text:
Disable Ability to Change Language with Spacebar
I have a Pixel 4 with Android 10.  I am new to Android.
I use both English and Spanish.  I want to be able hold down the Spacebar to enter the mode where I can move the cursor around.
But when I do so, I get a pop-up asking me to switch languages.  Since I can accomplish the same thing with the globe button, how can I disable this? Thanks

As a long-time Gboard user, I don't think there's a way to disable this feature. On the other hand, to use "slide to move cursor", you need to hold then quickly slide the finger to move the cursor. It's doable.

Oh yes, I see what you mean.  Thanks.

yea I know how you feel I was an apple user but as Andrew.T states just touch where you want the cursor and drag and you will get to where you need to be. hold your finger down for longer you get copy paste etc etc :)

You can do it. But you lose the ability to switch languages. So it depends what's a priority for you. Since I'm monolingual I have no need to switch languages and I have disabled the space bar language pop up.
The way to do it is to go into the language settings and delete all but one language. In my case I had to disable handwriting US English as well as another version of US English which uses a the keyboard layout that I never bother with. So I'm left with only one option and that is US English QWERTY. If you do something like that then the space bar can be used solely for moving the cursor by sliding or creating a space.


text:
How to debug Android permission denied at the file system level?
Something is basically pretty messed up on my phone. It looks like everything is running. But sometimes I can't open something or something crashes. The logcat shows a lot of permission denied.
A simple example is com.oneplus.calculator:
I don't notice anything wrong when operating it. But in the Logcat I see:
09-25 14:42:35.662 29331 13606 E libEGL  : error opening cache file /data/user_de/0/com.oneplus.calculator/code_cache/com.android.skia.shaders_cache: Permission denied (13)
09-25 14:42:35.675 29331 13606 E libEGL  : error opening cache file /data/user_de/0/com.oneplus.calculator/code_cache/com.android.opengl.shaders_cache: Permission denied (13)

When comparing the DAC (Direct Access Control) with a healthy phone, I don't see any differences:
drwx------ 4 u0_a153 u0_a153 3488 2023-09-25 10:05 com.oneplus.calculator
    drwxrws--x 2 u0_a153 u0_a153_cache 3488 1971-12-27 23:26 cache
    drwxrws--x 2 u0_a153 u0_a153_cache 3488 2022-01-03 14:49 code_cache
        -r-------- 1 u0_a153 u0_a153_cache 113084 2023-07-10 15:31 com.android.opengl.shaders_cache
        -r-------- 1 u0_a153 u0_a153_cache  45136 2023-07-10 15:31 com.android.skia.shaders_cache

dumpsys package com.oneplus.calculator: userId=10153
ps -A | grep calculator: u0_a153 27212 993 6770376 106716 do_epoll_wait 0 S com.oneplus.calculator
In some cases it helps to simply delete the file in question. If it is recreated automatically then logcat is clean. Since DAC looks the same afterwards, I am assuming there is something else preventing the access.
I am quite lost when it comes to checking file/ambient capabilities, MAC and further permission control of the Android framework.
How can I debug this? Is it possible to get more detailed information exactly what permission is denied?
Android 13,
OnePlus 8 Pro IN2023
Any help would be appreciated, many thanks,
Zweikeks

Here's what I found out so far, correct me if I'm wrong.
File permissions of Android 13 on data partition
Permissions are stored in the inode of a file or directory.

ls -a and the like lists the traditional permissions.
lsattr is used to view the attributes. lsattr und chattr have been present on my OnePlus 8 Pro
with Android 13 in /system/bin. (They only work with a supported file system, otherwise error
'Inappropriate ioctl for device'.)
getfattr is a general tool to look at the extended attributes - XATTR. (There are more specialized
tools for specific attributes like getfacl, getcap, ls -Z etc.)
Within Termux pkg install attr to get the tools getfattr and setfattr.
(setfattr works only with a supported file system, otherwise error 'Operation not supported on
transport endpoint'.)
The use of getfattr is a bit clumsy. Per default it shows only the user namespace. To display all,
the recommended way is
getfattr -d -m ^ -- file_or_dir
getfattr -d -m ^ -R -- file_or_dir      recursively
(-m ^ matches start of any string without need for escaping the parameter, double dash -- is
needed as a separator in case the filename or directory starts with a dash)

Linux implements a whole range of different permission concepts.

DAC, Discretionary Access Control, is the traditional Linux security with the rwx bits plus the
more advanced features setuid, setgid, sticky.
No differences compared to a working system. No change in behavior when I chmod 777 files and folders for testing.
ACL, Access Control Lists, as far as I read, are supposedly not used on Android.
However, I had lots of ACL labels attached as XATTR. Only at /data/media/0 and below. Samba, while not configured
to use ACL, labelled the top directory of the share with system.posix_acl_default. This has been inherited by all
the files and directories below.
setfattr doesn't work recursively by itself. So I used 'find' which also shows hidden files. I have deleted all the
useless labels with:
find 0 -exec setfattr -h -x system.posix_acl_default {} ;
find 0 -exec setfattr -h -x system.posix_acl_access {} ;
Not related to my problem, though.
Ambient capabilities are set in the /system/etc/init/*.rc for boot processes and services.
They determine which processes can execute which functions and which resources are allowed to use.
The content of /system/etc/init is identical on both systems. I don't think that this has anything to do with my
problem.
Attributes attached to files.
The man page of chattr lists all possible attributes. On the data partition there are mostly E (encrypted), I (indexed),
N (inode data present), sometimes e (block extents). These are all characteristics how the file is stored, not
typical permission control. Large amounts of files have the same attribute combination set.
Only on four files I saw V (fs-verity) set.
I didn't notice any relevant differences to the working system.
File Capabilities as XATTR attached to the files.
A process's access rights are checked by the kernel against caps assigned to a file. File caps are stored in an encoded
form. getcap can decipher it to a human readable form. They are stored in an extended attribute named security.capability.
On my data partition I've not a single security.capability, though.
What I have and where the value looks a bit like an encoded cap are attributes like:
user.inode_cache=0szRUAAAAAAAA=
user.inode_code_cache=0szhUAAAAAAAA=
user.inode... is only attached to every app directory in /data/data and /data/user/0, nowhere else. I don't know what it is.
The sequence of characters is different for every directory and different to the working system.
Other interesting stuff:
user.serial="0"   attached to /data/data, /data/misc_ce/0, /data/system_ce/0, /data/system_de/0, /data/user/0, /data/user_de/0
user.extdbsessionid0 and user.uuid attached to com.google.android.providers.media.module/databases/external.db in /data/data and /data/user/0
user.extdbnextrowid0 and user.extdbsessionid0 attached to /data/media/0
All the IDs are different to the working system.
MAC, Mandatory Access Control of SELinux, checks processes and file access based on central policies in /system/etc/selinux.
The file context is attached as XATTR. To see with getfattr or simpler with ls -Z.
cat /proc/kmsg | grep avc: displays SELinux log messages. These are routed to dmesg, and as far as I read, to logcat as well.
cat /sys/fs/pstore/console-ramoops-0 | grep avc: supposedly displays messages from the previous boot.
In my logs I have seen extremely few avc: messages. And none related to the error messages/crashes in the first post. Although
setting the correct SELinux file context helped against the 'permission denied' error messages.
There are a lot of differences in the file contexts to the working system. So I started out to correct individual folders and
files e.g. with
setfattr -n security.selinux -v u:object_r:app_data_file:s0:c153,c256,c512,c768 com.oneplus.calculator
I figured out that I get the same result by using restorecon. It is used to correct wrong contexts. It restores the default context of
files and directories based on the central SELinux policies.
As of the documentation restorecon should actually work recursively with the -R parameter, but it did not. A construct with 'find'
does the job:
find com.oneplus.calculator -exec restorecon -v {} ;
With that the permission denied errors no longer occur.
On top of all this we have the manifest-based permission control of Android apps in the Java
framework. Stuff like ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION.

So in the end, setting the correct SELinux file context helped against the permission denied errors in my original post.
I'm still investigating this. Until now, I have not been so bold as to run restorecon over the entire data partition.
Best Regards,
Zweikeks

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How to backup BirdNET?
I'm using BirdNET application to collect data about birds. However, the app does not support registration and data synchronisation, or even import/export.
I asked support if they provide the way to backup data, but there is no such way; info from the support:

Thanks for reaching out to us. Users can save and text/email the sound file of their recordings from the app; however, it does not offer the option of backing up the observations and transfer them to a new device. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Question: How can I backup that data? Is there any app that would do that auto

On unrooted devices you can only use what the app offers. So if the developers tell you that backup is not supported then that is your answer.

It is possible to export and import all observations in the BirdNET application now:
☰ > Show observations > ⋮ > Export Observations

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


text:
genymotion icon is not shown in android studio
i want to use genymotion in android studio. i have installed genymoiton and oracle virtualbox. in android studio i went to: File> settings> plugins , and installed genymotion. i should say that, previously, i have create a virtual device in genymotion.
the problem is: i expect that the genymotion icon to appear in android studio
but: nothing appears
any help is highly appreciated...

Please vote for migration to Stackoverflow.com

After installing Genymotion plugin and restarting Android Studio you should see the Genymotion device manager icon in the toolbar:

On newer Android Studio version the toolbar may be disabled or not fully shown. Make sure the toolbar is activated:  Menu View -> Appearance -> Toolbar

Additionally when you click the Genymotion icon the first time you have to manually specify the Genymotion installation directory, e.g. by default it should be this path:
C:\Program Files\Genymobile\Genymotion

as you said, i expect this icon, but it does not appear. i activated the toolbar in: Menu-> View->Appearance->Toolbar,  but unfortunately there is no genymotion icon yet. yes i previously specified this path for genymotion. actually i can access genymotion through search, but no there is no icon

@user324903 If the icon misses but the path can be configured then the plugin is correctly installed. You can manually add the icon by clicking right on the empty area of the toolbar and select "Customize menu and Toolbars" then search for "Genymotion" and add the icon.

in "Customize menu and Toolbars" im searching for "Gennymotion" but nothing is found. do you know where can i find it?

