text:
What is radio firmware?
When installing a custom ROM onto a rooted Android device, they often recommend to upgrade the radio firmware.
What exactly is Android's radio firmware?

While I can't exactly answer the question, I strongly suggest against upgrading your radio, for it's the easiest way to brick your phone completely.

Thanks for asking this question. Until reading the answers below, I somehow believed the Radio firmware referred to the firmware for the Radio transmitter/receiver, the Radio we use to listen to songs. :-)

The radio firmware controls basic low-level functions like network connectivity, Wi-Fi, and GPS. For several years, though, "radio" means "baseband", and controls network connectivity aspects only, while WiFi and GPS are governed by OS drivers, like any other devices.
Usually upgrading your radio will not give you any new features but will fix connectivity issues, increase range or performance, decrease battery usage, or the like. Some ROM's require you to have the latest radio versions to work.
While a botched radio upgrade can brick your phone, the process is basically the same as upgrading your ROM. Just make sure not to unplug or power down your phone in the middle, make sure you trust the person who released the radio firmware, and try to read some comments or reviews.

As a side note on radio firmwares beware of upgrading them without having seen a test of the version on your network.
Sometimes new radio firmwares add features for some network providers that result in worse bandwidth, disconnections and other disagreement if you use them on another network. Network operators don't provide phones with such broken firmwares (they wait for the next version or just provide the same radio firmware forever) but if you install them yourself it's a risk you take.
But if you want to use the latest firmware all the times before your network operator or phone manufacturer provide the update you may need to take this risk (Video crashed the HTC Desire when used with all but the latest radio rom on froyo...)

If you don't think it is necessary to flash a radio then don't do it. At least I heard that it will not make any difference to your phone storage and speed. But somehow if you have connectivity issues like dropped calls, WiFi connection not searching or GPS does not seem to work then surely you need to flash the radio to another version than you are using at the moment.
If you want to see which radio your phone is working on go to settings > About phone > Baseband version > See the last some digits and then search for your phone Like HTC desire latest radio etc..
Note: I Recommend you should read more about Radio before flashing it. Sometimes there is a chance to brick your phone but don't worry if you have searched enough of it you are not going to lose anything. At least give a weekend or two to search for tutorials on forums like XDA, Android Central, Google, Wiki etc..
Happy Flashing

Phone service carriers will sometimes update the firmware on your radio. For reasons unknown, improved radio firmware isn't always made available to customers.
The radio firmware will, through software, increase your service coverage, giving you better signal and battery life.

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


text:
What causes battery to drain faster than it can charge?
I have a Moto DROID (v1).  On a trip from Tyler, TX to DFW airport I had my phone in the car dock and charging.  I was using Navigation for directions to the airport and also had Listen running to play a podcast over the device speaker.  As I neared the airport, the phone rebooted a few times and then remained off.  I took the phone out of the dock and noticed it was very hot to the touch.  At the airport, the phone had cooled and I plugged it into a wall charger.  The battery was completely drained!
My brother had the same experience with his Moto DROID (v2).  He was on a 4 hour road trip and was using the navigation app and participating in a conference call (hands-free).  The phone was connected to the car dock and charging the entire time, but after a couple of hours the phone rebooted and then shut-off with a dead battery.  We left the phone off and plugged into the charger for a while and it was able to boot again, and like with mine showed a dead battery!
Is the phone really able to drain the battery faster than it can be charged via the car dock?  If so, are there known combinations of apps or uses that will cause this behavior?

I think we can use your two examples as known combinations of apps that will cause this behavior. :-)

Navigation is the one common between the two examples.  I'm trying to learn if it is some combination of components (GPSr + BlueTooth? GPSr + Speaker? GPSr + Anything?) that causes the phone to drain faster than it charges.

I think you answered your own question ;)
Navigation uses a lot of power: it needs constant use of GPS along with reading the map and processing text to speech.  Throw in another power-intensive activity like bluetooth or the phone's speaker (or calling, or data, etc), and it's very conceivable that it would drain power faster than it can pull it from a charger, especially a car charger, though the exact specifics would vary from phone to phone.
Here is a great list of the things that use the most power on a phone.

Thanks for that list.  It boggles my mind that 1) when on the charger it still powers from battery rather than bypassing to the external source and 2) it can drain the battery faster than a charge.

@JadeMason: I mean, when it might need more power than the charger can provide, what else can it do but use the battery...

Make sure the charger outputs 1 amp.  Most vehicle chargers that aren't specifically for smartphones or don't list output are going to be .5 amp.

In both cases we were using the Motorola car kit adapter.  I haven't put a meter on the adapter, but since it came from the manufacturer of the phone and is intended for use with the phone, my assumption is that it is at the proper amperage.

This might just be a nonsense story but here is a start.
Some 'chargers' don't supply enough power to fully and quickly charge the device. A car charger might just not give enough power to charge faster then the applications are using the battery.
Ever noticed a computer cable charging slower then a wall socket charger. There is a difference there.

You can always underclock the phone, I notice a SIGNIFICANT decrease in heat generated which means less energy used. Yes it affects performance, but may give you what you need. Running the EVO 4G (so I can underclock to 50% and still get same mhz as the droid).

source: Stack Exchange

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

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

sort: votes


text:
How long does a posted review last on the Android store?
I have given reviews before and then came back some time later and noticed they were gone.
What is the duration that the android store displays my reviews?
Thanks!

Questions regarding the Android Market (now Google Play Store) that are about the internal workings of the store and aren't about interacting with the Store app via your Android device aren't really on-topic here.

If you try to leave a review again from the same account, does it let you?  Does it show the previous review, or act like nothing has been input before?
Reviews shouldn't age off (unless they're removed for profanity or other reasons), but some developers have noted that ratings suddenly disappeared from their app.  Maybe it was a one-time bug.

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


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Does firmware affect GPS accuracy?
I am from Philippines, and using European firmware for my Samsung Galaxy S2. Does that affect the accuracy of my GPS? For example, my location is usually off (at the wrong location) when I use Foursquare. But sometimes, it's usually right in Google Maps.
Should I be using firmware for Philippines instead?

Firmware definitely won't affect the quality of GPS reception (atleast in case of original ROMs, as homebrew ROMs might have some bugs - EVEN then it's either the fact that the GPS fix might take longer than usual or the GPS doesn't work at all. Not associated with accuracy.) What affects GPS reception is the quality of the signal. You tend to get a better and a faster GPS fix if you're in the open rather than in a closed building.
I've seen that Foursquare and Google Maps always point at the same location. (No brainer.)

For me, Google Maps has better accuracy than Foursquare. If I go to Foursquare, it's off. When I open Google Maps, it corrects itself. (Eventually, it becomes correct in Foursquare). Thanks for your input! :)

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


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What countries is Google Play Books available?
I wanted to install Google Play Books app from Play store. Unfortunately I got message, that

This item cannot be installed in your device's country.

Can someone point me to list of countries, where this app is available?
As side note: if I travel to another country, can I install the app and then continue using it in my country?

Google Play Books is available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. You can find this information on the Google Play help page, and it has also been noted on the @googlebooks Twitter account.

Google now have a single page that lists the international availabilty of all their Play store content, including Books, here: https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/2843119

If you download a book from the playstore in US, UK, Canada or Australia, then you go back to your country, you will still have the book, but won't be able to download anymore.

Welcome to the site! How do you know this? Is there some documentation or official statement you could link to, or is it from experience?


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Android 2.3 Tablet: HDMI using both screens
I've an android 2.3 tablet. When I connect it to the TV the tablet's screen turns off and I can only see in the TV screen. Is there any way to keep both screens on?
Thanks!

Most probably, there's no way. Your tablet screen and your TV screen use different resolutions and refresh rates, which is generally too much to handle simultaneously for the graphics chip in your tablet.


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Re-install settings application.
I have compiled Android Source codes and get settings.apk now I wonder can I install that application on my phone ? When I try to do that my phone say "CAnnot install application" what can I do to install that application ?

Why -1 ? Whats wrong ??

Why are you trying to do this?  What's wrong with the Settings application that came with and was likely customized for your phone?

@MatthewRead I need to get access to System PIN application in that order I make some changes in android sources and recompile them now I need to install android settings.apk in to my phone (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10106837/use-system-pin-dialog-in-android-application)

you need to root the device and copy the settings.apk to the /system/app directory. if your device is odex'd you can't just throw the apk in there, you first would need to "de-odex" your device or install a custom rom that is already de-odex'd.

Acutally, in /system/app you can mix odex and de odex, just be sure to delete the corresponding odex file (or the dalvik cache file if going the other way). It's /system/framework where you can't mix. Make sure you set permissions right as well though (and, not always necessary, but set owner and group too)

See if this helps:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/htc-evo-4g/46149-replacing-system-apps-possible.html

System application are odexed, which means the code part it extracted and kept separate and also some crucial parts of the application are kept in framework.jar. If you want to copy your freshly-compiled application to your phone, you have to deodex it first, which restores the missing parts and only then you may replace /system/Settings.apk with your new file. And, please, make sure you delete old /system/Settings.odex file, otherwise it won't work.
As usually, it's recommended to save old Settings.apk/odex files just in case when something goes wrong.


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How can I "split" the virtual keyboard when typing on a large display in landscape mode?
I have a large Android tablet and would like to "split" the virtual keyboard when it's in landscape mode. Something similar like the iPad feature.
Is this possible and if so how?

