text:
samsung xcover 4, has no internet access while connected to a specific wifi network
It seems I'm facing a strange problem with my smartphone.
After the last update, I can't connect to my office's wifi. All the other devices connect normally. However, I tried resetting the router many times.
On the other hand, my phone connects perfectly to all other networks. I think I did everything possible, even a hard reset, but the problem insists.
 I've tried changing the IP settings to static and typing my IP etc, but nothing worked.
Any other ideas are welcome.
thanx
Update : When I walk 15 meters away from my desk to another office and try to connect again, my phone connects normally to the same network but from a different router. So, I suppose the problem is between my nearby router and my phone. Is there any way to fix this? It worked till last Friday, so there's no chance of incompatibility.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Not a solution, but maybe a way to find the culprit: did you check the logs? If not, please do so. Then please [edit] your question and include relevant findings. Or answer your own question if those findings led you to a solution already :)

Perhaps you should upgrade your Android OS version, most of the time this method work for me.

All this mess was caused because of the last software update. If there was a way to cancel this, I would have done it for sure. I tried to check for any new update that may fix the problem, but the latest updates are already installed. Thanks, anyway.

Hmm. Perhaps you can downgrade your existing OS manually. How about using Odin and find your previous OS Android version on the net or on the website such as SamMobile. Hope this helps you.

Problem solved. Just bought a brand new router. I was totally defeated.


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Unable to detect Android device with ADB on Mac but can detect it through Fastboot?
I am unable to view my Android device, an Oppo Find7, with ADB. I can view it with Fastboot. As I use a Mac, I followed this guide to install ADB and Fastboot.
More generally, I am having issues with my phone which is stuck on boot-loop and I can only access Fastboot (no bootloader or recovery working). I'm hopeful I can fix this once I get ADB working again! But if anyone knows if I can get the Oppo unbricking tool for Mac I would be very grateful :)
I've only found it for Windows, and unfortunately, the official Oppo support forums no longer exist.
Typing
Fastboot getvar all

gives me
 All:

Not a good sign I think.
Thank you!

Fastboot and ADB require different drivers, and situations alike yours (and opposite) are quite common. I can say it for sure only for Linux/Windows use-case, but with high probability for Mac the point is the same. Try different drivers.

You didn't explicitly mention it, so to verify: You are aware that ADB cannot detect a device in fastboot/bootloader more – and fastboot cannot detect it in modes other than that? So when fastboot can detect it, ADB naturally cannot.

I was not aware, so perhaps as I am stuck with only access to Fastboot on the device this would explain it! Thank you. What confuses me is I thought I used to be able to use Fastboot to switch into ADB, but perhaps I was mistaken.
@Suncatcher I believe I have the latest versions of both drivers, having followed the guide linked in my question to freshly install. Is there an easy way I can check if my drivers are correct and up to date?

Actually, I missed the point with the bootloop. If you had not enabled ADB before bootloop, then you cannot access it now. As Izzy correctly said, fastboot/adb modes are not interchangeable, and though you can switch to fastboot from adb (reboot bootloader), the opposite thing is impossible.

https://android.stackexchange.com/a/22644/94888

Hmm. Maybe I should change my question then? I guess ADB isn't the solution I'm looking for here. I'm at a loss as to what I can try instead though

@Suncatcher in a sense you actually still can do the opposite by issuing a fastboot continue to boot back into the OS. But this really isn't a direct fastboot > adb solution, nor is there really as you mentioned.

EDIT: To begin with you should probably install adb/fastboot directly from Google. This is the best way to update/maintain adb/fastboot.
So you state that you have no access to the bootloader, yet you are able to issue fastboot commands and invoke at least some type of response? Then that means you have access to your bootloader my friend. Fastboot == bootloader (or Download Mode, which is essentially still bootloader). I've never had a chance to mess with your specific model, but if you're stuck in a bootloop I'd suggest trying to issue a few more commands:
fastboot flashing get_unlock_ability

this will let you know if you can unlock the bootloader
fastboot flashing [unlock] [unlock_critical]

one of these will let you unlock the bootloader (as long as nothing else prevents it from doing so)
And if you're able to unlock it, I'd suggest downloading TWRP for your device (Google = best friend), and flashing it to your phone with a
fastboot flash recovery [twrp.img]

Bricks aren't ever really a permanent mess-up, as long as you can get into some type of recovery. Even if you can't get it unlocked or flash, you may be able to boot still with a factory image (Google = best friend), then try flashing the full firmware, if it wont take, extract the boot image and see if you can force it to boot with
fastboot boot [boot.img]

let me know if any/none of these work and we can go from there. best of luck.

Most phones needs a unlock code from vendor to unlock. And it's hard to get...

Actually "most" phones don't require much of anything at all outside of enabling OEM Unlock. I'll admit for sure that there are plenty of models (ahem carriers) that require this, but for the most part I've only had a small handful of devices that I was never able to bootloader unlock.

No luck! 'fastboot flashing get_unlock_ability' fails to do anything but load continuously (displays '...'). I left it for over 3 hours with no change.
Same with 'fastboot flashing [unlock]' or with '[unlock_critical]'.
Flashing the recovery is something I have attempted many times before and while it seems to work, I am never able to access recovery mode after the flashing completes. This worked for me on the same phone a few years back, so it's weird I have this problem now. Sorry, but thank you for the suggestions!

i didn't mean literally to use [unlock] or [unlock_critical]... I just used the brackets to mean that those two could be interchangeable within the same command. Guess I should have specified better. The syntax of the command is fastboot flashing unlock and/or fastboot flashing unlock_critical.  At least these are the commands for more recent versions of fastboot; though if you're model is a little older then the command you need would be fastboot oem unlock. Note that my use of brackets '[]' in any of the above shouldn't actually be included in your commands, just whats inside of them.

I should have been clearer in my reply, I was also using the square brackets to show I tried both interchangeably, so my fault! Neither of them had any effect. I've tried fastboot oem unlock previously and I think it gave me a positive response, but I was still unable to successfully flash and open TWRP.

I have no idea if this will work or not, but it seems like a possible solution given the circumstances. Here's another one that may help, though I read your post too so I think you may have already tried all of these solutions... Unfortunately since I've never had the phone myself I'm at a lack for resources to help much beyond this...

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Please help! What should I do before unrooting?
I accidentally deleted my Photo Album in Gallery, unfortunately I never backup any of my photos. I tried to recover my photos using Android Recovery Data Software but required rooting.
Not sure what to do, so I rooted my Galaxy Nexus using Kingo Root via computer. I successfully recovered almost 90% of my photos now and I want to get my phone back to its condition before rooting. I'm not sure what to do next as this is my first time doing rooting.
Anyone can help?
What should I do before unrooting my phone using Kingo Root to make sure I get back to the version before rooting, not to lose any data and not damage my phone?
How to safely unroot my phone?

Possible duplicate of If I root my Android phone, will I lose all of my data?

It's a simple answer, but when I used that program, I did not lose data by unrooting. To unroot, go to Settings, and press "Unroot". You will see a "com.kingroot.kinguser has stopped" message, and your phone will reboot with its data still intact.
For more see If I root my Android phone, will I lose all of my data?

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


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KeyChain/KeyStore Backup
Is it possible to backup (local or Cloud) the keys from the keychain/keystore?
I know the KeyChain is a system daemon which provides secure key storage. The keyStore will provide app-specific key storage, but where are the keys located and is it possible to backup the credentials of (all) apps?

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

authors: Николай Габровски


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Which app is issuing a "Synchronization successful" popup?
Every now and then I get a "Synchronization successful" box overlaid on top of whatever app I'm running at the moment, including fullscreen apps such as games or Netflix. (So to clarify, it's not a drop-down notification).
I do have a quite a lot of apps, and some of these do some kind of frequent "synchronization" (e.g. UberSync for Facebook, Sms Backup+, etc.). I've gone through their options several times and I couldn't find any obvious option.
So my questions are:

is anyone else getting this? is the culprit well known?
is there some way to figure out which app is issuing this overlay, short of selectively disabling them until it disappears?

I'm running Android 4.3 on a Nexus 4 phone but I've had this problem on 4.2 as well.

Well, the question by nature is very broad. This app could be from any app; may be from something you never expect. Can you [edit] the question and add a screenshot please?

I'll see if I can do it. It's a bit unpredictable and it doesn't last long, so it's not that straightforward.

That should be a specific API call. Perhaps you can try to connect the phone to your pc and read the logs?


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Ways of unlocking Nexus 4 cracked touch screen
If anyone could give me some ideas on where i should start with my cracked Nexus 4? I'm trying to pattern unlock, so I can simply access to back-up my important data. I can see the screen, even answer calls but that's it! I figured their has to be a way around the touch screen interface well actually I'm preying there is.
If you know software, a physical device, internet remote, something anything that will allow me to use my phone for temporarily command please let me know ASAP id greatly appreciate it.

Several related readings: Cannot unlock tablet as have no internet connection? (though it's a little different cause), Backup and restore CM10 on broken razr, Backup apps on SGS 2 with broken display?, How do I backup data (SMS/contacts) from a device with a broken screen?, more.

I was able to use a usb-to-go cable to connect a mouse and get into the phone that way.  I'm running Cyanogenmod though.  Not sure if the mouse will work with stock android.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2415195
Read this guide http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2266654 . only follow the parts to unlock the boot loader and flash clockworkmod custom recovery. Make sure that you flash the recovery right after unlocking (without rebooting in between) otherwise data will get wiped. )
After that boot into your newly flashed recovery and use "adb pull /data/media/" . this should copy everything on the internal sdcard of the phone.

Doesn't the unlocking procedure wipe everything? Have you tried this?

I know that Revskills has an entire remote control interface on the computer screen. It's available for download for free with a full license by the author himself- just do a google search for "revskills download free" or some such. It's a forensic program, so it's made for this kind of thing.

Wakeup touch nexus was the best that i found!! Works great on my nexus 4.