Make sure to upgrade to the latest Android Studio version 4.0 and reinstall the Genymotion plugin. Looks like something went totally wrong on your installation. Besides that the Genymotion plugin is not very useful, it just allows to start a Genymotion emulator which you can also do from the main Genymotion program.

actually after activating toolbar which you said, i update plugins and restart android studio, and the icon appeared. thanks a lot


text:
Fix error executing updater binary in zip open_gapps-x86-6.0
I am getting an error while flashing gapps to my OnePlus One running CM 13.
My seLinux is set to permissive and my recovery is TWRP 3.0.0.

The provided details are not enough, OP. Which package did you flash? From where did you get it? Which error has been thrown?

You cannot flash an x86 build on an ARM device.  Get the ARM version, available at http://opengapps.org/

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


text:
Get package name of an app given its displayed name using ADB commands
I'm trying to:

Get the package names of all apps on my device (none of them are mine so sadly I can't get it from the Manifest) and put it into a file to save for a class project.
I also want to get the package names of only a select number of apps that I choose that I have on my phone. I was hoping there is a way to do that so that I don't have to manually look and copy over from all the different phones I have

Is it possible to get the package name of an Android app by its name using ADB when testing my app on my phone? Maybe by using aapt?
E.g. "ColorDraw" will return com.package.name.drawcolors.

This is for an installed app?  Do you know the path to the APK, or only the "friendly name"?

Hmm I guess I could find the path of the APK. When I install an APK on the Phone it goes to some directory right :/ if I did know the location of the APK using some command lines is it possible to get the Package Name of the app? Say I only know its name.... or maybe I could just find the package name based on the LAST installed app :)

Related, or dupe? Obtain package name AND common name of apps via ADB

Sadly no, I've seen that post but they don't seem to answer what I want. I want to be able to 1.) Either get the last installed apps package name oe 2.) get the package name of the app based on it's name like "DrawColor"  or something simple like youtube

I incorporated your comment since it gives the background of the issue. For  the first part, if you want only to list the package without its displayed name, you can use adb shell pm list packages. For the second part, I somewhat believe the link I mentioned before could help, but something need to be added (sadly, I'm not good at writing shell script)

Thank you, yea for the first I could use: ($adb shell pm list packages) but now I need to get the Apps name from the package name? An for the second I'm trying to get a package FROM an apps name haha. sorry it's a bit confusing here

@Vel that's exactly what the linked question (mine) was about. It's not possible to obtain the app name without additional installations (aapt) either on-device or on-PC. As Andrew suggested, your can use adb shell "pm list packages" to get the package list, strip the package: prefix from each line, then retrieve the corresponding page from Google Play and parse for its <TITLE> ;) Take a look at the code of my little tool Adebar, which does something like that to generate a device documentation.

Thank you for commenting Izzy, I actually wanted to get a hold of you. Please correct me, looking at your link I do want the COMMON NAME and the ICON. 1.) GET COMMON NAME ---> After making an ADB connection I run this command [$for pkg in $(adb shell pm list -3); do echo "- $(adb <whatever_the_command_is> $pkg) ($pkg)"; done] ..... But I don't fully understand since I thought you said you didn't get it to work? an what are the commands? Could you clarify 2.) GET ICON ---> No idea hot to get Icon from package name .... I read your Adebar too :) [MY DEVICE IS ROOTED]

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


text:
TWRP Recovery installation not working
I am following these instructions to root my Galaxy Light - http://rootmygalaxy.net/root-galaxy-light-sgh-t399-install-twrp-recovery/. Part 1 seemed to work fine, but I am not able to boot into TWRP recovery with Vol Up + Power + Home, it's still the regular recovery mode with the volume up and down buttons to select options. How can I get to the TWRP recovery mode? I have a locked bootloader.
Odin Message:
<ID:0/006> Added!!
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> openrecovery-twrp-2.8.4.0-gardalte.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/006> Odin v.3 engine (ID:6)..
<ID:0/006> File analysis..
<ID:0/006> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/006> Initialzation..
<ID:0/006> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/006> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/006> recovery.img
<ID:0/006> NAND Write Start!!
<ID:0/006> RQT_CLOSE !!
<ID:0/006> RES OK !!
<ID:0/006> Removed!!
<ID:0/006> Remain Port ....  0
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 1 / failed 0)

Also, turn off the Auto-Reboot option in Odin settings (if applicable). Let the device power off after the flash and reboot it to recovery directly.  I read it somewhere that the auto-reboot option will trigger a reboot of the Android system, which might over write the recovery with one from a backup partition.

I noted from the provided link that your device is a Samsung Light SGH-T399, running Android Jellybean 4.2.2.
With that considered, you can try the Framaroot app to root your device. Follow the steps below (guide in the link) to root the device. After rooting the device, copy the TWRP image to your internal SD card from your computer, and use the Flashify app (get it here or here) to flash it to your recovery partition. Again, the app itself will be pretty clear as to what you need to do, or follow the steps below.
Framaroot usage (from the XDA link (with corrections and emphasis)):

Installation:

Download it to your device (links are available at the end of the linked XDA post)
Install it with a file explorer or directly from your internet browser, if android warn you about security risk, say OK and check Unknown sources to allow install of applications outside of Play Store.

Usage:
Open Framaroot and select one of the following actions:

Install SuperSU
Unroot
Execute script (for advanced users)

Possible cases once application has been launched:
A popup saying "Your device seems not vulnerable to exploit included in Framaroot", in this case you can uninstall app
  You seeing one or more exploit name, also click on one after you have selected an action and you will see one of the above messages
Possible cases once exploit had been selected:

"Success  ... Superuser and su binary installed. You have to reboot your device"
"Failed  ... Exploit work but installation of Superuser and su binary have failed"
"Half-Success :-/ ... system partition is read-only, use local.prop trick. Reboot your device and use adb to see if it run as root", happen when the filesystem in use on system partition is a read only filesystem (ex: squashfs)
"Failed  ... Try another exploit if available"
Framaroot crashed or foze, in this case relaunch Framaroot a second time and select the same action and exploit.

Flashify usage:

Refer below screenshot. Tap on the "Recovery Image" button.
Select the recovery image file you had copied to your decice earlier.
Accept the confirmation dialog.
You're done, reboot.

Flashify flash screen:
(image credits @cgollner of XDA,the Flashify developer)
Click on image for larger version

Reboot to recovery using adb reboot recovery, the Flashify app or the key combination, configure TWRP time zone and other stuff, take a NANDroid backup and then go do whatever you want with the device, flash ROMs and whatnot.
If you are worried that the custom recovery may get reset after a reboot, you need not. That particular issue is only applicable to flashes via ODIN on certain select enterprise-class devices (and most probably yours isn't one of them), and has nothing to do with the suggested method.

Thanks for the help, everybody. This morning, I downloaded Odin from a different place, tried to do the same thing, and booted into TWRP Recovery fine. I don't know what I did differently, but my phone is rooted now.

Maybe you turned off auto-reboot as Tamoghna Chowdhury mentioned -- it was enabled in your Odin screenshot.


text:
Rebooting into recovery using ClockworkMod
Is there any big difference between rebooting into recovery using ClockworkMod and using Volume Up + Power button when wiping cache?

No, how you access Recovery Mode doesn't matter at all.  ROM Manager can pass arguments to CWM Recovery to (for example) automatically flash an update.zip file, but it's effectively no different than manually selecting that file to flash after entering recovery with the key combo.  Same deal when it comes to wiping the cache.


text:
Short disturbance during calls with my Galaxy S3 LTE SHV E210s
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 4g/LTE phone. When I call any one or when I receive a call, there is a disturbing noise, like scratching a dvd movie disc.
What caused the problem and how do I solve this?

"After call received" -- can you detail this? Do you mean when hanging up the call or when call was picked up by other party or after hanging up the call? Have you confirmed whether others users over the web has or had the similar problem?

Update you phone to 4.4.4 kitkat version from wifi and then type on phone keybad *#9090# and press call. This will show the hidden menu of your SHV-E210S.
Got to Network Mode Set -> GSM_Enable. This will turn your phone to work for GSM networks. Return to main screen and restart your phone.


text:
Insufficient memory with my andriod phone
I have 16GB SD card but I still get the message insufficient memory when I want to download any app.

Will stay the same if you put in a 64GB or even 128GB card. Just putting in a card doesn't solve it. For some background and solutions, please see our insufficient-memory tag-wiki.

Consider setting your camera to save new photos to the SDCard
Most camera applications are all created by the hardware vendor of the phone, but they almost always allow an option for storing new photos on the SD card.  There isn't a universal way for us to tell you how to find that setting, since every camera application is a little different.
Pay special attention to the fact I said NEW photos.  The camera applications normally don't move your images for you to the SDCard.  For that, I'd recommend moving the files yourself, or simply backing them up onto some cloud service like DropBox or GoogleDrive, and then deleting the ones on your phone.
Consider an application to help you visualize what is taking up the space on your phone.
Android Settings > Storage will give you some clues.
I like ESFile Explorer.  It's the application I use to help people find and clean-up files.  This part is all opinion, and you'll find other people give you great advice on their clean-up application of their preference.  Here's the play store linke to ESFile Explorer:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.estrongs.android.pop&hl=en

The issue is that apps aren't by default stored on the SD card. The SD card is for extra data like music/videos/downloads etc.
You can however move existing apps to the SD card most of the time (some apps don't allow that). You go to Settings > Apps and pick from as many apps that are large (the list should have a filter for this). After selecting an app you can often click "Move to SD" or something similar.

