text traffic if traffic is tunneled through a proxy.
Another alternative is if the application implements the socket by himself by doing SSLSocketFactory.
My intent is to move towards analysis of the mobile application packets if they are encrypted. I understand wireshark or any packet capturing application can work; i am just exploring different possibilities.


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Samsung note9 adb over USB keeps disconnecting
I have my Samsung Note9 (updated, on latest Android 9) connected via USB on Ubuntu Linux, latest platform-tools_r28.0.1. When I run adb shell, it works perfectly. The problem is, the device disconnects after the while (about 30 seconds).
I have the "stay awake" option enabled, but even if the screen remains on, adb keeps disconnecting. I discovered when I prevent the phone from sleeping by touching it, adb remains connected.
Am I do something wrong?
Thanks

Try revoking USB authentication, reboot both devices, connect and authorize. May help - guessing

This scenario seems work: after the first disconnection, switch USB mode to charging only and turn-off, turn-on USB debugging without disconnecting USB.

Well, if that is consistent you can make that an answer

hmm, no, it worked just for a little bit longer...

Sounds to me like a defect USB port (loose connection)


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Phone/Text/Contact History?
Does Android keep a log of numbers contacted similar to the Phone Call Log/History but for texts?
My mother accidentally deleted a bunch of texts. The actually messages themselves are unimportant, but now she has completely lost the contact number and I am wondering if their is a way of pulling up the number of the last text(s) sent.

No. It doesn't. They are not backed up like apps,settings and call history. Only on Pixel phones SMSes are backed up.
There is a possibility though - If she had called that person and if backup was enabled on the phone and if she remembers the date and time when she spoke (lot of IFs) then you could take a backup of all important stuff on the phone do a factory reset, restore from Google backup and reconstruct from call history, to get the contact number . It's a slim chance  with so many IFs.
You need to weigh the efforts of backing up data and restoring the phone subject to her remembering when she called and of course backup being enabled on device


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I can't turn off "Easy Mode" on Galaxy On5 and there are missing options in the "Settings" Menu
I really need help here. I accidentally turned on my sister's "Ultra Power Save Mode" and, when I had realized I had done this, I turned it off. When the phone rebooted on again, it asked me what kind of set up I wanted, and me not knowing what it was talking about, selected one of the options and now it's stuck on "Easy Mode", but the apps are limited and there are missing options from the "SETTINGS" menu. I'm at my wits end and I'm afraid I might have to buy her a new phone. If anyone could answer me, that'd be amazingly helpful...

From Samsung Galaxy S5: How to Disable Easy Mode in Android 4.4.2 Kitkat:

Method #1: From the notifications panel

Swipe down the top of the screen to open up the notifications panel.
Tap the gear(1) to go to the easy settings menu.
In Easy settings, tap Easy mode .
Tap Standard mode to select it.
Tap Done button.

The easy mode will be disabled and the standard mode will be applied in your phone.

(1) Added emphasises due to original article has a picture instead of text.

Method #2:
From the Easy settings shortcut in Home screen
  By default, you can find the easy settings in the Home screen in easy mode as an app and you can use it to access the easy settings menu to disable easy mode. See the following steps to disable easy mode:
  From the main Home screen, swipe the screen from right to the left until you see the Easy settings shortcut/icon  and then tap it to go to the easy settings menu.

Tap Easy mode .
Tap Standard mode to select it.
Tap Done button.
  The easy mode will be disabled and the standard mode will be applied in your phone.

If in the easy mode you'll be provided with a simpler layout and the easy settings menu, then in the standard mode you'll be provided with a conventional layout and more complex settings menu. Also, in the standard mode, you can find and use all features owned by this phone unless you disable them.


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Google Assistant News are being emailed to me in the wrong language - how to fix?
I'm traveling and my Android phone's Google Assistant is now set to understand two languages, which is fine.
What's not fine: Google suddenly decided to email me all the info in the second language which is not English.
The emails are coming from the assistant-noreply@google.com address, so there's no way I can just reply and ask them...
I don't mind the emails, but I want them to be in English. Yet, they are coming exclusively in the second language. Drives me nuts. How do I fix this situation?


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How to fix auto call rejection issue in Android 8.0.0
One of the important number is getting automatically rejected. How can i fix this?
Samsung J7 Duos
Android 8.0.0 version

Check your phone's Blacklist.
Check whether that important number has somehow got inside the blacklist or not. Any number in the blacklist will be automatically rejected without notifying you.


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Disable Airdroid keyboard by default
My problem is that whenever I connect to my Android 7 phone via Airdroid Mirror on Windows 10 the Airdroid keyboard gets activated. Of course I can deactivate the keyboard by clicking the keyboard button on the function bar but this is annoying. I don't want to do this every time.
How can the Airdroid keyboard be disabled by default?

Do you see any related entry under Settings -> Language and Input -> Keyboards?

@Firelord Unfortunately not. What shall I do?

2024 year. The same question.
I disable Language and Input -> Keyboards -> AirDroid keyboard.
But whenever I connect to my Android TV device the Airdroid keyboard gets activated again.


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How to merge different whatsapp chat histories stored in different devices
I have a few devices/sdcard with old whatsapp chat histories from the SAME account. How to recover and merge the old ones to the current one in the latest device?


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Factory reset from recovery mode not working on Samsung Galaxy GT-S5830i
I previously asked a question about my phone having a few issues with force stopping and I have tried to factory reset it from recovery mode lots of times but it just stays the same.

So, what is not working? The factory reset process or the issues not being solved?

It will not factory reset.

But becuase it does not hard reset it does not resolve the problems.

plz answer this question i have a really important phone number on there and i cant get it off because i have a chromebook!

huh... what is happening when you boot to recovery? Can you see the option for resetting? Or you are unable to boot into recovery? Remember, you'll lose  everything stored in the phone.

