text:
Can android phones use micro SD storage in the same way they do internal storage?
Dose putting a micro SD card in your android phone allow the OS to mount the SD card and use the storage space the same way it would internal memory eg. photos taken on the phone would be saved to the micro SD card. Or does the android OS treat the micro SD card as an "external storage source" the same way a laptop treats an external USB flash thumb drive ?
The phone in question is a Samsung Galaxy J5 2016.
If its not possible to mount the external storage and use it like "internal storage" is it possible to set that all photos are to be stored on the external storage as this is whats taking up most of the room on the phone.

This depends on the vendor.  For example Samsun blocks some functionality the sd card allows in stock android because they claimed it would confuse users.

@William - thanks ive updated the question to add the phone make / model

Adoptable storage is the term I believe you are looking for.  It isn't enabled by default.

What Android version are you using and is your phone rooted tor not?

If you are just looking for saving photos to sd-card: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/106519/143375

If the partition, the internal sd-card section is located on supports symbolic links it should be possible to replace the DCIM directory with a symbolic link to a directory on the external sd-card. Has anybody ever tried that?

Since Android 6.0 (Marshmellow), Android supports Adoptable Storage. However, many phone manufacturers, including Samsung, have disabled this feature on their phones.
How to use Adoptable Storage on supported devices:
If you do have a phone that supports this feature, you can turn it on by following these instructions:

Put an SD card in your device.
Open "Settings", "Storage", the SD card, click the three vertical dots, and press "Storage Settings".
Tap "Format as Internal".

What it does:
Here's how Adoptable Storage works, according to source.android.com:

When external storage media is adopted, it’s formatted and encrypted to only work with a single Android device at a time. Because the media is strongly tied to the Android device that adopted it, it can safely store both apps and private data for all users.
...
Apps can be placed on adopted storage media only when the developer has indicated support through the android:installLocation attribute. New installs of supported apps are automatically placed on the storage device with the most free space, and users can move supported apps between storage devices in the Settings app. Apps moved to adopted media are remembered while the media is ejected, and return when the media is reinserted.

So not only does the device have to support Adoptable Storage, but the apps have indicate support for it too to be able to be stored on the SD card.

Thanks @Flimm when you say "Samsung have disabled the feature on their phones", and then "How to turn it on" below are you referring to how to turn it on, on Samsung phones or how to turn it on, on phones that allow it only ?

@sam google it.  Experiment.  I have tried enabling this using adb through terminal and it didn't work.  Most likely this is not changeable on a large majority of Samsung phones.

@sam I edited my answer to clarify the first heading.

No, in Android Micro-SD is taken as an external device.
Also in the context of your question if you are talking about programming an Android App, Google doesn't recommend to use an external Device, because they are temporary storage. They Say:-

Every Android device supports a shared "external storage" space that you can
  use to save files. This space is called external because
  it's not a guaranteed to be accessible—it is a storage space that
  users can mount to a computer as an external storage device, and it
  might even be physically removable (such as an SD card). Files saved
  to the external storage are world-readable and can be modified by the
  user when they enable USB mass storage to transfer files on a
  computer.

So before you attempt to access a file in external storage in your app, you should check for the availability of the external storage directories as well as the files you are trying to access, then perform your operation in it.
For more info, see the official Android developer documentation on data storage.

Have you considered the feature Adoptable Storage on Android?

Because you have a Samsung phone there is no easy (offical) way to format your sd-card as Adoptable Storage if it's that you are looking for.

However using adb it's still possible:

Connect your phone (with insert sd-card) to your computer and make sure USB-Debugging is allowed
Open adb-shell (How you do that it matters what OS are you using on your computer your phone is connected)
Type sm list-disks then it outputs the name/ value of your sd-card
Use sm partition <DISK> private and put the disk-value in that it looks like: sm partition disk:179 private
Then restart using: reboot
Now it shares the internal-storage with the sd-card and when you install apps it fills up internal and sd-card in a relation 50:50

Notice that all of your data on the sd-card gets erased. I don't know if it's also erase your internal (it depents on device and android-version). Also your memory will not anymore be displayed correctly as you can see here. There is no root required but it won't work on every device. Some users say it works others say it doesn't. At least you can try it.
BTW. here is a guide how you install and open adb-shell for every common OS, if you don't know how to do that!


text:
Permission to make and manage phone calls
I just bought a second hand phone (my first device running android). I'm surprised by the fact that three times I've been asked for permission to make and manage phone calls. This is a very scary thing to allow and it's even for things that don't seem to need it. I first noticed it when I wanted to run Diagnostics. It asks to Allow Support to make and manage phone calls. This is already strange but perhaps could be justified in the process of running diagnostics. But I tried some other things to check the permissions that they would ask and also the pre-installed Xperia File Transfer Mobile and even the FM radio ask for it. All of these are pre-installed and system apps.
Is this normal? Would you give these permissions? Or is there something wrong with the phone (malware?)?
(For now there is no sim in the phone so the damage that it can do is very limited.)

I already did a factory reset and the issue persists.

I recommend doing a system reset. This should get rid of all third-party apps and give a clean system to start with. System apps shouldn't need to ask for any basic permission like this.

@GiantTree, I will do this although I think the factory data reset was done just before handing it to me (I can do it again to make sure, trust but verify), but do you mean this or is there a cleaner way to reset the whole device? And by the way I'm Arliden but I was an idiot and used a guest account for stupid reasons without considering the inconvenience of using one.

@Kvothe I mean just doing a factory reset through the settings, that should be enough. If you suspect any changes to the system, you have to install a fresh stock ROM, but the steps involved in doing that vary by device and manufacturer.

@GaintTree, thanks. I just did the factory reset and these apps still ask for the same permission. Do you think there is something shady about this?

Does seem very scary given permission to almost all apps requirements to agree to many requests such as to all questions an apps wants from a person .Fear not it's normal in companies software automatically .The requirement consist of few or many wanting phone ,SMS,contacts ect: Give consent some apps won't let install otherwise why !!we don't know Go to settings click on apps go through as many as wishes turn off what you don't want a company app having to many of your personal details that's it (Done ) no need to reset your devices it's inconvenient and will need to back up your files ,folders ,contacts in the meanwhile in doing so may loose  precious photo's and possibly some files .Just go to settings everytime you experience issues once you know how it's easy and less time consuming and save your sanity .

You can trust on system apps(pre installed) by allowing them these changes. I don't explain much.
But in case you are feeling malicious activities you can deny them in settings freely as per you use. You can allow them once to use and deny after use. That simple.
Note: Just make sure your device doesn't giving notification/location/media permission to any third party app which doesn't have to do anything with these permissions.

I don't agree with this suggestion of trusting system apps blindly. Most users with budget constraints are forced to choose devices from many vendors who employs
questionable strategies to  get revenue (by collecting user data through system apps and what not). Furthermore, I don't agree with giving them access once and revoking it later. If you give Phone permission for once, they can record the IMEI number at that time and send it with other details instantaneously to who knows where.

In samsung FAQ its it asks this because " This is an Android Marshmallow permission which enables access to the default phone app in your device, and helps you to make phone calls to Samsung Customer Service directly from the Help Centre in mySamsung app."
If this is the answer, the message should not say "... allow.. make and manage phone calls"  oh brother... an example of what would call super-geek-speak .   That is confusing of actual function.  I, too have not allowed this feature yet .although I really REALLY want to make use of a simple feature: SAMSUNG NOTES.

source: Stack Exchange

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

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

sort: votes


text:
Lock screen without using physical button Android 10
I am looking for a good way to lock the screen on my phone without using a physical button (the botton is on the edge of dying so I am preserving it for turning the phone on).
I would like to lock the phone by movement or tapping somewhere on the touch screen.
(I prefer it if this can be done without using external apps but if necessary I prefer free ones without ads.)
The f-Droid app FLock seems like it would have been ideal, but it crashes before I even have the chance to test it ().

Nova launcher can do this. You can set up gestures to lock screen and select suitable lock screen methods (see under advanced settings). I don't recall if this is available with free version (I think it should be), since I bought the pro almost immediately. Been using this launcher for many years now and this is my go - to method before I root device. Is your device rooted? Please include that in the question by [edit]ing. Rooted devices have many more options

I tried and you cannot use the gesture settings in the free version of Nova launcher. (Device is not rooted, but I might be willing to do it to solve this problem.)