Good advice.  This location is a little different depending on your phone.  For my Samsung Phone with Android 5.1.1, I find this under:  Settings > Storage > Applications > [Pick App] > Move to SD Card


text:
Samsung Galaxy G6 System Warning
I have the Samsung Galaxy G6 and keep getting a SYSTEM WARNING
I have added three pictures of the warning I get (all the same warning)
Does anyone know why I keep getting this warning and how do I remove it??

Why are you going to that web page?  It's pretending to be Google and lying about the error.  Is it set as your home page?  You probably installed an app that changed it or is opening that page itself.

I don't think that there is such a thing as a "battery virus" (what would they infect?)  sounds like a scam.  What did you recently install?  i would uninstall any new apps and see if this disappear.  I would NOT under any circumstances click on the"OK" button.  It may allow the installation of malware.

There isn't such a thing as a battery virus and I am always amazed about how many people fall for it.

@EthanZ I'd bet some even would put their device into the microwave for 10 min if advised such to remove/kill this "bad virus" (or get a "quick charge", pick your choice).

Unfortunetly so. I have a great response to this but it would be offtopic. Just known that if something sounds dumb and fake, it probably is.


text:
Using an android phone as a server for PC LAN gaming
So me and my friend wish to play tf2 using our phones as the server when we are in college. We tried using WiFi hotspot on the phone to connect but couldn't find any way to forward a port. So we tried downloading the app- "Port Forwarder". That didn't work too(or maybe we are just idiots who don't know what we are doing).
Is there a way to play the game using our phones as a server? I have a rooted Moto g and my friend has an unrooted OnePlus Two.
Here is the app we used: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=at.bherbst.net&hl=en


text:
SuperUser Installation -> PIE executables only
I have a phone in development mode (not just the tap 5 times thing, I have the ro.debuggable=1 etc.), and I need to install a SuperUser. I have Android 5.1 (Stagefright update). I have access to /system through adb remount. Is there a su binary that PIE-only devices support?  SuperSU does not work, I get this error:

127|root@j6010_blu_82:/data/local # ./su error: only position independent executables (PIE) are supported

I am a (web) dev ("Ha you can't compile :("), I know how my phone's warranty is gonna be invalid, and how if the phone blows up it's not your fault :)

You could try this one that has recent updates: https://superuser.phh.me/

I am not using a nexus phone or any phone listed there I am using a BLU STUDIO X PLUS

@ThePROgrammer Don't worry about the other models, just use the main superuser.zip there.

I have the same issue, did you resolve it ?

authors: Марат Салиев


text:
Having an issue with my contacts on my Blackberry Priv
I just got a Blackberry Priv, coming from a Blackberry Classic, both on AT&T. They imported my contacts from the old phone and they seemed to have moved onto my Google account. But for some reason the majority of my contacts don't have any information associated with them, just the names. When I go into my contacts list I see all the names, but most of them don't have any numbers. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to which came over with numbers and which didn't.
What is really weird is that when a contact that doesn't have a number associated with it texts/calls me I still see the correct name come up. For example, I don't have Kevin's number listed in my contacts, but when Kevin texts me it shows up as Kevin just fine. And even weirder yet, when I click on the "People and options" selection in the text thread it brings up a contact card with Kevin and his number.
Any idea's what the issue could be? How can I get my contacts with their numbers back?
Thanks for any help!

I don't have the answer but suggest you ask at http://supportforums.blackberry.com. The PRIV also comes with 12 months of complimentary support as per https://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/PRIV/Need-PRIV-Support-Call-us/td-p/3167154. Call 1-866-533-8067 (Canada & United States), or 0800-141-3330 (United Kingdom) Hope this helps!

I had the same issue. The solution that worked for me was to open contacts and choose all contacts (top left 3 bars - Action Overflow brings up a menu where you can choose which list of contacts to use). My Priv was only using a subset of the contacts.


text:
Ad Videos Won't Play
on my device, ad videos just won't play. In some games you need to watch ads in order to get in game currency, which is not possible for me. When I click on "Watch Ad", a black frame pops up and immediately closes itself.
To my knowledge, I do not have any ad blockers installed. If you need any logs or whatever just tell me and I will put them up.
Edit:

OnePlus One A0001
Android 5.1.1
Paranoid Version 5.1 (20150822)
Apps I'm talking about:
AdVenture Capitalist (double payouts)
Lords & Knights (Gold videos)

Can you link the source from where you downloaded your PA build? The official website is not giving any result for bacon?


text:
How to Check if a Bootloader Allows SD Card Booting?
Would like to make bootable mSD cards for my Android devices.
How do I Check if Android Bootloader Allows SD Card Booting?

Given that we first understand that there is not a such a thing as the

Android Bootloader

and that all device producers actually can freely decide how to get the system to boot the Android OS's linux kernel it is hard to suggest a way that will allow you to test that for all devices.
Instead the way to go would be to use the information you have about the device (i.e. its name, model number etc etc.) and search the web.
Often the Bootloader is guessable by the used CPU Manufactorer. For example the Allwinner CPUs are mostly using U-Boot as the bootloader and to my understanding also have hardware dongled support to load from SD card (http://linux-sunxi.org/U-Boot)
Observe that I was hinting on CPU Manufactorer, i.e. to make understand that the bootloader pecularities of Android devices (that most often run on an ARM architecture) depends highly on them. That is that with Qualcom, Texas Instruments, Samsung etc... even though ending up with a comparable CPU (in terms of instruction set i.e. ARM v7) many things i.e. like the bootloader type/code can be quite different.
To answer you question I hence suggest you and all other people that face the same question to become aware that the Bootloader is the CPU and Device producer thing, not a standardized Android thing.
In other words, the Bootloader is not like "windows" (on a PC), not even like the NTLDR (on a PC), but rather it is like the BIOS/EFI on a PC. And as with the BIOS/EFI it is not the OS-guys (i.e that would be Microsoft, Redhead, GNU on a PC) but the Mainboard-Hardware-guys that provide for the BIOS.


text:
How can I know whether the TWRP has been installed in "read only" mode?
I have Nexus 5 D820 running Android 6.0.1 (MMB29K). I flashed TWRP (v2.8.7.x) and while doing so I vaguely remember that I opted for a read-only installation so that the future updates will work. I also rooted without flashing any kernel.
When I tried to install the update MMB29S, I get an error in TWRP console:

The purpose of the above steps is to allow system updates to work and I wonder whether I had installed TWRP in read-only mode or not.
Is there any way for me to find out in a non-destructive way?
Update contents of /data/media/0/TWRP/.twrps:
tw_action_vibrate  160
tw_backup_list   /boot;/efs1;
tw_brightness  255
tw_brightness_pct  100
tw_button_vibrate  80
tw_color_theme  0
tw_force_md5_check  0
tw_gui_sort_order  1
tw_inject_after_zip  0
tw_keyboard_vibrate  40
tw_military_time  0
tw_mount_system_ro  0
tw_mtp_debug  0
tw_mtp_enabled  1
tw_never_show_system_ro_page  0
tw_no_screen_timeout  0
tw_reboot_after_flash_option  0
tw_rm_rf 0
tw_screen_timeout_secs  60
tw_sdext_size  512
tw_sdpart_file_system  ext3
tw_show_spam  0
tw_signed_zip_verify  0
tw_simulate_actions  0
tw_simulate_fail  0
tw_skip_md5_check  0
tw_skip_md5_generate  0
tw_sort_files_by_date  0
tw_storage_path  /data/media/0
tw_swap_size  32
tw_time_zone  CST6CDT,M3.2.0,M11.1.0
tw_time_zone_guidst  1
tw_time_zone_guioffset  0
tw_time_zone_guisel  CST6;CDT,M3.2.0,M11.1.0
tw_use_compression  0
tw_zip_location  /sdcard

Wierd, it says your your device has lollipop LRX22G not marshmallow MMB29K when checking the system. That's why it aborted at that point. But an easy way to check if your read only try to create a folder in the system.

Thanks @BoLawson for the trick. I tried to copy the .twrps file to /system and it was successful. Probably my memory should be wrong. BTW, what part of the .twrps file says I have LRX22G - just curious to know.

If you look 5 lines up from the first red error message. You will notice a step in the package compatibility verification. When checking the system it states:

package expects build of... MMB29k.. or MMB29S..

Then 2 lines up from the red error it states that:

this device has... LRX22G..

Then throws the binary error and aborts. The weird thing is Hammerhead went from 5.0.1 (LRX22C) to 5.1 (LMY47D). The Build # LRX22G was for nexus 7's and 10. It looks like your running a custom ROM that was compiled from the LXR22G source. https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images?hl=en

:-z quite confusing. I am pretty sure I downloaded the factory image of version 6.0.1 and even used stock kernel to root.


text:
F-droid: keep partial downloads
I am trying to install OSMAnd~ which is 43 MB, but I am sitting on a crappy connection that cuts out after 10-20 MB. Can I somehow ask F-droid to keep the partially downloaded file and continue download?

You could visit their website, and download the APK using a browser/download-manager supporting resume.

I know that f-droid at least has a long timeout before cancelling the download but as @Izzy commented above, just download the apk from:
OSMand page
OSMAnd APK Version 2.8.2 (282) - Added on 2017-11-17


text:
Remove a folder I created in /system/lib
I have root access and am able to remount. I created a folder in /system/lib/ named rfsa, but I don't know why I cannot see or open that folder.
When I type ls, it is there. But when I type ls -l, I get this error
lstat './rfsa' failed: I/O error.

The first time I get this error, I have to reboot and root and remount again.
Also, if I try rmdir /system/lib/rfsa/ (I created this folder myself), I get this error
rmdir: rfsa: Read-only file system

Any ideas what can I try?