Thumb Keyboard allows for this, as well as many other handy features which make it well worth the money
Paid Version
7 Day Trial Version

Swiftkey's tablet version supports this (paid, free trial). It has the letters split to each side and the numeric keys in the middle:

There also is FloatNSplit Tablet Keyboard (for the tablet rather AI FloatNSplit Tablet Keyboard) which offers this feature:

In addition to being able to split the keyboard, this one can also float with some transparency:


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Transferring Phone Ownership
I currently have an HTC Desire handset. I am just about to upgrade to a new HTC handset and would like to be able to pass this phone on to my wife.
What’s the best way of changing the account setup n the phone to reflect the new ownership. I intend on using my existing Google account on the new handset to transfer my own settings over.
I would like to keep using the same Google Play account to retain the installed apps, but I would like my wifes telephone contacts to be kept separate and sync independently to my own as well as preventing Gmail emails on my address from pinging up this old handset.
Is this doable?
My current plan is to create her a Gmail account. On the existing Gmail account within the phone turn off syncing of Contacts, Calendar and Gmail. Add the new Google account and turn on syncing of the same.
This /sounds/ like it will work ok, but never having done this before I’m not sure how things will work in practice.

For future readers who've not transferred ownership yet: it might be difficult to remove the device from the old account in the settings on https://play.google.com, or to register the phone to the new account, to make  Device Manager on https://play.google.com work for the transferred device. (I have no solution yet.)

Yes, adding a second account and disabling sync on the original one will work as you are expecting.  You'll retain the ability to install and use apps you purchase with the original account, while having the sync enabled only on your wife's account will ensure the data from your own account is not present on her phone.

I'd do a factory reset, and then add both your account, and your wife's.  This isn't much different than Chahk's answer, but might be a tad safer -- who knows what weird customizations you might have made to your phone that will surprise your wife?

Thanks for the suggestion. It's setup pretty well at the moment so don;t really want to fiddle too much. No odd customisations that I can recall, but if so I'll be on hand to sort.


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change phone properties so I can download an item from Google play?
I have a Huawei u8160(A.K.A Vodafone 858 Smart) which had an original Froyo ROM , Now it's upgraded to CyanogenMod7.2(Gingerbread) and even after upgrading Google play apps are the same exactly.
I was wondering if I can change the properties of my phone so that Google play would understand that I'm running Gingerbread?

Which apps are you expecting to have new versions?

i don't know but goomanager before and after upgrading wasn't compatible but after i installed it manually and it worked

The apps will not just change when your version changes. All Apps have a minimum API Version which is required to use the App. So if your apps all have a minimum API version of e.g. Froyo and there is no special version for gingerbread all will stay the same.
The Properties of the android version cannot be changed, only if you compile your own system and write a different version number in there. But this will not solve the problem of the API Versions: If you Fake an Android 4.0.3 with 2.3.6 Real System Version, some Apps will probably not run because they need to have API Version 15 and not 8.

when i compile an api 10 app using eclipse it runs normally while Froyo's API is 8

as long as you dont use API Calls which are only in 10 it will work of course

here's something: an app called photo art google play on pc tells me "not compatible" while it's already installed it and google play phone says it's compatible so that's what i want to do i want to update the information on their site

okay i dont see any chance to change it... when your google play store on PC does not get the correct information from the phone i hardly belive its not possible at all to push it manually... the market protocol was sometime ago reverse engienered but still then alot changed and i dont know if someone checked it out again... can you install still software from the PC market?

maybe you can just tell the support: https://support.google.com/googleplay/bin/request.py?contact_type=contact_policy&policy=apps but the problem will be that you are not using a google android version...

I'm able to install any app that was compatible with the old version of my phone that was froyo


text:
Known issues when installing official google ICS on Galaxy s2
I know Google issued out an official ICS rom for the Nexus S devices and I'm wandering if the same rom (or any other Google official variant) will properly work on my Galaxy S2 or will there be any notable issues?!
I'm asking because I'm quite fed up with the Samsung's stock roms (both GB and ICS) and I really want to avoid 3rd party roms such as CyanogenMod.

It's probably not too hard to adapt for example the CyanogenMod build procedures for the S2 to use plain Google sources, but I haven't tried.

Unfortunately, that's not how it works :/
Though we would all love the official ICS versions rolled out to the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus devices, they are designed specifically for the hardware of those phones; thus is the nature of Android.
So, if you want something similar, the only way you will be able to get it is a 3rd party ROM. The only official OS versions for each phone are the ones rolled out by each provider, in your case, Samsung.

I was afraid of that, Samsung do roll out nice devices, but they stuff so much garbage and bloatware in them it's painful.

If you like Samsung hardware, I'd recommend getting one of the aforementioned phones (Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus) if you're getting a new one soon. They are Google's brainchildren, but Samsung produces them.

In the end I've found a rom for the S2 compiled from the source code FOR THE Nexus S and it works like a charm :) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1601518


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Personal Dictionaries
I use swype beta on my galaxy nexus (ICS). When I type some word that is not in the dictionary, swype prompts me to add the word to its "personal dictionary". However, even after I go along with that, the word does not get added to the system's underlying personal dictionary and so I get a spelling error indication which prompts me to add the word to the system's "personal dictionary".
Is there a way of avoiding this two-step process. Is there a way of configuring swype to use the underlying personal dictionary?


text:
Does the bootloader need to be unlocked to flash my phone
I am not able to relate between bootloader unlocking and flashing. From what I understand, when I flash my phone with a custom ROM, it writes to the /boot partition and hence the bootloader has to be unlocked. Is my understanding correct, or can I flash a ROM without unlocked bootloader?

A locked bootloader means that you won't be able to install software updates(or flash recoveries, ROMs) that hasn't been signed by the manufacturer/carrier.
So the answer is "Yes, you can flash an unsigned ROM but it won't get loaded by the locked bootloader".


text:
Samsung Galaxy S2 bricked?
I own a galaxy sII. 3 weeks back, I downloaded and flashed the MIUI ICS rom on my phone. A week later I tried to update the ROM through ROM Manager. Everything went fine except when after flashing the latest ROM, the phone restarted and displayed the error:
[ RST_STAT = Ax20000000 ]
KERNEL PANIC UPLOAD MODE

I entered into Download Mode - ODIN and tried to connect my PC to the phone but the PC failed to recognize my device, throwing the error - 'Device Malfunctioned'. It's been 2 weeks and I'm perplexed as to what to do next.
I can enter ODIN Mode but cannot get my PC to connect to the phone. I installed the drivers manually, but ODIN doesn't recognize my phone. I connected to different PCs with different USB cables, still no luck.
If it does connect, it disconnects immediately. Also, PC fails to recognize the device, but the phone charges through the USB cable.
Any help would be appreciated.
EDIT:
My PC is running on Windows 7 64-bit.

Try installing Kies from here, then reboot your phone and PC and try Odin again.

It turned out that the USB pin of the phone had become faulty and needed to be replaced.


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Gmail ICS: How do I mark as not spam?
I've got a Samsung S3, and on my old SGS I could mark a spam as not spam.
How do I do this in my ICS GMail? The feature seems to have healed up.
Others have seen this also:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1525799


text:
Android Nexus S Boot Freeze
My Android Nexus S does not boot anymore.
If I start it normally, I get a screen like the following and it won't ever change (tried for hours):

I can still go into the boot loader with PowerOff + Volume Up, if I try the RECOVERY option, I just get a screen that looks like this:

Does anybody know how to install the original google android again, or at least flash it with a similar operating system?

If you don't mind to end up with Cyanogenmod9 (Ice-Cream-Sandwich):
Here's the full update guide from CyanogenMod's Wiki:
http://oldwiki.cyanogenmod.org/wiki/Nexus_S:_Full_Update_Guide
Here are builds (go for release candidates or stable builds for CM9):
http://get.cm/?device=crespo
Recovery images are here:
http://www.clockworkmod.com/rommanager/
flash via 'fastboot flash recovery [recovery.img]

To install the stock ICS build: go to https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images and choose your device (mine, for example, a US Nexus S that works with T-Mobile, is https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#sojuimm76d), download the file, then download the surprisingly-not-very-large Android SDK from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html.  Run the sdk manager (it's called "tools/android") which will open a GUI; make sure "Android SDK" and "Android SDK Platform Tools" are checked.  You can clear other check boxes, since those will download very large stuff that you don't need.
Once you've got all that, follow the instructions in the tarball that you first downloaded; roughly, you want to put the sdk's "platform tools" directory on your PATH, power off your phone, then hold the power-up key and power it back on (that'll get it to display the Sekrit Startup Screen); and then on your computer run "fastboot oem unlock" and then "flash-all.sh".
I've done this twice in the last few days (for fun :-) and while it may sound complicated, it's actually pretty easy and worked fine.  (I installed 2.3.6 just for the nostalgia of it and then installed Cyanogenmod and then went back to stock 4.0.4).


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LogMeIn Hamachi VPN
How do I connect my Android phone or tablet to a LogMeIn Hamachi VPN? Is it even possible?
LogMeIn has command line clients for Linux, and of course Android has built-in VPN settings.
Is there some way to hack my Android to get it on the Hamachi VPN? I'll try almost anything no matter how involved. Root and non-root answers welcome (I have root access).

As described in this how-to, you can do this by installing a "chrooted" Linux distro on Android such as Ubuntu, and then downloading, installing and configuring Hamachi manually.

Hamachi is a vpn program which can be used to link up computers. With
  hamachi on an android you would be able to access the files on
  multiple computers from anywhere in the world (provided that you have
  wifi, 3g, 4g or any other type of internet connection on your phone)
  this is useful when programs like dropbox can't hold the file that you
  want because it is too large and you know that you will need it at
  some point when you are on the go.  To get hamachi on android there
  are a few requirements which must be met first:

Internet access.
Ubuntu/Debian/Backtrack or any other Linux distro on your phone.
Rooted phone (root access).

Once those 3 requirements have been met you should be set to go.

Boot up the Linux distro on your phone
Either open up the browser on the distro or the browser on your phone.
go to http://www.mediafire.com/?jwng92o6j56ov8l and download the hamachi file. If you did this on the distro then you may skip to step 5A
If it hasn't happened already, move that whole file to emmc on your phone
(5A. Move the hamachi file from the downloads folder in the distro to
  /root)  Open up the distro and copy that hamachi file from /mnt/emmc to /root
Open terminal and cd into that directory and run the following commands
sh ./install
mkdir /dev/net
mknod /dev/net/tun c 10 200
apt-get install sudo
apt-get install libcrypto++7
ln -s /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.0.9.8 /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.0.9.7
sudo tuncfg
hamachi-init
hamachi start
hamachi login
hamachi set-nick [enter desired nickname here]
hamachi join [networkname] [password]
DONE.