I am aware that I will lose everything in storege but I have the only thing I really need off of it; I am just trying to prevent having to buy a new one. Everything seems to work fine apart from when you boot it up it is exactly the same as before.

Hum... I think your file system has somehow turned out to be read-only that can explain everything returning back to previous settings. This happens when the memory chip is damaged


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Access the call-log to complement what has been banned by policy
I used to use Appliqato's Call Recorder.
A few days ago Google Play's policy changed so no call-recording application could access the call-log information. This means now the calls are like "anonymous" and you "have" to listen to them to identify them.
This represents a handicap: If you get a bunch of calls (say 50 per day) and you leave the batch for one week, you can face to have to "manually identify" 500 calls easily which is absolutely a no-brainer.
Instead, the "normal" call-log from the phone has the call numbers stored.
Question
Is there any way I can download the call log information in a machine-processable way?
I'd do a script to post-process call logs and match the date and time to identify the numbers later.

Try https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Termux-call-log and do tell how helpful it is. I haven't tested so far.

If Google has changed the policy this only applies to the PlayStore. Usually this means the the developer of the app provides two versions: One PlayStore compliant and one "original" app that can only be installed via side-loading. Ask the app developer if there is such a version.

@Dmitry Because not everything that is technically possible is compliant to the rules made by Google for the Play Store. Therefore apps that contain a certain functionality are not allowed in the Play Store, but if the app is useful a app developer can still sell it outside.

Exports phone logs to an XML file
SMS Backup & Restore (exports phone log and text messages)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.riteshsahu.SMSBackupRestore
(a) Phone Number
(b) Duration of the call in seconds
(c) date: (Unix timestamp with 3 extra digits)
(d) Type of Call (incoming=1 / outgoing=2)
(e) Presentation of the call
(f) Date & Time of the call (human readable)
(g) Contact Name
The call date/time of the file is when the call ended. The call log has the date/time that the call began and the duration of the call.
From this we can do a filename to call log match-up.
Appliqato's Call Recorder uses AMR files by default.
Here is how you get the duration of the AMR file (as a double check).
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17447508/android-get-duration-of-amr-audio-file-programmatically
Accessibility App Connectors allow access to phone call information

+1 Any app with READ_CALL_LOG permission are able to fetch call logs. So is the one you mentioned.

@IrfanLatif None-the-less this is the first actual answer to the original question.

@IrfanLatif I am still trying to figure out if I can grant root permission to the call recorder app to have it simply work.

I'd say what @beeshyams said in your other question: please read the tag wiki of rooting and learn what rooting means and how it works. E.g. the first paragraph from my answer: “You don't give certain apps root permission, but certain apps ask for root permission by executing su binary. It's the developer of the app who decides if the app would perform some tasks with root privileges or not. In order to let apps request root privileges, you need to root your device using e.g. Magisk, SuperSU etc. (whatever works on your device).”

If you used a free edition (not the Pro), you can get an older version from ApkMirror.
Older versions of the Pro edition can also be found online, but since distributing it is not possible legally, you will only find it on dodgy websites where you must be very careful in order to avoid malware.

AFAIK, this answer only holds if your side-loading on Android 8 or before, since from Android 9 and above, call recording isn't permitted

ApkMirror asked for my credit card number.

@beeshyams You are incorrect when you say that call recording is not permitted. I can do call recording on both newly installed call recording apps. The sound quality is good on both apps. The only problem is that neither app has access to the call logs so they can't give me any call information.

I said in other answer Android has blocked call recording from Android 9 onwards.... see the issue tracker.  Google won't entertain wrong issue tracker. Good for you if it worked

@beeshyams I am relentless when I pursue these technical issues. Installing an older version does not allow access to call logs. Downgrading from Android 9.0 to Android 8.0 seems to be my only choice to restore full functionality of call recorders. The sound quality of the old version of one recorder and the new versions of two recorders is still very good.


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How to determine what if any charge will actually occur when sending to an SMS short code
I keep getting texts from a short SMS number asking me to fill out a survey, or reply "STOP" to stop getting these messages.  But when I reply "STOP", Android gives me the message:
this may cause charges on your mobile account

I did a Google Search for this message and found one specific service which said this is just referring to whatever charge your provider assesses to send texts, so with unlimited texting there would be no extra charge.  But the number that is sending me this message is not the service the web site is referring to, and I want to make sure that I'm not charged some extra amount just to opt out.
Is there some place I can do a lookup on the number that is texting me to see if there will be a charge and if so how much?  I have replied to other short codes before without ever having got this message so I assume there must be something to this number that I might need to worry about.

Is the number 10-digit ?

@PuspamAdak No, it has 5 digits.

According to my experience, generally Rs. 3 gets deducted for sending SMS to 5-digit numbers.

You can call your service provider and ask about the cost.


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adb shell input text ignore characters
In android emulator adb shell I send the following command:
input text \!\$\#\?\%shelllllllooo

And result:

All same characters(exclude special like !?#$) been ignored.

Try wrapping what you want to send in quotation marks; i.e., input text "\!\$\#\?\%shelllllllooo".  Also, keep in mind that %s will be treated like a space.


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Japanese kana screen keyboard layout
I've found out how to switch between romaji with QWERTY and keitai-style flick keyboard, but I'd like to have ordinary kana layout similar to PC and Mac:

Is it possible with GBoard, or do I need a third-party keyboard app?