Here it is before the ls -l command:
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system /system ext4 rw,seclabel,relatime,discard,data=ordered 0 0

After ls -l and getting the error, it changes to:
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system /system ext4 ro,seclabel,relatime,discard,data=ordered 0 0

I don't have busybox, but the first time I try mount -w -o remount -t ext4 /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system /system, nothing is changed. After I get the file I/O error, this time I get:
mount: Read-only file system

Here is the cat /proc/mounts output, before I try to access the bad folder:
rootfs / rootfs ro,seclabel 0 0
tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,relatime,size=949072k,nr_inodes=237268,mode=755 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=600 0 0
proc /proc proc rw,relatime 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw,seclabel,relatime 0 0
selinuxfs /sys/fs/selinux selinuxfs rw,relatime 0 0
debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs rw,seclabel,relatime 0 0
none /acct cgroup rw,relatime,cpuacct 0 0
none /sys/fs/cgroup tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,size=949072k,nr_inodes=237268,mode=750,gid=1000 0 0
tmpfs /mnt tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,size=949072k,nr_inodes=237268,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
none /dev/cpuctl cgroup rw,relatime,cpu 0 0
pstore /sys/fs/pstore pstore rw,seclabel,relatime 0 0
adb /dev/usb-ffs/adb functionfs rw,relatime 0 0
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system /system ext4 rw,seclabel,relatime,discard,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/cache /cache ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/persist /persist ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/dsp /dsp ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/modem /firmware vfat ro,context=u:object_r:firmware_file:s0,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,fmask=0337,dmask=0227,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=lower,errors=remount-ro 0 0
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/tctpersist /tctpersist ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/hdcp /persist/data ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0
tmpfs /storage tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,size=949072k,nr_inodes=237268,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
/dev/block/dm-0 /data ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,discard,noauto_da_alloc,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/fuse /mnt/runtime/default/emulated fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
/dev/fuse /storage/emulated fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
/dev/fuse /mnt/runtime/read/emulated fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
/dev/fuse /mnt/runtime/write/emulated fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
root@idol4:/ # cat /proc/mounts | grep system
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system /system ext4 rw,seclabel,relatime,discard,data=ordered 0 0

what is the output of mount | grep system when it says rmdir: rfsa: Read-only file system?

How do you remount? please try mount -o rw,remount,rw /system.

Might have to do with the seclabel, see: What does the 'seclabel' mount option do? Can you check what extended attributes are set (xattrs should do that)?

I have rw access at first, but once I try to access the folder I created and get the I/O error, with "mount -o rw,remount,rw /system" too, I get: "mount: Read-only file system".

In case you've note tried it yet, try seeking suggestions in this direction: https://www.google.co.in/search?q=ls+input+output+error+linux

It is a mount-option that the fs is remounted readonly if an error occurs.
But for you problem with the folder:
Could it be that the foldername contains special characters (that includes spaces or backspaces)? Check it with ls -b * or ls -q * if your ls supports it.

I did try, but these options are not supported for ls. Any other suggestions? I tried adb reboot recovery but the phone reboots in a screen that has a graphic showing volume up/down, but I can not do anything there.

If you have a busybox you can try
busybox mount /system -o rw,remount

or use system mount command:
mount -w -o remount -t ext4 /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system /system

There is no busbox. But The system mount does not change anything at first (cause I already have rw access). But once I try to access the folder I had created (rfsa), the access is changed to ro and typing the command above too, returns:  "mount: Read-only file system"

I think you have filesystem error, like @ott-- says. I would run recovery and try repair filesystem. When custom recovery boots, try adb shell from PC, mount /system partition and delete bad directory. Or try repair filesystem.


text:
Phone reacts to "OK" without "Google"
I need to change the voice command from OK Google to something else. It reacts to my voice in meetings when I answer OK. That is a problem!!

Do you have  the "OKGoogle from lock screen" option turned on? Disabling it if it's on should solve your meeting problem.  As for changing the OK Google phrase try Open Mic+ (it's free despite the '+' :) )

Possible duplicate of http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/55447/can-i-change-the-phrase-ok-google-now-to-something-else

authors: Кирил Димитров


text:
Is there a way to control an android device with an external touchscreen?
I am trying to solve something here.
I am trying to figure out a way to control an android device with an external touchscreen display. The android device would either be a Samsung Galaxy Tab A or a Galaxy Alpha. I have seen many connectors that allow you to display the screen from a tablet onto a tv or monitor but no easy way on controlling it using the larger screen (probably due to the video output on the tablet not supporting touch signals?). I have seen a few threads on various blogs that can just about manage this but they seem to be out of date and I can't see why this isn't easier.
Ideally, the external monitor needs to be larger than 20 inches and be a capacitive touch screen rather than a resistive type. I am using this as a control surface for music production and performance and sadly, the screen size on available tablets isn't big enough.
I would really appreciate any kind of input. I hope I'm not being a complete idiot and that this is really easy to do. Please let me know either way. Thanks
*Edit: Ideally, I would like to be able to use the tablet without the external screen as normal when I want. The extra screen size would be an added, optional extra.

If both devices are Samsung they have a brand specific app called SideSync which will allow you to link the two devices via a WiFi network. It's available via the play store or direct from Samsung.
I currently have an S6 edge, a galaxy tab S and a Samsung Smart tv and can control the phone or tablet via the tv and the also the phone via the tv or tablet.
Not too sure if you can control the tv or tablet via the phone as I've had no reason to try.
I have never come across an app which works in the same way if any of the devices aren't a Samsung but I've used this app with my current setup and with the old setup of S4, Tab 2 and older Samsung Smart tv I've owned over the last 12-18 months with no issues.
I hope this answers your question.

Thanks for your suggestion. Thats very helpful. I have a few questions about this. What if the large monitor doesn't have access to the play store? and what is the latency like in controlling one device from another?

Touchscreens are basically two devices.  The image to the monitor is usually fed from the tablet via mhl or hdmi. The touch functionality is via usb to the Android tablet or phone from the monitor. You need a dock of some description which provides mhl/hdmi out and also usb into the tablet, unless your tablet has separate ports for these, in which case you would need a usb otg adaptor cable and an hdmi/mhl cable. If the tablet supports HID (human interface device) input it should work to some degree as it would see it as a mouse or touch pad. Since android 4, support for multitouch has improved so it might work. If I get it working I will let you know.
Good luck
Steve

What about the driver for the USB touchscreen?

Hi. Did you try your solution ? Did it work ?  Has anybody any new solution?


text:
why Moto x play does not have contacts feature like samsung? why it does not have an option to save contacts to phone memory?
I am little bit disappointed after buying Motorola phone. I was aware that it removes bloatware app but on the other hand, it has very poor contacts app/feature. I had earlier used Samsung phones and the contact feature is remarkable,quite user friendly. Here, in Moto X Play, I do not find any option to save contacts on my phone memory. All it has, is the email account. I had recommended this phone to others and I regret my decision.
Anyways, please help me out if there is any option/tweak to make the contacts features better.

There's a place called "Google Play Store", where you can find alternative contact apps. You can also take a look at my list for Contact Managers and Dialers.

We can't know why Moto X doesn't have similar features unless there's Motorola representative here (perhaps since there's no SD card? But still, opinion based). 2) the rest of the post reads like a rant, which doesn't help solving the issue. 3) it's unclear what do you mean by option/tweak, making it too broad... and the best suggestion is... try another contact manager app?

Regretting buying an X Play over a Samsung just because it doesn't have an option to save contacts to phone memory seems strange. Also, try the Export Contacts to Internal Storage option if available.

You can try Export contacts to Storage in the Phone app after clicking on the 3 dots in the top right corner. That will create a file with all contacts in phone memory.
If that's not what you want you can always download an application of your choice from the Play Store as others have said earlier.


text:
How to extract road details from Google map?
I have a problem of getting GPS locations regarding to a road from google maps android API. How can we get a GPS location range regarding to a road? Is there any way to identify a marked point is within a road?

This might be one for http://webapps.stackexchange.com/ as it isn't necessarily specific to Android.


text:
Where are books downloaded from Amazon Kindle stored?
I download a book from Amazon Kindle, and would like to transfer it to my laptop. Where is it stored in my Android 4.4.2 phone (Kyocera Hydro Icon)?
Is it possible to find it out using some download history of Android?
Is it possible to search the file (with guessed file name) in the file systems on my phone using some command or program?
Where is Amazon Kindle app stored? Can the book be stored in the same directory?

Most likely not (without root). For details, please see Where Android apps store data?

On my tablet (non-rooted) it exists at
storage\emulated\0\Android\data\com.amazon.kindle\files\
Mine has about 500 folders, which, I assume is one per book.
The names are some 10-character string of the form Bxxxxxxxxx, where x is alphanumeric. Inside each are a few files devoted to the book, probably the text in the file Bxxxxxxxxx_ebok.prc (it has the largest size), and a couple smaller files tracking reading progress, etc.
I have not been able to determine a translation between the coded folder and file names to the actual book, though I would, if I had tracked my download progress, have a rough idea based on calendar.

Do you have root access? It's just a guess but it is possible that the app is keeping a map of those hard coded folder/filer names to particular in its database. Lots of apps use database for such things. You can check it out.

@Firelord - I'm not rooted, and wouldn't have any idea how to investigate this, though I can guess it would involve some SQLite proficiency.

No proficiency is needed actually. Just an app would do all the job for displaying the data. You just have to search the tables. https://play.google.com/store/search?q=sqlite&utm_source=opensearch


text:
How to install Google Play services on an Android 6.0 emulator?
Is there a way to install Google Play app on an Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) AVD?
I have found the Open Gapps for Android 6 here:
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=24269982087008996
To install them you need to boot into Recovery mode and install that zip file, but
an emulator does not have a recovery partition, so the steps target the case of a
device.
Do you know, how I can do the same for the emulator? I tried to unzip the file and
put the 4 APKs described here (for Android version 5):
http://www.flinkd.org/2015/02/instal...i-21-lollipop/
but after rebooting the emulator, although the icon of Google Play appears in the launcher,
when I tap on it, then the emulator crashes with some fatal exceptions in logcat.
I tried to install the packages one at a time, rebooting the emulator after each installation,
and found out that the crash happens after installing the Phonesky.apk no matter if you
click on the Google Play icon.