Great answer. Thank you! I will try this out tonight hopefully.


text:
Latest Cyanogenmod doesn't want to be rooted?
I just saw that if I need to install the latest Cyanogenmod on my tab (Galaxy Tab 2 7 (GT-P3113)) I don't need to root it. Is this true? Any one have more information on this? So will it be easy to restore to the original rom?

could you provide a reference to where you read this? And which version of Cyanogenmod you're referring to? (CM9 is their latest stable, CM10 builds are their latest, but not necessarily stable)

Technically, you don't need root if you have an unlocked bootloader. Even if it is locked, you don't need root, you just need an exploit to change the recovery to install CM9/CM10. Usually, the first thing that people do when an exploit is identified is "root" the device but flashing a different recovery and flashing a different ROM is also possible. Root happens first because there are little or no modifications that have to be made except put the su binaries on the device.
The Galaxy devices, from my experience is actually pretty easy to "Restore to Stock" if you so choose. It does require a little research to find the stock rom files and the use of ODIN (or hemidall). Once you have the stock files that can be used with ODIN, it is rather simple to restore to "stock"
With CM9 and later, you do not have to have root enabled. On top of that, you can change that when ever you want. You can also specify if you only want to allow apps to have root access, only adb, or both.


text:
Email client that restricts certain accounts to particular connection types, e.g. company WiFi at work, 3G/GPRS for personal
Is there such an email account whereby in the account settings, one can choose which connection types that the account can use?
Would like this feature so that checking personal email goes through mobile/3G but does not go through e.g Wifi company workplace network or public Cafe Wifi, for privacy reasons.
It would be useful if one or more connection types or WiFi accesspoints could be specified for an account, e.g. if at home using home wifi - this would be allowed for personal.
Another option would be to have different email clients for different purposes but that might not be as manageable.

I will answer my own question - I don't think there is such an email client yet that provides the facility to choose which internet connection(s) is/are used with each account.
Thanks for the DroidWall mention @FoleyIsGood, but I would prefer not to have to root my device for risks of malware, also because I use some backing apps which will not run on rooted devices.

If you have root access then you could use DroidWall to give different apps, including email clients, access to WIFI and or mobile data. This would require you to use a different client for each account and wouldn't automatically differentiate between WIFI at work or at home. :o/
(It's a pretty rough work around but the best I could think of...)

thanks. I'd prefer not to root, I'll have a look around myself.


text:
Android keyboard behaviour changed after updated to Jelly Bean
When I am in ICS, whenever I type a wording, followed by space, Android will suggest me several useful punctuations like ,.
I love this behaviour as it is useful to me.
However, now in Jelly Bean, the behaviour is changed. They no longer suggest me punctuations. Instead, when I type "I" followed by space, it will suggest me am. This is not something what I want.
Is there any where I can fall back to old behaviour?

You can install ice cream sandwich keyboard from play store.

This new feature is called Next word prediction. You can easily disable it to restore the ICS behavior but it's a bit hidden:

Go to Settings > Language & input
Tap on the setting icon beside Android keyboard under the Keyboard & input methods section
At the bottom you'll find Advanced settings, tap it
There you'll find Next word prediction, uncheck it:

After that, typing I followed by space will bring up the punctuation again instead of predicted words.


text:
Connect JUST as charging
With ICS my phone now ALWAYS mounts my SD card as an external drive when I plug it into a computer. Sometimes I just want power, especially if I am trying to play a game that's on my SD card.
Under the previous version I had the option to connect JUST for charging, without talking to the computer at all. Is there a way to get this functionality back w/ an ICS device?

That is highly dependent on the kernel and the type of battery driver that is used.

Answer
With Android 4.0 ICS, charge only mode is no longer available.
Unfortunately there's no app to deal with this issue AFAIK.
You can try, but I believe that this isn't possible with your phone, but for future readers, placing the phone in "media transfer mode", allows access to SD cards on both phone and computer.

Further into this matter
One can always disable the "automount" feature from the host OS:
Windows 7

Click "start";
At the search box type "autoplay";
Select "AutoPlay" from the search results list, should be under "Control Panel";
Find the "Mixed content" option and select "take no action" from the selectbox.
This will effectively disable Automount for devices like mobile phones. By my tests, the phone doesn't ask to "turn on USB storage" either.

Ubuntu

Using GUI:

Access the "Software Center";
Search for "dconf editor";
Install and after, open it;
Navigate to "org" -> "gnome" -> "desktop" -> "media-handling";
Un-tick "automount" and "automount-open".

Using Command Line:

Open the terminal;
Type gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.media-handling automount false.
Use true to enable it again.

You can plug the phone in and charge it using a powered USB hub that's not connected to a computer, this will just charge without mounting drives.
It sounds like something you probably won't have handy, but have a look at your PC's screen. Many modern screens have powered USB sockets, but aren't actually connected to the PC (unless you plug a second USB A->B cable between the screen and PC which many people never do).
I charge my phone at work this way by plugging it into the screen, as we're not allowed to plug un-approved USB devices into our PCs (and if we do they're actively blocked).

From your home screen go to your settings. Depending on the phone ( I have the HTC EVO Design 4G for Boost Mobile) you should see an option for "Connect to PC". Select this option and you should see two things. The first is "Default Connection Type" and the second is "Ask me". Ask me will have a box beside that you would check. Once checked and you exit back tothe home screen any time you connect to your PC itwill bring up the prompt again.

AFAIK, that configuration is only available on HTC Sense devices.


text:
Is there an app/tool/setting for reading tiny websites?
I hate visiting websites that lack mobile views. Two examples are Phoronix and Gamasutra. They have huge amounts of navigation/advertising on the sides, and the actual article text is ridiculously small. Even zooming in does not help.
Is there something on Android similar to iPhone's reader feature? I'd like to strip a site's bad layout and read just the main text (larger font, wrap-around based on my screen width, etc.).
For what it's worth, I'm on a Galaxy S III.

The best I have for now is the app Readability available from Google Play Store:

Readability turns any Web page into a clean view for reading now or later on your computer or Android device. With the Readability app, you can catch up reading you've saved with the free Readability add-on for your Web browser. Already a favorite on Kindle e-readers, now you can enjoy the benefits of Readability on your Android devices.


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Disabling the "Wi-Fi networks available" on Samsung Galaxy S II (Sprint Epic Touch 4G) on ICS
If I'm away from my saved Wi-fi networks, and have the Wi-Fi radio on, I'm always getting a "Wi-Fi networks available" notification. I can dismiss the notification, but then it comes back within a few minutes.
I can't figure out how to disable that notification. I'm on a Sprint Epic 4G Touch  (Sprint's variant of the Samsung Galaxy S II), recently updated to ICS.
I remember this being a simple setting in Gingerbread, but I can't find the appropriate setting in ICS.

From the Wi-Fi settings page, tap menu and choose Advanced. From the Advanced Wi-Fi settings, uncheck "Network notification". It's only for open networks, but those are the only ones that ICS on the Epic Touch 4G reports.


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Remember wifi password but never automatically connect
I have both my wifi password and my friend's saved.  Since they live nearby sometimes it will automatically switch to theirs if the signal is stronger.  I don't ordinarily want to use their connection unless I'm over there or my internet is down.
Is here any way to make android only automatically connect to my wifi without forgetting the other's password? It is long and impossible to memorize so forgetting the network is a huge pain.
Running ICS, and have root if needed.

Does toggling "Avoid poor connections" in Settings > Wi-Fi > Advanced change this behavior?

Sounds promising but unable to find such an option.  The device is an asus transformer prime running android 4.0.3

Might not be available in the stock Asus ROM. Bummer.

Not exactly what you may have intended, but still a possible solution: Using an app like

Wifi QR Code Generator
WiFi QR Share

you can generate a QR Code of your friend's Wifi connection, print it, laminate it (for protection), and put it into your wallet. Now, whenever you want to use that Wifi network, take out the QR-Code, scan it with Barcode Scanner -- and get connected. For a "log-out" simply disconnect, and remove the network from your list (to keep your device from autoconnecting).
Not quite elegant -- but it saves you from typing the long password everytime. Side-Effect: Print out the QR multiple times, and give it to your friend's for other guests. Do the same for your own Wifi. Now you never have to tell your passwords: To permit your guests to connect, somply show them the QR-Code to scan (and have them delete the network from their devices when they leave, as Android stores Wifi-passwords unencrypted).

Because "Android stores Wifi-passwords unencrypted"? It's just a security question. Maybe I should add "optionally". But as the OP doesn't want to automatically connect to the friend's network, maybe the visitors don't want that, either.

Definitely not as elegant as I would like...but I suppose it's a step above what I have now.

I was aware of that -- but I'm afraid the real elegant solution won't be available. At least I know of no setting to tell Android not to connect a specific network automatically, once you have it in your list of "known networks" (i.e. once you connected to it and did not remove it afterwards).

+1, although I find it a bit sad that in 2019, the best solution still seems to be carrying a booklet of printed QR codes around with your phone.

Hmm, as said before I am afraid that there is no such setting available. BUT there is a handy little app that lets you create widgets that let you switch your networks with a single tap. So when you realize you are connected to your friend's network, simply press the button on your homescreen and you will be connected to your own network again.
You can find the app here: Wifi Manager.

Have you tried going to your wpa_supplicant file and changing the priority on the networks?
The settings will be save in regular text and they'll easy to read and figure out.
If you have a Root explorer like ES file or any other you can find it by looking here → /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf
Note : Also there are some apps that let you do this if you don't want to try and find the file yourself


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How to get Tasker CPU options available on MT4GS?
myTouch 4G Slide [MT4GS/Doubleshot]
ICS Virtous Inquisition ROM
I cannot get the tasker CPU options available.  I've checked the common problems listed at http://tasker.dinglisch.net/userguide/en/cpu.html.  I can confrim that I have Superuser.apk installed in /system/app and that su binary is available.   I also have Secure Settings and Secure Setting Helper installed.  The frequencies are available and listed in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpuX/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies but still no CPU option.  What do I need to do to figure out what is still wrong?