A link to the software you're recommending would make this answer useful.

authors: Вячеслав Павлович


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How do you remove permanent adb authorization?
I have a Nexus S running Cyanogen 10.1.2 (Android 4.2.2).
I require adb authorization, but I accidentally "permanently" authorized a device. How do I remove the "permanent" authorization, so that every time it asks me again?

If your device is rooted, as it probably is with CM, you can also do this via adb:
adb shell rm /data/misc/adb/adb_keys

Depending on your build you probably have to run adb as root(1) or call the su binary(2).
(1) adb root or adb kill-server; sudo $(which adb) start-server --> adb shell rm /data/misc/adb/adb_keys
(2)adb shell --> su --> rm /data/misc/adb/adb_keys
Or delete this file with a root explorer. If you authorized more than one device open this file and remove the public key of the desired device only.

Go to Settings -> Developer options and under the "Debugging" section tap on the Revoke USB debugging authorizations option.  Keep in mind that it will remove all of the devices you're authorized, and you'll need to re-authorize them again.

It's not there... maybe that's another Android version?

@Lohoris What is not there? The Developer options?

Oh, sorry. The Developer options are there, and there is the Debugging section. However yhere's no "Revoke USB debugging authorizations", nor anything resembling anything like that in any section of the developer options.

@Chahk, indeed, there's no "Revoke USB debugging authorizations" option under "Debugging" section. What else could be done?

The "Revoke USB debugging authorizations" option is present on my Nexus 5 running Lollipop (it may be a new option in Lollipop that was not present in previous versions).

I found it. Eventually, I checked my system variable for ANDROID_SDK and it was wrong (changed with the last update of Android Studio).


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Cant connect to my wifi network at home WPA/WPA2 psk
it writes saved, secured.
when I try to connect it writes connecting then back to saved secured. after a few seconds it writes authentication error. the password is right BTW

Related: Problem connecting my Xperia L to wifi..it shows Saved ,secured with WPA2 – and probably What I have to do to connect my android smartphone (Galaxy Ace S5830) to home wifi wpa2?


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Why to create and use a Samsung account (on a brand-new S4 mini)?
Are there any real benefits of (creating and) using a Samsung account? Or is Samsung just offering inferior services (e.g. "synch") in an effort to deepen its marketing clout?

I haven't really seen any good use for activating the Samsung account. It will just add more stress to your phone (syncs, notifications), but that's just a personal preference.

Personally, I haven't created a Samsung account, and rooted my S4 to remove all the samsung apps (hubs, etc.) With all the Android ecosystem, I don't really see a benefit in the Samsung layer. But that's up to you.

As well as getting access to Samsung's sync and backup service, creating a Samsung account also gets you access to Samsung's app store. It's not as extensive as the main Play Store, but it has a good selection of apps.
Whether you think that's a "real benefit" or not is entirely up to you.


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How secured is password protected Memo?
I have Samsung Galaxy Star (GT-S5282) with 4.1.2. I wanted to store my bank and credit card information in password protected Memo. How secured is password protected Memo? Is there a way to crack the password of secured Memo? Is it possible for someone to root the phone and get the file/database of memo and get the details stored in password protected memo?

I would not recommend storing that sort of information on the device, either way, today's encryption is tomorrow's cracked!

In general it's not a good idea to store sensitive data on your mobile phone, but back to your question.
S Memo is storing your password as a clear text in /data/data/com.sec.android.provider.smemo/databases/pen_memo.db > CommonSettings > PREF_APPLOCK_PIN so if your device is rooted you can use Root Explorer to read it.
Which means that this application is not secure. You can use KeePasDroid to encrypt passwords or other sensitive data. I am using it on my laptop and on my Android device.

Memo application I use is the default application that comes with device (The logo of application is "T" instead of "S"). Name of application is "Memo" and not "S Memo". Whatever you mentioned in your reply stands same for "Memo" too?

Check it. I have i9300 with S Memo.


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Convenient way to retain accounts/settings/icons/logins between installs?
I like installing the latest CyanogenMod nightly now and then. I do so by putting the zip on the SD card and installing it through ClockworkMod Recovery. But every time I do that, I have to do a lot of manual backup and recovery to get the system back to where I started:

Email accounts
Text messages
Home screen icons and widgets
Login settings for apps such as DropBox and Remember the Milk.
Wifi settings

My contacts and installed apps are carried over automatically as soon as I've connected the phone/install to my Google account.
Is there a convenient way to get the above points carried over automatically?

Have you tried the built in OTA updater? you won't need to wipe anything.

@Kmelkon No, where can I find it? I like to try new nightlies. Can that be done through the OTA updater?

What are you using for backup/restore? I never used the built-in CM updater (still running CM7.2 where I use CM). But maybe a partly automated backup/restore might be a welcome answer, too?

Yes, it's great for trying out nightlies, go to settings->About Phone->CyanogenMod updates..
try it out. if you like it, then install cyan delta from the play store so you can update w/o downloading the whole ROM. happy flashing!

@Izzy It would!

As you welcome it, I've added the backup/restore solution I had in mind as an answer. Hope it proves helpful – it did plenty of times for me :)

As a (partly) automated backup/restore process seems a welcome option, I might point you to Titanium Backup. At least in its payed version (I bought it long ago, so I don't remember the differences to the free version), it offers you automated/scheduled backups as well as restores. You can define "labels" (effectively grouping apps) and operate based on those, e.g. just backing up/restoring apps with a certain label. TiBu let's you diffentiate what you want to backup/restore also in terms of "app, data or both", so you've got a bunch of possibilities.
This app also has the possibility to keep a copy of its configuration on your SDCard. Starting for the first time (e.g. on a fresh ROM), it would check for that copy and use it, so its settings survive even a wipe.
You still might need to take care with "system data", as structures (e.g. in the SQLite databases) might have changed. But TiBu can even take care of that if you enable its "migration mode".
Summing up, while this isn't a nice one-click solution, it still might ease your upgrades. Even across different ROMs or even devices (I used it a lot for things like that, and got my apps & data from my old HTC Wildfire via Motorola Milestone² to my LG Optimus 4X that way).

Are you doing a wipe? Back when I still had CM on my S2 (I am on S4, with stock ROM now), I never had to wipe when updating to a minor update (via zip with CWM recover). I retained my data.
However, if you're updating to a major CM update, a wipe is sometimes necessary (esp if it's a major Android update).

I always wipe everything with ClockworkMod Recovery and then install the zip. What is considered major? 10.1.3 to 10.2?

@Andreas Something like CM9 to CM10, or CM10 to CM10.1; can be either nightly or stable. You can always check in XDA forums (or CM forums), and see or ask if a wipe is required. Wipe is usually not necessary with nightlies (but again, you need to check the version if it's a major jump).

Also, if you got caught by a bug in a nightly, there's a risk it may have corrupted some data, which would need a wipe (or a "clear data", if it's only in one app) to fix.


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Root Galaxy S2 with Android 2.3.XX?
I need to Root Samsung Galaxy S 2, GT-I9100, with XXKI4
I need to Root it with Room Android 2.3.5 or any version within 2.3.X
while searching I just found Android versions above this version all with 4.XX??
Any suggestion for Android version 2.3.X ??

Did you see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1125414 ? The guy at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1732783 says it worked for him on 2.3. But why don't you just upgrade to 4.X then root?

Have you seen Rooting Stock Firmware - GSII with NFC (Gingerbread + ICS), and Rooting GT-i9100G under linux (Gingerbread)?

@dotVezz
I need this version 2.3.XX necessary, but the link talk about Ice cream sandwich that is mean version 4.0 ??(I9100 Insecure and Original ICS Kernels)
I didn't see android 2.3.X , can you help me please to see these ?

@Izzy
this answer talk about ICS, it also talk about different kernel they use I9100PBVLP7 but my Kernel is I9100XXKI4 ?
this will not work!! right ?

@Hanaa The first link is a root method for 2.3. The second link is just discussion.

what difference between GT-I9100_JPKJ2_insecure and
GT-I9100_XXKI4_original
are same doable to root on android 2.3.X ?


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Samsung Galaxy S4 Old Emails Showing Up as New
I have a Samsung Galaxy S4, which I switched to from a Blackberry in mid July 2013.  I continue to get emails that were dealt with when first received by either opening and reading, or opening and deleting, that show up again as new and unread.  My service provider (Rogers in Canada) tells me that it is because I have too many emails on the server.  I don't believe this as when I had a Blackberry this never happened.  They (Rogers) says this is because Samsung is a different OS.  Can anyone assist in how to deal with this?  I was told that Samsung is aware of this and on their next software update, this bug will be fixed.  Does anyone know if this is true?
Thank you.

Are you using the stock email client?

You might wish to check Why does the email app on my Samsung Galaxy S4 keep loading old messages and telling me they're new?

Not sure if this will work on the S4, but it seemed to do the trick with my wife's S2, and my S3: change 'recent messages' (email account settings) from 25 (the default) to 'total'.

I had the same issue. Galaxy note client and webmail client showed they were read but s4 said I had 500+ unread. I went into my webmail client and selected all and forced it to mark all as read. A couple of seconds later all the messages on my phone showed as read and number went to zero.

I had the same problem, it was unbearable. i tried many other things but no solution. finally, i downloaded and installed "cloud magic" email app and it works very fine.


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How to factory reset LG optimus L3 E405 from pc
I hav flashed a CWM recovery on my phone....
it shows this CWM recovery menu repeatedly,without booting into the system...
please tell me to factory reset it through pc as the factory reset option in the phone isnt wrking....

Does you PC detect it via adb devices or fastboot devices?

Follow this steps, it will bring you phone back to life
http://www.hackmyandroid.com/how-unbrick-optimus-android-phone/1980

Answers that are nothing but a link somewhere else really aren't good answers. At the very least, what happens when that link stops working?