Cross-posted on Meta Japanese.SE: https://japanese.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1954/kana-keyboard-layout-on-android-gboard

Unfortunately, as of the latest version (8.0.5), GBoard only supports 4 variants for Japanese keyboard: 12 keys, QWERTY, Handwriting, and GODAN. The QWERTY variant also only supports romaji input, not kana layout.
The current solution is to use 3rd-party keyboard apps, and while I have browsed some kana/JIS keyboard apps, the only keyboard app that I could recommend for now is:

Japanese Full Keyboard For Tablet by Repy (freemium)

The keyboard supports 3 keymaps: JP109, US, and JP KANA. After selecting JP KANA keymap, the kana mode can be toggled by pressing the 全 key on the top-left.
While the name mentioned "Tablet", it's also working on the phone. However, since the layout tries to follow the physical keyboard layout, the size and the position of some keys may not be optimum for a smaller screen.
Based on a quick test, the keyboard is quite comfortable on a 5" screen while on landscape mode, though on portrait mode the keys are a bit too squished. Fortunately, the settings allow changing the height of the key, so it's still bearable on portrait mode.


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Track stolen unopened Huawei phone
My friends sended me a brand new Huawei phone from country A to country B. After waiting 4 weeks the local post told me that my packages was stolen.
Now my girlfriend proposed me to check if it's possible to track a huawei phone or to check atleast if it has been activated?
I know with IPhones you can check before you buy them if they are activated or not. But with Huawei phones? My friends took a picture of the IMEI of the backside of the phone. And we still have the bill of the phone

What prevents you from taking the issue to the company that sold it or the service that went with it?

Nothing, I just would like to know if I can check from home if it has been activated.


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How to turn off auto rotation in aide
I am not able to turn off auto-rotation in aide app, i tried many times but i could not found any solution.
i also tried to find the option for rotation in aide setting but there was no option given as the same.
please help.
thank you.

Some apps enforce auto rotation. There is nothing you can do about that.
Make sure your device has it shut off. Should be a quick tile (slide down twice from top of screen) that had a phone symbol. Make sure there are no circular lines around it, and it is not brightened/bolded


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How do I disable Google Play Store apps such that it will not enable itself without my permission
When I restart the Android 7 device phone, which is not rooted, the Google Play Store apps must not run again unless I implicitly enable it to run again. (Currently, the disable button for this app is disabled, which cause me not able to disable the app.)
Also, another reason for disable Google Play Store app is that it keep download at the background without user permission and at the wrong time, causing the app that I am using not able to use the whole bandwidth.
Also, there is no options in the Google Play Store app for me to set the timing when to do update. (Google need to learn from Microsoft Windows Update scheduler for this feature!)
From my findings, I need to connect to a PC and using the ADB as follows:
adb devices
adb shell
cmd approps set <package_name> RUN_IN_BACKGROUND ignore

However, it seems not working for those apps from Google (such as Google Play Store apps)!
Please do not tell me to install BackgroundRestrictor (https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.pavelsikun.runinbackgroundpermissionsetter/) as it can only be used on Android 7 device phone that is rooted.
Also, please do not tell me to root my phone.
Lastly, please do not say that this question is a duplicate of that question - How to disable Play store from updating itself? as that question is almost 6 years old and may not apply to Android 7 device phones.

It's not possible. Play Store is immune to such means that work for other apps. It is deeply integrated with OS. AFAIK rooted means also don't work

Installing a firewall then blocking Media Storage, Download Manager, Downloads, Google Play Services and Google Play Store from accessing the internet is one possibility. However, other apps not from Google may require Media Storage, Download Manager and Downloads when they want to download files, plus you will not be able to update the apps if automatically Google Play Store is the market you used

Try the commands pm disable com.android.vending or pm hide com.android.vending


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I connected my Google Pixel to my PC using a USB A to USB C cable claiming to support data transfer, but it doesn't show up in Device Manager
I'm running Windows 10 and Android 9. I can't see the phone in Windows, so I can't transfer files or install apps I'm developing; I'm quite disappointed!

Is your device set to "Charge only" when plugged in? I'm not sure about Android 9.0 but in older versions you would get a notification saying "USB Charge only", which you could then tap to change the USB mode.

I'm not getting any notifications at all; all that happens is my phone charges (slowly). I found the USB settings but they're all grayed out. I think my phone's charging port is damaged; the cord is always falling out. Maybe I need to get it repaired?

Try a new cord. If you still have the issues you are describing you may need to have your USB-C port repaired.


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How to install system trusted CA certificate on Android without rooting
I need to install the firewall certificate on the devices of my company. Since I can't install a system trusted certificate without rooting the device I thought of creating an Android image that comes with the certificate and flash it into the devices, but...
Where or how should I put such cert on the image? Or if there is another solution that also doesn't envolves rooting I would be happy to hear!

Are you sure root is needed? I don't think so. I have Adguard which is adblock +firewall and it installs certificates without root. Question marked as duplicate deals with earlier version of Android but even on 8.1 you can install similarly (security & location >encryption and credentials

As far as I have seen you can add user certificates without root, no?

Yes, that is what I meant by giving the example of Adguard app


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Android Wi-Fi hotspot DNS resolver: locally point domain name to custom address without root
So, I know dnsmasq is used as DNS/DHCP server in Android when running as a Wi-Fi hotspot, that dnsmasq can be used to point users to a specific address when resolving addresses, and that there is a way to set a custom system-wide DNS server, either by setting it in the phone, or by using the Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 app.
Is it possible to give custom DNS records to clients in an Android Wi-Fi hotspot, locally, without rooting the phone? Say, by modifying the "address" configuration parameter in dnsmasq somehow, by running a local DNS server in an unprivileged port, and using that as the system DNS, or by using a custom VPN config (which, from what I've read, is the way the 1.1.1.1 app works)?