I'm not sure what did it but it must be OS dependent as once I installed CyanogenMod9 Alpha6 I had those options available under performance settings and they also became available in the tasker menus as well.


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How do I recover the Dolphin Sonar icon?
In my application list, Dolphin Sonar/Sonar is not one of the icons.  I've "peeled off"/deleted all of the Dolphin Sonar icons by mistake, and I want it to be on my home screen.  I use it very often.  Where might I find the icon?  Do I need to reinstall Dolphin?

I think we need more information. What version of the OS are you running? Are you looking in the "Downloaded" section of the app drawer? If so, it means you've uninstalled the app. To be sure, check Settings | Applications to see if it's listed there.

@AlEverett I received a response from Dolphin HQ's support staff stating that this is currently not possible (at least not on my phone but more likely at all), and they plan to fix this in an upcoming patch.

@Wolfpack'08 Please put this as answer and mark the question answered

According to the Dolphin for Android phone faqs, you can manually create a shortcut to the home screen:

How do I create a shortcut for Dolphin Sonar to the home screen manually?
Please click Menu> More> Settings> Gesture & Sonar > Sonar Settings> Create Shortcut.


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Android "Internal Storage" used but not reported
As an owner of a Nexus One running Gingerbread, I'm continually fighting to keep free space in my phone's Internal Storage. Today, I noticed something odd.
The bottom of Andorid's "Manage applications" screen shows a bar graph that reports the phone's "Internal storage" (I have 29M free). When I click into an app, I can see storage for the "Application", and for the app's "Data". The application, in most cases, is stored on the SD Card. The application's "data" is stored on the phone (I presume).
What I'm finding is that I'm not seeing the whole picture of what is taking up Internal Storage.  For example, I have 29M free in Internal Storage. The Angry Birds app, which is stored on the SD card, is 3.14M. It's Data is 4.0K. I then delete the Angry Birds (gasp!), and my free Internal Storage jumps up to 31M. So it looks like it's freed up 2M, when I only would have expected it to free up 4.0K. Any idea what's going on here?

The free space difference can be accounted by three relevant factors that may end up giving you some misleading information about the real space available on your internal storage:

The Free space reported
The free space reported at the end of the "Manage Applications" screen is rounded to MB, and it gives you a general free space estimation based on the moment you opened said screen, and it gets updated from time to time (by my tests about every minute).
I've mentioned "rounded" because if you access the "Storage Settings" panel, you'll get a clear picture regarding the free space available, down to KB.
The App Allocation
As already mentioned by t0mm13b, an application may be entirely moved to the SDCard or leave a portion behind, this issue is more related with the development of the application itself and there's no standard rules to follow.
I've performed an exercise with "Angry Birds", and while the download mentioned 20MB, after installed it consumed 24MB. After moving it to the SDCard using the option for this end under "Manage Applications" screen, 1.85MB were left behind on the Internal Storage, plus 4KB of data.
Temporary System Files from other applications or running services
While I was writing this answer, the free space reported varied between 2MB, this tells us that the OS is constantly creating and freeing up space depending on the stuff running.

There may exist other factors that concern the ext4 File System specifications used by Gingerbread , but I don't believe they better account for the 2MB difference.

By the three points mentioned above, while performing an exercise with the application you've mentioned using a device with a stock Gingerbread ROM, I've managed to account for 2MB of difference, just like the space you've mentioned.

Determine Internal and External Space Occupied
Following up on the comments, regarding a way to accurately know how much an app occupies on the device, and being able to view it by external or internal storage, the most accurate application I'm currently using is SanDisk Memory Zone by SanDisk Corp. available for free from Google Play Store.

Open the application
Select the desired storage
Check the details about it

Very good explanation, as always when Zuul does it :) So would you say there's any way for the end-user to clearly determine how much space is consumed by an app, and where -- not involving "complicated things" like e.g. use of terminal apps? As we've got many questions here concerning "where's my storage gone", this would be a great help.

Adding to my previous comment, as I didn't make that clear: I meant determine how much space is occupied by an app on internal storage, and how much on external storage -- i.e. to see how much and where. Best of course is if one could see all this in one place -- as opposed to what I showed in my answer with the graphical storage explorers.

I believe its the apps dex files that tend to stay behind the phone memory when its moved to SD using stock Apps2SD. So my theory is, lesser the app's dex files, more efficient becomes App2SD.

I already asked myself whether Dalvik cache is included with the given "app allocation". Same for temporary files, which would be identifyable via their owner (uid) -- but this would require a full file system scan, which would cost a bit time and ressources but theoretically could be done on demand (via some rescan button).

Thank you for the addition, @Zuul! As you use that app: The screenshot shows no division on "phone memory". Does it distinguish between the /data and /data/data partitions, which often causes confusions (if those are separate partitions -- which is not true for all devices / Android versions)?

Checking around, I just found a few useful apps which reveal where the storage goes.
For one, there's DiskUsage. Though the screenshot1 shows the sdcard here, the video on the apps playstore page makes clear it can be used on internal storage as well -- and even links to the apps page you usually find via Menu -> Applications -> Manage Applications. You can walk and zoom in/out each area, as the annotations on the screenshot show.
My second candidate is Folder Size Chart, which comes with a different design and, as seen in the screenshot2, can also deal with internal storage.

These two may definitly help to identify "storage hogs". There are many others found in the playstore which follow this concept, but most are limited to the sdcard or require root access.

As the N1 is closely related to the HTC Incredible you might be running into the same low storage space issue that plagues Incredible users (like myself). I asked a related question when I started experiencing apps force-closing due to a lack of partition space and later consolidated my understanding of the data partitions in an answer to a question about False “low on space” (internal storage) warning on HTC Incredible:

...my app settings screen shows me what must be the /data usage (never close to full, numbers match /data size reported by DiskUsage) even though my apps are actually constrained by the much smaller /data/data (where I run out of room often)...

I found that the number reported as "Internal Storage" was reporting something entirely unhelpful and was, by all accounts, useless in helping me actually manage app storage. I concur with Izzy in his recommendation of DiskUsage, I found it very helpful especially when rooted (with root permissions it can display /data/data partition usage). Using terminal emulator to investigate usage was also helpful in diagnosing my problem. When you take a look at your /data and /data/data partitions, do you see the same discrepancies?

This sounds like you are using Apps2SD or equivalent whereby, moving the app onto the SDCard, only a portion of the app is stored in the internal storage and the rest on the SDCard.
For verification, check your SDCard and see if the app's data is still there, this should be present in /sdcard/Android/data/ followed by the package name of the installed application.
That is a normal mechanism of the Apps2SD.

Thanks, I am using Link2SD. I didn't realize that it leaves a portion of the app behind. This helps explain it.

Many people have that kind of problem and I have the same one. Moving apps to SD card just delays a bit the problem because something else fills up the internal storage. I finally figured out and it works great.
I have a Galaxy Tab 7 but many android devices will experience that. The one called /data is actually not really just data but it is where Android install the application apk and some of the data related to it. If you force the apk to install on SD card, it will still use some of the /data space (small amount) for some data.
The problem I discovered is in /data/tombstone, you will find 10 files named tombstone_0#. These are constant/non-stop debugging info collected by android. These files build up over time. You don't need that for a normal user. Delete all of them. These 4 files were using 1.4GB of my 1.89GB internal tablet storage.
To do so, you will need to root your device. Yes, you must. And it won't explode don't worry, I've done it and many others too! Then get a program like "Root Explorer" to browse and delete the junk. It will request and be granted root privilege if you rooted your device before and you will be able to do whatever you want.
To root your device, just google "root android [my device model]" and you should find quickly how to root your device.
This problem is a design flaw. When there is a low internal storage, Android should start a background task to clean up that junk.

Please also see my comments on your similar answer here -- I never saw tombstones occupying more than 10MB, your case is the first. And even if, it requires root to remove them. PS: As "tombstones" are what's called "core dumps" on Unix/Linux, their size varies with the memory used by their corresponding (crashed) processes. Obvioulsy yours have been quite memory-hungry apps :)


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How to control the file system on Android from Win7 file explorer?
I haven't found any good solution for managing files on my Galaxy S2 from Win7. I've tested Kies and some other software but I'd like to be able to move files, create directories etc. through file explorer in Windows. There was some talks about installing a server also but it feels like using nukes on a mosquito. Preferably a free software that I can install?
Frankly, I was expecting that a simple connection via BT would suffice in this era of Plug & Play but, apparently, in my case, it's Plug & Prey, instead...

You can use your USB-Cable to connect your phone to the computer. If your phone doesn't pop up as external device, you're probably missing the needed USB-Drivers for it.

I'd very much prefer to connect the device via air than a cable. Mostly because I don't have one at the moment (and purchasing one seems odd just to move some files). Besides that, it's by principle wrong direction in this wireless era to stuff our devices with a cable... Is the above solvable without using a physical connection (i.e. BT or Wi-Fi)? Thanks for the tips, though!

You could use AirDroid if your Device is connected to your Network. It works in your Browser, not in the Windows Explorer though...

I'll try that. I'd expected that there'd be tons of solution on mounting an Androphone to Windows File Explorer but it seems there's some kind of reluctancy towards such a solution. You either create servers or you use browser windows... Indeed strange. Thanks for the info, though. I can't upgrade your answer becuase of my low rep yet.


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How to show password while typing?
Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 (there is no such tag, and I have too little reputation here to create it).
On LG L5 when I type password I can see in the edit box the last character I typed. Better something than nothing.
However, with Ace 2 the story is worse -- all I see is sequence of dots, and I have real difficulties to type anything correctly.
Question -- how to show the password while typing?