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ADB_SERVICES error on catlog errno = 5 I/O error
I'm using catlog to find error for an issue. Although that issue did not reappear , I see a constant Error  ADB_SERVICES ERROR: fd = 13, n = -1, errno = 5 (I/O error).
Sorry quite new to all this , not sure what should be done or Is it something I need to ignore?
few logs just before that error.
InputReader AP_PROF: AppLaunch_dispatchPtr : Down
AP_PROF unable to open /proc/mtrpof/ status entry

An I/O error may be indicative of filesystem corruption. If your device has a removable SD card, try removing it, putting it in a PC, and running a filesystem checker on it (such as fsck on Linux).

Thanks Dan : Is there any way I can run file system check on Android device itself? though enumlator or something?

I don't think so. To access the low level filesystem information, you need to be root, and the device needs to be unmounted. I suppose there might be a custom recovery that can do this, but I don't know of one.

My device is rooted and I can see an option Unmount SD card inside Settings->Storage .

If you're already rooted it might be worth looking for an app.

I was following the solution out here http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/38745/check-and-fix-sd-card-errors-within-android-itself , but I'm not able to run the fsck command. I get can;t read '/etc/fstab' " No such file or directory


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How to enable backlight of control buttons in Xperia miro st23i?
Very first i have disabled this, after that i can't find the option to enable it

I'll supply the answer from my Samsung Galaxy S3, assuming a similar setting is located at a similar location on your Xperia. Look for Settings>Display>Touch Key Light Duration. On Samsung there are settings from Always Off to Always On, and timed settings in between. Choose one of your liking other than Always Off to restore lighting to the buttons.UPDATE: Sorry if the settings are not exactly at that loocation. Here is a link to the User ManualUPDATE2: I notice that the Xperia has a slideout keyboard. Sometimes the keyboard lighting is controlled by the control key lighting. Look in the same place, except for Keypad Timeout: Settings>Display>Keypad Timeout.

Sorry I can't find in my mobile


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How do I label a page of the Galaxy S4 home screen?
The GS4 allows you to have multiple pages of the home screen.  I'd like to use this as a kind of full-screen, more accessible folder (e.g. a "Utilities" page).
How do I put a text label ("Utilities") to note the page as such?
I realize I could use an actual folder, but I'd like to try the page idea.


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Google Now reminders ... view/edit/create on desktop?
Is there any way to access my Google Now reminders from the desktop via browser?

There's supposedly something in the Developer channel of Google Chrome, but nothing officially announced yet. But this isn't an Android question.

For what it's worth, you might be able to go to chrome://flags/#enable-google-now to turn it on. Whether it works or not is unclear.


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LG P500 unplugged during update, now it wont go past telus screen!
I was updating my LG P500 2.2.1. While it was updating, my phone was in emergency mode and it got unplugged. Now when I turn it on it goes to the android screen, then gets stuck on the telus screen! I called lg and they told me to do a factory reset by holding the home, power and volume down keys. This did NOT work, it still will not go past the telus screen.. PLZ tell me there is a way to make it work again..

Turned off press. Pressing the home+power+volDown keys for a long time. Wait until a menu appears. Did the list of menu appear?

no it just had the android guy and a box, showing the factory reset

@geffchange even after i did the reset it still wont go past the telus screen

How long does it stay at the telus screen?

Not sure you have fixed this or not.
If you are still out of luck, try root the phone via below tutorial:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1832485

Welcome to the site! It's great to have you here, but answers that are essentially just a link are discouraged. It would be great if you [edit]ed your question and fleshed it out so that it stands on its own without the link.

As @dotVezz wrote, link-only answers are discouraged: in case the link dies, they become useless. Please, at least include an extract of the essential information from behind it, and keep the link for reference. Thanks a lot!


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Navigation Voice is not changing
Hi I have got Samsung Galaxy S4 Active.
I have downloaded Samsung's high quality British English TTS engine and set it as "Preferred TTS engine" From Settings -> MyDevice -> Accessibility -> Text-to-speech options -> Samsung text-to-speech engine -> Languages
However when I use Google's Navigation app, it still uses Google's TTS engine.
Furthermore I actually disabled google's TTS engine so it is not present at TTS options, the problem still persists!
The only thing that I have discovered is if I change preferred language from English UK to English US, then TTS engine changes in Google's Navigation App from Google's English UK to English US!
I thought the problem is at Samsung's TTS Engine. So I downloaded Ivona TTS Engine and tried same languages and experiencing same problems with that too.
Is there a solution for this stubborn Google's Navigation app's voice?

On my Samsung Galaxy S3 with Android 4.3, Google Maps uses low quality female US voice no matter what TTS setting I specify. Downloaded and activated UK high quality HD female Google and Samsung TTS packs, but Maps always uses low quality female US.

Google's navigation voice has always been some google related voice. The only option might be is if you download a high quality version of one of the google voices. I personally have never been able to change the voice used by Maps/Navigation.

Google Maps always uses the same voice, regardless of TTS settings. It's totally separate, and you can't change it.

If all you want is a British voice, then you don't have to downgrade from Google Maps version 9.32.1, there's another way:

SETTINGS > LANGUAGE AND INPUT > LANGUAGE > English (United Kingdom)

This changes the language settings for the entire phone, but I haven't noticed any major difference, but I do love having a British girl's voice give me driving directions and the audio quality is almost as good as the Ivona British voice.
I used to use Ivona but prefer this method now because it doesn't require installing an extra app.
Try it out and see if this helps!  It's easy to go back if you don't like it.  Just change it back to English (United States).
If it doesn't work, then please make sure that:

TEXT-TO-SPEECH OPTIONS > Google Text-to-speech engine

is selected.  And while you're in that screen, download the speech data for that language:

GOOGLE TEXT-TO-SPEECH ENGINE "GEAR ICON" > INSTALL VOICE DATA > English (United Kingdom)

What's also cool about this method is that your Google Now girl now has a British accent as well!
Hope this helps! :)

In the Google Play Store, uncheck the option to Auto update maps.
Uninstall Maps (or updates to maps if it is a system app).
Install (or update) to Maps version 9.1.2
Disable Google TTS engine.
Reboot phone.


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How to speed up switching pages in a PDF?
How can you speed up flipping between pages in a PDF (currently using ezPDF on a Nexus 7)?
What's the function that determines how fast a PDF can flip pages between? I thought it would be a function of PDF size, however, some smaller-sized PDFs flip between pages faster than some larger PDFs.
By understanding the "function", I hope to convert/refine my PDFs so I can flip between pages faster.
I love reading on my tablet (Nexus 7), but the main area it lacks in (when compared with physical books) is the ability to quickly flip back and forth between pages. It seems most pages need about 2-4 seconds to "set" before moving onto the next page.

That will very much depend on a) the size of the PDF file, and b) the complexity of the PDF structure. The latter includes whether and how many images there are, and if multiple fonts and different formatting is used. So basically, a small PDF with no images, no special fonts, and only few formattings will probably load much faster and be able to switch between pages much quicker than a huge PDF file with many images, fonts, and a lot of special formatting. But there's nothing Android-specific to this.


text:
Where is android syncing my photo's to?
I just got an android and have it synced to my google account, the problem is that it is syncing my photo's to I don't know where on my google account, which is very bad because I take pictures of sensitive documents for my job. Every once in a while I get a notice that these synced photos are ready to share. I've looked in drive and don't see them, I've looked on plus and only see the ones I've said it's ok to share, but it's syncing them somewhere online which in the case of these particular articles is illegal no mater how "Secure" this may be.  So where the heck are these going?


text:
Is it possible to recover deleted text messages after a factory reset on LG Optimus One 2.2.1?
I have never backed up anything off my phone. The text messages I need are from within the last month. The factory reset was done a week ago..

Alas, the SMS are all gone, they're part of the data that gets wiped along with the factory reset.
There's no way to get them back (if you haven't backed them up at some time)

Follow the steps below to recover the deleted SMS from android phone. Have a try.

Connect your Android phone and enable USB debugging
Analyze your Android phone
After the USB debugging, reconnect your phone if you are asked to disconnect it during the setting.Here you need to bear in mind that your phone's battery is more than 20% charged, and then you can click "Start" to let the program analyze your Android phone.
Scan your Android for deleted text messages
Preview and recover messages from Android
Good luck!


text:
whats the use of my places in android 4.3?
I noticed there is my places under location services. It saves the office home and car location by a format I specify (wwfi bluetooth or map).
 How is this used in android? Am I able to find my car location for example?

According to Google Support:

My Places gives you easy access to your important locations and
  personal Maps history. Whether you’ve starred or searched on your
  phone or computer, in My Places you’ll find your:

Offline Maps
Starred places (including Home and Work locations)
Recently viewed Maps items
Directions
Search queries
My Maps
Rated Places
Maps searches

That's the help for the Google Maps app, not the Android "My places" in the location services.

From the Samsung support site:
http://www.samsung.com/us/support/howtoguide/N0000006/10628/127752
Hope this helps!

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange! Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.

Especially as the link is now dead and goes to the root of the support pages.


text:
which hardware spec affects smoothness most?
I am reviewing a few android tablets online and I would like to know which hardware spec (for example, CPU speed, RAM capacity etc) has the most significant impact on the smoothness (aka fluidness)  of the tab..

Won't this become obvious once you've used all the tablets you're reviewing?

It's not that simple. The 'headline' specs certainly matter, but so do a lot of things they don't print on the spec sheet: the RAM controller speed, the CPU and GPU L2 cache sizes, the power management settings, etc. It might have a 2 GHz quad-core CPU, but that's no use if it's always underclocked for power or heat reasons, or it's always waiting for the RAM. Cheap Chinese devices in particular often have good specs on the spec sheet, but they pair those with the cheapest components they can find, to keep the price down.
The quality of the software integration is a big factor. Old, buggy drivers, or wrong settings chosen by the manufacturer's software people, can really reduce performance. If they've also changed the system apps (particularly the launcher or the system UI), or included some always-running crapware or spyware, that'll slow things down too.
Really, the number on the product description that's best correlated with smooth performance is the one after the dollar sign.

thanks.. I like that part about the number after the dollar sign. ;)
However, could you please point out some of the other features that "they don't print on the spec sheet"? I'd like to do some research.