So this needs paid version! Upto you to try this out or root. If you decide to root then there are some Xposed modules that make this easy but it depends on your comfort level with such things and also your device. All devices do not play the same. To be fair, there is a learning curve if you aren't familiar with such stuff

Since your home button is dying and it's much needed in the rooting process, I would suggest you go for launcher method or wait for answers

Not an answer to the question but anyone interested in the question above will probably need to know the following urgently: In order to avoid being locked out of your phone just because the physical buttons aren't working anymore you should immediately turn on USB debugging so that you have options to turn on your phone using your pc if you otherwise get locked out. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/18103158/7238575.

There's a built-in option that comes with Android 10 which allows you to lock the screen without using the bottom.
In your phone settings, go to "Accessibility" and enable "accessibility menu".
This will now put an icon on the the right side of your navigation bar. Pressing on the icon will bring up a menu, with one of the options as "lock screen". Pressing on that will lock your screen just like pressing the power button would. You also have the option to power off the phone in that same menu.
See screenshot below.

This is very close to what I want, but this has the downside of requiring an unlock every time, as opposed to the physical button which allows a grace period where the phone can be unlocked just by tapping the screen or pressing the physical button again.

The app Lock works but a downside is that afterwards the phone cannot be unlocked using a fingerprint, only using the pattern. (Also it is not available from within other apps. So a movement activated solution would be better.)

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


text:
Bug when opening pdf with reader on android
When I try to open any pdf file downloaded from my browser (Chrome or Firefox) it does not open successfully in any viewer. For example opening it with Adobe Acrobat Reader (4.5) I get the error:
"This file cannot be accessed. Check your connection or make the filename shorter."
At some point in the past this was working correctly. (Note the actual filename length does not seem to matter. The issue occurs for files with short names.)
Weirder yet, I can open the same file when selecting Open with Adobe Acrobat reader for the exact same file through my file browser Total Commander instead of through chrome. The downloaded file is clearly not actually corrupted in anyway.

Android 10 on moto g(9) plus

Take a known readable pdf file you already have from your PC and put it on the phone to see if it opens. If the file you can't open is from social media or from email, it may not be a legit pdf (and probably bad).

I know that if I save a pdf with too long a name it cannot be written. If it really is someting you can trust a shorter name may allow you to read it.

It happens with legit files. I will also clarify that even on the phone I can open the exact same file correctly as long as I do so from Total Commander instead of from a browser.


text:
Old Chats disappearing from Whatsapp
Old Chats are disappearing from my Chat-Overview in Whatsapp. I did not delete them, and they are still there: When I search for a contact and then click on them, I can see all the messages of the chat, but nevertheless this chat is missing from the Chat-Overview.
Now my problem is: One of my contacts has quit whatsapp over a year ago, so their account is not active anymore. And therefore I do not see them in my contacts-list. If only I could click (or tap) on that contact, then all the messages would be there again, I am quite sure.
But how can I open this chat, which is not visible in the chat-overview anymore and does not have a valid contact attachted to it?

As suggested bellow, try search a specific word you wrote to them (your inactive contact) or write their name in the search bar.

My guess is, that you archived your chats. To find your archived chats, scroll down to the bottom of main WhatsApp page and you'll see the archive tab. Open it and your chats should all be there. Long press on any of them and move them back.
You can also try searching for a word that you might have written to a contact. For example, if you search for the word "thanks" in WhatsApps main search bar, that should bring up any chat that the word was written in.

You can also search for your friends chat by entering his old number in the main search bar

Unfortunatly the chat is not archived, I checked. And I did not delete it either. I also restored an old backup into whatsapp. At the time of the backup the chat was definetly there. Restoring the backup did reset all chats to their respective state at the time, but the chat in question remained invisible.

entering the old number in the search bar does not yield any results for that specific contact

I'm understanding from your comment that now all chats are back to normal, besides that one friends chat.

no, backing up to 3 months before just deleted the messages of the last three months (as expected), but did not change anything else. One chat is still only accessible over the contacts-tab, and that one special chat with the inactive contact is still not visible anywhere

Here's a few things to try: 1. search a word that you might have written to him. For example if you search the word 'thanks' in WhatsApp, it will show all chats that you ever write that word to. 2. If you were in a group with him, go into that group and look for a post from that contact, click on the phone number, and it should open the chat with that contact. If none work, i have a few more suggestions

searching for the word I had written in the chat did the trick! I did find the chat!!! You should definetly update your answer so that everyone else will be able to find your solution! I am voting up your answer now :-)

Great! I'm still perplexed as to why some chats are hidden. If you open one of the "hidden" chats is there anything in the menu that would be similar to an "un-hide" option?

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


text:
What does "Answered remotely" mean in the call log?
What does "Answered remotely" mean on incoming calls in the call log? See the screenshot below to see what I'm talking about.
I had never seen this before until recently. Ever since September 30, 2017, every incoming call from my girlfriend has had this label. Edit: Almost every incoming call from my girlfriend, and most incoming calls from another friend, both with iPhones on AT&T (I'm on Verizon). Calls before September 30 didn't have it, and calls from other people don't have it. I never see it on outgoing calls either (or missed calls, of course). Edit 2: The previous sentence isn't 100% true, but basically is (see the edit at the bottom).

Does anyone know what could cause this?

Some extra info:
She does forward her old phone number to this one, but 1) this is the number forwarded to, not from, 2) she has been forwarding long before I started seeing this, and 3) these are only incoming calls, so I'm the one doing the answering. So I can't imagine this is relevant. Edit: This can't be relevant, because the other friend doesn't forward at all.
Just to rule it out, I asked her if she might know why it's saying this, if she's somehow calling from her computer or another phone or something, but she said no, she always uses her actual cell phone (an iPhone on AT&T, by the way, and I'm on Verizon).
My thought is maybe it started with some sort of update. I didn't do a system update on that day, but maybe the phone app updated or something. But that still wouldn't explain what it means or why I only see this for her incoming calls.
I found this forum thread where someone is having the same problem, but none of the answers make sense with what's going on. It does make me wonder if it's a Verizon specific thing on Android, but it's definitely not specific to my phone (Moto Z Force Droid).
One last thing worth noting: when I was searching, some people reported seeing "remote call" during the actual phone call. That looks to be unrelated. I don't remember seeing anything like that during the call itself, and the people who have that say it happens on every phone call.
That forum thread was the only other thing I could find about it anywhere, so I can't figure out what's going on.

Edit:
I discovered another friend where it shows "Answered remotely" after he calls me. He also happens to have an iPhone on AT&T. I made corrections above to note this. I don't see this when I get calls from Verizon iPhones, but I'm not sure if it happens with non-iPhones on AT&T (I've had plenty of other calls that didn't do it, but I'm not sure of the carrier.) Incoming landline calls definitely don't cause it.
Also, I've started noticing occasional incoming calls from my girlfriend (the person in the screenshot) that aren't answered remotely. But the vast majority still are.
Edit 2:
I'm still trying to get to the bottom of this, without much luck, but I have some new information: I've seen a small handful of calls with my girlfriend (the person in the original screenshot) that have the answered remotely icon under the regular telephone icon. I'm wondering if it's some sort of bug, but I really don't know. I say that because I saw this double-icon on at least one incoming, outgoing, and even a missed call, and it isn't labeled "Answered remotely," just has the icon. Also, this is rare, unlike the regular "Answered remotely," which happens on almost every incoming call from these two people.
Here's screenshots with the double-icon thing (and also more of the regular "Answered remotely"):

I'm a Verizon customer as well. I have a kyocera 6810 and I received one phone call today from my man friend and it said remotely answered. I received other call from him through out the day and they were normal. I'm just beginning my investigation and I will get to the bottom of it. Just wanted you to know your not alone and I'll get back to you.

@Victoria Thanks. I edited the question just now. I noticed that this is happening often with calls from another friend, too. Curiously, they both happen to have iPhones on AT&T. Just to narrow things down, by any chance does your man friend have an iPhone on another carrier?


text:
How to copy/export default android browser browsing history to android chrome?
how's it going?
I have been using android default browser of galaxy j5 for about 1 year and it doesn't show browsing history beyond like 3 months (only last 3 months or less) and my browsing history is so precious to me.
How can I move/copy all this browsing history to android google chrome, or even desktop chrome.
And after all, what's the best way to save them for good, like in my computer?.
Much appreciated.
So eager to hear a sooner response.

Search history means?