I doubt that it's possible if the app does not have a "show password" checkbox.

I do not have your phone model on hand to try, but you can give this link a shot.
Generally, just go to Settings > Security > check Make passwords visible. This is true for my phone (HTC Desire, BCM 4.0.4).
Hope it works for you.

Thanks! In my case it was even worse, it was buried at the bottom, under settings for lock screen ;-)


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What's the difference between real dual-touch and fake dual-touch?
I have a Xperia X10 Mini Pro and by some ungodly reason it's dual touch feature is not working. I have searched around the net and I have seen here and there people use terms such as real dual-touch and fake dual-touch.
I don't really understand what's the difference here? Can the dual-touch ability be faked and how is that possible?
By the way, if anyone can tell is it possible to activate the dual touch feature in my phone I would be super thankful.

I have 2 questions. Is your phone rooted and what ROM are you using (EX custom ROM, Gingerbread Stock, etc)?

It's rooted. I use GingerDX.

Multitouch touch screen digitizers handle (2,3,4...) or more input fingers at a time at the hardware level.
Single touch devices handle only one finger at a time even if 2 or more are present. If you touch with a 2nd finger, the detected touch will "jump" from the first finger to the second finger location.
Install a touch screen visualizer or test application like Z device test.
You can watch a video how it looks with one finger on youtube (which has fake dual touch and has some flaws).
So what a fake dual touch driver does is this:
It basically detects "jumps" of the finger and assumes it comes from a second and just keeps reporting a fixed virtual event (coming from the last known position from the (now vanished) 1st finger touch) while the 2nd touch is from your actual finger and reported regularly.

The difference between real dual-touch and fake dual-touch has to do with how the screen is built. Real touch screens have an additional layer to allow for additional inputs. There are ways to emulate dual-touch with software. This is helpful in the case of your particular phone.
This XDA forum page has a list of updates for particular ROMs including 2 stock ROMs which enable fake dual touch.


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How can I get Android 4.0.4 on my XPERIA Neo V?
I asked some questions about rooting before but I didn't realize it all was supposed to be done on an MT11a with Android 4.0.4. I have 2.3.4, so I just rolled everything back. Where and how can I install this version? I am seeing videos (YouTube, for example) where people have this OS installed in this very same device.

Did you have tried Sony Update Service? download this software and follow instructions to update your phone easily to an original stock ICS ROM.

possible duplicate of When will my device get the Android 4.0 update (Ice Cream Sandwich)?

Not really a dupe, @Chahk (Peter and some of us had that yesterday on chat), as ICS is already released. So the question is not when -- but rather how.

You might want to visit the Update page for Neo V for closer information on how to update. It not only tells you what has changed, but also provides you with the required downloads.
The link is to the UK version. I could not find any link for Argentina, and the Brazil page does not even list the Neo V. So you might want to check around for yourself -- at least that's somewhere to start with.


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Where to find a PIN lock screen that scrambles the keypad on every use?
Is there some way to get a lock screen whose PIN pad changes number layouts every time it's used? It seems like a very basic way to thwart smudge attacks and yet my (broken?) google-fu can't find any implementations.
I'm using 2.3 Gingerbread, would prefer solutions not involving rooting/flashing new ROMs if possible.

just FYI, LG G3 has this out of the box

@SargeBorsch and Cyanogenmod

I'd just like to mention that recording video of someone logging on, even from the side, could greatly facilitate a pickpocket once they obtain your phone. All this stuff about smudges is hard to achieve as they will likely be rubbed off when you put it back in your pocket.

That is a very interesting question. I am not sure if this can be done, to scramble the keypad's number layout every-time on unlock to force you to slow down.
You've pointed out the weakness in the security - smudges on the touchscreen; the only thing that I can think of is this - wipe down the screen each time... now you may get funny looks from others, akin to taking off the glasses each time and wiping it cleanly to "see" again if you get my drift.
I would not be surprised if there's a soft keyboard layout that appears at random intervals but I suspect its never thought of as it would drive users batty especially when texting.
The lock-screen's pin mechanism is in-built and to override that mechanism requires going down the unofficial programming interface that does not have the approval from Google's Android development aspect. Almost bordering on using malware techniques to achieve it.
The other thing I can think of is to use a screen protector, in that way, the smudges will show on it but not on the actual touchscreen. Despite saying that, one could theoretically sprinkle a bit of powder on the screen and gently brush it away to see where the fingerprint is on but that's going OTT on the other hand, that is, if you watch too much NCIS... :)
My suggestion - in the case of pattern unlock, do not allow "Use Visible Pattern" or "Use tactile feedback" under Settings > Location & security settings, to minimize breach.
But however, your question is a worthy +1 from me from a security viewpoint.
Edit:
Just an afterthought after exchange on chat, it is quite possible in theory, to use a custom keyboard that is tied specifically to password input, the ones that shows an asterisk in place, and just randomize the keyboard layout with letters, numbers re-positioned at random intervals but that could have an adverse side effect, as in "darn it, now I have to be extra careful to, not to go too fast!" or "darn it, one thing to do - uninstall it as tis annoying!"

+1 from me as well. I remember some ATMs with touch-screen having used that technique -- wonder why they stopped that if favour of fixed keypads.

true, would not be surprised, the old reliable way - the hardware keypad :)

You have a great point, and a valid question. Looks like this was raised as an enhancement request two years ago, if that means anything. I found two apps that seek to address your concern:

Whisper Systems has a different method of working around smudge issues by asking users to wipe over the smudges they just created.
Number Track Lock advertises the exact functionality you're looking for. This is a paid app that has mediocre reviews, so proceed at your own risk.

Neither of these to me are a perfect solution. I'd love to see this built into Android - perhaps you can find a ROM with something like this baked in?

Whisper Systems is advertised as only working on Nexus S and Nexus One phones.

+1 for the linky to the enhancement request a while ago but only 10 people starred it so its unlikely to be picked up by google though! :(

I wonder why Whisper Systems does the "swipe erase" method rather than the "randomize layout" method? Swipe erase only allows PIN combinations 1-5 from the screenshot.

The app "Hi Locker" has this functionality.  Just confirmed on my Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9505 (So international GSM/4G).
Play Store Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.appplus.hilocker
Note I'm not yet fully recommending the app, but it's the first of the ones I tried this evening that actually has the functionality.  The list that didn't:
C Locker Free,
Gravity Box [KK] (XPosed module),
Go Locker.
And I actually came across Hi Locker because it's what "Lockdown Pro - AppLock" uses for that functionality.

Just download Lockdown Pro from Google Play and select the option "random keyboard" in it.

This answer might be more useful if you gave a link to the software you're recommending.

Lockdown pro is awesome I highly recommend and if you want all features with no ads it's only 1.88 well worth it if you ask me.

This app doesn't seem to do what the dictionary00 was asking. I read the description, and watched the video demoing the app, and no where did I see that it allows you to make the PIN unlock keypad scrambled. While this app does have some nice features, it doesn't seem to do what is being asked.

My old LG K7 (8GB memory, total, from 2012 - 2013) had this option. In Settings => Lock Screen => Randomize PIN entry (Scramble numbers for secure PIN entry). I just switched to a 16GB Samsung Galaxy J3 (much pricier than my trusty K7), and it doesn't have a randomized PIN.
I checked online, and the LG V10 and LG Lancet have it, too. Maybe it's just an LG innovation.

I'm sad to say that my LG V20 does not have it. I sure wish I had it back.


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How to access Android APKs without rooting
I recently bought a 7" Android ICS tablet as a gift for a friend.  Unfortunately it's not a Store supported device, so I can't download from the Store.
There are a number of sites that allow you to download APKs, but most of the apps I want to download aren't available on them.  I have a 10" tablet that IS supported and has a large number of the apps I want to provide to my friend.  Is there any way to get at the APKs on the 10" tablet (without rooting it) so I can copy them to, and install them on the 7" - using the provided app installer?

Try with a file browser (Astro) or something like that to browse on your tablet and then you'll find the apk's if you search good.
But it is not sure they will work correctly or possible to transport them. But you can always give it a try.

I can't put a comment so l'm answering which will be extension to Fox Hayden's answer.  On tablet which has many apps as you said install SHAREit. In SHAREit there is option named web share . It can used to transfer all files including SHAREit.apk. Just follow the instructions given in web share. Now install SHAREit on client too. Transfer whatever you want.

1) Download zapya on any other device than share it to your device using bluetooth install it and you can connect both devices through Zapya using wifi hotspot and Zapya will let you send and receive APK of any app .
2) Download ES file explorer open it and click on apps it will show you all the apk's of installed apps.

Best choice for this is IMHO AppMonster, which backs up your *.apk files to sdcard. This version is free but somehow limited; the real power comes with its payed version, AppMonster Pro Backup Restore (~EUR 3) -- which not only adds batch-mode for restore, but also automatically backs up all new installations/updates, while letting you define how many generations you want to keep and (at least this was on the roadmap) even "pin" a version you want to keep "forever".
An added plus is that it also shows whether an app has ad modules hooked in (e.g. AdMob), if it supports App2SD, or if it is already installed on SD:

For me, it is the ultimate tool for this goal -- saved my ass a couple of times, when some app-update introduced a bug, or ripped away a feature. The only thing I miss here is it cannot backup the apps' data -- but that's a thing impossible to all non-root apps (for this, I use mentioned Titanium Backup -- but that's not topic of this question, and thus just mentioned for completeness).
To sum up: AppMonster would solve your problem with getting the *.apk files to the sdcard for transfer -- and even offer you features you surely will use even after completing that job. Moreover, if you use the Pro version, the sdcard copy will be done automatically for you, saving you some manual work.

Titanium Backup (free) on un-rooted device can also do what App Monster pro can do. So, why should I spend money?

So you say, TB automatically backs-up .apk files at the moment you do the install/update? I must have missed something in its settings then. But thanks for the info that TB can also be used on un-rooted devices!