It's not always easy. Samsung's Note 3 was caught for enabling a gpu/cpu overdrive when the system detects a benchmark running. Lags due to missing or disabled eMMC TRIM support only manifests after many weeks of use.

The most impact on smoothness improvements had newer Android releases, notably 4.1 Jelly Bean, but 4.2 and 4.3 also added new techniques to make it more smooth (Project Butter in 4.1, triple buffering in 4.3, eMMC TRIM support in 4.3).
Almost all recent hardware has 1GB+ RAM, a sufficient graphics processor and multiple cores to enable smooth UI operation.
Usually, the premium line is best, but in general look at devices with recent Android versions. Google's Nexus line has the best support here.

thanks. I am more interested in the hardware for now..
I assume the amount of RAM has a significant effect ?

RAM doesn't speed up the UI, it only let's you do "heavy task" switching without app restarts (due to memory pressure). Say: chrome with many tabs <-> 3d game <-> Google plus and more. A faster dual core is better than a slower 4-core CPU. Only games may really benefit from 4+ cores. TRIM support and the Android version had a far more noticable effect for me than any of the above (on recent spec'ed hardware).

Don't settle for anything less than 4.1. Choose a device with good future upgrade support (Nexus or other top tier lines). See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8m9sHdyXnE


text:
Cannot install google play services
My HTC Desire S (Rooted and installed with Sabsa Prime ROM) have Avast Mobile Security as antivirus. Recently I was given a free Premium Security code by Avast. But I'm unable to update the code on to Avast as the following error message is shown.
"Google Play Services, which some of your applications rely on,is not supported by your device. Kindly contact the manufacturer for assistance".
I have tried installing the Play Services via Google Play Store as well as manual apk installation, but still it doesn't work. Manual apk installation did say the installation success, but even after rebooting, the Avast says the same error message. HTC Desire S does support Play services, as said by Google Support page. Please help!!

Have you tried installing the gApps specific to your ROM. I have no experience with Sabsa Prime but this helped with CM

Yes I did. But it didn't work..


text:
Does restricting background data for an app turn off notifications too?
Does restricting background data also stop my phone from receiving notifications from restricted apps?
For example: I go to Settings > Data usage > Cellular data usage > Facebook, then I turn off 'Background data'.
Will I still receive notifications from Facebook?
Note* I am on Android: 7.1.2 and Device: Pixel

It depends on the app - the messaging service used.
For Facebook, yes, you will recieve notifications since it uses GCM (Google Cloud Messaging). So will other apps using GCM. GCM is a part of Google Play Services, which is not affected by restricting data
Other apps which don't use GCM will not show notifications. Here's a list of apps using GCM

Thanks!  I noticed you can turn off background data with Google Play Services.  It lists other apps included in usage as: Google Backup Transport, Google Account Manager and Google Services Framework.  Since it does not say Google Cloud Messaging does that mean Google Cloud Messaging will not have Background data turned off?
I just want to make sure i'm not turning off that service by turning off Google Play Services background data.

Yes. You are right. GCM is not affected by restricting data

If you're still connected to WIFI you should still receive those notifications. It sounds like you're just turning off the mobile data(as stated on my Galaxy S5), but not the WIFI data.
If you're not connected to WIFI you shouldn't receive notifications because it takes data to check for updates with the Facebook app.

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


text:
How do I back up Google Authenticator?
I'm starting to use Google Authenticator for more and more things now, but I've just realized that if I lose my phone, or if I need to wipe and restore it to install new firmware, I will lose all of my codes.
Is there anyway to back them up please? Or some kind of fallback that means I can restore it to a new device?

If you need a code to log-in while your phone is lost, you can use one of the backup method (SMS, Call, printed codes...). It is highly recommended to setup at least one of these alternative method to overcome this kind of situation :)

I've always wanted to fork Google Authenticator to add this feature. I'm hoping somebody will do it before I have the time.

This kind of half-assed security thinking is why every company in the United States has been broken into in the past five years.  For every security measure, there is someone who wants to break those measures to make them "easier to use."  Those authenticator codes are designed to be hard to copy.  If you lose your phone, you lose your codes, and you of course go to your backup authentication scheme that you've carefully put into place to regenerate those codes.

Am I confused or are you guys,  The point of the Authenticator is that it generates dynamic codes that change, about once a minute.  What's the point of backing them up?

@RohitGupta we’re talking about the codes used to generate those codes :)

Switch to Microsoft Authenticator which does save and restore your codes by simply logging on with your Hotmail account.

You don't need to back up the Google Authenticator app/data as you can create a list of 'Backup codes' which you can use to log in without requiring a authentication code on the same page that you configure 2-step authentication.

Why print or download backup codes?
Backup codes are especially useful for people who travel, have problems receiving SMS or voice calls, or cannot use the Google Authenticator mobile app.
Recommendation: You should print or download backup codes

Store these in a safe place (or print them out) and if you lose your phone you can use one of these codes to log into your account and set up a new device with the Authenticator app.
Whilst this applies to Google's 2-step-authentication, any other sites you have configured to use the Google Authenticator app should offer a similar option, or another way to receive codes (e.g. Facebook supports Google Authenticator, their own app and sms as methods to receive codes).

Many thanks, so effectively I could create my own backups then, by saving a copy of the QR code used to setup Google Authenticator for each site too?

I don't know... I expect that they are time/use limited so wouldn't work more than once or after a period of time.

Oh I see, thank you - I've just checked the sites that I've used Google Authenticator for and none of them have a backup option, so it seems like (unfortunately) my best option is to actually disable it and use stronger passwords, I guess.

For the sites that don't offer it then i'd say that your only option is to use a strong unique password without 2 step authentication. Out of interest, what sites don't offer a backup option? Dropbox, Facebook, LastPass, Wordpress all do (those are the other sites I use 2 step authentication with).

Thanks, unfortunately the sites I'm using probably aren't very popular with 2step auth and as such don't support it very well, mostly Bitcoin sites and the like

@Nick: Saving the QR code that Google or other sites provide and adding them back into Authenticator on another device does work. I have done this a few times myself. However you should make sure that the time is correct and up to date constantly on both devices (if you intend on keeping using both of them) otherwise authentication might fail.

Thanks so much Andris, I've just confirmed with one site owner that I use auth on that this works, so will go through and re-configure everything, and ensuring I have a paper print out of the QR codes etc :)

The two-factor authentication "one-time" password is generated with two things: the current time, and a secret shared between the server and the app during the initialization. In your case, the secret is the QR code. As long as another instance of the authenticator app shares the same secret and the same time (the same 30s frame), both apps will generate the same passwords.

You need to backup your Google Authenticator app because not all websites offer alternative sign in methods.

why not checkout Authenticator Plus - authenticatorplus.com ?

You might still want to back it up when you are going to reset your phone, so you don't have to spend an hour going to every site you use authenticator for, entering a backup code and resetting the authenticator setup.

This is only true for Google's 2-step authentication. Google authenticator works with many other sites, and some don't have a way to create a list of backup codes. Some use SMS, some give you a single one-time-use backup code, and some don't have any backup option at all. Even when every site has a backup option, having to restore all of the many keys when getting a new phone is a huge hassle.

Doesn't work if you're only using Authenticator for non-Google websites.  The first thing Google wants you to do when you hit the page you linked is set up 2FA on your Google account.  From what I can tell, it doesn't let you manage squat until you've done that.  Move along to one of the other answers (e.g. Titanium or manually extracting from the SQLite database).

The following method will only work rooted Android devices.
Linux:
adb pull /data/data/com.google.android.apps.authenticator2/databases/databases /AFolderOnPC
Windows:
adb pull /data/data/com.google.android.apps.authenticator2/databases/databases C:\AFolderOnPC
Note that the folder on the PC has to already exist.
This will copy the authenticator database files with the main keys, from which the One Time Passwords are generated, to the PC. The file can then be restored to the same location, on Android devices, or read with an sqlite database viewer to extract the keys.

When copying to a new device, make sure the databases folder and databases file both have 755 permissions.  I tried 700, and GA kept crashing. Kind of concerning that it requires full permissions.  Maybe that's NSA's requirement.

You need to adb root before you do this, or you will get remote object '/data/data/com.google.android.apps.authenticator2/databases' does not exist

Note that if you have SELinux enabled, even with the correct permission bits the Authenticator app can crash. To fix this, run restorecon -F /data/data/com.google.android.apps.authenticator2/databases/databases after you put back the database file. (source)

@eduncan911 660 works for me

Rooting your device makes it less secure. If you're using 2FA then presumably you want more security. For the risks: https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Projects/OWASP_Mobile_Security_Project_-_Dangers_of_Jailbreaking_and_Rooting_Mobile_Devices#Technical_Controls

If your phone is rooted, you may simply copy this databases file somewhere using some advanced file manager, such as X-plore or like (if you don't like to mess around in console with adb).

It turns out that original tokens (usually represented to the user as QR codes) are stored in the SQLite database inside the /data/data/com.google.android.apps.authenticator2/databases folder and can be extracted from the device.
I automated and explained the recovery process here: https://github.com/dchapkine/extract-google-authenticator-credentials
This project extracts original tokens, then generates a web page with QR codes you can rescan on a new device.
Feel free to contribute.

This just saved me logging into all of my 2FA accounts and switching the phone manually. Many thanks!

This is exactly what I was looking for. A quick and easy way to re-scan all of the QR codes.

Thanks for this but my device is not rooted. Do I understand correctly that I have a "Catch 22" situation on my hand where rooting my device will wipe it clean?

Simply brilliant. Didn't work on Windows 10 Bash though.

@urig, no, rooting of some phones won't necessarily wipe apps data.