All pages and websites I visited=History (stock browser)

You mean to say browsing history.

Yes!....sorry I mistyped it due to excitement!

Well AFAIK, chrome for android doesn't support importing of history (I'm not even sure if desktop version support that). And I'm pretty sure you can't export history from stock bowser. You can switch to chrome but you will not have history, however you can stay with stock browser and when you stumble upon page you thing you may need, simply bookmark it. P.s. you can't export/import bookmarks with chrome, not sure about other browsers.

Sorry to hear that. The big problem is that I can't see history older than 1 month which I really need. Besides can't I make stock browser browsing history a HTML file and transfer it to computer chrome? if so, how?  Једноруки Крстивоје

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


text:
Prevent google backup of contacts?
I have Google backup turned off permanently, however my contacts are still backed-up somewhere to Google cloud. I discovered that yesterday from another device that offered me to recover my contacts from a current backup.
I'm perplexed because when I open Google Drive app, it says that my device is not backed-up.
Questions:

Where are the contacts backed up? On G-Drive, or elsewhere in my G-Account?
What more can I do to prevent Google from downloading my data to its cloud?

Details:
I have LG G6 (LG-H870, Android 8.0.0). In the Settings I have set:

Backup > Google Backup > Backup to Google Drive: Off
Users & Accounts > Auto-sync account: On, otherwise my (non-Google) e-mail is not synchronized, but:
Users & Accounts > my-google-account > Sync: all four sync switches are Off

In the Drive application:

Left menu > Backups: "Your device is not backed up"

My other phone is Xiaomi Redmi 4. Here:

Settings > Google > Restore contacts> Device backup list: It offers me to restore my contacts from LG-H870 created today. When I proceed, all my contacts are really restored.

The Google documentation for contacts backup,
https://support.google.com/contacts/answer/7199294?hl=en
instructs how to turn-off contacts backup.
The description of Settings > Backup > Google Backup > Backup to Google Drive says that:

"Backup includes: Apps and app data, call history, contacts, device settings"

Edit: I've verified that my contacts are not in Google Contacts for my account.

That's weird. Google should not be backing up your contacts to Google Drive when you have turned the backups off. I'd just like to know if the device backup was turned off from the beginning or you turned off at a later date? Maybe just today? Does the restored backup include all of your contacts? I mean even the newly added ones?

I turn all Google backups off as one of the first things I do when I receive a new phone. So it was turned off from the beginning. Anyway, the latest backup available is from today.

Then this is more like Google not honoring the user privacy settings than anything else. The backup found in Device backup list can only come from one source - Device backup. And since it is turned off, Google is ideally not honoring your choice. I do a similar treatment with Google stuff as you and for me the Restore contacts option says "Device Backup: No contacts are backed up to this account". Something is definitely fishy.

As said already, backup of contacts by Google does not respect the general Settings>General>Backup>Google_backup>Backup_to_Google_Drive = off. This problem may occur only on LG G6, or in Android Oreo in general.
However, I succeeded to prevent the contact backup by disabling Google synchronization services in Settings>Apps>Show_System>choose_app>disable:

Google Contacts Sync
Google Calendar Sync
Google Backup Transport

Now I hope that they won't get enabled again upon a firmware update.
Edit: Evidently, Google has more problems with collecting personal data than just contacts, see for instance location-tracking.


text:
Booting android using 'fastboot boot'
With my android device attached over USB, I entered the following commands:
adb pull /dev/block/by-name/boot ./boot.img
adb reboot bootloader
sudo fastboot boot ./boot.img

and I received this output from fastboot:
downloading 'boot.img'...
OKAY [  0.782s]
booting...

After this, nothing happens. I would expect the stock android system to boot on the device. I don't know where the boot process could have failed, since neither the device, nor fastboot is giving any useful output. My end goal would obviously be to boot modified images, but right now I can't even seem to be able to boot the stock one.
Is this supposed to work generally? If yes, what are some reasons it could have failed? Are there ways to obtain additional useful debugging information?
(My device is a low cost Allwinner A31s based tablet, so I don't expect to find any device specific help on the internet. I can't even find the website of the manufacturer. ro.product.model= Navon_Predator_7, ro.product.device= fiber-wt7028, ro.product.name= fiber_wt7028 [I used getprop in the adb shell to obtain these values.])
The boot image does look like it's in the android mkbootimg format (here are the first few bytes):
00000000: 414e 4452 4f49 4421 a49f 8600 0080 0040  ANDROID!.......@
00000010: 5663 0d00 0000 0041 0000 0000 0000 f040  Vc.....A.......@
00000020: 0001 0040 0008 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ...@............
00000030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00000040: 636f 6e73 6f6c 653d 7474 7953 302c 3131  console=ttyS0,11
00000050: 3532 3030 2072 7720 696e 6974 3d2f 696e  5200 rw init=/in
00000060: 6974 206c 6f67 6c65 7665 6c3d 3420 766d  it loglevel=4 vm
00000070: 616c 6c6f 633d 3338 344d 2069 6f6e 5f72  alloc=384M ion_r
00000080: 6573 6572 7665 3d31 3238 4d00 0000 0000  eserve=128M.....

ro.product.model: Navon_Predator_7, ro.product.device: fiber-wt7028, ro.product.name: fiber_wt7028 (I used getprop in the adb shell to obtain these values.)

This works in some devices and not others... Besides, adb pull is for files, not devices, you should be using dd to save the boot image to a file.

I tried dd (adb shell dd if=/dev/block/by-name/boot of=/sdcard/boot.img, followed by adb pull /sdcard/boot.img ./), but the problem persists. You are saying that this only works on some devices. What are some other devices where this does not work? Could you point me somewhere where reasons for a fastboot boot failing are discussed?

First, it will require an unlocked bootloader. If that isn't the issue I can tell you that many Samsung and HTC devices do not allow this, but by contrast most Nexus/Pixel and Moto devices do allow it if their bootloader is unlocked.

fastboot oem unlock prints FAILED (remote: system is not locked), so I am guessing that my bootloader is unlocked.

Okay, so it IS in fact supposed to work. Are there ways I could get some debugging information? Because at this point, I can't even know if the kernel itself is starting.

This does not exactly answer the original question, but since I managed to brick my bootloader in the meantime, this is what I ended up doing, and it might be useful for someone else in the future:
Allwinner SOCs have a built in Boot ROM, and it supports various modes, so these devices are virtually unbrickable. In particular, it supports a so called FEL mode (http://linux-sunxi.org/FEL) which can be used to boot the device over USB. I nice open-source tool has been written that can communicate with the device in this special mode (http://linux-sunxi.org/Sunxi-tools#sunxi-fel). Using this, you can boot your own bootloader. (And with that, you can boot your own kernel, etc.) The linux-sunxi.org website has very  detailed instructions regarding Allwinner SoC devices, so I recommend that you check out their other articles as well.


text:
How is installing an app from web-based PlayStore implemented?
As you are probably aware, when browsing the web-based PlayStore, it is actually possible to install an app right-away. Upon pressing the "Install" button (like the one in the image - taken from the app page), I immediately receive a notification on my phone telling me that the app is being downloaded.

I would be very interested to know how Google implemented this feature. I suppose being logged to my Google account on both the PC and the phone helps, but still - is the phone continuously polling some network resource to see whether it should start downloading an app? Or is the notification somehow pushed to the phone (I cannot imagine how this would be done)?

The Play Store on the handset is running as a service in the background and by clicking on the 'Install' from the web front-end on desktop PC browser, this triggers a push notification (Am guessing its GCM - Google Cloud Messaging) which is broadcast across the network only to designated Google accounts which you happen to be signed in.
When the Play store service receives the broadcast, that triggers it to pull it down.
As for asking how is this implemented is beyond the scope as that is bordering on asking in the direction of development efforts.
Only Google is allowed to do that and is part of the terms and conditions of Play store usage.
That I would also think is how Google can send a kill switch to designated handsets (it happened before, on pre-release of ICS on Galaxy Nexus, which happened to get leaked by accident on Google employee's handset, by one of the US Carriers, and the kill was issued which wiped the ROM, after it was posted on reddit - IIRC)
Edit: I am speculating on how the play store does it, and is proprietary...

To add a detail concerning the "continuously polling", try the following: Set your WiFi Standby policy to have WiFi "sleep while the phone sleeps", and do not connect via the mobile network. Then trigger an app-install to that device. You will notice the delay: As soon as you "wake up" the device by switching on the screen, and the WiFi connection being re-established, the installation starts. Also when permanently connected, I sometimes experienced this "lag". So I assume a "periodical poll for broadcasts" being part of the game.