I don't think it's possible without root, whether it's to modify name servers of dnsmasq or to run some other local DNS server


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Record setting changes as script?
I am looking for a way to record the setting changes I do manually, in order to be able to repeat them later by running the same script.
I tried the MacroDroid app, but it doesn't look it has a "record macro" feature.
Any suggestion welcome.

Is your device rooted?

No my device is not rooted

On a non-rooted device changing the settings automatically is not that simple.
However if you have multiple identical devices you might be successful by preparing one device with all the settings you want and then create a backup of just the settings. For doing so you need however first activate the development mode and the Android Debug Bridge (adb) on every device.
adb backup -f settings.ab -noapk com.android.providers.settings

Check that the created file settings.ab has at least 10 KB of size.
Then you can restore the settings to any other device (with activate adb) via
adb restore settings.ab

An alternative way that however also requires adb would be to use the different settings via adb shell settings put .... But I am not sure if all settings can be accessed this way and you have to find out all the different option names you want to set.


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Something eating CPU on Sony XPeria XZ, how to find out what it is?
I have two Sony Xperia XZ devices, bought both very recently in UK as used-with-warranty. One is working great, but the other (which has a 3 logo come up when booting) apparently has something using CPU all the time. Why I think so:

Phone is warm even when not used
CPU-Z and the like show frequency not falling under 1200 MHz, and usually over 1400 - while the other has it hovering under 1000 and sometimes hitting 330.
Antutu and especially GeekBench 4 results are worse than the "good" phone

So how can I catch the "perpetrator" and get rid of it? AVG and MalwareBytes scans find nothing. And the phone behaved like it was just factory-reset when I started it, so I'm not sure a factory reset would be of much help.

Use htop commandline tool to view resources usage at runtime. Or use GSAM Battery Monitor to view complete battery usage statistics.

Use ADB and its logcat feature to see log of system and activity of processes.
Also you use adb shell top to see processes and consumptions


text:
Can Magisk rules be enabled from Recovery (TWRP)?
Is it possible to configure Magisk by ADBing in through TWRP when you install it, so you can get it working on an initial install. I'm having problems with a splash screen -- my boot just locks at that process. I would like to see what's going on. I know Magisk provides LiveBoot would be a good fit, I can install in TWRP. But then I have to boot into Android to configure it to disable the boot screen (which I can not do).
From the buildlog of Magisk V13,

[magiskpolicy] Updated rules for Android O, and Liveboot support

I can't figure out how enable those rules outside of a working boot?

If your just after the bootloop info. You can get adb logs of a bootloop sometimes even at the splash screen. Try to get them and post them so we can read them. Linux command: adb logcat -v long > ~/Desktop/logcat.txt windows command:
adb logcat -v long > %userprofile%\desktop\logcat.txt these logs can also be helpful linux: adb logcat *:W *:S > ~/Desktop/logcatALLwarnings.txt windows:
adb logcat *:W *:S > %userprofile%\desktop\logcat.txt

I was unable to adb anything it was dieing before that. I filed a regression with LineageOS though since I'm 100% sure now it's a build problem and the previous build works fine. This is also a new install  https://jira.lineageos.org/browse/REGRESSION-2222

If I don't get it wrong, you want to take boot log at boot when your device is stuck at SPLASH SCREEN? By splash screen you mean boot animation or the one we see initially at power on? Did you try Android SDK's "Monitor" tool for logcat? Or the "insecure" adb which enables to take "adb logcat" as soon as the logcatd starts on phone? Another option is to add a service to init.rc which saves logcat to a file which can later be accessed from TWRP on reboot. If your boot process doesn't get that far, consider getting kernel/init log through "dmesg" with high verbosity.


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I switched my internal storage to Sd card and it still won't let me download apps
My phone has little to no space so I used an sd card as internal storage. It says I don't have enough storage even though the sd card has 30 gigabytes left.

How did you "use an sd card as internal storage"? What device and what version of Android you are using? Do you have root access? Please elaborate by editing question.

It's probably still overloaded.
The option to use SD Card as internal storage is slowly disappearing because it avoids using the permissions for external storage and allows applications unrestricted access to every sector on the card, so expect it to disappear in newer Android versions.
If you are using a device that allows what you've mentioned.
The Applications installed prior to the switch over will still be on your internal storage, allso all of your stuff like photos, music, videos will still be consuming space on the internal storage, this will impact performance significantly on some devices.
You need to move all your applications to SD first.

Open Settings
Open Apps ( Samsung's it's More > Apps )
Select the first downloaded Application
Select Move to SD Card
NO OPTION FOR MOVE ( GREY )
The developer has selected Internal Storage Only, so you can't do anything with this, move on to the next one.

Move All Files Over To SD Card
You can find apps for automatically doing this.

Open your Stock File Manager
Navigate to Your Old Storage ( may be Internal or External )
Select All Folders and Files in the root directory of the Old storage
Copy All Folders and Files to the New storage  ( largest generally - the SD Card )
Once you've waited 50 years for it to copy, you can safely Delete everything on the Old storage ( free up the space )
Don't MOVE the Files and Folders in case something goes wrong, you'll still have it ready for copying again.

Now you should have some free storage back on your device.


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Nexus 5X changes time after phone calls
Almost every time I make a phone call, the time on my phone changes. Typically it goes forward about 7 hours, but sometimes it's a little different. To fix it, I open up settings and turn the automatic time off and then on again. I did try leaving the automatic time off, but the error persists.
How do I fix this?

Is this EVERY phone call, or just those made from a specific location? i.e. Is automatic time set from the most accessible cell tower consistently? You say ALMOST, as in you sometimes connect via a different cell tower and the problem doesn't recur? What is the timezone you are in? Could it be related to a UTC diff problem?