OP isn't asking for instant auto-backup. BTW, ROM Toolbox provides this feature for free..

Feel free to provide your answer :)

Download SHAREit on both devices.
Press 'receiver' on the gift tablet and 'sender' on the other.
Go to Apps on the sender then select the apps you want to share.

SHAREit doesn't provide a direct download, so how do you propose getting it on the tablet that can't access the Play Store?


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Force Trebuchet to reload my widgets?
Whenever I install a new widget, I don't know if it supports ICS or not immediately because it won't show up on the Widgets tab until I restart the phone. It is highly inconvenient. Is there a way to force Trebuchet (my home app) to reload the widget list everytime I install a new app?

In my experience, Trebuchet does always reload the list. I just have to wait a couple of seconds.
If it really doesn't, you can go to the Applications section in the settings menu, select Trebuchet and Force Stop it. That should force it to drop any state, including the widget list.


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How can I format a flash drive using terminal emulator?
I have a Huawei u8160 running Cyanogenmod 7.2.
I've recently installed the usb host package and some time then I successfully activated the usb host mode.
after that I needed to format a flash drive using ONLY my phone.
my phone doesn't recognize thumb drives, but I mount them on /mnt/sdcard/data folder.
So I wanted to know if there's any command in the terminal emulator that can format a usb drive.
NOTE: I've already tried "mkfs" command it doesn't exist,I won't accept answers telling me to format it on my PC.

Did you try mke2fs (or, with full path, /system/bin/mke2fs -- maybe in a different place on your phone)? There are also /system/xbin/mkfs.ext2, /system/xbin/mkfs.minix, and /system/xbin/mkfs.vfat -- most likely you are looking for the last one ;)

There are native programs available on Android for creating file systems, and in most cases they reside in a directory below /system (my Motorola Droid 2 e.g. has them in /system/xbin. Depending on the file system you want to create, you can chose between:

mkfs.ext2
mkfs.minix (unlikely you want that -- and it might even be not available with your ROM)
mkfs.vfat

As the latter is probably what you want, some closer explanation on its options here:
mkfs.vfat [-v] [-n LABEL] BLOCKDEV [KBYTES]

What do those options stand for?

-v: Generate verbose output (reporting)
-n Label: Give the file system a name
BLOCKDEV: the file system you want to format
KBYTES: probably the block size (I'm not 100% sure with this)

So the minimal thing to do would be:
mkfs.vfat -v /dev/block/uba1

(provided your drive to format is available as /dev/block/uba1 on your system). One more example, giving the file system a name:
mkfs.vfat -v -n MyNewDisk /dev/block/uba1

It should report success then -- or an error if it failed.
EDIT: On some systems, the mkfs commands seem to be part of the busybox binaries -- which you can recognize with a full directory listing, e.g.
ls -l /system/xbin | grep mkfs

It should show them as "symbolic links" pointing to busybox then. In this case, you can optionally run them via busybox:
busybox mkfs.vfat

should show you the syntax then (thanks to ce4 for pointing this out -- credits to him ;) ).

The command to format through adb/terminal emulator is simply format.

format : not found

Well that's unusual. I thought all adb commands worked in a terminal emulator. I'll keep looking.

don't bother yourself looking for it the right answer was already chosen

Oh, I thought mkfs didn't exist either... Or I guess the symlink fixed that.

it existed but in busybox that's why I thought it didn't exist at all

@SaintWacko always good to have an unpacked Nandroid backup around to check with xD


text:
Is my phone's GPS limited by US regulations?
Apparently any GPS module made in the US and exported is classified as a munition if it is:

Capable of providing navigation information under the following operational condition:

At speeds in excess of 515 m/sec (1,000 nautical miles/hour);
At altitudes in excess of 18 km (60,000 feet).

http://www.armscontrol.org/documents/mtcr
Would the GPS still be usable above 18 km or while travelling more than 515 m/sec?
I have a Droid Charge.

Is this a real question?

Yes, it is a real question.

It may be a real question, but it's not on topic for this site. This isn't a problem on your Android device; it's a question of law.

Er... How often do you move in such a manner?

This isn't a question of law, it's a question about the stats of a typical GPS receiver on android phones--with an interesting application in US law. I guess it's just interesting to me, and off-topic to everyone else.

@SaintWacko Why does that matter? I could strap my phone to an intercontinental ballistic missile. I could send it to a space station. I could give it to a pilot of an airplane that goes mock 3. Or is it not good enough to say, hay man, just wonderin...?

Oh, no, it's a perfectly fine question, I was just wondering myself :D

@RichardBorcsik - Oh, that's true, hadn't thought about that. Hm, I wonder what they did for GPS, then. Unless they just didn't bother with GPS above 18km.


text:
What is "PMEasyView"?
I got a little toast pop up just now saying "hello world, PMEasyView!" I just woke up my phone, was in the SugarSync app. I haven't recently installed anything except from the Android Market and Amazon market; nothing named like PM Easy View.
The wording sounds like something I would have written in a development Android app. I don't see any unusual running processes or apps, so I'm wondering if it's dummy code from a real app I own, but I was hoping someone knew for sure. I'm having Lookout scan my phone now.
All I found on this topic was this thread which has no answers.

The system app, PerformanceManager.apk has the line Hello World, PMEasyView! in the resources.arsc file. This does not appear to be malware, just a mistake that this appears to some users with the Motorola Task / Performance Manager.

Hm, it is a Motorla phone; that may well be it!

Please see Are taglines & signatures disallowed? If you want to add links that are relevant to your answer then feel free, but Stack Exchange answers are not a medium for you to plug your site for free. You can put links to your websites or professional works in your profile.

It's likely to be a debugging message from a program you've installed that the programmer forgotten to remove. If you want to seek which program that does it; you can try to copy all installed applications (android apps are installed from market are in /data/app/, pre-installed apps are in /system/app/), unzip them (an .apk is basically a zip file with a certain directory structure), and search which ones contains the string (you can use grep in Linux/Mac or find in Windows).
If you do found out which are the offending app, please post it here to save other people from the hassle.

Never saw it again, must have been a debug message someone left in, an update probably fixed it. Didn't catch the app I'm afraid


text:
How to setup a good defense from unwanted content
I have an android phone, xiaomi if it matters. I want to set-up a defense for my phone, so that:
I can't view pornography in any possible form. No websites, no games, and not even "soft pornography" - things like "dating simulators" or anything like that. Not only on the web browser, I also wantnot to be able to download from the playstore any app that contains content like that.
Block access to youtube or anyway to reach it.
Possibly (I'm still thinking about it) completely blocking access to a web browser.
I still want to be able to use everything else of course: navigation apps, bank apps, etc.
I want to do it for free if possible.
It is very hard, almost impossible, to remove the defense. So an app that i can delete any moment isn't going to do the job.
I searched the web for a good solution, but i'm quiet confused by all the information. If anyone knows how to setup such a defense that would be amazing.

You havent explained why, which is part of the question/solution.  Is it for a child or are you trying to protect yourself?

Getting all of what you want may be quite hard. Your classification of apps doesn't seem to match Play Store categories, and those are not completely reliable in any case.
Parental controls could be used, if you have someone who will organise them for you, but they won't block the results of searches, and they may not allow banking apps.
There is a market for "Kosher phones" which are used by some Hassidic Jews who see the Internet as a major danger to their culture, but feel that mobile telephony and GPS navigation are OK and useful. Those don't allow web browsing at all. The problems for you are that they don't allow installing apps, so you can't have your banking app, and they are quite expensive.

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


text:
Terminal - restorecon -R isn' running recursively
Device info:
I'm running Phh-Treble GSI Android 13 on a Lenovo TB-9707F device.
Rooted Tablet.
I'm trying to run restorecon -R on a folder to recursively restore SElinux context for the whole tree. If seems that the -R option doesn't work since the results are that it's only restoring the context fof the folder. How can I get it to recursively restore fod the entire tree.
In the following code you can see that when I run restorecon -Rnv on the folder it shows it will only change the folder. Adding the * shows it will change all in files inside tha initial folder. But, again nothing further down the tree.
root:.../ext4-fs/Other# restorecon -Rvn _backup
SELinux: Loaded file_contexts
SELinux:  Relabeling /data/data/com.termux/files/home/ext4-fs/Other/_backup from u:object_r:unlabeled:s0:c232,c256,c512,c768 to u:object_r:app_data_file:s0:c156,c257,c512,c768.
root:.../ext4-fs/Other# restorecon -Rvn _backup/
SELinux: Loaded file_contexts
SELinux:  Relabeling /data/data/com.termux/files/home/ext4-fs/Other/_backup from u:object_r:unlabeled:s0:c232,c256,c512,c768 to u:object_r:app_data_file:s0:c156,c257,c512,c768.
root:.../ext4-fs/Other# restorecon -Rvn _backup/*
SELinux: Loaded file_contexts
SELinux:  Relabeling /data/data/com.termux/files/home/ext4-fs/Other/_backup/Package.list from u:object_r:unlabeled:s0:c232,c256,c512,c768 to u:object_r:app_data_file:s0:c156,c257,c512,c768.
SELinux:  Relabeling /data/data/com.termux/files/home/ext4-fs/Other/_backup/Package.list.txt from u:object_r:unlabeled:s0:c232,c256,c512,c768 to u:object_r:app_data_file:s0:c156,c257,c512,c768.
SELinux:  Relabeling /data/data/com.termux/files/home/ext4-fs/Other/_backup/Repo.keys from u:object_r:unlabeled:s0:c232,c256,c512,c768 to u:object_r:app_data_file:s0:c156,c257,c512,c768.
SELinux:  Relabeling /data/data/com.termux/files/home/ext4-fs/Other/_backup/desktop-files from u:object_r:unlabeled:s0:c232,c256,c512,c768 to u:object_r:app_data_file:s0:c156,c257,c512,c768.
SELinux:  Relabeling /data/data/com.termux/files/home/ext4-fs/Other/_backup/sources.list from u:object_r:unlabeled:s0:c232,c256,c512,c768 to u:object_r:app_data_file:s0:c156,c257,c512,c768.
SELinux:  Relabeling /data/data/com.termux/files/home/ext4-fs/Other/_backup/sources.list.d from u:object_r:unlabeled:s0:c232,c256,c512,c768 to u:object_r:app_data_file:s0:c156,c257,c512,c768.
SELinux:  Relabeling /data/data/com.termux/files/home/ext4-fs/Other/_backup/sources.list.save from u:object_r:unlabeled:s0:c232,c256,c512,c768 to u:object_r:app_data_file:s0:c156,c257,c512,c768.
root:.../ext4-fs/Other#

Try with -D option.