@dchapkine For devices with no root method available, is there any other method to access the .db?  Like with SetEdit with elevated permissions via ADB?  Or (assuming the allow_backup flag is enabled through manifest), any way to take an ADB backup and decompress manually (no data encryption configured)?  I'm on an SM-N950UZKATMB stock, Android 9

@Arctiic you need to be root to access app's data folder, i am not aware of any other method

@dchapkine AFAIK, when an app's manifest grants the allow_backup flag, ADB is able to access root directories to backup files from, e.g., \data\data\com.package.example\... via the backup function, even when the user doesn't have root access.  Personally, I've successfully taken backups of a game data file before to decompress and restore onto an emulator, so I'm wondering if it can be applied in a similar manner in this case.

Titanium Backup (link to Google play store) will backup any android app, including Google Authenticator.  However, you must root your phone for this to be a viable option.
I would also recommend printing the Google backup codes too.  This isn't quite backing up the Google Authenticator app, but they would allow you to reset the authenticator if necessary.  This would only help for regaining access to your Google account though.
Backing up the app with Titanium Backup is the most complete option, in my opinion.  It's saved me on a number of occasions.

Had to settle for this because I couldn't adb pull the databases directory, couldn't copy to /sdcard and take it - chmod 777 did nothing.

"Import from Google Authenticator" -- Sold! Very important migration feature.

Worth mentioning, in order not to re-root the new phone. After backup click on the backup/restore tab -> choose Authenticator app -> slide right for special features tab -> choose Explore -> choose accounts under [DATABASE]. then you'll get all the account in your app in a .csv file. use the secret column to restore the accounts to the new phone.

The easiest way to handle this is to take a screenshot of the QR code whenever you setup a new Authenticator for a site and save it in an encrypted location.
If you need to reinstall or add the Authenticator for that site to another phone, simply add the account in Authenticator by scanning the QR code in the screenshot just as if you were setting up a new site.
Before you negativoids say this won't work, yes it does, and you CAN have the same Authenticator on multiple devices.

I would like to explain why this works, both the website and your device will share a simple string of characters, "the code", set in the QR code, and they will endlessly use it to create new 6 digit codes from, based on the current date and time. Therefore, you only need to have this code to generate new codes. The website has no way of checking who or what created the 6 digit code, it only needs to be correct.

better idea: just use a better OTP app. Some do allow exporting secrets.

Try Authenticator Plus, it supports backup/restore functionality with sync across devices. If you have a phone/tablet, this app syncs all accounts between them flawlessly. It even supports Android wear. It has logos support too.

Or you could use Authy (https://www.authy.com/), which is free.

Authy looks awesome! Much better than google's, except it's not opensource. I can live with it.

Doesn't this sound like a bad idea? The whole point of the Time-based One-time pad protocol (TOTP aka rfc6238, which is what authy/google authenticator, et al implement) is that you and only you have the ability to generate the codes. If you let some 3rd party store those codes, they become a huge target for attacks, nevermind having to trust everybody that works for this service and how they've implmented it.

@antiduh of-course its matter of security vs usability,  if you are more concerned with security its not ideal for you and you should actually move away from software solutions and use hardware solutions like yubikey

Or you could use an open-source alternative that has the ability to import and export the codes: https://getaegis.app/ https://github.com/beemdevelopment/Aegis — Regardless, this answer doesn't answer the question, so I'm afraid I'm downvoting it.

You can save the QR codes when you setup or renew your 2FA. You can save the QR by making a screenshot. Or using the context menu 'save image as' but this is not always available. (Make sure to give the images a corresponding name with the account and backup in a secure location). For restoration just rescan the QR codes in Google Authenticator.

As a preface this is an approach for configuring MFA ahead of time so that it is always backed up, not recovering or backing up existing codes.
I just went through this process after my Nexus 6P stopped connecting to data and I had to setup all my MFA again on a Pixel.  I realized that if I lost my phone or did the factory data reset I'd have been totally borked.
The simplest solution I came up with is to ignore the QR code based setup and just use the token based setup itself (it's the "manual" option in most authenticator apps). Every service I've used so far allows you to opt for the token-based setup rather than QR.
Rather than going through the trouble of taking screen shots of the QR codes, labeling them appropriately and then GPG encrypting them and securely storing them somewhere I just store the tokens in an encrypted vault and setup my MFA manually.
I verified that you can setup clones of the authenticator using the same key on independent devices running simultaneously.  Thus, so long as you securely control the tokens, you can configure MFA on any device.
I'm satisfied with this result as I didn't have to do anything more than reconfigure MFA (I had to do this anyway in my circumstances) and simply add all the tokens to lastpass.  Now I'm covered in the case of phone loss and can configure other devices if need be.

There are a lot of advice for rooted phones. But it isn't recommended to root your device if you don’t want to make it vulnerable. Two-factor authentication provides an additional layer of protection and by rooting you bring it to naught since different viruses could get an access to protected memory areas.
Only small amount of services offer backup codes (particularly Google). For these services, you should save backup codes.
The best solution is to save the QR codes (or the secret keys) in the moment of token enrollment and keep them in some safe place. Then if you lose your phone you could restore tokens in Google Authenticator on your new device.
Also, you can use hardware tokens. They can be in the form of key fob or credit card.
Have a look at this article on the blog of Protectimus (the company where I work) to get more information how to backup Google Authenticator: How to Backup Google Authenticator or Transfer It to a New Phone.
* Disclosure: I work for the website linked above.

2020.04.23†: Update the app, then go Settings > Transfer Accounts. (then breathe)
Takes me one second to scan QR codes between two phones, took us years to agree it was a feature worth coding even despite it's inherent security risks, meaning be careful, if you can scan in one second then so can someone else.
I believe https://android.stackexchange.com/a/224962/238005† first spotted there is now (after 2020) an official feature/ability to backup/export your list of accounts in a reasonable fashion, which is mentioned inconspicuously at https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1066447 in the middle of nowhere. Sadly, am I really the first answer with this (official update) in this whole question thread? I fear for our life's data if this idea took this long to think of, and I had to learn through here. Because the option was hidden in a toolbar, and not even a Push Notification for this issue that actually matters.

(A) I mean I get Push Notifications for sports I never follow/read but not for Authenticator having its first feature improvement in a century, where are the top-down priorities/standards—for life-and-death tools like Authenticator—if this is not an important priority notification? (B) Or is the issue we programmers avoided, sensitive to talk about, the fact that this was easy for a programmer to do, but not for normal people til now, with this one update alone, & was it an issue about trusting users somewhat? It's a scary feature/ability, maybe there was hesitancy to notify of ability openly.

Here is a link to simple Python script on my website: http://usefree.com.ua/google-authenticator-backup/
You just paste your code and run them in Python environment.
How it works:
During setting up and configuring two-factor authentication with Google Authenticator, it is possible not only to scan QR-code, but get the code, for example, for Google Mail we get: csnji4rfndisoh323fdsioah3u2iodso.
For generating TOTP on your computer with Python IDLE your can define this function:
def totpgen ():
    import time
    import hmac
    import hashlib
    import base64

    ### TOTP-key for Google
    #secret = base64.b32decode("csnji4rfndisoh323fdsioah3u2iodso", True)
    #totp for btc-e
    #secret = base64.b32decode("DHSJHDW89E8DFUS98RIO23J390EFU234IR90WEUIF903DMSKAKDS====")
    ### Calc counter from UNIX time (see RFC6238)
    counter = long(time.time() / 30)

    ### Use counter as 8 byte array
    bytes=bytearray()
    for i in reversed(range(0, 8)):
      bytes.insert(0, counter & 0xff)
      counter >>= 8

    ### Calculate HMAC-SHA1(secret, counter)
    hs = bytearray(hmac.new(secret, bytes, hashlib.sha1).digest())

    ### Truncate result (see RFC4226)
    n = hs[-1] & 0xF
    result = (hs[n] << 24 | hs[n+1] << 16 | hs[n+2] << 8 | hs[n+3]) & 0x7fffffff

    ### Print last 6 digits
    return str(result)[-6:]

Insert into line
secret = base64.b32decode("csnji4rfndisoh323fdsioah3u2iodso", True)

your code instead of "csnji4rfndisoh323fdsioah3u2iodso"
uncomment line, and call in IDLE
totpgen ()

You will get your TOTP!)
For service btc-e try to use line
secret = base64.b32decode("DHSJHDW89E8DFUS98RIO23J390EFU234IR90WEUIF903DMSKAKDS====")

For other services - like described above.

Originally, when this question was asked, there was no simple solution: people would need to extract the data from an internal sqlite database that wasn't available unless your phone was rooted.
Fortunately, since the first half of 2020, the Google Authenticator app was updated:

WHAT'S NEW

Added the ability to transfer accounts to a different device, e.g. when switching phones
Refreshed the look and feel of the app

How you can export the codes from your Google Authenticator

Tap on the ⋮ ellipsis at the top right (AKA overflow menu).
Tap on Transfer accounts at the menu.
Choose Export accounts.
Unlock your phone (use the pin, pattern, password, biometrics…). (Sidenote: Your phone has this protection, right? You shouln't leave your phone totally unlocked.)
Choose the accounts you wish to export. By default all accounts are already selected.
Tap Next. A QR code will be generated.

After exporting the accounts, Google Authenticator app will display a banner at the top: "Accounts were recently exported"
Additionally, it will warn the user with a notification, a few hours later.

Intermission: understanding the QR codes
When a website shows you a QR code for enabling 2FA, the code encodes a URI like this:
otpauth://totp/Example:bob@example.com?secret=…&issuer=Example&…

However, when you export the codes from Google Authenticator, the URI in the QR code is different:
otpauth-migration://offline?data=…

“The data parameter is a base64 encoded proto3 message (Google Protocol Buffers).” [citation] That message contains all the exported codes.
However, as you can see, the exported URI is formatted completely differently than the initial URI to setup 2FA. This means many 2FA apps won't be able to scan such QR code, because they won't understand the message.
How to use the exported QR code
Now that you have the QR code, you can use a second device to scan it. You have a few options.
① Import into Google Authentication on another device
At the Transfer accounts screen, choose Import accounts and scan the QR code.
② Import into another 2FA app
Aegis is an open-source 2FA app that allows importing data from multiple apps, and also allows exporting its own data (in an optionally encrypted JSON file). It can even show a standard otpauth-style QR code from any of its codes, making it trivial to export to any other app. It is available on both Google Play and F-Droid.
When using Aegis, just try to scan the QR code normally, as if you were doing a first-time 2FA setup. Aegis has native support for scanning otpauth-migration URIs from Google Authenticator.
There might be other apps with a similar feature, I'm just not aware of any of them.
③ Manually decode and extract the data
You can use a plain QR code scanner to decode the otpauth-migration URI from the QR code. Then you can use scito's tool or digitalduke's tool to extract the secrets and generate the appropriate otpauth URIs that can be imported into any app (after encoding them to QR codes).
References and acknowledgements

prosody-Gabe Vereable Context's answer showed me the newly-available Transfer accounts feature.
Related questions:

How to migrate accounts to new Google Authenticator app?
Can you use a screenshot of the "export accounts" QR Code of Google Authenticator as a backup?