That's correct @Izzy :)


text:
What do the "Sync Internet" and "Sync Instant Upload" options do in Jelly Bean settings?
What do the "Sync Internet" and "Sync Instant Upload" options do in Jelly Bean settings?

Instant Upload is a feature of Google+, which uploads the photos you take with your camera to a private photo folder on Google+ for easy sharing. This option allows you to enable/disable this feature, but it can also be controlled from other Google apps like Google+ and Google Settings. More info
Sync Internet means syncing your browser history, bookmarks, form input data and other settings on Chrome. This requires that you use the same Google account on all instances of Chrome that you want to sync. I'm not certain if this feature syncs the data also to the stock browser, but it's possible.

As the "sync internet" option disappears when you remove/freeze Chrome, I'd say it does apply to Chrome only (specifically not to the stock browser).

Sync Internet has serious bugs between different Android versions.


text:
Connecting USB mouse to Galaxy SIII
I bought a basic female to female USB adapter and connected my Galaxy SIII USB cable to the mouse. This didn't work. What am I doing wrong? Do I need an OTG cable? Something about USB hosts? I don't understand how to get this to work.

Yes, you need an OTG cable. The pin layout is different than a regular micro USB to USB cable; essentially, it's equivalent to shorting pins 4 and 5 on a normal cable. This is what causes the phone to know that it needs to be the host rather than the slave.
In fact, you can do this yourself if you're handy with electronics and have a cable you don't mind taking apart, though they're also readily available at many online retailers (Amazon, Newegg, Monoprice, etc).

To connect any device to your Galaxy S3 (or any other host-capable Android device), you need a OTG host cable.  Without that host cable, the phone doesn't know it's supposed to act as the host rather than as a peripheral.
This is an example of such a cable.  Most online retailers carry similar ones.


text:
Play Store not downloading app without wifi
I have just bought Samsung Galaxy Grand phone featuring android jelly bean. I am trying to download some app using my mobile data. But, it doesn't download application, while I am not connected to wi-fi network. It downloads apps while I am connected to wi-fi without any issue.
Can anybody suggest me, what setting is restricting me to download without wi-fi network?

If I understood you right you want to acces play store without internet connection? If yes then you can't do it. If I made a mistake understanding you and you want to acheive something else, I apologize.

@Anila: No, I don't want to access playstore without internet. I want to access it using my mobile operator data service instead of wi-fi.

Finally, I got it resolved. The issue was with APN settings provided by my service provider. Fixing that fixed downloading issue.

There are two things to check.

Go into Settings from the Play Store app's menu. At the time the question was written, the third one down is Update over Wi-Fi only. Turn this off if you want to download apps over a cellular internet connection.
In more recent Play Store versions, it's at the top of the list: it says Auto-update apps, and the default is Auto-update apps over Wi-Fi only. You need to change this to Auto-update apps at any time. Data charges may apply.

Apps larger than a certain size (I think 50 MB) only download over Wi-Fi regardless of this setting. (The Play Store app will prompt you if you try to download a large app and you're not on Wi-Fi.) This applies to lots of games but not many applications.

The reasoning behind all of these restrictions is because many users pay per kb of data, or they pay extra if they go over a limit. The default behaviour is safe and avoids surprising users with large bills.


text:
How to find the app that causes crashes?
Where should I begin the hunt for the cause of crashes / reboots when logging apps do not work anymore?

Do you mean logcat?

yes, for example...

Maybe you should find out why it doesn't work! ^^

This I have already found out. For privacy reasons, applications may no longer read each others log files.

As can be seen in this video from the Google I/O conference, in Jelly Bean applications can no longer read the system log for other applications, they can only read their own log. This has broken most (all?) system log readers, here's a blog post from a developer of such an application talking about how it has affected his application.
The only way to have an app read other apps system log entries when using Jelly Bean is to root the phone.
Although other apps can't read the log files it is apparently possible to do it from the PC, try giving LogShark a go.

Root is not necessary. I have created a utility to collect logs: https://gist.github.com/hrj/5983971

@HRJ That looks good, I'll add it into my answer. I do say "only way to have other apps" so the answer isn't incorrect but again, good work.

The easiest most simple way that will give you definitive results is to remove all apps
and install them one at a time until you install one that starts your problem.
If you just installed an app recently and think it may be questionable, uninstall it and see if your problem is gone. This in all honesty is a lengthy process.

The question asks about logging apps in general suggesting it's not one application causing the OP a problem.


text:
Activate Android device on IPv6-only network

Is it possible to activate an Android phone on a network with IPv6-only access to the Internet?
Does Google support all their services over IPv6?
Has anyone tried it?

I'm going to need to activate an Android device on an IPv6-only network in the near future. Any help regarding this appreciated.

The only way you can get IPv6 is to roll your own kernel but you are on your own since 1) no device mentioned and 2) no Android version mentioned so we cannot tell from there!

All Google services are accessible via IPv6, since June 6, 2012.
And yes, I've tried it myself. My own Android is on IPv6.

IPv6 unequal to IPv6-only. So are you sure that you did not have IPv4 access (along side IPv6) when you activated your device?

Oh, and just FYI, the page you linked to doesn't mention anywhere that all Google services are available over IPv6. It just said it was enabled, but no mentions of it was full or partial.

Yes, it is fully enabled and you can access Google from an IPv6-only network. Perhaps English is not your native language?


text:
screen keeps jerking and there are automatic touches
First of Tablet info :
Model number : Micromax P275
Android version : 4.0.4
Baseband version : v3.0
Kernal version : 3.0.8+ linda@SKYWORTHSERVER3 #52
Fri Sep 21 14:00:53 CST 2012
Build number : P275_HW.V0.1_V3.0_20120921
I dont know anything about android
now the issue is that the screen keeps randomly jerking and there are random touches that happen which will open apps and close apps randomly. this happens after few minutes since  Tablet turn on. When these things happen i cannot do anything. even if i try to power down by pressing the power key the dialog box disappears because of this random behavior.
i observer this behavior mainly when i travel in bus. so i'm thinking that the vibrations are affecting the accelerometer and thus causing the random movements. When i'm in a stationary place i rarely see this issue, but it has occured.
now i disabled
1)Auto rotate
2)Disabled all options in Developer options except Force hardware rendering.
the system update will happen and i cant turn it off(atleast i dont know).
my main useage in the Tablet are 1) pdf reading 2)videos 3)small c programmin(using CCtools).
please help me with this issue. its is very very frustrating. last thing,i brought this device 28 days ago. also i would like links on reinstalling android.

From your description, there are two obvious possibilities. The first is that some static electricity or oil on the touch screen is causing it to think you're touching it. Try giving the screen a good wipe. Also, earth yourself by holding a metal water pipe with one hand, and cover the screen with your other hand.
The alternative is a manufacturing defect in the touch screen. Faulty touch screens are quite a common problem with cheaper tablets. If you can manage to do this with all the false touches, try to install a paint program from Google Play and run it on your tablet. Leave the paint program running for a few minutes, and any false touches will paint on the screen. You can see where they are happening. You may see a pattern to them, such as all being in one strip of the screen, or always at one point. That would confirm that it's a fault in the touch screen, in which case you should return your tablet and get it replaced.

static is not what i doubt but its the defective touch panel. i'l try your idea. thanks

I have (currently testing solution, which I'm going to tell you) this same issue on my mobile, replaced my touch 2 times for a total of 25$ cost but the problem is still occuring, Yesterday I re-installed android 4.0.4 on my Xperia U(ST25i) but the problem was not gone, Now what is working for me is always using WCDMA/3G option because GSM/2G network of my carrier is slow,
This solution has worked for me from 2 days and I have no auto touches now, and I also have tested that as soon as I switch GSM back, auto touches are back too

Also be sure to not use device while charging or connect ur device charger to a socket where there is no other charger connected

Hello I have some problem with touch screen in past.
some time on low battery random touch appear
and on broken screen phone have same problem.
So I make some application for hot fix this until you change new screen.
app calls Partial Screene, easy to find on google play
Hope this can be helpful.


text:
Block a device from connecting to a specifix router
There is an ISP in my town that connects to my phone all the time, but it wants to sign in to be used. It is not my ISP so that all I get is my Wi-Fi blocked.
There are many spots from the same ISP in town, because a couple of ISP give their customer a router with two Wi-Fi outputs, one private, normal, and another one open for their customers use with their site password wherever they exist. One of them (not my ISP) sticks to the devices, so I get blocked in many areas.
I have tried to change autojoin=1 to autojoin=0 on /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf, but that didn't do anything. This file also mentions another one, ctrl_interface=/data/misc/wifi/sockets. Will that control I need be here?
I am almost sure there will be a way to disallow a device from connecting to a specific Wi-Fi, but I don't know how. Maybe somebody can help me and teach me how, please.