Maybe related?

I haven't noticed a pattern of which phone calls make it change. I don't know if it is related to the location or not, but I know it doesn't matter who the call is with, as it has happened with multiple people. It still happens even if automatic time and time zone is turned off. I am in Mountain Standard Time. I am using Google Fi, so maybe it is related to whether or not the call is over the internet or a cell tower. I'll keep track of it and see if a notice a pattern.

Mountain Time is UTC-7h, which correlates to your stated problem (but this could be confirmation bias). Maybe a cell tower is using UTC time? This would be further substantiated if you find some pattern to the problem calls being from a narrow geographical location. It is unlikely a lot of cell towers would be configured to widen the geography.

Ok, I have narrowed down some details. The time change only happens when I make or receive calls in my apartment. If I go a block or so in either direction from my apartment, it works just fine. The bubble may be smaller, but I haven't tested it explicitly. Also, if I turn off wifi and location, it still happens. So it's not related to whether or not the call is using VoIP. Also, it is always exactly 7 hours.


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Enabling developer mode on cash machine
What I have is a cash register machine with a preinstalled custom launcher and Android 7.0
How to access the developer options and connect via adb? There is no settings menu with well known "build number"
I tried switching to recovery mode, but it didn't help me - it shows "no command"

Have you tried fastboot? Then you can flash a custom recovery and access ADB.

Thanks I tried it after your advice
Tried to execute fastboot oem unlock, or fastboot flash unlock
But got an error on device that unlock operation is not allowed


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Why don't calls to emergency numbers show in the Phone app's call log?
I recently had to make an emergency call.
I later noticed in my device's call logs in the Phone app that the emergency number I called doesn't show up in the call log. (In other words, no entry shows of the call; no trace in the call log that I called an emergency number.)
Why is this? Is this intentional and by design, or is it a bug?
(Using stock Android 8.1 with latest updates on Nexus 6P.)

Logically they should for traceability of crank / genuine distress emergency calls. As a matter of fact   Call  |  Android Developers specifies extra time accuracy for emergency calls:

Extra key used to indicate the time (in milliseconds since midnight, January 1, 1970 UTC) when the last outgoing emergency call was made. This is used to identify potential emergency callbacks

(Emphasis supplied)
Try changing the call app and if it still persists report to OEM / ROM developers
Related What's the purpose of "Emergency Call" button on SIM unlock screen?

I am not a developer, sharing my understanding as user. On my device mia1, it showed up in logs in past and now too - just checked

In my Nexus 6 and OnePlus 6, dialing 112 always shows up in the call logs.


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How to use an ip webcam as a webcam on my android device
What I've found on internet is how to use an android phone's camera as an ip webcam on my computer.
But I was wondering if it possible to do the opposite thing : to use an external ip webcam as a virtual internal webcam on our android devices ?
Android would recognize the external ip-camera as internal so one could use its external ip webcam as a webcam on Whatsapp for example.
I'm thinking of an application that would let me enter the ip+port of my ipwebcam and then emulate it as the internal/virtual webcam like some app do on PC

You can use your android device camera and make it an ip camera and then use it on your computer (at this step the computer will recognize the ip camera as an internal camera), I want to do the opposite thing, I want to use my computer camera and make it an ip camera (still from my computer) then I want to use that ip-camera on my android device (I want my android device to recognize this ip camera as its main camera), on whatsapp for example, in fact : I just want to use an ip-camera on my android device and use it on some apps, let's say because my phone camera is broken.


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KDE Connect Cannot Use SD Card?
I'm using KDE connect from my Kubuntu 18.04 desktop to try and connect to my tablet (Tab A 10.1 running Android version 7). The internal SD card registers (I can see it) in Dolphin (File Explorer), but I can't read or write to the directory, and I get an error when I try to do so.
From what I recall, this may be due to an Android security policy. Is this what is occurring? Is there any way to use KDE connect to access the SD card? (My tablet has very little internal memory)

Is the phone connected in USB charging mode? Changing it to MTP should do the trick


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Need to flash Galaxy Tab PRO 10.1 to recover data
Hope you can help with this issue:
Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 10.1 SM-T520 Kitkat 4.4.2
This is my wifes tablet and it recently stopped booting at the second Samsung logo.
This is the one that happens after the purple swirly (sorry for the technical term).
I went through some simple things to try and fix it including reboots.
I also disconnected the battery for some time while pressing the power switch.
I hoped this might clear the issue but it did not.
I tried connecting to my wifes PC where it wasn't recognized (used to work there).
I tried my system as well, I had no SW installed to I tried the latest Kies SW.
Also tried an older Kies version and also Samsung Smartswitch. Later I also tried Odin.
Nothing recognized the tablet as being plugged. Tried several cables to no avail.
If I look in the HW manager on both PCs no tablet shows up.
It seems as if the tablet USB is dead or the SW isn't running far enough to enable it.
Did some research and got into recovery mode, here is what comes up.
Android system recover <3e>
KOT49H.T520UEUANF4
Dead android with "no command" below
In my research I found out that you can update an image from the SD card.
So I found two US (XAR region) roms for Kitkat 4.4.2, I have tried both.
I used "apply update from external storage" in the recovery menu and selected the ROM.
They seem to start loading/extracting on the tablet and then I get the following;
E:footer is wrong
E:signature verification failed
The above message happens twice. The only reason I haven't just resorted to factory settings is my wife did not back up the tablet in the last 6 months and the previous backup has empty directories. While nothing is critical on the tablet she has save a lot of free quilting/clothing patterns to it.
So whatever I do I am trying to preserve the data, hence my efforts with the ROMS.
I can't change any settings on the tablet, I can't get the USB to work and I keep getting errors with the ROMS. I have seen it suggested that slow downloads can corrupt the zip files I am downloading. I don't want to pay for the download. Is there anywhere to get ROMS free at a decent download speed to rule this out?
Anyone have any ideas for anything else I can try.
Thanks


text:
Mount SMB storage on shiled TV accross subnet
I have a setup like this :
[Shield TV 2015] 10.10.2.112 <---> [OpenWRT Router] <---> [Synology SMB Share] 10.10.3.11