Authenticator Test for a quick way to generating dummy 2FA codes.
scrcpy for the screen recording.

Google Authenticator blocks screenshots, but I could use scrcpy to record the screen anyway. (Although that seems to be blocked on newer Android versions.)

ffmpeg and gifski for converting the video into a high-quality GIF, and then GIMP to manually edit the GIF to remove redundant frames and considerably reduce the final file size.

The following method will only work on rooted Android devices. This method is more useful for the not-so tech savvy people or the people like me > who don't want to waste time installing Android SDK + JDK from scratch just to run the adb command.
So here it is:

Download and install any "Root explorer" app from Google Play store. I use the popular and free FX file explorer with its free FX root access addon. You can use others too. This app makes it possible for us to access the Android system as a root user.
Once you open the file explorer in System root > Click "data" folder > Click "data" folder (inside the other data folder) > Copy the folder named com.google.android.apps.authenticator2 > Exit System root folder > Open normal Main storage / SD storage space and Paste the Folder here.
Connect your android device to a PC and Backup the folder to a secure USB / external HDD.

That's it. Now, whenever you need to reinstall your firmware/ buy a new phone just follow the steps above and copy that folder to the exact same directory once you've installed the Google Authenticator app.
OR, you can use a free Open source SQLite GUI editor like "SQLite Database Browser Portable" to open the "databases" file inside the "com.google.android.apps.authenticator2" folder. In the "Browse Data" tab, you can see the key and name corresponding to the key so that you can manually enter the key into the Google Authenticator app.

@Izzy Edited out the subjective part and thanks for the help :) The method just looks big but is the most time saving for normal people who wouldn't be android devs. I actually looked at this thread before finding out a solution on my own.
Backup codes - not available for most services (only works on google).
Authenticator Plus is a paid app.
Titanium backup can have compatibility issues.
ADB pull command needs you to install Android SDK+JDK.
My method is as "easy" as copy-pasting a folder.

Thanks for the edit, Pavin! On your comment, I've got to partly disagree: I've never ever installed the SDK+JDK, but still use a bunch of ADB features (especially with my own tool "Adebar" for device documentation, backup/restore scripts and more). On Linux, I just need the adb executable for that (on Windows, two .dll files are required additionally). For details, see Is there a minimal installation of ADB?

PS: Have there ever been any permission issues? Copying the data directory of an app manually to another device might bring up such. Remember, to correctly access files the permissions and ownership must match. On installation, each app is assigned a unique UID/GID pair. File permissions have flags for owner/group/others. Usually, app data has at max -rw-rw-- (owner and group read/write, others nothing). So if there's a mismatch in ownership, you might be in trouble (and the app might misbehave).

Yeah, it works most of the time. But if it doesn't you can use any SQLite editor to open and view the secret key from the databases file; then proceed to add the account in Google Authenticator using the key.

Ah. Better solution: If it does not work, check and adjust permissions. Before overwriting /data/data/com.google.android.apps.authenticator2, do an ls -l on it and check ownership/permissions. After copying, use chown and chmod to fix it back.

On a rooted phone, you can use the Amaze File Manager app.

Go to the root /data/data/com.google.android.apps.authenticator2/database directory.  Open the database file as a database.
Select accounts.  You will have 3 columns _id, email, and secret.
Copy the secret value.
When you need to restore just add, select "Enter a provided key", give it a name, and paste in the value.

As I have experienced same just some time before. When you would be signing in to your account you will get page for key to put 6 digit code. At this place you can change second key and get in phone number if you have any number verified already. And for more backup you can choose an other computers as trusted. So, they won't ask second step code on those computers.

Fast forward to April 2023, Google Authenticator now allows the user to sync the entries to their Google Account.
As reported on Google Security Blog - Google Authenticator now supports Google Account synchronization,

We are excited to announce an update to Google Authenticator, across both iOS and Android, which adds the ability to safely backup your one-time codes (also known as one-time passwords or OTPs) to your Google Account.
[...]
One major piece of feedback we’ve heard from users over the years was the complexity in dealing with lost or stolen devices that had Google Authenticator installed. Since one time codes in Authenticator were only stored on a single device, a loss of that device meant that users lost their ability to sign in to any service on which they’d set up 2FA using Authenticator.
With this update we’re rolling out a solution to this problem, making one time codes more durable by storing them safely in users’ Google Account. This change means users are better protected from lockout and that services can rely on users retaining access, increasing both convenience and security.
[...]
To try the new Authenticator with Google Account synchronization, simply update the app and follow the prompts.


text:
Need one-line adb shell su push & pull to access /data from Windows batch file
I wrote a Windows batch file that replaces Amazon lockscreen ads with user images on rooted kindle fire hd 7", 2013 (kfsowi). Just learned I botched the adb commands because I was running "adb insecure" so was getting su access without writing it into the adb commands.
What I need: To run in batch file, I need one-line adb shell su commands to pull from/push to /data on this device. (Or I could use adb -d shell su -c "mount -o remount rw, /data on one line followed by the pull or push)
I have fixed an ls command like this:

this worked with adb insecure: adb ls "/data/securedStorageLocation"
what I needed was: adb shell su -c "ls ./data/securedStorageLocation"

Now I need same for pull and push. The problem:

With adb insecure, this works fine: adb pull "/data/securedStorageLocation" "C:/destination"
Without adb insecure I get: remote object '/data/securedStorageLocation/' does not exist

Above happens even if I first run: adb -d shell su -c "mount -o remount rw, /data
Can someone tell me how to do the pull and push with adb shell and su?
EDIT: adb root command doesn't gain root on this device

To use adb push or adb pull in root mode, the adb daemon on the device must be running in root mode (which is what ADBInsecure does).

@Izzy How can I get into root mode without adb insecure if >adb root< command doesn't work? I want to distribute this. Is there any other way to push and pull the directory? thx

I don't know (always used "ADB Insecure", as I couldn't get adb root to work either). Worth a separate question, maybe?

Well, you have to do a few commands, as I don't believe it will work in one.
You need to do:

adb shell
su
cd /data/path/of/file
cp /data/path/of/file/copyme /data/local/tmp
chown shell.shell /data/local/tmp/copyme
exit
exit
adb pull /data/local/tmp/copyme /destination/copyme

This works for me every time.

what exactly is shell.shell

@Remario https://linux.die.net/man/1/chown - it means owner.group. When you copy a file using SU, the owner and group will be root.root . The adb pull command runs as shell.shell and will not be able to pull the file from the temporary location. Changing it before doing pull will allow you permission.

do not forget to remove /data/local/tmp/copyme finally (after pull)

adb root; adb push /local/file /distant/root/owner/file

"adb root" will restart adbd as root
then your push is accepted

Thanks for this discussion. It led me to a solution that worked well enough for me while backing up my phone that won't mount its internal ext4, before I do something drastic while trying to fix it (apparently this needs root permissions).
Note that adb shell generally sets up a text terminal (so can convert single end-of-line characters to CRLF, mangling binary data like partition images or TAR archives). While you can work around this in Unix/Linux versions of adb (e.g. add stty raw to your shelled command) or use some newer adb with exec-out option, on Windows it still writes CRLF to its output. The neat trick is to pass data through base64 encoding and decoding (binaries are available for Windows en-masse). Also note that errors or verbose messages printed to stderr in shell end up on stdout of adb shell program in the host system - so you want to discard those after inevitable initial experimentation.
Here goes:
adb shell "su -c 'cat /dev/block/mmcblk0p25 | base64' 2>/dev/null" | base64 -d > p25

Can be easily scripted by Windows to cover all the partitions (can look the list up by ls -la /dev/block/ and/or by cat /proc/diskstats or cat /proc/partitions), e.g.:
for /L %P in (1,1,25) do ..\platform-tools\adb shell "su -c 'cat /dev/block/mmcblk0p%P | base64' 2>/dev/null" | base64 -d > s3-mmcblk0p%P.img

(Note to use %%P in CMD batch files, or %P in interactive shell).
Don't forget that there are also mmcblk0boot[01] partitions, and that the mmcblk0 overall contains all those partitions in a GPT wrapping, just like any other harddisk or impersonator of one :)
To estimate individual partition sizes, you can look at the output of:
fdisk -u -l /dev/block/mmcblk0*

Unfortunately, I did not quickly and easily manage to tar cf - mmcblkp0* and get the partition contents, so I could pipe it to e.g. 7z x -si and get the data out as multiple files in a portable one-liner as well.
To tar some files you can:
adb shell "su -c 'cd /mnt/data && tar czf - ./ | base64' 2>/dev/null" | base64 -d > s3-mmcblk0p25-userdata.tar.gz

UPDATED: Found some more tricks to transfer binary data.
Hope this helps someone else,
Jim Klimov

base64 isn't an ideal solution. For small files it works fine but for large files, it increases transferral time by one third!