Just an idea (untested): Check my app list for Custom Recovery & Flashing. Flashify was one of the apps intended to take-over such tasks from recovery, so one can flash without booting to recovery. Might work in an Emu as well.

Thank you very much for the quick response. I will check it out! :)

Don't forget to update us with the results, please! :)

I tried to do adb shell stop && adb shell start since I am on an emulator
and a reboot would flash the system.img, but the emulator hangs on the
boot animation. Moreover, I tried to tap on the reboot button but
again the emulator got frozen in the rebooting screen with theloading icon..

Maybe the files in the zip contain errors. I will try some other zip files as well I found on other web pages. Logcat doesn't seem to provide enough information about this.. I will let you know.

I tried with this one: http://downloadmirror.co/android/ug/open_gapps-arm-6.0-pico-20151113.zip and if I tap the reboot button, again it gets frozen. But when I do the adb shell stop && adb shell start commands it reboots successfully. There is no Google Play icon on the launcher screen though.

Did you ever find a working solution?

@ThanasisPetsas Were you able to install play store on emulator? And then install another app from playstore?

1) Go get GApps for the emulator from http://opengapps.org
2) Unzip to get

GmsCore.apk
GoogleServicesFramework.apk
GoogleLoginService.apk
Phonesky.apk

Launch the emulator from the command line, on linux you do
./emulator [name] -no-boot-anim -writable-system

on windows it's probably
emulator.exe [name] -no-boot-anim -writable-system

Make sure you have adb access to the emulator.
adb remount

last but not least, push everything to system.
adb push GmsCore.apk /system/priv-app/

(and repeat for all the other APKs)
then reboot with
adb shell stop

and
adb shell start

This does not work. This error appears all the time: adb: error: failed to copy 'Phonesky.apk' to '/system/priv-app/Phonesky.apk': Read-only file system. No remount in any way does help, as the output of every remount is the following: mount: Read-only file system. Yeah, thanks android, thats why I want to remount it with rw -.-

In the same boat as @ChristianDreher - can't write to the filesystem. adb remount succeeds, and pushing after that gets a little bit of the way then stops. I can't remount from an adb shell either. Any ideas?

I've had this problem countless times in the past, and it astounds me that the solution isn't more widely known. Simply start the emulator with the -writable-system argument. Hey presto, writable system partition, and these instructions suddenly work.

To avoid Read-only file system error you should start an emulator with -writable-system flag

After doing steps in this answer my emulator would not power on.

Running emulator -shell open shell prompt with root permission


text:
How to encrypt deleted data on Android 10
I'm running a custom ROM (MIUI xiaomi.eu 12.0.2/Android 10QKQ1.90910.002) and my phone is rooted. I want to encrypt my old deleted data (photos and videos) so that they can't ever be recovered after selling my phone because right now I can recover them using apps like diskdigger.

Just write a large random file to cover the whole disk then delete it. That will stop Diskdigger from getting the deleted data (it might be possible for  very advanced and very costly/destructive hardware attacks to get tiny fragments of data, but its not a threat unless someone is specifically targetting you and has losfs of money to throw at it)

Also, are you sure you cant just lock and unlock the bootloader? All Android phones Ive ysed for many years have FDE - in which case, removing the enncryption header wipes the data partition irrecoverably.  Locking and unlocking the bootloader normally wipes this.

do not try to lock bootloader on rooted device, especially on xiaomi devices that is bad idea (you remember the hassle unlocking bootloader?) just flash stock ROM and boot once - that will encrypt the whole userdata partition. you can run adb shell dd if=/dev/urandom of=/data/local/tmp/bigfile until low storage warning appears, then just do factory reset

Run blkdicard on block device of userdata partition in recovery mode before flashing a new ROM. More details: How to make a complete factory reset, without anyone being able to retrieve my data?

@IrfanLatif How do you run blkdiscard on android? If I understood correctly, it's a command that you can run on Linux using the command line.

Yes. Android runs on Linux kernel. You can run the same commands on Android too, though not all work. TWRP provides a built-in terminal plus adb shell to execute commands.

blkdiscard is a busybox applet

You cannot encrypt data which has been deleted. As Tetsujin mentioned, you are meant to encrypt the data beforehand. You can then discard the encryption key.
What you want to accomplish, then—ensure that cleartext deleted data be unrecoverable—is inherently difficult. It's not trivial to hide these things from experienced forensic laboratories.
That said, unless you are trying to protect your data against an adversary such as a nation state, there are steps you can take. Re-encrypt your phone now and, after ensuring that data encryption is enable, initiate a full wipe. This should render apps like DiskDigger ineffective.


text:
What is the recommended video format codec and container to play on android devices
I am about to encode some of my videos so that they can be played on android devices?
what is the most compatible container, codec and dimension for android devices. thanks!

You can try Handbrake (http://handbrake.fr/) for video transcoding. It supports various profiles and you can google for a configuration for a particular device. See this link I've dug up: http://www.knowyourcell.com/htc/htc-desire/desire-guides/487526/how_to_convert_videos_and_transfer_them_to_the_htc_desire.html I've used Handbrake (I have a Desire too), and the results are quite satisfactory.

The Android Developer Guide covers this pretty thoroughly.  They have all the supported formats as well as recommendations.  I would additionally recommend using the same resolution as your screen if your device can handle it, that will much improve the quality.

Additional info about supported media codecs and profiles can be found in the Android Open Source Project Compatibility Definition Document for the version that a device was released with. For example Android 15 CDD has a section on multimedia and video decoding including UHD sizes

When I encode movies using Handbrake or DVDFab, I choose the "iPad" option, which create an m4v with h.264 and AAC (I think). Yes, this feels like sacrilege, but I just ignore the voices in my head. ;)
On XOOM, this plays fine. To keep the file size down, I take the audio down to stereo @ 44.1khz and 96kbps and the video rate to 1200kbps, while still maintaining 720p. This seems to work out alright and most 2 hour movies are in the 1 to 1.5GB range.

Based on another answer on the "Optimum video codec for low end Android phones" question, here is what I used:
ffmpeg -i input_video.mp4 \
    -sws_flags lanczos+accurate_rnd \
    -vf "scale=iw/2:-1" \
    -c:v libx264 \
    -crf 23.0 \
    -preset veryslow \
    -profile:v baseline \
    -tune fastdecode \
    -strict -2 \
    output_video.mp4

Note that I didn't set a specific resolution, just halved the original video's via the -vf "scale=iw/2:-1" option which worked well for my case, but you can change that as documented on the "Scaling (resizing) with ffmpeg" wiki page.
The H.264 Encoding Guide may also be useful.


text:
SD card unmounted when HTC Desire is being charged (even with a "wall charger")
Whenever I plug in the charger into my HTC Desire (2.2) it unmounts the SD card. I can get around it when it's connected to a PC or other device via USB by selecting Charge Only again in the charge menu - it then re-mounts the SD card. However, you do not get the charge/connect as options when it's a wall charger so I cannot get around the problem (therefore losing all my apps installed on the card, music etc while it's charging).
Has anyone seen a bug (feature?) like this? I've been trying to find anything about this problem online but to no avail...
Thanks in advance!

Can you provide logcat output when connecting your wall charger? Somewhere in pastebin. Last relevant lines only. http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/Logcat

@Denis you'll have to explain what this is all about...

@Dmitry: Is it the original HTC charger or a third party one?

Strange. I have an HT Desire running 2.2 and don't have that problem. It might be the cable of the charger that is incorrectly registering as being a USB connection (faulty, cheap knockoff that is incorrectly wired?) Try another charger. Blackberrys also use micro USB so ask a buddy to use their charger

It happens with several chargers I tried. Most of the time I use the one from my Plantronics bluetooth headset

Interesting, never had that happen to me. If you can, try what pufferfish suggested - recharge with a different charger/cable (maybe ask around at work?)
Or if that isn't convenient possibly try taking out the SD-card and putting it back in? I've had my SD-card randomly unmount itself once and re-inserting it seemed to have fixed it.

I have removed the card on a number of occasions and that did not help... Thanks for suggestion!

hm, odd... another stab in the dark. Turn phone off, plug in to charge. Turn phone back on... does the SD card still get unmounted?

I will try that when I get to the charger, thanks.

Sorry, forgot to answer here - did not help

Your HTC Desire is definitely has a malfunction. Try to reboot. As a workaround, you can try to configure to do nothing if USB cable is connected. Search for option in Menu => Settings or from notification when connected to PC.

It happens when a wall charger is connected, not just a USB (i.e. when phone understands it's a USB connection and gives you options about what type of connection to establish)

You said "I can get around it when it's connected to a PC or other device via USB by selecting Charge Only again in the charge menu - it then re-mounts the SD card.". I believe that you have USB disk configured as default when connecting USB cable. Try and see if this settings applies when you connect your wall charger. I may apply (incorrectly) in your case, because the phone detects the charger as a USB device. Just configure "Charge only" to be the default.

Default connection type is already "Charge Only"

Try another SD card? Maybe the problem is voltage stability...

Not sure I can get one


text:
Can Droid 2 Global sync with Outlook 2010? Esp concerned with tasks
Considering getting a Droid 2. I use Outlook for all calendar, contacts, and tasks. Although it is seamless for calendar items and contacts, task management is critical for me. I am not impressed with Google apps task mangagment and want to keep using Outlook. Is the Droid compatible with a sync directly to Outlook 2010? Under what conditions?

Apart from the grand old man of the syncing world that Ryan's pointed out above, there's also GOATS and TouchDown as other notables.
There's a fairly detailed table at http://www.syncdroid.net/ that illustrates and lists software designed to sync data to Android devices.

Thank for the link to syncdroid- has a good chart for the various alternatives. I ended up using gsyncit- $19.99, with the gtask app for phone (free w/ ads, $3.99 without). Working pretty well so far. Keeping fingers crossed.