I want to be able to access all my NAS files with any apps on the shield TV, so, I want to mount permanantly  the SMB share on the Shield.
So after confirming the connection was router correctly usig solid explorer integrated smb client, I went into the shield settings > Storage > add new network storage and inputed the NAS path (\10.10.3.11\Public) and the associated credentials.
However, it can't mount it, and according to logcat, it can't find the NAS netbios name locally, which is normal as it's in another subnet, but abnormal as I inputed it by IP.
Moving the nas to the main subnet is out of the question for multiple reason.
In the end, is there a way to force the mount with just the IP ?
I'm open to all suggestion, even root or scripts ones.

How are you trying to mount it what detailed steps? Have you tried to mount from a command prompt? Or does solid explorer just have a mount button? The basic syntax to the basic mount command: mount -t cifs //<server>/<share> <mountpoint>. Each component needs its own attention. Example: mount -t cifs //192.168.0.123/Documents /mnt/nas maybe applicable WIN article on protocol and troubleshooting netbios name resolution issues: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/172218/microsoft-tcp-ip-host-name-resolution-order Umm, also if NetBIOS via TCP/IP is not enabled, afaik IP will not work.


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How to go forward/back in Deezer app?
In the Deezer Android app, when I play any music, it displays a button "play in shuffle mode". When I click, the track starts playing, but in the track window:

I can't go to a specific position in the song, the progress bar is thinnest and even when I click,the track window just minimizes.
Isn't there a progress bar where I can go to any position?


text:
Where to find information about WiFi connectivity of the device?
is there a way I can find information about my device's connectivity to WiFi network? I need information like: what network I'm connected too, what is the mac address of the router, how long have I been connected, when was the initial connection.
I tried looking in proc/net, but I didn't find any useful information there? Is there any other place I can look in?

You can use various Wifi/network analysis apps from Play Store to get some of the information you're looking for. I suggest IP Tools. In its default screen/view, you would get to see following information et al:

SSID
Internal IP
Your Android device's MAC address
Gateway
DNS
Frequency
BSSID (your router's MAC address)
Lease duration

If you need more information, you'd need to setup adb and issue this command:
adb shell dumpsys wifi

It would throw incredible amount of information, most of it incomprehensible for an end-user. However, it would show even such information not available to apps, such as, when was the device last connected or disconnected from a Wi-Fi.
In my Android 8.1.0 (OnePlus 6), I get to see this information et al:

WifiMetrics:
mConnectionEvents:

startTime=12-23 21:36:05.762, SSID="Connected, no internet", BSSID=ROUTER'S_MAC_ADDRESS, durationMillis=1530, roamType=ROAM_UNRELATED, connectionResult=
1, level2FailureCode=NONE, connectivityLevelFailureCode=NONE, signalStrength=-34, wifiState=WIFI_DISCONNECTED, screenOn=true. mRouterFingerprint: mCo
nnectionEvent.roamType=0, mChannelInfo=2412, mDtim=0, mAuthentication=2, mHidden=false, mRouterTechnology=4, mSupportsIpv6=false

startTime=12-23 22:32:56.874, SSID="Connected, no internet", BSSID=ROUTER'S_MAC_ADDRESS, durationMillis=1541, roamType=ROAM_UNRELATED, connectionResult=
1, level2FailureCode=NONE, connectivityLevelFailureCode=NONE, signalStrength=-28, wifiState=WIFI_DISCONNECTED, screenOn=true. mRouterFingerprint: mCo
nnectionEvent.roamType=0, mChannelInfo=2412, mDtim=0, mAuthentication=2, mHidden=false, mRouterTechnology=4, mSupportsIpv6=false

startTime=12-23 22:36:49.886, SSID="Connected, no internet", BSSID=ROUTER'S_MAC_ADDRESS, durationMillis=1542, roamType=ROAM_UNRELATED, connectionResult=
1, level2FailureCode=NONE, connectivityLevelFailureCode=NONE, signalStrength=-28, wifiState=WIFI_DISCONNECTED, screenOn=true. mRouterFingerprint: mCo
nnectionEvent.roamType=0, mChannelInfo=2412, mDtim=0, mAuthentication=2, mHidden=false, mRouterTechnology=4, mSupportsIpv6=false

The aforesaid information tells me the last three times (because I restarted my device earlier, so not much of earlier information available) my device connected to a Wi-Fi.
If you look into the log entries under Dump of WifiConnectivityManager you would get to know more info on when the device was disconnected and then connected.
Moreover, the dump output also has all the information I listed above for IP Tools app. It is only a matter of filtering the important information out of that dump.

Thanks for the reply? Is it possible running dumpsys wifi, using Java RunTime, I want to process that information and show connection time to the user.

I don't know about that. Sorry!


text:
Why do I have to download music to Android internal storage then copy to SD card to work?
Samsung 9+
128 GB SanDisk SD Card
Android version 8.0.0 (Samsung Experience version 9.0)
Service provider Verizon
The issue I'm having is with copying music files from my Windows 10 PC directly to the Android's SD card via USB cable. When I do this, the first song in an album is playable, but all the others only play for a second before skipping to the next.
The workaround I found is to copy the files from the PC to Android internal storage and then to move them to the SD card storage. Moving the files from internal to SD storage works equally whether I use an Android file manager or Windows explorer.
This is obviously a very cumbersome process when dealing with a thousand files. Ideally, I'd like to download files directly to the SD card. Does anyone know what is going on?
Thanks for your help.