If you go into Settings and choose the option to Reset Network Data, this will erase the phone's memory of ever connecting to the many millions of these open wifi hotspots that are around. Then just go into Wifi settings and toggle the switch to "disabled" on the option that says "Automatically connect to high quality public networks" and you'll be good to go. I personally do this and it seems to yield results.
OR
If you have root access you can try the following:

Install Termux from Play Store (not some other terminal emulator, must be Termux)
Type apt update && apt upgrade -y && apt install nano tsu -y
Become root via tsu
Turn off Wi-Fi
Now you'll be editing a file, which will require the use of arrow keys, theres another app called Hacker Keyboard that has arrow keys you can use. This file may be called something else on older versions of Android, so YMMV.
Type nano /data/misc/wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml
The file contains history of all previously connected Wifi networks. The XML is structured by , so you'll need to scroll through and find the network you don't want your phone connecting to anymore. It will be preceded by a  tag, and will also contain several other  inside of it; just continue scrolling until you find the VERY next occurrence of , signifying the entire configuration for the unwanted network.
Erase the unwanted network configuration by deleting everything from  to , ensuring that you are only removing the configuration for specifically unwanted network.
Now just do a Ctrl+O, [Enter], Ctrl+X to save, confirm, then exit the file.
Type chown $(whoami) /data/misc/wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml to change the owner to root
Type chmod 640 /data/misc/wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml to allow the group member (System) to still have read access to be able to retain normal functionality, but disallow write access to be able to re-write the unwanted wifi configuration back into WifiConfigStore.xml.

Please note that this will mean you can no longer save any additional wifi networks to be automatically connected, and your device will only remember the networks that you left in the file before running steps 10 & 11. If you ever want to revert the changes and re-allow typical access to the file just undo steps 10 & 11 via the following:

Open adb shell or Termux again
Gain root via su (if adb shell), or tsu (if Termux)
Type chown system /data/misc/wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml
Type chmod 600 /data/misc/wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml

Cheers

It is possible to be the same ISP you mention, but as you know, bad intentions often spread quickly over the world, and some commercial fight like this can be extremely annoying,.

Well I only know of the one and only that has all of the features mentioned, but you're right, there could be more I'm unaware of. Lmk if this fixes your issue or not, and I'll see if I can come up with something else for you.

I don't have exactly the same text as you tell me: "Automatically connect to high quality public networks". The most similar I have is in the Advanced options (Wi-Fi settings) titled Passpoint  "Automatically connect to Passpoint-certified Wi-Fi access points". I unmarked the case.
However, I can tell you that it still connects immediately to my home router when the Wi-Fi is turned on, but I can't try about the problem right away because I'll have to go out to walk around, and the weather is very bad. I will have to wait for tomorrow. I'll be back and post the result here for you.

Well, I am not on any ≥7 Android OS, but maybe you can kindly tell me how to do it by hand. Because it has to be in some OS file, and if you hate it as much as I do, you probably used to do it much before Android 7. Thanks.

Before starting anything, I made sure that I had all the “ingredients”, and I found a problem. I don’t have any file named WifiConfigStore.xml and there is not any .xlm file at either that address or at /system/etc/wifi/. After checking this, I searched for .xml files with ES File Explorer, but there are hundreds of them, I believe over a thousand. I will look for any name that might correspond with its function, and it might help if you could give an idea of its content, like posting a copy here.
These text boxes are too small.

It looks like it is going to take me some time pocking the system. Thank you for your patience. I’ll be back when I have news.

I am very disappointed; I could not find any XLM file with a name that triggered my mind and over 2.5 KB, what I actually supposed to be much less than the minimum size necessary for that file. How can I find the name of the file, and what else can I do, please?

As I said, I can’t follow your instructions because I don’t have that .xml file or else it has another name, but I had done what I wrote on my third comment. That is, on the advanced settings I unmarked that case for "Automatically connect to Passpoint-certified Wi-Fi access points".
Today, I went around for over one hour and that ISP hotspots did not connect as they have been insistently doing, but don't think it is very conclusive. I will to try again and for a longer time.
Do you think you can give me some tips that might help finding that .xml file? Thanks.

therealjayvi, during these past days that ISP hotspots that are very often there at shirt distance, as usually, did not connect again. The only thing I did since I opened this thread was trying to follow your advice to  disable the advanced settings option that says "Automatically connect to high quality public networks".

As I don't have that, but one with a similar text, "Passpoint "Automatically connect to Passpoint-certified Wi-Fi access points"", I clearer that case. Passpoint is a technology for connecting hotspots. Therefore, I presume that ISP is using it and so it worked, even if it should not use it because thereafter it wants a "hard" login. That way, it is useful for their customers, but it is a very bothering abuse for anyone else. Thank for your help.


text:
How to save sessions in browser
I use Session Buddy browser session manager chrome plugin quite heavily on desktop and I want similar functionality on android.
I know chrome does not have plugin support on Android. So I tried bunch of plugin on firefox. I was able to install almost all plugins on Firefox Android. However none worked at actual functionality of saving sessions. Some simply had UI malfunctioning while saving sessions, other simply threw error.
Has someone tried successfully saving browser sessions on Android?
Edit

Seems that Tabboo plugin is working. But still I will welcome any recommendations, as it does not let us import, export sessions. Ok, it seems to be buggy. We cannot open saved sessions. Can only delete url from session, rename session name, cant open session, cant open url from session.
Also tried tabSession, Saving sessions and opening them working. But it shows only name you gave to the session while saving in its UI. So UI is just a list of names of sessions. It does not show URLs within each session.
Just came to know we can use kiwi browser on android which can install extensions from chrome store. I tried installing session buddy in kiwi. The extensions worked quite well, with some limitations. Able save, open, export sessions. Seems that session buddy cannot capture tabs in incognito. Also there are some UI glitches, may be since the plugin is built for desktop screen asect ratio.


text:
Phone Keeps Going to Sleep
My phone keeps going to sleep within a minute or so despite the fact that it is set to not go to sleep for 10 minutes. Why is it doing this? This is an Asus ZenFone Live V running Android 7.1.1.
To be more clear, the screen goes black and locks shortly thereafter in about a minute. I'm not sure this is technically sleep mode, but it is sure annoying to have to unlock every time something steals your attention for a minute.

Where did it set that it doesn't go to sleep? Is it under settings > display > sleep > 10 min?

Yes, there exactly

Check under settings > lock screen > lock time. Sometimes if the lock time is less then the sleep time, then the screen will go to sleep at that time. Basically, if sleep time is 5 min, but lock the is 2 min, then the phone will go to sleep at 2 min. Let me know if that's true for your phone

It has an auto lock setting that is also set to 10 minutes.

Is this phone connected to a corporate email account or used as a device for business use? If so, it may have a VPN with corporate guildelines to adhere to, which conflict or override personal preferences. Check for a device administrator you recognize as belonging to your company.

Nope. Just my personal.

Any automation tools installed like Tasker or Llama? I know Llama best, so I can speak to profiles it uses, which control environmental attributes as it enters/leaves known areas via wifi, or control towers, etc. Anything like that inadvertently making setting changes?

For some reason my last comment didn't go through, so I forgot about this.  Automation tools were installed after the problem began.


text:
A way to enable data encryption by default (device to be encrypted on first boot)
I did some research on data security that Android has in it's implementation FDE and FBE. I have a clear picture on how both work, but I need something a little different.
What is the best way to enable data encryption whether it is for Marshmallow (FDE) or Nougat or Oreo (FBE) on first boot? By first boot I mean to burn images on the Android device, and then turn it on. I'm not working on any mobile phone or something that is on the market.
What I want is that Android does data encryption on its own, immediately on first boot, and that later user is not prompted with a password. To have something like default password (which I notice exists in AOSP).
One more question: From Android's CDD I didn't notice that FBE is mandatory. Does that mean that FDE can also be used on Nougat and Oreo?
Thanks in advance.