The only solution I know of for the level of syncing you want to achieve is CompanionLink. It will sync Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes between Outlook and Android, it will also cost you $49.95.

Thank you for the response. gsyncit coupled with gtasks app for droid seemed to be a good option, cheaper and with good reviews. Working pretty well so far.


text:
Xiaomi Poco F1 (with Pixel Experience) potentially bricked, this is all it can see. Any help?
The text on screen is:
"Þöŵéŕ öƒƒ one two
Ŕéšţåŕţ one two
Ļöçķðöŵñ one two"

I don't think that your phone is bricked. A bricked device doesn't usually boot at all, or is stuck in a bootloop. It might be a case of potentially corrupt zip. Here are the things that you can try before giving up on your Poco:

Check if ADB detects your phone.
Try booting into recovery (either from ADB, or using physical buttons); if you succeed, perform a clean flash of the ROM.
If nothing works for you, try booting into fastboot and flash a stock MIUI fastboot ROM (from here) using Mi Flashtool.


text:
Can I improve accuracy of Google Location while hiking
My Google Location history is amazingly helpful and informative, and generally accurate. I have all settings set to highest so I can always get the best location accuracy. I've read several posts about how Google estimates my location, using cell towers, wifi SSIDs/BSSIDs, etc and it all makes sense. But when I go on my daily hike, the accuracy is 'way off' by a few miles. I take photos on my hike and their Geo-location tagging is accurate to within a few feet, so I know the location information is available with GPS.
The following screen shot gives an example. The red line was drawn by me and represents my hike. The blue lines are the estimation by Google Location. My hike follows a ridgeline that surrounds a residential neighborhood. Obviously, my phone's location sensor is latching onto either cell-towers or wifi access points in the neighborhood.

Is there any way I can tell my phone to use GPS to report location, rather than wifi or cell tower, during a hike?  If I launch google maps during the hike, will that cause my accuracy to improve? I often take photos at various locations along the hike (and these are accurately geo-tagged) but this doesn't seem to help the location map below.  I did notice that, if I use a 'hiking app' such as 'map my walk' or 'strava', the location as reported to Google is very accurate. So do I need to launch 'any app that uses GPS' to make the GPS location available to Google?
Also, I've read that I can click on 'blue dots' on the map to see where it's getting the location information from, but I see no blue dots no matter how much I zoom in.
Thanks!

I would assume that Google tries to minimize the used battery by default but if another app already uses GPS Google can also get access to the calculated GPS positions. Just use e.g. a track recorder app on your phone and check if it improves the Google location history or just use the recorded track.

Without using a third-party app, you are going to have to keep the Google Maps app open at all times.
I use Google Timeline along with Google Fit for daily exercise walk tracking. In the pocket, screen off, I get what you get, nearby areas or generalized activity around my home. When I have the Google Maps app open, screen on, I can get walking tracks down every street such that when I look at it in Timeline/Google Fit it looks like I'm tracing the neighborhood blocks. If I go into a shop and forget to bring the Google Maps app into the foreground, even when I'm listening to a podcast, the location will jump to when I finally remember to bring forth the Google Maps app. And as expected it does drain the battery more.
I'm using a Pixel 2 with Android 10. Reducing battery usage has been theme with the newer versions of Android so I'm in agreement with Robert, unless you have something trying to getting GPS location data, the lower accuracy location data will be used. I would expect walking directions (like driving directions) which has the Google Maps app in the foreground all the time have the most accurate location data.
One compromise is to open the Google Maps app at some moderate frequency (say 5 minutes) and allow it to get a GPS lock. While the detail of your track not be as accurate as "on all the time" the positions recorded would at least be more aligned with your path.

So I not only have to run Google Maps, but also, keep it in the foreground and with the screen on - oh well!  Regarding the idea of opening Google Maps every 5 minutes; that might be good enough, but - I can imagine that during those times when Google Maps is not 'active', location sensing may jump miles across the valley to the arbitrary GPS or WiFi access points that it is currently latching onto!   I will try this and report back.

You can go into your Google Timeline to remove or correct erroneous locations (distant cell towers or WiFi spots). If anything it will help clean up a personal timeline and hopefully improve the dataset since the app is tracking walk activity the majority of the time.

if you look at the image I pasted above, there's no 'dot' associated with any of the 'end points' on the map, so I don't see how I can edit anything. Am I missing something?

Ah I stand corrected, you are right, I was thinking of stores or similar. I'm not sure if its possible to remove those errant locations (short of removing the entire track).

Above I commented that I could not see any dots associated with any of the endpoints. I just discovered the 'settings' icon (gear icon) on the map. One option is 'show raw data'. With that feature enabled, lots of red dots appear. I can hover over each dot and an 'accuracy circle' appears on the map.  Sadly, I see no option to delete a dot, or correct it. Some of the dots that are way off show a small (good) accuracy circle, so that isn't necessarily a great guide.

There's a trick: open Google Maps, press Go button, then select a very far away destination that you are not going to arrive, then confirm to find a route. Google map will keep running on background without screen on. Also turn off the navigation voice to avoid the sound they would make. By doing that, Maps will always track your current location even if you are not really going to that destination and all location data will be saved. I use that trick often and it's way more accurate than default location report.

I'm somewhat familiar with that 'trick', but how do you keep the map from being visible? I can start navigation, then 'lock' the screen and the screen is dark while navigation continues. But if I want to use the phone, I can hit the menu button and the navigation app shrinks to a small window, hovering over whatever else is on the screen.  I cannot get it to disappear altogether (background) without killing it.  Edit - I can also achieve the same by launching a hiking/exercise app like 'map my walk' or 'strava', and telling it to track my progress.


text:
Do android games use the graphic card on a laptop?
I installed Android on my laptop as dual boot with indows 8.1 (I am not talking about virtualization or emulators).
I have 1 GB NVIDIA graphic card on my laptop.  So does Android use my graphic card to improvement game performance?


text:
Alcatel Onetouch Idol S malfunctioning battery
My battery on my Alcatel Onetouch Idol S (running Android 4.2.2) is behaving oddly. It will discharge normally, then all of a sudden go from 55% to flat (0%) in seconds. I would put it down to finally rooting it, but I have no cold evidence to prove it. Does anybody know how it can be fixed, or how to figure out why it is happening?
Additional info:

I believe the CPU governor should be set to ondemand
It was rooted via KingRoot v4.6.0 132, and the KingRoot kernel version is 4.6.0 47
The SU version is 3.54

How old is your battery?  You can try the steps in accepted answer here and then my solution, http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/128091/android-dies-at-20-battery/128108#128108

@beeshyams The battery is about a month old. Literally a month. Oh, i will try the second method on that link, but it is the only one i can do at home. There is a irremovable back (though the manufacturers can take it off)

Curious as to what happened when you tried steps in earlier suggestion

@beeshyams It worked, kinda. My phone did not turn on. Charged it to find it was drained,  and it had a normal discharge when booted. I done that about a day ago.

Good. Hope it gets to be normal


text:
Terraria Server Hosting Problem
I want to host a game on the same network to play with my friends. I want to use Wi-Fi Direct and Terraria for Android (of course) but when they connect to me I can join their servers but they can't join mine. Is there some sort of firewall blocking the game? I have an OnePlus 2. I also had this problem with my old phone (Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini LTE) Any ideas?

Do you have the same ISP? Maybe the prevention of incoming traffic to you is blocked upchannel.

Well, since I'm using Wi-Fi Direct (which is like Hamachi) I don't use any kind of internet connection. Keep in mind that I can connect to others regarding if I'm connected to them or they to me through Wi-Fi Direct.


text:
I have factory reset my phone, there is almost a gb of app installation space
My 16gb SD Card got corrupted today, so I lost all of my data as I was unable to format it.
The real problem is, I also factory reset my phone just now, so there is 16gb internal memory amd 1.5gb app installation memory, out of which only 400mb is used.
When I attempt a download from Google Play Store, they get downloaded completely however while installing, it gives an error message "Insufficient storage". I'm fed up with this issue, I don't know what to do.
Let me also tell you, my SD Card data was encrypted, so I was unable to format it, should this be a problem. However, I factory reset my phone and now internal memory can do nothing with it.
My phone is Intex Aqua Power HD running Android 4.4

One more addotion, just now i tried to download other apps like coc, n stackoberfloe, these got installed quickly. So i tried to install.my whatsapp again n again it gave sameerror message insufficient storage.

I uninstalled those previous two apps, jist to empty the innapp space aain n tried to download whatsapp n aain it gave same error, i have all d space in d app memory, as there is nothing installed. Im getting this error only with whatsapp installation

Pleas include your comments in your question. You can always edit your own question.

Ok, try to connect your SD Card to another device and Format/copy out your important files.
If that does not work, use a card reader to access your SD Card on a Windows device and SCAN as appropriate.
It could well be a minor threat and your PC anti-virus could solve.

What has an anti-virus got to do with anything?


text:
Connect Android devices via (ethernet) cable
I want to assign static IP Addresses to my Android devices, and connect them via say Ethernet cable.
Essentially create a network by connecting android devices using physical wires and have IP addresses work.
The idea is to allow android devices to communicate to one another using the IP the addresses over this network. (There is no wifi in this solution.)
Is this possible?

No, this is not possible just with Android devices and USB.  You need something to handle the routing and act as the host, and USB is a tree structure.


text:
Scanning Evernote and sharing by email
Is it possible to use the Android app Evernote to scan several images, then save them as a single PDF, and share the PDF by email, without requiring the recipient to have an Evernote account?
I managed to scan several images, and save them as a single PDF, but when I email it Evernote requires the recipient to have an Evernote account:

I don't have this issue when I use Evernote Scannable on iOS 9.

As of now Scannable for Android is not available(only for iOS). And Evernote and Scannable are different apps released by Evernote Corporation. Read this comment from this Scannable Team, So for now, the short answer to “When will Scannable come to Android?” is still “We don’t know yet.” . Also, check out this app PDF Scanner if it helps your case.