How about this https://android.stackexchange.com/a/201529/209414?

This is odd. Have you checked that nothing is wrong with the music player you are using? Maybe try a new one, just for testing.

Windows 10 has currently some bugs in the MTP system (MTP is the system used for transferring data from/to your phone via Windows Explorer). This might be the reason for your problems.
Alternatively you can enable Debug mode and ADB on your device and then use a GUI tool that uses ADB for file transferring, e.g. this one:

Droid Explorer


text:
Installing TWRP on locked Sony Z3 Compact D5803
I was googling that for ages and couldn't find any decent solution.
I have locked Sony Z3 Compact [D5803] and I need to install TWRP and backup the current OS.
I CAN use flashtool to install custom files that had been downloaded from xperiFirm but it seems like impossible mission to root it afterwards :)
I was also trying this article here :
https://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/general/recovery-root-mm-575-lb-t3418714
...without any success.


text:
Is there a way to combine SMS from different Android versions
I'm looking for a proper way which will allow to combine SMS from two different devices with different Android versions.
I took a look into this solution but it doesn't explain the step "4. Edit both XML files to merge them;" - how to do it?

Please provide an example of the code in XML 1 and 2 ... You may need to just copy and paste an entire section or edit manually the details .... for example if XML 1 has number ordering from message 1 to say 99... then merging the second file ( manually copying and pasting ) is a headache because you'll end up with two messages in the first position, meaning you need to edit the first message in XML 2 to say 99+1 ( 100 ) and then the second becomes 101 etc..


text:
wi-fi + bluetooth + usb failed for no reason (no system update) on xiaomi redmi note 4
Some time ago I suddenly noted that wi-fi switch does not turn on wi-fi and I could not start wi-fi hotspot on xiaomi redmi note 4. I did not do any system update before that happened.
As I've read on that problem on internet reset do not help, and neither it helped me later on. (installing some pdanet app did not help either).
In addition to wi-fi, also bluetooth starts (icon shows it's on, not like wi-fi always off), but does not find any devices.
I wanted to debug from PC, but neither Windows nor Linux see the phone connected as device, only charging worked. I was surprised to find out that OTG works, that points to software root cause IMHO.
The phone has non-removable battery, I cannot easily try what I've read as second advice (for samsung with wifi issue) - take out battery.
What could be the issue and what else do you advice me to try apart from selling for spare parts?

This seems like a technical issue. There could be these possible reasons:

It can happen if you manually change radio settings of the device (but will auto reset to default when you boot the device).
It can happen if you are running your device with an outdated version of custom UI that is not installing OTA updates.

OTA Definition:

OTA Updates - Android devices gets OTA updates via developer provided directly to your phone under name 'software update' or 'system update' or in some devices directly through app named 'Updater'.

Solution is:

Try factory reset to your device.
Factory resetting to your device makes the device completely clean and settings will revert to the manufacturer default settings.
Try manually updating the ROM.
OTA update is an automatic process for keeping your mobile up-to-date while manually updating a ROM takes time and a little knowledge of android devices.

Benefit is - By manual updating you can get a custom ROM installed faster than others who are waiting for official OTA update that takes time.
Caution -Manual update can be a risky process for your device. Please search it well before trying manual process.

I mentioned in question that reset did not help. Maybe will try that update later.

Please read 2nd point as well. It has your answer.

Perhaps software could be the root cause as you suspect, in which case try to put your device into safe mode and see if the wi-fi and bluetooth are working as they should.
You can put your device into safe mode as follows:

First power off the device, then turn it on again.
When the Mi symbol appears while booting, start tapping continuously on the fingerprint sensor until the phone completely
  boots  and then finally you will be in safe mode

If you do not see a change, then I'd suggest you reset Network settings:
Settings → More → Network settings reset

If all that fails then I'd recommend re-installing the firmware, choose the right one here

How safe mode should look like? I don't see difference and for youtube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGI2MkFKo5M) there are many comments that it is not working (I have MUI 9 too). As for reset, first, I don't see that option in 'more' on my phone, second, doesn't full phone reset should have done network reset?

@AlexeiMartianov safe mode is supposed to look like this https://i.sstatic.net/qxP1q.jpg. As for your 2nd question I would say maybe or maybe not, I remember factory rest didn't solve one problem I was facing on my other Huawei tablet and I had to reinstall firmware (that's why I don't fully rely on factory reset), I propose network reset, perhaps it may address such issues first, if you don't see it, then first turn off MIUI optimisation (under developer settings)

Settings reset did not appear after turning optimization off.  (I guess xiaomi changed some in MUI since your advice was working)


text:
How to edit this name in Samsung Android Phones

How to edit this name in Samsung Android Phones

You can't. That is the default name for your Cellular Modem. For more information, check this out: What is CP and AP and what are these options used for?

many person doing this why i ask here


text:
Hangouts Face icons dim to bright
Help me understand icons under messages going from live then back to dim under message.
When I send a message on hangouts the contact face shows live under the message, then reverts back to dim above the message.

So, you know how when you receive a message, there's a notification at the top of your screen? (When the icon is bright, it means person in question is looking at your message) Maybe it means that they have seen the notification, but have not yet responded and continued doing  what they had  been doing.


text:
List apps on SD card
I'm running LineageOS 14 (Android 7) and my SD card was formatted as adoptable storage. I want to revert it to portable storage, without loosing apps, so I need to move those apps back to internal storage beforehand.
However I don't know which apps are stored on the SD card just now, and checking them manually, one after the other, using the Settings menu, is quite slow and error-prone.
How do I get a list of apps that are stored the SD card?