Concerning the asking of password. When resetting Marshmallow, if the stock recovery is in place, it decrypts the phone and on first boot it encrypts it but well obviously never ask you for a password to start android because these two fine are recreated which hold device password:
/data/security/password.key
/data/security/pattern.key

If you could have been using TWRP to factory reset and you had a pattern or device assigned to device and you've opted for require password to start device, seamlessly, on any ROM and even TWRP itself. The password will exist even after resetting. The stock recovery is the only one that deals with that pattern at first boot.

I'm not talking about factory reseting or anything. I want to burn images on the device, and on that first boot to make Android do the encryption.


text:
What to do when you have low app space for Android 4.1 or up?
You may have already removed all possible apps that are not useful to you, But your Android phone still keeps saying insufficient memory and can't install anything because of low app space available. What will you do?

Hm, I'd go visit our insufficient-memory tag-wiki for further hints :)

Answering your own question is welcomed on this site, but not if you're just posting a duplicate of questions that were already answered.

I will show you two methods to free up app's space. I personally like Method 2 more because, it gives more freedom in choosing what to delete and what not to.
Method 1: Clear cached Data

Go to Settings > Storage > Clear cached data (for all)

Method 2: Using Storage Analyzer & Disk Usage app (Requires Android 4.1 or up)

If you can't install anything from the start, I suggest to first uninstall apps that doesn't necessarily contain essential app data--one that you don't mind losing data for when you uninstall it, e.g., Facebook and Messenger apps (uninstalling any of them is actually enough). The app is only about 4 MB in size.
Install Storage Analyzer & Disk Usage app
Open the app called Drives (this is the app's name in my phone).
Wait for it to finish its scanning.
Go to the DEVICE'S STORAGES tab.
Click Applications, then wait for it to finish it’s scan.
Go to FILE CATEGORIES tab and delete all deletable stuffs except stuffs of the same type of App data.

App cache is usually what you want to delete.
App apk is usually undeletable, but it's just all the app apks you downloaded from the first time you got the cellphone, so it would be good if you are able to delete this. (As an aside, you can also comment to this answer how will I be able to do that).
I repeat, DO NOT DELETE App data or other folders of the same type because they're your app data.
Note: If you are able to delete a folder or a file, that file will be immediately deleted, no questions asked. So be careful.

Reinstall the apps you installed in the first step.

Happens :) As a hint from an "old-timer" to a "new-comer": Many of our tags have wikis assigned (easy to find: click the tag, then "info"), often with useful summaries and details. Especially for such common issues we've already "amassed" information. Always worth checking. Help on completing those details of course is welcome, as Dan already pointed out :) So after a somehow "bumpy start": have a good stay here. Drop into our chat if you need "a quick hint" on something.

Thanks @Izzy for being a good mod :) However, I can't really add my answer to that wiki because I still don't have enough rep for it.

Thanks for the edit! Please understand we'll keep this closed as duplicate nevertheless, as the linked question covers this already. Don't let that discourage you (we're all constantly learning new things each day), keep the spirit up :)

Okay! At least someone will still be able to see my answer, and hopefully get enough rep to be able to post answer there :)

PS:  And I didn't mean to add your answer to that wiki (as said, that hint is already part of another answer) – but in general to share especially missing parts in answers. We "old-timers" usually link especially useful things there then (we don't want to overload those wikis either, or they stop being useful). Once you've got a good feeling for a specific area (tag) on this site, you're of course welcome there, too – but that means being really familiar with what's already around here and how to "join it / sum it up" to the best benefit. Takes some time.


text:
Android 7.1.1 Moto Z Force Bluetooth Won't Turn On
I have a Moto Z Force phone on android 7.1.1.
When I tap to turn on bluetooth, it looks like it has been turned on (but doesn't find anything) and if I tap away it shows that it's off.
If I go into advanced settings and hit the "On/Off" slider, it slides over to "On" and then the slider goes dark and becomes non-interactive. The bluetooth is still off and if I go to any other screen (or even shut the screen off on my phone and turn it back on) it goes back to Off.
This happened once before and it seemed to fix itself after an update. Now it's re-broken and no amount of resetting my phone has fixed it. I really don't want to have to do a factory reset.

Which Moto X (there are at least 4 unique generations and several variants)? Can I assume it is stock and untouched, so it is a Moto X4? If so, have you tried a Network Settings Reset in Settings - Backup & Reset?

@acejavelin I updated the question - it's a Moto Z Force, actually, and I tried the network setting reset to no avail.

At this point, your options are pretty limited... If a Network Settings Reset did not help, and you have tried "normal" things like a cache partition wipe, then a factory reset is in order. Even if you call Moto Customer Service, this will be one of the first things they  will recommend. Honestly, if that doesn't fix the issue the device will most likely need to be send in for service. (assuming stock/locked bootloader)

Question is a bit old, yet I have similar problems with moto E, have you tried to disable "fine location" ? (turn it to GSP only, not GSP+wifi+bluetooth+network).

@Archemar I tried that after your comment. No changes.


text:
How to "tell" Android to output/mirror its display?
With inspiration from this question, I purchased this docking station to be used with my new tablet (Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2017), running Android 7.1.1):
StarTech HDMI and DVI/VGA Dual-Monitor Docking Station for Laptops - USB 3.0
(USB3SDOCKHDV)
Top:

Rear:

Side:

The docking station has multiple inputs (DVI, HDMI, VGA, USB 3.0), and I am able to connect the docking station to the Samsung tablet via a USB 3.0 to USB C adapter.  The docking station does not explicitly support Android, but I thought I would give it a try.
I know that the docking station is working -- to some extent, at least -- because if I connect a USB mouse to one of the USB 3.0 ports, I am able to access Android with the mouse.
However, when I connect a VGA monitor to the docking station, nothing appears on the monitor.  Likewise, when I connect an HDMI monitor to the docking station, nothing appears on the monitor.
Is there any way to "tell" the Android OS to output its screen to the docking station, via the USB C output on the tablet?  In other words, before I return the docking station to the retailer, I want to make sure that there is nothing else I can try.
When I go to Settings > Display, I don't see any option "Export screen to external display via USB C output" or something like that.  Is there any such option?

To output video via USB the device itself has to support MHL, which most devices don't.

@AndyYan Thanks. How can I tell if my device supports MHL?

Just look the device up - I don't think there's a reliable app for checking on-device.


text:
Firefox Quantum for Android - backup profile without root?
On Firefox Quantum for Android (on a non-rooted phone), how do I back up my profile to another place? This would be easy if my phone was rooted (just go access the folder directly and copy it elsewhere), but it isn't rooted.
I've tried numerous different things, some of which have gotten very frustratingly close, but nothing has worked:

Using an app like Helium Backup that uses adb to backup app data. This works for some apps, but for Firefox it gives me a "Backup Disallowed" dialog box with the message "Firefox has disallowed backup of application data. Please leave a comment with the developer of Firefox and ask them to allow application data backup."
Using the browser to navigate to the profile directory and attempt to download items from there. I can clearly see my profile by going to file:///data/data/org.mozilla.firefox/files/mozilla/r3dact3d.default/, and theoretically individual files could be downloaded over enough time. But attempting to open anything just navigates to it. This 'works' for text files like .ini since I can manually copy+paste out the contents, but not for binary files (like the all-important browser.db) which always open a blank page.
Doing the above, but using USB debugging and opening up WebIDE on my laptop's Firefox to poke around. I can run arbitrary Javascript on the page that shows me my profile directory, but nothing here lets me download the files it's showing me. The closest I can get is if I modify the anchor tags to add a download attribute (so they'll download instead of navigating), but then all the links pop up an "Unable to download file" error message in the footer (versus "Download started..." which I would expect). I have no clue what this particular error message means, and Googling doesn't help.
Doing the above, but holding down on each link and choosing Open With an App (vs. Open Link in New Tab, etc.). If I can get a file explorer app to come up, it always gives me a similar error message "This item cannot be saved."
Attempting to tell Firefox (through about:config, perhaps) to save or move my profile to a different place that wouldn't require root to access. Apparently Firefox does not allow such a thing.
Trying to find some feature of Firefox Sync that backs up a profile on mobile. This feature doesn't seem to exist.
Finding an add-on that will copy the profile to another place. Before Firefox Quantum, there was an add-on named Copy Profile that did this exact thing. The add-on isn't compatible with Firefox Quantum anymore and I can't find any replacements.
Using adb to manually downgrade Firefox so Copy Profile will work again. At least one user has tried something similar already, and the result is that the app data between Firefox Quantum and Firefox non-Quantum is set up differently enough that the newly downgraded app immediately crashes on open.