Also, check this app Droid Scan Pro PDF Droid Scan turns your Android phone into a pocket document scanner. It will convert any snapshot into a highly readable JPEG or PDF by fixing geometry, contrast, and color. Record white boards, business cards, receipts and a lot more.

@Lucky Thanks, I'm getting lost with all these Evernote products. i'll definitely try Droid Scan Pro PDF!

As mentioned in the Play Store description, Please try the free version first (Droid Scan Lite) to make sure this app is compatible with your device.

authors: Матлуба Хамзаева


text:
in built apps update
Every minute my phone seizes and "unfortunately, measure has stopped" pops up. It makes my phone slow. Under application manager in settings, the app is there but I can't update it.

Have you tried clearing the data for that app?

You can only update an application from the Application Manager if the application has an update in the Google Play Store. If there is no update, it will not be available in the Application Manager.
Try to delete and reinstall the app. If the issue continues even after that, send a bug report to the app's creator and find an alternative if the issue cannot be resolved by the creator.


text:
your sd card is full back to vault now
By mistake my SD card was formatted. When I copy images out of the app lock vault I'm getting an error message that says my SD card is full.  How can I recover my images?

Have you tried any Recovery software to recover your SD Card data, you can recover using Android data recovery. Beside this I had seen this thread in Quora you can check out its solution at below link. Here are the steps that he applied:
If you are looking for recovery through App Lock & Gallery Vault App, here are the steps to follow :

Log in to the App Lock & Gallery Vault using your Master Password.
Tap on ‘App Lock’ to slide out the menu and access ‘Settings’.
Simply tap on ‘Data Recovery’, it will recover all your previously lost data from a previous version of App Lock & Gallery Vault.

Original Source:
https://www.quora.com/What-can-I-do-to-recover-photos-from-an-app-lock-vault-showing-files-are-damaged


text:
S8 rooted, Netflix is now incompatible
So I rooted my phone yesterday and now Netflix has been uninstalled. It says it's incompatible with my phone, please help.

Auto-uninstall shouldn't be possible; fresh installs can be prevented, and the app can block access, but I don't believe there is a (non-root) method for an app to remove itself.
That said, I run Netflix on my rooted device without issue.  You might be able to install it from elsewhere, such as from APKMirror, and continue using it.
You could also flash your device back to stock and then use Magisk to root instead, which tricks the SafetyNet root detector thus Netflix will still run.  This link has instructions.

@iBug I'm not sure how you can get "before" from "I rooted and now".  In any case, Netflix runs perfectly on my rooted device.

Netflix does not allow being installed on a rooted device. If you manage to install it, it will refise to run (flash black and exit).
If you insist on installing it from Google Play, unroot your device first.
If you insist on letting it run well without unrooting your phone, consider using some Xposed modules (e.g. RootCloak).
Alternatively, you can unroot your phone then root it again with Magisk, as suggested by Matthew Read. However I haven't tested this method personally and I can't guarantee it'll be working.
References:
1,
2,
3,
Google Search


text:
How can I save a web page offline?
I have this url : http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/China and wish to download as an offline document. How do I do that ?.
I am taking that there is no wifi access in the place I intend to visit in China and hence this article would be useful to refer to as a 'offline document'.
I hope the question is clear enough for someone to assist me. Thank you

I've seen your edit and voted for reopening. Crucial documents like this, however, are better served printed physically, the way I see it.

Agreed with Andy, if I really wanted it digital I would probably print it to PDF and use that file.

Chrome has a download as offline feature in the side menu, for downloading sites as offline sites.

Screenshot (click image for larger variant)

I think this is also another good workaround as long cache is not deleted, and definitely worth a try.

I had another workaround; since you want to convert this url to pdf, you could make use of the UrlToPdf application from playstore.
It converts a webpage to a pdf document document (similar functionality to Adobe Acrobat pdf extension for chrome) and stores it offline
.


text:
How to block websites on Android (for free) without root?
I want to block websites on my HTC phone.
It seems as though ES File Explorer needs the phone to be rooted to use this method, which I don't want to do. (I don't have any folders when I click through 'Local'-'Device' at all, which is where you're supposed to find 'etc' so I can't go any further anyway)
Trend Mirco is far too expensive for the premium version which lets you block any site name (given I'm trying to block sites where I can spend money!)
Firefox Add Ons don't seem to work on the mobile version, they will download, but I have no way of opening them.
Apps all seem to be about blocking adult content on kid's phones, which isn't the issue here.
On the desktop computer I've used Leechblock for Firefox, and BlockSite for Chrome.
Any other ideas that don't cost anything or require a rooted device?

I'm not sure if anything here would help you: https://android.stackexchange.com/q/53833/1465


text:
Memory full without any heavy apps

I dont have any heavy apps on my phone, but still a major part of memory of my k3note is occupied with 'others'.

See Others. I think you have lots of unsupported data in the internal memory.

All parts of the chart are tapable, just dig into the Others and check what is it consists of.

Others contains all files that will not come under the app/pic/doc/zip/audio and video.
It occupies 7.* gb.
So, either click on other or go to file manager and check your custom folders for such heavy data files.


text:
Force inactivity lock on application that circumvents it
I have a game that disables inactivity lock on my phone as long as it is foreground (there's enough ways to do that if you look around on development SE sites). This is generally a good thing, since it have somewhat long-ish matches that can be set to autopilot and having to manually tap to prevent autolocking would be annoying.
However it is NOT fine when I set lock period in phone settings to half a hour, start playing before sleep and WANT it to go into lock if I actually fall asleep while playing! I don't want phone to stay at max heat all night because GPU and charger fight each other over energy flow.  I have an unrooted Lenovo A1000.
Application does not have any setting to disable this behavior. Is there a way I can enforce my lock period settings on any application so any time I don't actively touch any controls on phone for specified time, it goes into a lock, no matter if foreground application wants that or not?


text:
Not able to download apps from the Play Store while roaming
I am using a Mi4i. I can't download apps from the Play Store when the SIM is in roaming. How can I do this?

If you are on Androud Nougat, this is a known issue.  Otherwise: Are you able to use a browser normally while roaming?

This is one of the problem in Android Nougat and wasn't solved in the subsequent updates.
This problem leaves you with, only way of downloading the app is to download it's apk file from other sources through your browser while you are on mobile data otherwise apps are getting downloaded when you connect your phone through wifi.
To follow updates on this you can go here https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/nexus/21wGieItCik


text:
How to install Google Play on Kindle Fire 7" (2016)?
I'm trying to install Google Play (and rest of Google services) on my Kindle Fire 7" model 2016. I've done little bit of research and noticed that things change rapidly. I'm looking for verified and latest way of getting this installed without rooting my Kindle, is that possible? I'm trying to be able to install any Android app from  the Google Play Store.

This android police article describes how to do it without root. In short:
Enable install of "Apps from Unknown Sources" in Settings.
Install in order:

Google Account Manager APK
Google Services Framework APK
Google Play Services APK
Google Play Store APK

...profit!


text:
Downloading to sd card issues
Recently bought a Vodafone Smart Mini 7 (VFD-300) running Android version 6.0. Even though I have changed my default write disk to sd card, every time I download an app from play store, it downloads it to internal storage. It is supposed to download to the sd card is it not? Is this a normal issue? its a big issue for me basically rendering my phone useless. I have considered rooting etc but would rather not. Am I missing something?
PS I have searched for the 'move to sdcard' option. it seems to have been removed.

Ok I'll say this for a hundred time that SD card cannot be used for apps as is, you can do that with apps like APPS2SD or link2sd (you'll need root for that), or if you have phone running android 6.0+ you can adopt sd card so it becames like internal storage but you can't use it with other phones until you format it.
Here is how to do it (it says for galaxy s7 but it works with all phones the same way):
http://www.modaco.com/news/android/heres-how-to-configure-adoptable-storage-on-your-s7-s7-edge-r1632/


text:
Unfortunately google play store has stopped

I installed Android 6.0 on my one plus x phone last week. Now I see these errors pop up, "unfortunately google play store has stopped" & "unfortunately google play services has stopped". I searched so many websites but no use.  How can I fix this?

We need more information, how did you install the Google Play Services app? Was it flashed with a GAPPS archive or did it came pre-installed with the device? Tried to clear the data/cache of the Google Play Service and Google Play application?

Unfortunately a long time ago I had this issue. I'm sure there is an easier method of fixing it but I had to do a full factory reset before I could get it working again; hopefully you don't get to that point, but if you do give a factory reset a try :)

go to apps, and disable Google+.  Reboot and it will work again

Mind to give some background? What has that specific app to do with it? Why should disabling it making the other app stable again?


text:
How accessibility access is secure?
My android device is rooted and running Android 4.4.2.
Some apps like App Lock, GO Power Master, Kaspersky Internet Security, All-In-One-Toolbox, MoboClean Auto Installer ask for accessibility access for better performance.
All the above apps assure me that they are not gathering any personal information, but while giving access I see a message saying they observe actions and retrieve window content.
What should I do in this case?

Accessibility will become a bit more secure: https://www.xda-developers.com/google-threatening-removal-accessibility-services-play-store/ ... in short: Google probably will remove apps that abuse accessibility functions.

Possible dupe: Is it safe to give accessibility permission to an app?

Put simply, it isn't secure.  Do not give any apps extra permissions or increased access that you do not trust them with.  Once you give them access to your data, they have the opportunity to abuse it.

I do agree. That's why I didn't allow accessibility access to any apps but be it App Lock, GO Power Master, Kaspersky Internet Security or All-In-One-Toolbox. While allowing accessibility access I see a message saying they observe actions and retrieve window content. Even I see same message for Kaspersky Internet Security for Android.