Thanks, I had thought this option meant that when restoring context on a apk it should apply to its data as well. therefore I was worried to try.


text:
Unlock Android with Pattern Lock Without Losing Data
I have HTC One M7 which I wasn't using from 2018. So I forgot pattern lock but I want check data on this smartphone. It's good scope to develop and practice with Android. What I've learn till now:

USB debugging is turn off (after use "adb devices" command phone didn't show up)
I can't unlock bootloader because I will lose data (I don't want it)

So, there is any possible way to unlock HTC with forgotten pattern lock and without losing data? Thanks for every help!

https://github.com/bkerler/edl

I think its extremely unlikely.  I dont know if the Android phone in 2018, used to encrypt the contents.

Android Jelly Bean is not encrypted, you can just delete locksettings.db


text:
Can an app install be triggered solely via a script, without GUI interaction?
This current question is indirectly related to the following other question here:
Checking via a script whether a given app is prohibited from installation on a given device?
I'm running stock rooted Android 11 and stock rooted Android 13 on two different devices.
I'm wondering if there's a way that I could write a script that runs on the Android device and which will install a given app from the Play Store.
My goal is to initiate the app installation from the Android device without any GUI interaction; i.e., no clicks nor button presses nor any manual operations, and I want this to be able to be accomlished solely within a script that gets executed on the device.
In the other question I referred to above, I found out that a slightly different Play-Store-related operation could not be invoked in this way, and that the only way it could be accomplished on the device itself is via GUI interaction ... either manually or via some sort of "uiautomator"-like automation.
Is this the same situation here? i.e., is it impossible when running on the device to install any app from the Play Store without some sort of GUI interaction?
Thank you in advance.

The thing you are trying to avoid is 'user authorization' but stock Android wants that for security / anti-malware reasons. On non-root stock devices, Mobile Device Management (MDM) services like Samsung Knox/Microsoft Intune can force push apps to devices under mgmt. If you are okay with side-loading APK rather than Play Store installed see: How to Install the APK package automatically and https://android.stackexchange.com/search?q=install+app+as+system+app . Do think about how two different devices are talking if not via Play Store site.

Thank you. Sideloading is usually fine. I just was hoping that there might also have been some sort of "Play Store API" that could be used to perform the same functions on the device that the gui-based Play Store interaction implements. Such an API could have access to the same MDM services as the manual gui. But I guess I'm out of luck with that.

And yes, I know about copying the APK to the appropriate place under /data/app, and also, thank you for pointing me to that intent. I was just wondering if such an installation could also be performed without the APK file having previously been downloaded ... just like the way the Play Store does it. The Play Store first downloads and then installs, and that's what I was hoping to be able to do via some sort of shell script. But again, I now see that I can't do that.

While not from the Play Store, I remember there was a question about compiling and installing an app from open-source repos directly from the Android terminal, but it seems I missed it now...

Maybe this can be suitably modified https://github.com/aniketkatkar/GPlay-App-AutoInstaller?tab=readme-ov-file

I'm sorry for the late reply. I'll check this out. It's meant to use adb, which means that it (or at least part of it) runs outside of the device itself. But yes, I will see if there might be a way to suitably modify it to run totally within the device to perform what I'm hoping to perform.  Thank you very much.

Google itself shows you the way. If you are logged in a web browser with your Google account you can initiate app installations on all of your devices, so there is an API to initiate the download (calling it directly with the proper cookies). Or you use Selenium or a similar web test system which can even run without UI once you have automated it. Third there is AuroraStore and GPlayAPI. But I don't know if the API included the API form installing apps on different device of your account is available in GPlayAPI project (AFAIR this function is available in Goofle Play Store app).


text:
Automatic call recorder restore files
When updating the app all files (saved) disappeared from the app.
Is there a way to restore them on the app.
I wanted to export them as backup but it seem impossible.
My phone is not rooted so I can't have access to them. (Can't see them)
Thanks

Which app are you talking about? Please edit your question and name the app including a link to it's Play Store Web site.

It's in the title. Automatic call recorder. I'm trying to retrieve the recorded messages. Thanks

There are multiple apps with that name.  To allow people to help you, please provide an F-Droid or Google Play store link to that app within your question.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.q4u.autocallrecorder

The recordings must be there as I have 956mb of data and the app is only 34mb. But File manager won't give give authorisation to access to them.


text:
Convenient way of checking is Shizuku server is running?
How can you check if Shizuku is running before executing the start command?
I am running Shizuku on non rooted device and I noticed it randomly stops sometimes when wireless debugging becomes disabled (and this is expected AFAIK). I already have a task in  Tasker that starts Shizuku, but I want it to run only when the server is not running already otherwise I could let it simply run all day but didn't want to stick to that route.
Some users were suggesting using Termux:Tasker plugin and some adb commands to check for the %result but the plugin doesn't work on my device so am stuck.


text:
Power off requires password for all android phone
One of my relatives dropped their phone and someone picked it up and turned it off. Now there is no way to locate it as Find My Device does not show it anymore.
I have an Android 12 device and there are some other devices with friends and family that are running Android 12 or less.
I searched and there is a "Require password to turn off" in newer phones.
Is there a way I can implement the same feature on the devices that I have?
I am willing to root or use third-party apps for this.


text:
Send calls from non-contacts directly to voicemail
I want to send all calls from numbers not in my contact list directly to voicemail.
I don't want to block them completely because I do get relevant calls from other people now and then.
Note that this is not a question about unknown numbers in the sense numbers not registered in a public directory.
What I've tried:

Checked my phone's native settings in the Phone app, but couldn't find an option to send other callers to voicemail.
Installed Truecaller, but it only offers options to block calls from outside my contact list, not send them to voicemail.
Looked through my phone's Do Not Disturb settings, but it gets complicated when I also want to silence my contacts at night.

My goal is to have these calls go straight to voicemail without blocking them entirely, as I still want to receive their voicemail messages and have the option to call them back if needed.
Device: Google Pixel 8
OS: Android 14

According to this post in Wikihow adding a number to the blocking list should still allow the user to leave a voicemail message.

I wonder if How can I send incoming calls from unknown numbers directly to voicemail? can be modified to filter by contacts.

Thanks @Robert, I'm trying this now. There is no information in the settings stating that 'block' in this context means 'send to voicemail'. I'm thinking I might have to configure my carrier to direct to voicemail when i reject a call. I'll test it.

@AndrewT. I was hoping I wouldn't need a custom automation app for it. It feels so basic :)

What if you created a custom contact group Google Contacts, added all your known contacts to this group, and used Do Not Disturb mode with custom exceptions to allow calls only from this group? And then calls from non-contacts will go to voicemail when Do Not Disturb is active. Let me know if I explained myself well and this makes any sense to you:)

I understand what you mean @Lillian. But I would have to update the list continuously. I feel there should be an easier way.


text:
How to boot my Samsung Phone to Recovery without cable attached?
I have a Samsung Galaxy A52S 5G, and I can't figure out how to reliably boot to recovery. It works most of the time when I have the cable plugged in to my PC, and Samsung moderator StephK1 has stated

Officially, our guide only states that USB-C headphones and connecting to a PC will work

Well, I don't usually carry my desktop PC with me, and having to get the laptop or headphones out is silly too. I have an unlocked bootloader and root (on lineage OS), so I have hopes that there's a way to change this.
For example, on my previous phone I could boot to recovery (e.g. TWRP) with Power + VolumeUp held for a few seconds, starting from powered off state.
How can I tweak my phone to do this?

Sidenote: I am aware that there are apps that make reboot into recovery possible. I am specifically hoping for a way to do this from poweroff state. Useful for example in the common case of randomly bootlooping and not wanting to wait for recovery to come by itself.
Sidenote 2: Apparently, one can even connect to another phone, to allow booting to recovery.


text:
How to get Vertical navigation in recent apps on my Pixel 6
This question has already been asked several times in 2018 and 2020, but all the answers are outdated.
I want my vertically scrolling recent apps switcher back. It is so much better than the native horizontal switching: you can see 5 apps at the time and it scrolls smoothly; if the app is a bit further away switching can be literally 10x as fast.
I can't get it to work with Nova Launcher, and the Good Lock solution is only for Galaxy phones.
Who can help me?


text:
AOSP: What makes LineageOS Setup Wizard run in LockTask mode?
I have noticed that when you flash a device and run it for the first time you get into the setup wizard. I assume that application is being run in so called LockTask mode (Kiosk mode for dedicated devices) because it has only one navbar button (usually "back" button is the only displayed button, "home" and "recents" buttons are hidden).
Here are my questions:

Does setup wizard actually run in Kiosk mode? If yes, how to implement this? (I didn't find anything in LineageOS sources)

If no, what is the way of partially disabling navbar buttons?

This question has been cross-posted to Stackoverflow. Have you tried to extract the setup wizard apk file from the device and decompile it to see if you can find how it works?

Please note that app development is off-topic since Android Enthusiasts focuses on end-users and power users (who are not necessarily developers) solving their issues. Thus, while this community might explain the technicality of Android OS to your queries, coding solutions are out of the scope of this community. For programming questions, [so] should be a more suitable site.


text:
Where's Lamedh in Gboard's Hebrew Keyboard?
I'm trying to type Hebrew into Duolingo on the Android app, and I'm mostly able to use the Gboard keyboard.
However, it appears to be missing the letter Lamedh.
Here's a sample screencap of the keyboard in use:

Now, I don't speak Hebrew, and I'm new to Gboard, but am I correct in that this letter isn't present?
It's preventing me from typing many common Hebrew words, so I'm guessing I'm missing something. Is it there but in a font or style I'm just not seeing?