I find it hard to believe that a task as important and straightforward as backing up my Firefox profile is impossible on unrooted Android. Has anyone else run into this problem or a similar one? Any solutions or suggestions?
Thanks!

I posted an answer about creating a full backup and restore of the profile at https://android.stackexchange.com/a/254330/18912 . The heavy liftings are done by the JS code shared at https://github.com/Rob--W/firefox-android-backup-restore . The JS code is executed through the successor of WebIDE.

I had the same problem and got inspired by your idea to use WebIDE. It turns out it is possible to access the profile files throughout JavaScript at least in my Firefox for Android version 59.0.2, but this only helps partially to back up all profile data.
Principle
The file contents can be accessed using Ajax (see here), also if they are binary (reference). It however seems like you can only access files that are in your current directory or that are in a subdirectory.
For example, the contents of browser.db can be accessed by navigating to file:///data/data/org.mozilla.firefox/files/mozilla/XXXXXXXX.default/ and then executing in the console via WebIDE:
var xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
xmlhttp.open("GET", "browser.db");
xmlhttp.responseType = "arraybuffer";
xmlhttp.send();

The result will then be stored in xmlhttp.response as an arraybuffer. If the data is non-binary, "text" can be used instead of "arraybuffer".
For small, non-binary files it can by sufficient to copy them to the clipboard with copy(xmlhttp.responseText), but for larger files this can throw an out of memory error.
The same technique can be used to get a listing of files and directories. The problem is that this (for me at least) worked only for the directory the browser was navigated to, but not for subdirectories. The returned data is a list of files as plain text:
300: file:///data/data/org.mozilla.firefox/files/mozilla/XXXXXXXX.default/
200: filename content-length last-modified file-type
201: AlternateServices.txt 0 Thu,%2010%20May%202018%2015:33:20%20GMT FILE
201: OfflineCache 0 Thu,%2009%20Nov%202017%2018:28:54%20GMT DIRECTORY
...

Backing up
For completeness, here are two scripts I used to backup the files. Both are only quick&dirty and minimal scripts. The data is transferred to a Python server running on the computer, which then stores them.
Important: They only backup the files in the current directory, but not the directories (See the limitation above). However since most of the profile is in the root directory this might be sufficient. If you want to store the files in the subdirectories as well you need to paste and run the JavaScript again for each directory. The neccessary directories will be created by the server.
Python server (save this as server.py and then run e.g. with python3 server.py 2222 depending on the port you want to use)
import os
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer

class FileReceiveHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
    def _set_headers(self):
        self.send_response(200)
        self.send_header('Content-Type', 'text/plain')
        self.end_headers()

    def do_POST(self):
        content_length = int(self.headers['Content-Length']) # <--- Gets the size of data
        post_data = self.rfile.read(content_length) # <--- Gets the data itself
        print(self.path)

        # Store file
        relative_file_path = os.path.join('received_files', self.path.lstrip('/'))
        directories = os.path.dirname(relative_file_path)
        os.makedirs(directories, exist_ok=True)
        with open(relative_file_path, 'wb') as f:
            f.write(post_data)

        self._set_headers()
        self.wfile.write(b'received')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    from sys import argv
    port = int(argv[1]) if len(argv) == 2 else 80
    server_address = ('', port)
    httpd = HTTPServer(server_address, FileReceiveHandler)
    print('Starting server')
    httpd.serve_forever()

This is the source I used as a reference for the server.
JavaScript source for the browser
Adapt the first two lines to your own profile path and local IP address and port. Then paste this script directly in the console of WebIDE with the browser navigated to the profile directory.
var profile_basepath = "file:///data/data/org.mozilla.firefox/files/mozilla/XXXXXXXX.default";
var server = "http://<your_local_ip>:2222";

function send() {
    var list_xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();

    // Get files
    list_xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
        if(list_xmlhttp.status == 200 && list_xmlhttp.readyState == 4){
            itemslist = list_xmlhttp.response.split('\n');

            for (var i = 0; i < itemslist.length; i++) {
                if (itemslist[i].startsWith('201:')) {
                    parts = itemslist[i].split(' ');
                    if (parts[4] == 'FILE') {
                        handleFile(parts);
                    }
                }
            }
            console.log(itemslist);
        }
    };
    list_xmlhttp.open("GET", window.location.href, true);
    list_xmlhttp.responseType = "text";
    list_xmlhttp.send();
}

function handleFile(parts) {
    var filename = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(parts[1]));

    // Get file content
    var file_xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
    file_xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
        if(file_xmlhttp.status == 200 && file_xmlhttp.readyState == 4){
            // Send file
            var filepath = window.location.href.substring(profile_basepath.length) + filename;
            var send_xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
            send_xmlhttp.open("POST", server + filepath, true);
            send_xmlhttp.send(file_xmlhttp.response);

            console.log(filepath + " sent");
        }
    }
    file_xmlhttp.open("GET", window.location.href + parts[1], true);
    file_xmlhttp.responseType = "arraybuffer";
    file_xmlhttp.send();
}

send();

It might take some time until the script has finished.

I'm in the same boat as the OP. Sadly this script does not work anymore as the Cross-Origin Requests get blocked with modern Firefox/Fennec versions:
Cross-Origin Request Blocked: The Same Origin Policy disallows reading the remote resource at file:///data/data/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/files/mozilla/w9ae812s.default/webappsstore.sqlite-wal. (Reason: CORS request not http).


text:
can't install APK on Android device running kernel version 3.10.49
I am trying to install the Android Terminal Emulator by Jack Palevich (https://github.com/jackpal/Android-Terminal-Emulator)
I have tried installing various versions of this application, including this fork: https://github.com/dvhh/Android-Terminal-Emulator
I am unable to install the application on my Android device running kernel version 3.10.49 (jenkins@80b25755b68d #1 Fri Aug 18 23:17:19 JST 2017)
When running from the device, I get an error saying installation from unknown sources is forbidden (even though unknown sources are enabled in the settings)
Installation through adb reveals the real error:
>adb install C:\term-release.apk
C:\term-release.apk: 1 file pushed. 2.7 MB/s (572662 bytes in 0.199s)
        pkg: /data/local/tmp/term-release.apk
Failure [INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_INCONSISTENT_CERTIFICATES]

Device is a Kyocera DuraXE flip phone.
I have Googled this error and tried every solution I found.

I cannot uninstall and reinstall the app because the app is not installed to begin with
I have made sure unknown sources are enabled
I have tried rebooting the device
There are no "overlays" running on the device that I am aware of. It's a brand-new phone fresh from factory.

I'm at a complete loss as to what to do. I have also tried installing alternate software like termux but I get the same errors every time.
I tried running it on the device from Android Studio as well. Here is the result:
01/05 12:49:12: Launching Term
$ adb push C:\Users\myusername\ApkProjects\Term\Term.apk /data/local/tmp/jackpal.androidterm
$ adb shell pm install -t -r "/data/local/tmp/jackpal.androidterm"
    pkg: /data/local/tmp/jackpal.androidterm
Failure [INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_INCONSISTENT_CERTIFICATES]

$ adb shell pm uninstall jackpal.androidterm
DELETE_FAILED_INTERNAL_ERROR
Error while Installing APK

It gives me a pop up saying there was an error installing and to try uninstalling the package, but when I click OK i get "DELETE_FAILED_INTERNAL_ERROR", probably because the app isn't actually installed.
At a complete loss what to do

So just an update, it appears that this particular model of phone comes with a custom version of Android that Kyocera have basically restricted installation of all 3rd party apps on. I don't know of any way to bypass this restriction. If anyone does, please let me know.


text:
Pixel 2 Android Phone to Lenovo Windows 10 Bluetooth Won't Pair
My Pixel 2 Android phone WILL NOT pair via Bluetooth with my Lenovo ThinkPad Windows 10 laptop PC.  I have tried everything including uninstalling antivirus/firewall software on both devices.  Neither device detects the other device over Bluetooth.  Both devices detect all other in-range Bluetooth devices.  I have disabled the AirDroid app on my phone.  Of course both devices have Bluetooth enabled via their respective Settings selections.  I am at my wits end and want some help fast.  I am about to conclude that Microsoft Bluetooth doesn't want to talk to Google Bluetooth and vice versa despite the fact that Bluetooth is an open standard accepted throughout the industry.  Are there additional steps that need to be taken in order to make both devices "discoverable"?  I tried to install a Microsoft app on my Android phone in order to establish a Bluetooth link but the app wanted to take over my phone and I decided not to go through with the installation.  Any advice on this matter is welcome.