Of course it is not perfect due to that, but given that for recovery purposes grasping for any straws that can help is good enough... well... :) In any case, if I send a whole partition for export like this, I do not really care if it takes an hour vs hour and a half, as long as it reliably does the job. Also if, as some others have documented, the Windows variant of adb.exe effectively always outputs CRLF separated text, there seems little we can do but abuse it with ASCII-friendly incapsulation. Alternately, adb exec-out might be the solution - but for some reason did not work well for me.

mine sudo adb shell su 0 -c 'dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0 | base64 2>/dev/null' | base64 -d >./mmcblk0.img 2>/dev/null

But, what happen if we dont use base64 ?!

As commented above, there may be issues sending binary as plaintext between Linux (Android) and Windows (adb). You might not need encapsulation if both sides agree on line endings.

Not necessarily will it be one-line, but you can try to do the following actions:

(with adb shell, su) Copy the files to a temporary accessible location on your device (for example, /sdcard, or external SD card)
(with adb pull) Copy these files from the temporary location to your machine
Delete temporary copy

Possible drawback: between first and last step a malicious app, if you happen to be "using" it, may read and/or modify there files in temporary publicly accessible directory. In practice, this is very unlikely.

I use the batch script (extract-db-from-emulator.bat) below to pull local database out to the host:
@@echo off
SET adb_path="%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools\"
SET application_id="com.example.myapp"
SET root_access_filepath="/data/user/0/%application_id%/databases/local.db"
SET pullable_filepath="/mnt/sdcard/DCIM/local.db"
SET host_directory="%USERPROFILE%\Desktop"
SET root_command="su 0 cp"
%adb_path%adb.exe shell "%root_command% %root_access_filepath% %pullable_filepath%"
%adb_path%adb.exe pull %pullable_filepath% %host_directory%

I see an error with
adb shell "su -c '<your command>'"

su: invalid uid/gid '-c'

On Linux the solution is
adb shell su 0 '<your command>'

add -c before command, like: sudo adb shell su 0 -c 'whoami'


text:
Is there no option to turn off cell broadcasting messages in HTC Desire 500?
I got the recently launched HTC Desire 500 (Android  4.1.2, Sense 5).
Since then I am continuously getting cell broadcasting messages (4 every 2 minutes). And shockingly, there is no option to turn off the cell broadcast neither in message settings nor in Call settings.
When I compared my HTC Desire X with Desire 500, I saw the option is there in Desire X but not in Desire 500. The call center people are helpless. The Customer care center people are saying its a defect in the phone's software, so we cant repair it.
So by the time the software update comes, does anyone here has any solution. It is really irritating and its sad that HTC doesn't have the solution to such a trivial issue which is actually a headache.

Have you checked the other 7 questions tagged cell-broadcast? Maybe any of those solutions apply to your case as well?

As I learn from Vodofone's support page, I understand that this is an issue in the ROM. Either you may have to check whether any software updates are available, or to demote to a lower version or try a custom ROM to solve this issue.

Maybe you could ask him and include those details?

I am not sure whether this works as I believe broadcast settings are not stored in SIM. I searched and stumbled on this HTC support page where the solution is said as:

I resolve problem. It is very simple. Just put your sim card in old or
  some other phone and turn off cell broadcast info option. Then return
  your sim in new phone. On my HTC Desire 500 there is no option for
  cell broadcast. After this procedure I do not recives messages.

Then, another search result says with better detail (you may have to search for Cell Broadcast. Though this not deals with your phone (with HTC Desire T327W), I guess this seems to be a common issue with few HTC phones. As per that page:

26-Sep-2013 - My earlier review talks about Cell Broadcast messages
  problem faced by me while using HTC Desire XDS. After a lot of
  followup with HTC, I have got the steps using which the Cell Broadcast
  messages have got disabled in my Desire XDS. The steps taken by me
  were as follows for each of the two SIM cards:
  a) Find an old phone which has an option to enable/disable Broadcast Channels and Messages
  (in my case its a Samsung D500).
b) Insert the first SIM in that old
  phone and go to the settings menu for Broadcast messages.
c) At first
  the Channels and Messages usually appear as disabled. I changed the
  setting for both Channels and Messages to Enabled in the old phone.
d) Switch-off the old phone and Switch-on
e) Go to the settings menu
  for Broadcast messages. Change the settings for both Channels and
  Messages to Disabled.
f) Switch-off the old phone and Switch-on
g) Switch-off the old phone and remove SIM card
h) Do the same steps (a-g) for the second SIM
i) Insert the SIM cards back in HTC Desire
  XDS
Now I do not get any Broadcast Messages, its such a relief. I hope HTC
  provides a better and elegant solution via a software update in the
  upgrade to Android 4.3.


text:
Managing Multiple accounts for apps
My wife and I just bought new android phones for the first time, and are new to the google play store, and I am wondering the best way to manage app store purchases.
Occasionally I'd like to have an app that she has purchased and vice-verse.
Currently we both to manage our own google ids on each devices and make separate purchases on each id.
In the event I wanted both devices to have the same purchased app, is it advisable to switch the google account in google play store, install the app in question, and then log back in with the primary google account? Will this mess with anything important? Will updates still work, etc?

That won't help, at least in most cases not. Purchased apps are bound to the account they are purchased with, and an online license check is applied on them. So as soon as you "switch back", and the app checks it's license, it will de-activate itself (or at least refuse to work).
It might work however as long as the account is still present on the device, though it's not the primary. So you could both have each other's account configured on your devices in addition to your own. But then you also need to take care what you synchronize etc. I'm not sure if that would be worth it, considered that most apps are free, and the payed ones usually come for cheap.
Edit: as posted at the same time, I just saw Lie's answer. To avoid syncing each other's data, if you really want to go for it, the "third account" might in fact be the best option.

Note that Google Play Terms of Service prohibits sharing of accounts by multiple person (it allows sharing between multiple devices owned by the same person).
With that said, the Play Store does support multiple accounts, however multiple accounts means that you will also share Gmail, Calendar, etc, which means you probably will have to create a third account specifically created for sharing.


text:
Apply OTA Update for Android 4.3 to AT&T SGS3 i747
My Galaxy S3 (i747) has just informed me that there is an OTA update available from AT&T. I have stock Android 4.1.1 on there right now, but I have the device rooted with Clockwork 5.x.
When I attempted to apply the OTA update, the phone (at first) looked like it was going to apply it, but then Clockwork opened with the error: Failed to verify whole-file signature (along with some other messages) and when I rebooted, Android said something like "The update was interrupted."
So, here's my question, I guess: Is there something I can do with Clockwork 5.x where it can apply the OTA update for me -or- do I need to:

Flash stock AT&T recovery (Will this remove root? Does that even matter?)
Apply the update in the "official" way
Re-download and re-apply Clockwork to re-root the device

If I follow either of these steps, all of my data will be preserved during the upgrade, correct?

I'm fairly certain you'll lose root (and need to re-root) with this update no matter what. And I believe you'd need to flash the stock recovery in order to run the OTA update. But you'll be able to flash CWM back on and re-root afterward.

Any idea where I can find a copy of stock recovery, and/or instructions on how to do that? Would I just use ODIN to apply that? It's been awhile since I've messed around with flashing anything on my phone.

Actually, looking at http://galaxys3root.com/galaxy-s3-unroot/how-to-unroot-att-galaxy-s3-sgh-i747/ makes me think you might not be able to just get the bootloader. But I'm possibly wrong about this!


text:
push allert to my phone that will ignore silent profile
How can I make my phone check my website in a background every 30s and activate voice alert that will ignore silent mode if website says for example '1'? Pushing from server to phone is also acceptable but I guess much more difficult and is susseptable to hangs when conectivity is bad. So far i;ve been using Light Flow Lite and additional gmail account - sending myself any email there triggers alarm.

If you make a request to a website every 30s, the cell radio or Wi-Fi chip in your phone will never be able to go to low-power mode, so your battery will run down very quickly. Either stick with Gmail or write your own app that uses Google Cloud Messaging for push notifications.

You could try pushover.net, which provides an easy-to-use API for sending notifications to your Android or iOS device.
It should be very efficient, because it's already using Google Cloud Messaging to deliver your push notifications, thus it should not have any adverse effects on the battery life, unlike your proposed solution of manually doing the polling every 30 s.

One possible solution involves the app Tasker (paid app worth every cent; head to the dev's site for a free trial). It's probably the most complete automation solution on Android (see also the tasker tag-wiki), and supported by legions of apps and addons if you need additional features.
Hint to get started: Tasker can do HTTP-GET as well as HTTP-POST. It can write-to and read-from files, play with variables, and more. So for the task you're looking for: HTTP-GET the URL, compare the result with your conditions, and trigger the wanted action. I never tried this myself, so the example below might not be accurate – but it should get you started:

Condition: Time, all 30s
Task:

HTTP-GET the URI
Set sound volume to X IF content ~ 1
Notify-Sound (specify notification text and sound) IF content ~ 1

So basically, this retrieves the URI all 30s, sets the volume to a given value (if content was "1"), and triggers the alert in this case.
You might need to fine-tune this concerning re-setting the original volume, and some other things to your convenience – but the principle should be clear. Good luck, and enjoy!


text:
Blocking hard and master reset or internet access permanently on Samsung Galaxy phone
I have a porn problem and I want to either disable the ability to do hard or master resets on the Samsung Galaxy phone (the only way to get by certain site blockers of which I have setup an undecipherable password), or simply block all internet access on the phone while still allowing calls to be made. How can this be done so that I will never again be tempted to view obscene material?

I doubt blocking resets can be done. And even if you could block internet access probably a reset would enable it. If your habit is affecting your day-to-day life you don't need a technical solution, you need to talk to a professional.