I don't speak Hebrew. However, the character you are looking for is not missing from Gboard Hebrew keyboard.
It's located on the 2nd row, 3rd character from the right. This is the result after pressing it: ל.


text:
Prevent screensaver from locking device
I am looking for a way to prevent the screensaver from locking the device. Currently I have set the "Sleep" (screensaver) to 15 seconds wich means that the screen fades after about 15 seconds and locks then. I still want to keep the fade behavior but I dont want that the device gets locked after that time. I just want it to stay in the faded state and "wakes up" again after I tap the screen.
I am currently using a rootet Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 3G 10.1 with Android 8.1.0 installed.

Could you check the Security settings, whether there's something like "Auto lock when screen turns off"?


text:
Why does an app pauses and looses audio?
This happens to be daily. Listening to Youtube with bluetooth headset, then suddenly w/out any prompt Youtube pauses, and when I press play it continues w/out audio. Closing Youtube and loading it again doesn't help at all; audio is still missing. On the other hand, forcing app to stop via Settings/Apps and re-starting fixes the problem. Until a few ours later, that is.
What could have caused this problem and how to fix it for good?
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, Android 14, One UI 6.1, Youtube app 19.31.36


text:
Call on Sim2 is not picked
I have 2 sims in my Samsung A04s phone. The issue is, on Sim2 if someone calls me, it rings, I can slide up the phone icon to receive call but afterwards on the top it still shows "Incoming Call" and never show the timer. Although phone stops ringing but it never go though call...
I can receive msgs, and can also call from my Sim2... but receiving is a problem.

A04s is an LTE phone. From carrier is the SIM card in your Sim2 slot and in which country are you in? Have you enabled VoLTE in your phone (on one or both of the sim cards)? Does the SIM card in Sim2 slot have a data plan active?


text:
What is the package name of the default overlay audio/music/MP3 player of Android 9?
I have accidentally disabled it on my Samsung A40 by doing pm uninstall --user 0 in the adb shell and would like to reinstall it, but cannot remember the package name. The player is very minimalist, featuring only a rudimentary overlay bar with play/pause/stop buttons, and does not have any other functions or settings (such as equalizer, playlist etc.).
When trying to open e.g. an MP3 file, I get the following error message:

I already did diff <(adb shell pm list packages) <(adb shell pm list packages -u) and went through the complete list of uninstalled packages, but there is none that has "music", "audio", or "player" in its name, and it is also none of the ones with "sound" (e.g. com.sec.android.app.soundalive). Also, I never had com.google.android.music and com.samsung.music to begin with, which are this vendor's default players.
This package must either have some obscure name or a disabled system package is causing a problem indirectly.


text:
What is the difference between "Lock screen", "Badge" and "Pop-up" notifications
I just got a new Samsung A54 and I'm trying to set it's notifications to "preserve my sanity" mode.
In Settings > Notifications > App notifications, I can select individual app. On the App notification screen, I can then:

Allow/disallow notifications
Set allowed ones to "Allow sound and vibration" or "Silent"
Under "Notification types" I can select "Lock screen", "Badge" and/or "Pop-up" (latter only if sound and vibrations are allowed.

I have some idea what each of the notification types means, but would like some clarification. Screenshots with examples would be greatly appreciated.


text:
Media Server draining my phone battery?
I noticed from yesterday that my phone is using 1% every 2 minutes.
From battery I can see Media Server with almost 70% consumption
The app can't be closed
What should I do please ?
*No I don't have microSD

What Media Server are you talking about?

This is what is called from battery consumption

Try to install an app list/info app that shows you the app name and the package name. Without the package name it is difficult to guess if this is a system app in an endless loop (e.g. caused by indexing a defect audio/video file) or malware that uses this name.

From app list I can't find the Media server

In Android settings you may have to enable the option to show system apps. The app list in Android settings doesn't show app package names. Therefore my recommendation is to use a third party app manager app from Play Store.

Today it disappeared and seems ok for now

Today it disappeared and seems ok for now


text:
Selecting ringtone in silence from standard clock alarm app
I am using the default clock application on a Realme 8 5G phone to set alarms.
Today I remembered an important alarm I wanted to set. However, my companion was in bed and I did not want to wake my companion up.
Hence, I did not want to have the ringtones play when I selected them.
But I couldn't just leave the default ringtone because my companion doesn't like it. Thus I must select a different one so that it doesn't bother my companion when it goes off.
My idea was to turn off the volume and select the ringtone by ringtone name (in silence). I might have them memorized by name or just want to wait till it goes off to hear it.
My strategy was to turn the volume off. However, clicking on the ringtone still makes me hear it.

Why doesn't Android silence the ringtones when I do this and select them, one at a time, in turn, from the ringtone radio controls?
Is there a way to select the ringtones without making a noise?
Thanks.


text:
How do I restore just one app's data with adb?
I used adb backup -f DailyBeanBackup.ab com.bluesignum.bluediary and it made a backup file and I want to try restoring it but when it asks for my password it says This will replace any data currently on the device! and I do not want to delete everything on my phone. Will it just replace the apps data and it's safe and if not is there way to restore just that?

That is just a misinterpretation of the message. "ANY" in the context of restoring one app means "any data of that app".


text:
How smartphones and smartwatches communicate?
I was wondering how phones and watches communicate with bluetooth? How does it handle incoming calls or notifications received on smartphones applications?

BLE allows to send and receive data and on this base someone built one or more protocols. I am not sure where to find the protocol specs and if the would be helpful for you. In the end this question seems to be more a programming question and there is a similar question of SO: Is there a common communication protocol between smartwatches and Android phones?


text:
Phone screen stuck, flashing between normal screen and static
Google Pixel 5a: my phone suddenly went into a mode of alternating/flashing between static (random pixel noise) screen and regular display (was using the camera, no drop or physical stress). I can see the regular screen between flashes but it's too fast to allow me to unlock phone using the pattern lock. I can get into dead robot / boot recovery menu and no problem with flashing there - but I can't reset the system from there (assuming it's a corrupted OS component causing it) without erasing all my data. Any suggestions to recover from this state or just recover my data (docs/photos) will be greatly helpful

The touch function of the display also affected? If a display behaves that way even in recovery it is a hardware problem. Possibly the cable between Mainboard and display or the hardware display driver itself has a defect which makes it interpret the display signals wrong (the random noise).

Thank you @Robert the touch function appears to be fine. For a millisecond that's in normal screen I see I'm able to complete partial pattern lock, alas, not long enough, for the entire pattern.

Pattern lock is bad as you can not use keyboard and type it blind. Therefore I strongly recommend to never use pattern lock on Android device. The pattern should always appear at the same position. Make yourself a frame (e.g. using paper) that shows the outer border of the pattern field. Align it when the screen shows the real UI and then try to draw your pattern even if the screen shows noise. Alternatively you can try small self-adhesive dots marking important pattern points (or the space between the dots), but I don't know if this affects the touch screen.


text:
What can the Google Contacts app do, that requires it to *read* notifications?
Settings > Notifications > Device and app notifications (Control which apps and devices can read notifications)
"Contacts" is listed as an app which I could allow to read notifications.  It currently happens to be disabled.
Why do I see it here?  What features does the Contacts app have, that would request or use this permission?

Android 14 (Pixel 8a)
com.google.android.contacts
Version 4.37.39.6560300857
"App installed from Google Play Store"

The Google Contacts app can read notifications in order to provide the following feature:

Access your contacts with widgets from your Android device’s home screen
On your Android home screen, install widgets for selected contacts to highlight notifications for:

Missed calls
Messages
Important dates and more

...

The above link was found using the Gemini word salad machine again (sorry).


text:
None of my messaging apps give me notifications anymore
This morning my wife sent me a series of messages on Telegram X.  I didn't get any notifications.
This has become the usual for most of my messaging apps on Android.  (I have Android 14.)  I have Telegram X, Threema, Discord, and Teams.  Teams is the only one that consistently shows notifications; the other three often get messages and don't notify about it at all.  (Standard text messaging also works.)
I've obviously checked the usual places, notification settings, battery settings, etc.
Not sure if it's related, but I also find that my Polar watch no longer background-syncs with Android.  I have to be running the Polar app for it to sync properly; otherwise it can't connect.
Is this a known issue in current versions of Android?  Is Android intentionally disabling these apps to save battery life at the expense of functionality or something?
How can I fix this (meaning, get my notifications as expected)?

Most messenger use Google Push Notifications (AKA Firebase Cloud messaging). Such messages are handled by Google Play Services on your device. Check this system app and may be try to clear it's app data.


text:
Wifi calling on 2nd Sim [Jio-India] stopped working
I have a Samsung M33 5G .
I use 2 sims .
After factory resetting my phone wifi calling works well on both the sims .
But soon after the sim 2 stops using wifi calling.
My sim 2 is jio 5g sim.
Video
I tried different methods even aeroplane mode , turning sim on and off ,restarting the phone , also swaping the sim slots of both the phones , it still doesn't work.


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Have a different ringtone for each person in an RCS chat?
I have a OnePlus 12 on Android 14, and a RCS chat in Google Messages with about a half dozen people that is very active. Currently, when someone sends a messages in that chat, it plays a custom ringtone that I set up. However, this has a problem: if I am not looking at my phone and I hear the notification sound, I cannot tell at a(n auditory) glance who just sent a message.
Is there a way to set up individual ringtones based on sender in an RCS chat? (I already know how to do this on a per-chat basis: Chat > triple dots > Group Details > Notifications > Ringtone. I am asking about doing this on a per-person basis in a single chat.)

If I'm not mistaken, try checking the per-Conversation entry on the Android Notification settings for Google Messages.