@EinfoMail that's a standard precaution message by Android system, regardless of what the accessibility service is doing. Though, the advice is still true to not enable it, unless you know what you are doing.


text:
How can I read my text messages from another device?
I have been using my country's local network for quiet some time, this number is used for all my transaction and other otp authentication stuff, also i use this to track incoming text messages from different services that i have subscribed to.
This number is currently used in my nexus, however i have plans to travel to another country (long time) where i need the otp and auth stuff. The country where i would be travelling would not support this cell network or its too expensive to have it supported.
Essentially, is there a way I can read my Nexus 5x's messages remotely I.e. from another device?

 Remote Control? Hmmmm.
AIRDROID!

Airdroid is an app that allows relative remote control of a device, remotely.
Install it on the 5x, and make sure you create an account. Y'all be needing it. Also, tap the menu, then settings, and disable the confirmation for lite mode and enable keep-awake*
On the other device, go to and bookmark web.airdroid.com DO NOT LOGIN YET!
Disconnect from WiFi on your 'other' device, and in the 5x too if you want. Then, login on your other device.
If all goes well, it will connect to your phone, no issues! Just tap 'messaging' in the corner, and you are done!

*You may need to enable Developer options (Settings -> about phone tap build number 7 times, then back, then pick the new options) and pick stay awake while charging (tick it!) Also, Airdroid is battery consuming, so keep it on charge!

@MarkYisri Had not tested that. sometimes, the option to stay awake while charging is in there.


text:
Want to recover internal data of my phone from cwm-based recovery
Whenever I switch my phone on it always shows the name of rom installed, but after that my phone does not get on. I want to recover its internal data .I don't know what to do with cwm-based recovery. Can I retrieve whatsapp chats too?

Ideally you can retrieve nearly everything under CWM via ADB. Use adb shell to explore file structure and adb pull to pull what you want to PC.
However, 1) finding what you want to achieve can be painful, since you need to be familiar with Android filesystem structure, and ADB command line isn't friendly either; 2) even if you managed to find WhatsApp's data, you might not be able to make out what file(s) correspond to chats, and have to do a whole-folder backup, which then means restoring will be a pain (setting permissions and owners).
Retrieving contacts, SMS and simple game saves shouldn't be a problem though, as these usually are stored in one or two files. I've always backed up my savegames in a similar manner. Internal storage is also easy since you know that file structure well.


text:
How to keep Google Maps sounds in Phone, while calls in Car Sound system, while driving?
I am driving with Google Maps, while Bluetooth on. I cannot hear any Google Maps sounds if Bluetooth is on, my car stereo system is not playing them, while listening radio (I know you could change the input source but I do not want that).
So I turn Bluetooth off because then the sounds of Google Maps come from the phone.
How can you force all sounds from Google Maps to come from the phone, although you have Bluetooth on and connected to car stereo?

I installed the application Waze which has the setting Play sound to phone speaker, which solves the case, at least for now: all sounds of the applications go the phone speakers, while calls etc go to the car speakers.
I could not do that on Google Maps.

Current version of Google Maps (10.47.1) seems to support this function:

tap on your avatar icon
tap on "Settings"
Scroll down and tap on "Navigation Settings"
Disable "play voice over Bluetooth

Tested with Bosch Infotainment headunit in Suzuki car and it worked exactly as expected.


text:
Will installing TWRP wipe my device?
So I've rooted my Galaxy S10 Exynos using Magisk and now I wish to install Twrp for easier updates flashing.
Will installing TWRP on my magisk rooted device wipe my data?
Thanks

Recovery is flashed to recovery partition (or boot partition on A/B devices). Your data is stored on userdata partition. Erasing/overwriting one won't harm the other. However unlocking bootloader is very likely to wipe your data. But it seems you've been through that already.

No. TWRP is only a custom recovery that replaces your stock recovery. But be sure to flash the right TWRP for your device.
Searching in this XDA thread
using your model number
would be a good idea (On some devices it is possible that root is lost, and you may need to root again)

So I've read a little bit, and according to what I understand, updating the firmware would require me to use Odin again. So why install TWRP?

That is for you to answer! If you don't need TWRP to make nandroid backups or flash some zips, or keep changing  ROMs, you can well do without it. Personally I feel there isn't much use. It's upto you to decide

do not read a little bit, read carefully the whole opening post and make sure you understand. you will lose data and encryption support. afaik Magisk and TWRP lives in the same ramdisk, therefore TWRP should be patched with Magisk Manager (advanced settings - magisk in recovery)

nemesis-kernel might be interesting too (no button combo required for magisk) https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=4020121


text:
Meaning of Samsung bootloader codenames?
I realized that you cannot install firmware with older bootloader version than the one in the device.
To do things more correctly and safely, I want more fully understand the bootloader codename meaning.
Here are diffrent bootloader codenames, that appear in different three Build Numbers.

Build Number: G965FXXU7DTB4
Bootloader Codename: U7D

Build Number: G965U1UES7DTB2
Bootloader Codename: S7D

Build Number: G965USQU6CSI2
Bootloader Codename: U6C

I understand  that the digit between the two letter indicated the bootloader version.
Therefore, the bootloader version is the same for U7D and S7D and the U6C is older.
However, it is not the same codename.
What is the difference between U7D and S7D?
I'd love to know what the diffrent letters means?

What is the difference between U7D and S7D?

First, the difference between U and S:

The x is either a U or a S. U updates tend to have actual updates and/or new features. Or simply bug fixes. S updates tend to be strictly security-related.

Secondly, the meaning of 7:

This is the bootloader number/fuse. What you need to know: You cannot rollback to a version that has a bootloader fuse lower than the version you currently have. As such, if you have a 3 BL fuse, you cannot go back to a 2 BL fuse. But you can go forward to a 4 BL.

Finally, the meaning of D

is the software upgrade version. The first version is always A. When there is a major update, such as a feature update or an Android upgrade, this letter goes up. Note that for official beta versions, the letter is always Z.

All the above quotes are from How to read build versions.


text:
An Pixel XL phone shutdown by itself
My Pixel XL phone rencently always turns off by itself. Most times it turned off just after starting up, a few times it worked longer and everything looks fine. when it happend, a "phone is shuting down"(maybe not exactly these words because my phone is not in english) dialog pop up and then shut down in a few seconds.
I tried restoring it to factory image, and tried replace a new battery, and had not fix this.
I got the log using "adb logcat", here is it : full log file
Now I think its because of a hardware part, but seems not battery. I want to find out which hardware part is it from the log file, but I don't know much about the log messages, can anyone help to find some clues about what cause the auto-shutdown? Thank you very much!
John.

How do you know it is not the battery? Does the problem still occur when the charger is connected?

The log only shows that the system itself (uid 1000) has initiated a shutdown via ActivityManager and android.intent.action.ACTION_REQUEST_SHUTDOWN. There is no visible reason. May be you should retry using adb logcat -b all.

I had replaced the battery with new one before, and did not change anything.  And yes it occurs no matter the charger connected or not. Thank you for your suggestion and I will try to get more log today.

I got a new log file using "adb logcat -b all", here is it : link . Some error messages about battery appears, but currently it's the new battery in use. Can you get more details? Thanks!

If I interpret the line battery l=63 v=3913 t=72.7 h=3 st=2 c=5 chg=u correctly the h=3 means battery health status BATTERY_HEALTH_OVERHEAT. And t=72.7 should be the temperature but don't ask me if this is Celsius or Fahrenheit. This could be an explanation for the forced shutdown.

Thank you very much! So I know why it keeps shutdown itself! The temperature of my room is about 20 degrees Celsius, so looks like the phone get the value in Fahrenheit but think it's in Celsius, but it's another question. I think you completely answered my question, could you make a answer so I can accepy it? Thanks again!

Based on the provided logcat it seems like the shutdown is initiated by the healthd that manages for example the battery status:
healthd : battery l=63 v=3913 t=72.7 h=3 st=2 c=5 chg=u

This line contains two values of interest:

h=3 is the battery health value and the value 3 means BATTERY_HEALTH_OVERHEAT.
t=72.7 is the battery temperature in Celsius. This value is quite high taking it as temperature in Celsius as Android does. Hence I would assume that the battery provides the temperature in Fahrenheit but the device expects a Celsius value and therefore thinks that the battery temperature is very high. The default shutdown temperature in Android is 68°C.

What I not really understand is that all healthd message contain the h=3 value even if the temperature is lower. May be this value also reflects past temperature states.
Note: Internally Android does not directly use the temperature in Celsius, instead it uses   Centigrade (Celsius * 10).
At the moment I would recommend to do the following test: Pack your phone into a water proof box and place it for some minutes in he refrigerator (make sure you use the part that has more than 0°C, you just want to cool down the device not freeze it!).
Then get it out of the fridge and start it, and measure the run-time until it shuts down. The time should be larger than before.


text:
Will phone of global market will have better coverage than others?
I have LG V20 (H990DS), it's global market's phone. Also there are AT&T, Sprint, Verizon. And I noticed that all models have different frequency bands. Is that mean that my phone will work better around the world and others are fixed to certain regions? If yes, other phones can be unlocked by rooting or something like that to work the same as "Global" phone?

.... my phone will work better around the world and others are fixed to certain regions?

In theory, yes. That's the purpose of a global phone (also called international phone)

....other phones can be unlocked by rooting or something like that to work the same as "Global" phone?

No, since it requires changes at hardware (modem) and corresponding drivers. You can't change hardware by rooting

Thank you for the clear answer, I noticed that H990DS has 16 4G bands and H990N (of Hong Kong) has 15. Does it mean that 4G will work in higher coverage in China on H990N than my H990DS?

Maybe is better to count how many bands phone supports and check if it works in native country. European variant with 17 bands would probably be even better than global with 16.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

@beeshyams It could be useful to keep in mind that some OEMs (e.g. Samsung) allow for carriers to only preload some apps, instead of locking the device altogether - in that case, the phone might be usable internationally.

@DeathMaskSalesman- Thanks, yes, useful. I wasn't aware