A drastic measure could be to remove the SD card, and note all the apps that will not work properly

Very simple use the file manager and browse to sdcard/Android/data all the apps are there. Using solid explorer I can even see the app icons. (Not guaranteed, can show apps that don't store data on the SD card)
Alternatively you can just view the storage settings, click the sdcard f2fs and then apps and they are all listed there.

Note that sdcard/Android/data only lists data apps stored on the card. By what's there you cannot tell whether an app having its data here is installed on SD card or internal. I have several data directories in that place though I haven't installed a single app on SD card.

Huh, TIL thanks @Izzy. The second method it is then.

There is a hidden directory on the card containing moved apps. But without root, you cannot see it. I don't remember the name (as I never used that myself), something like .android_secure (and files with the extension .asec) I vaguely remember.

I agree with Izzy the first solution (sdcard/Android/data) is not 100% correct. The second one seems to have the same problem, because it lists apps that take space from the sd card, which are not necessarily the same that are installed there. Though both solutions might just be good enough, depending on the list size and other factors, they aren't in my case.


text:
Do I have to reboot between flashing ROM, root and Xposed?
I am going to flash a custom ROM, systemless root (Magisk) and Xposed Framwork through TWRP.
Can I flash them all sequentially without rebooting, or do I have to reboot the phone between each installation?
My device is the Moto Z2 Play and my ROM is the Pixel Experience 8.1.

You can flash the custom Rom and Magisk without rebooting. However, I would reboot after flashing the custom Rom and Magisk. That way you can ensure your system and root are setup. Xposed is a bit hacking and it is best to flash on its own.
As far as Xposed you very important to reboot after flashing xposed. Also depending on Rom size it could take around 10 minutes to boot while Xposed does its thing.

I'd just like to add that it's recommended to da a reboot after every flash. regardless of the modifications it makes to your device. Also Xposed isn't that much hacking, it just replaces two or three files on your system with vulnerable ones and then exploits that vulnerability. It's annoying to remove completely because most people dont know what it's done.... /system/bin/app_process is the file that sticks around after removing...  it makes your device vulnerable and should be replaced with the .bakup file that xposed made... New Super User programs do the same.

+1.Fully agree about reboot after flashing Xposed. IMO, it is better to reboot if you are doing any changes ; makes it easier to debug problems

Interesting, I guess it depends on the situation. Like sure after a freshly compiled ROM I reboot after every flash for debugging purposes to see what broke and needed to be fixed. As just a user I was taught you flash rom and gaps reboot recovery kernel, root, and whatever binaries mods reboot system set up OS and move files if needed reboot recovery then rm -rf /data/dalvik-cache. I have to disagree with rebooting after every single .extension is flashed for the average user but it okay. Everybody got their procedure 0_o @beeshyams♦ @Zillinium


text:
What are some location services that can be flashed with an Android Pie based ROM?
I want some alternative to Google Location service, and I want to use Google Play Store. Any leads are welcome

MicroG should do what you want. As quoted from the website, "A free-as-in-freedom re-implementation of Google’s proprietary Android user space apps and libraries," including a unified network location provider. Simple download and install APK.


text:
Error fastboot flash system
Hey i have phone xiaomi mi a2 try install another OS but get this error any ideas? need faster, cuz i can't run phone stuck on android one logo

PS C:\add> fastboot flash system C:\add\pixel.img
  target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
  sending sparse 'system' (524284 KB)...
  OKAY [ 16.264s]
  writing 'system'...
  OKAY [  0.002s]
  sending sparse 'system' (488200 KB)...
  FAILED (command write failed (Unknown error))

First you need to unlock your bootloader and then you can flash recovery image.
If you have already done that, Check whether you are flashing the proper one.
This is TWRP recovery for MI A2.
After flashing TWRP you can flash the desired rom from it. Do read some threads from XDA, If you are not sure about what you are doing.


text:
Make Google Pay require unlocking for NFC payment?
I have installed Google Pay and NFC credit card payment is neat. However, I don't feel safe about it. What if someone snatches my phone, then pays with it before I notice, or after I notice but before I can call my bank to stop the credit card tied to the account?
As things go now, payment up to 30 Euro (I am in Ireland) work without unlocking the phone, just by waking it up with the power button.
Is it possible to set Google Pay to work with NFC only when the phone is unlocked? In this way, if the phone is snatchedm at least it will take the thueves some time to find my pattern...

The only thing I figured out can be done, is to make a job on the phone which would disable NFC whenever the phone is locked and enable it when the phone is unlocked.
I read that it could be done with Tasker but it requires assigning some extra permissions with developer tools (but it doesn't require rooting the phone).

Hi,  I did not go through the process,  but when you install tasker and try to use the NFC toggle it points you to the instruction how to make it work. Then you just create a rule

Automate is another such app people use for this.


text:
Where does Google's Allo store (private) messages and media?
I suppose that messages and media sent and received in incognito mode are encrypted but they have to be stored or at least cached somewhere on the device as long as the timer, if any, has not finished. Does anyone know the location/path in the system where Allo stores normal and private messages and media? Is it accessible without root access?

Please see: Where Android apps store data?

Did that. I found the paths '/Allo' and '/Android/data/com.google.android.apps.fireball'. The first contained only a backup file and sent media. The backup does not contain private chats as far as I know. The second directory only contained another empty folder called 'files'.

And the reral place you could not check as your device isn't rooted: /data/data/com.google.android.apps.fireball. Which is where you'd probably find what you're looking for – if you could.

Note: Google will stop supporting Allo in March 2019