1.You can install one of parental control apps and ask your friend to set password for you (if you are ashamed you can tell that this is e.g. for your son or sister...).
2.If you have rooted phone that topic is for you ! Made this application as the system app and then unroot your phone.
I think in your case best solution is using both methods above.


text:
How to see what is stored in System memory area?
I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7" tablet (Android 4.1.2, not rooted).  I tried to install a big app recently and it failed because it said that I didn't have enough space.
When I go into Settings > Storage, this is what I see:
8GB - Total Space
2.83GB - Apps
199MB - Pictures, videos
116KB - Audio
18.69MB - Downloads
3.47GB - Miscellaneous files
1.14GB - Available space
The 3.47GB for Miscellaneous files seems really odd to me.  When I select the "Miscellaneous files" item, it says that most of the space (3.33GB) is being used for "System Memory" and the rest contains a number of small files.
I have tried restarting it, cleaning out cache of various apps, and a lot of poking around with a file manager.  I have also moved as many apps to SD Card as possible, but most of my apps don't support that function.
I just can't understand what is taking up almost half the available storage space.  Is this normal operating system stuff that can't be cleaned up?  Is there a way to see what is contained within and clean some of that space up?  If there is one particular app that is taking up a ton of "System Memory" space, then I might be willing to remove it.  Note that I have looked at the applications through Application manager, sorted by size, and the largest app is only using 323MB of app space.

Your list misses some important information. The sum of used space is not that helpful in the first case; it's rather the fact which is where, and how much space is available where. That overview has segments for e.g. internal storage and sdcard. If you look at the insufficient-memory tag-wiki, you will find the all-important question is: How much free space is left on internal storage. Maybe you could [edit] your question and include a screenshot?

Try tapping on where it says "Miscellaneous files".  On my Galaxy S3, that brings up a list of what files it means.  In general, it's anything you have on the internal "SD card" that isn't audio files, pictures, videos, or in the downloads folder.

usually the os doesn't use a lot of memory, I suggest to use https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fm.clean Clean File Manager to explore your files, it works really good in these cases.

How disk space is used on Android device?

That might include system log files, which can be cleaned up without doing harm:

Go to your Phone Dialer
Dial *#9900#, this will open SysDump
Press "Delete dumpstate/logcat"
re-check your storage to investigate the changes

This doesn't sound like it answers the question, and if it does it fails to explain how it applies to what the asker wanted to know.

Maybe the phrasing is a bit unlucky... Let me try to improve that.

Hmmm. This may clear 100, maybe 200mb at most. It certainly works like that on mine

Just get X-plore mate ;D. I have been usign it since 2006. It is available on multiple platforms.

You can see system folders.
You can see hidden files and folders.
Which you can delete/copy/move (be careful when you do that)
You can open many archived files as well.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lonelycatgames.Xplore

You can use an application called DiskUsage. It displays your files and folders in a tree view with their respective size. It requires root only for the /data folder.
It has often helped me to track biggest files on my sdcard and useless pre-installed apk. :)

Ah, a fellow tab 2 user. It's been a while.
"System memory" is, well, you /system partition and a few others. These contain files like your recovery and download modes, system UI, and literally anything that means your device can do something other than being a snow-covered/not snow-covered roof tile.  You can't really play look-see until you root, but for now, just keep in mind that almost half your storage may be used up before your first boot, but it is meant to be like it.
Oh, and root your device + throw on a custom ROM. It'll free up a LOT in the system (I switched to a SlimROM, re-partitioned, and now have 6GB of internal to play with.


text:
How can I get ViewRanger to keep recording my track on my tablet even when the cover is closed?
I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 running Android 7.0 and have ViewRanger 9.0.6 (3rd September 2018 update) installed.  The tablet is in a (3rd party) cover.
ViewRanger has no problem showing me where I am as I wander around, but recently I've gotten interested in having it record my track.  However even in track recording mode it seems that as soon as I close the tablet's case ViewRanger stops tracking my position.  It'll re-find me again when I reopen the case, "Swipe screen to unlock" and enter my PIN to get back to the app... but it has no information on where I've been while the tablet has been closed up and ViewRanger will consequently just show a not very useful straight line between the points it knows about.  I'd like it to keep recording the track my position even when the device is closed up.
I've read ViewRanger's documentation here and here.
In ViewRanger's GPS settings I have "GPS Mode: Continuous" and "GPS Auto Disconnect: 30s" (although docs claim this is ignored while recording a track).
In the device settings, Location is ON with method "High accuracy" and in the Device Maintenance’s Battery section Viewranger is in the list of "Unmonitored apps" which won't be put to sleep.  Power saving mode is OFF.
I'm puzzled as apps like the BBC Radio Player seem to have no problems continuing to stream and play audio while the tablet is closed up.  What do I need to do to get ViewRanger to keep accurately record a track while the tablet is closed?
Bear in mind I'm pretty much an Android n00b.  Lots of desktop/laptop/server experience but mobile platforms are relatively new to me (and I'm probably missing something obvious).
Update:
I queried ViewRanger's support about this and got a swift response:

This will be some form of power saving setting on the tablet,
  affecting either ViewRanger or Location services.  The power saving
  varies quite a bit between devices, versions and manufacturers, which
  is why I can't be more specific than that.
Also check for any power / task management apps — these used to be a
  common problem, but are not so common now that manufacturers have
  power saving in their main Settings apps.

Investigations continue (although it's quite hard to research this one sitting indoors at a desk... after you change something you have to go out and walk around a bit to see if it's made a difference!)

I got track recording to work while the device is closed:
In the device Settings app, go to "Apps" and on the "..." menu select "Special Access" then "Optimize Battery Usage".  Use the drop-down to make "All Apps" visible and then switch OFF the slider next to ViewRanger.
Source for that is here; it's the manual for a different mapping app.  The page opens with

More and more users have been reporting issues with losing GPS signal
  during track recording when their device goes stand by...

and includes instructions on how to rectify the situation for various vendors and Android versions (the manufacturers all seem to have different ways of exposing this to the users).


text:
Wifi slow and delays with wifi power save on

This is what i get at a device factory reset. Samsung galaxy S7562 . I have tested over 30 different devices with my access point and this doesnt occur - no problems.
The other access point I have has better times and works with this android but gets disconnected after some time and it wont connect again. It will connected after a minute or so.
If i turn wifi  power save off from service mode then it works without any problem. Problem is visible at my app where small chunks of information are sent. When browsing although pings are the same there is just slower loading of page.However it seems that pings get low for 1 or 2 secs while loading a page but still slow.
When i turn power save off it works fine though.
Any idea for permament slution ? Even to turn power save off always

It looks like you've already come across one solution: turning off Wi-Fi power saving. That option puts the Wi-Fi chip into a low-power state sometimes. This reduces power use, but the trade-off is that next time you want to use Wi-Fi, you have to wait a fraction of a second for the chip to power on again.
This page from the official Android documentation explains about Wi-Fi power states. It's targeted at app developers, so they can optimize the usage pattern of their apps to save power. Even so, it's easy to follow, and might be interesting for other users to understand how Android tries to save power.

yes but this happens only at a specific access point. havent tested at more yet. Only at other 2 which seem to work fine but not sure how long


text:
Phone unlocking ideas
My wife's nexus 4 has a dead area across the middle of the screen. There's a 1 cm strip running horizontally across the screen that doesn't register clicks.
A few weeks ago, her screen broke. We had it repaired, then two weeks after that the dead area emerged. (The technicians will not fix the issue, I've tried that). The dead area covers digits that are in her pin. On a nexus 4 the lock screen is only in portrait mode, so I can't access the dead area by turning the phone.
The dead area doesn't cover the on screen keyboard, so if I can get to that I think I can unlock the phone.
What I have tried to fix the issue:

punch in a bunch of invalid pins hoping that the phone would become locked and we could unlock it using the associated account with the on screen keyboard. I've tried probably 50 times but the phone hasn't stopped offering PIN authentication yet.
Using the android device manager, lock the device. The problem here is that I lent her my phone in the interim and it locked my phone. We unlocked that and removed her account but the android device manager still isn't locking the right phone. This is kind of weird because she never set my phone up to allow the remote control, I did that with my account. Somehow the phone or google's server must be confused. Two Nexus 4s in the same room is a problem apparently.
If you go to the camera, you can get the phone to go into landscape mode. Take a picture, then view the gallery. Anything from before your taking pictures while the camera was locked is hidden, and a lock shows. Tap the lock, and you are taken to a lock screen in portrait mode. But before you can key in any digits, it flips you back to portait.

The phone was never in USB debug mode, and I can't connect to it via USB while it is locked.
Does anyone have any idea how I can fix this?

For what it is worth, I tried entering a pin 100 times and it never locked out the PIN authentication. This is strange because I have seen the phones do this before. Must have been a different version.

I am not sure whether this will work, but just worth a try. Use OTG cable and connect an external USB keyboard to punch in the PIN. Also you can try using an USB mouse to simulate touches with its left clicks.

I tried opening up the device and checking all the motherboard connections. I did notice that the digitizer seemed a bit loose, but that did not resolve my issue. I used the instructions in this tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa3r-k5cUB4

I was able to unlock the phone. It seems like the Android Device Manager mixup was only temporary, so when I tried locking the phone from there again, I was able to lock the correct phone and unlock it using the on screen keyboard.

Just now I tried this in my nexus 7 and it worked. My nexus 7 has lost its root access after update to 4.3 and I didn't bother to root it again - just fyi in case if OTG didn't work in your nexus 4.
I set up PIN as my security option, connected OTG cable and connected a mouse. After restart (mouse didn't detect the moment it was connected and worked after reboot only) I was able to use mouse to click the numbers to enter PIN.

That's helpful. I will pick up the cable tomorrow and report back.

Actually, I won't be doing this. Stock Nexus 4s don't support OTG: http://www.head4space.com/why-doesnt-nexus-4-support-otg-cables/


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Why is Google Keyboard incompatible with my HTC One X?
I am unable to download Google Keyboard from Google Play on my HTC One X. It displays message that This app is incompatible with your device. No other information is displayed.
Android: 4.2.2
HTC Sense: 5.0

Is there something wrong with the default keyboard on the device?
Very odd though that would be marked incompatible for you since it is such a basic app and by Google. There are lots of ways developers can put filters on their apps however can even omit specific devices, countries, and carriers if they choose. There are few options you can try from here http://www.howtogeek.com/138500/

The default keyboard is fine. But I wanted to try out other options and Google Keyboard seemed like a nice one. Also my phone is unrooted.