Are there additional steps that need to be taken in order to make both devices "discoverable"?

Yes. Android phones are discoverable only while the Bluetooth Settings activity is displayed. (There's a message in the activity to tell you this.) You need to scan for devices from your laptop while this activity is open on your phone.


text:
How can I change default timer ringtone
I have a samsung galaxy note 4 and I am wondering how can I change my defauly ringtone? Thanks

On a note 4, you can call on the menu button by long pressing the recent apps button on the bottom left of your phone.
(source: here, and personal experience)
So just go into the clock app, go to the timer tab, and long press on the recent button. You should now have the menu that you're talking about. If it doesn't come up, it's most probably because Samsung disabled the option.


text:
All files of the internal memory are duplicated on an LG G6
I have an LG G6 (has Android 7.1. An update with Android 8.0 is announced but not avaliable yet) with an SD card. The SD card went corrupt for some reason and after a phone restart, all files in the internal memory are listed twice. Somehow, a virtual folder named /sdcard/ (locaded at /storage/emulated/) is created and just mirrors the internal memory. I did a factory reset and the problem was fixed, but the SD card went corrupt again and the issue re-emerged. Is there a way to fix it without having to do a factory reset again? I'm not sure if it is completely related to the existence of the actual SD card either.


text:
Is there a way to load a dex file by an Android app from outside of its own package?
E.g., remotely downloading and executing a dex file by an Android app.


text:
Don't remove notification badges from applications when swiping the notification from the status bar. Oreo 8.0
On March 22, did the Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+ update. (For me and my colleagues at least.)

Samsung Experience Version 9.0
Android Version 8.0

One of the biggest features in Oreo 8.0 is the Notification Channels.
"Android Oreo will make you love notifications again".
Now it's possible to modify the notification badges to show numbers or dots, which you prefer yourself. Also notification snoozing and notification channels are some good features added with this update.
One annoying feature is: when you swipe away the notification from the status bar, does the notification badge remove too. Sure thing that you can snooze the notification for a certain amount of time. But also this option does remove the notification badge from your app untill the snoozing time has passed.
TL;DR
Is it possible to swipe a notification from the status bar, without removing the badge like it was possible in previous android versions?

Got the same issue with my S8. I keep on top of my notifications, but rely on the app markers as a longer term reminder. So now I have to cycle through certain apps to make sure I haven't missed something (having previously swiped notifications away). I'm sure some people might find this behaviour useful, but why not have it configurable??

This is a big UX issue with very low attention to my surprise.


text:
Folder "mtklog" on SDcard keeps getting full
I have a Jiayu G3S android phone.
Its system is a rooted Android version 4.2.1.
I've noticed that a folder called "mtklog" on my SDCARD was getting full with files (log files, I guess) until there was no empty space left.
So I learned on the internet that there is a "MtkLogger" app. This app is accessible via the "Engineer mode" (or some MobileUncleTools app of sorts).
The solution found on internet was to check the "/etc/mtklog-config.prop" file on my cellphone.
I looked into it, and indeed it exists on my phone. It contains some tags like mobile.log.enabled=false.
The solution guided to set all to false. Much to my surprise, all of them were already set to false.
All the logs were disabled already.
(Another kind of line referred to was max log size=300, and I've already changed it to 0 and 1 with no effect)
After lots of tests and research, I opened the MTKLogger app, which I had never done before. I had never seen the app screen. It allows to log events of 3 types (network, disk and cpu).
Ever since, this app opens on startup with all logging options set to on. It even started appearing on running process accused by the terminal.
Now, when that happens, I open the app via the notification, and use the options to STOP all logs and Delete all logs.
But when that happens (That is, the MTKLOGGER is logging and showing me it is logging), the log files go to "SDCARD/mtklog/mdlog" or "SDCARD/mtklog/netlog". These folders refers to the different log types I mentioned earlier.
What is strange is that none of these is the folder that originally bothered me. (i.e. "sdcard/mtklog/aee_exp")
And this folder keeps getting filled even with mtklogger not logging anything.
So now I have 2 problems: 1) MtkLogger keeps opening by himself, showing on the notification bar, with all logs enabled.
2) I still haven't found out the cause for the aeeexp folder to get filled. My guess is that another app is using it.
I have a Terminal Emulator app (with busybox commands installed).
Here's what I've already tried:

I've tried to create a file with the same name of the folder, so whatever is trying to write there, won't be able to. With that, all the logs went directly to internal storage. (Didn't work well and I gave up on this approach)
When I cleaned the internal storage, I cleared some *.zip files with random numbers as name.
I've tried to delete "/system/app/mtklogger.apk" and all the mtklog files that appeared as a find result on terminal.
I've tried to check running processes on terminal but no logging one appeared to me.
(The only one is Mtklogger, with started to run only after I opened it for the first time)
Is there a way to check what app/process is writing on that folder?
How can I  really unninstall the mtlogger app once and for all? What files should I delete? It has no option on
How can I investigate further on this?

I'm sorry for the long text and story-like question, I just couldn't sort clearly what informations would be useful or not.

After a while, and no valid answers, I have come up with the following workaround. The required steps are:

Have "Android Terminal Emulator" app installed, with busybox commands also installed (as described in question)
Make a list and check the folders that bother you. The list I've provided contains only files that I'm sure my phone won't need.
Create a bash script (.sh extension) with remove commands on that specific folders. Here is mine:

#!system/bin/sh
rm -rf /sdcard/mtklog
rm -f /data/log_other_mode/*
rm -f /data/core/*.zip
rm -rf /sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails

Place this script on an accessible folder. I've chosen mine to be /system/etc just as a convenience related to chmod'ing and such. And because unfortunately the sd-card is always mounted with "noexec" which means that you can't execute anything from here.
If you are not able to do so, it may be because your system folders are mounted as read-only. To change that, you need to do the following command in the terminal:

mount -o rw,remount,rw /system

and to revert it back to read-only:
mount -o ro,remount,ro /system

Note: You probably will need super-user (sudo) privileges in order to do these commands.

The terminal emulator contains an "Widget" option which allows you to place a shortcut to a command in your phone home page. I've used that option with the following command:

su -c /system/etc/scriptName.sh; exit

Every once in a while I click on this icon to make a clean. This asks permission for the user, since it contains a su command. When clicking "allow" the terminal finishes and closes automatically.

It's not an optimal solution since it needs the phone to be rooted, and you have to manually click the widget button. However, it was the best one for me, since making it run automatically would require it to ask for permission. I didn't want also to give the terminal emulator permanent access to su-privileges. My guess is that a more complex script can be made (e.g. one that monitors the size of the folders with the Disk-Usage command), but I'm happy as it is.


text:
Read Whatsapp message from Google Drive backup
I have WhatsApp backup file in my Google Drive account. How can I read WhatsApp messages on my laptop? I have tried it but can't be open on my Google account.

Sorry to say but there is no way to Access the WhatsApp or any other app backup in google drive only app can access their backup files we cannot access any file that is saved by any other application
But you can use WhatsApp web if there is any option for you


text:
No wifi for importing google data in lineageos gapps setup wizard
After fresh install of lineageos 14.1 and gapps ROMs, the gapps setup wizard asks whether to perform a fresh setup or to import data from the cloud, e.g. google backup using your google account.  Unfortunately, wifi is not setup yet by the wizard ensuring that any import from the cloud will fail.  Does this mean it's not possible to directly import your data from the cloud during lineageos gapps setup?

What's your question?

The last sentence is not rhetorical and ends in a question mark.

This is a silly bug, but it can be worked around by starting the fresh installation which will immediately prompt you to setup wifi.  Connect to your wifi then go BACK to the point where the import from cloud option is available and proceed with import of google data / installation of apps.

Should mark this as solved, at least it solved it for me.


text:
How can I stream audio from another device via Bluetooth?

Related question: How can I stream music/audio from Android and PC to Android device via WiFi?

I would like to stream audio from a Bluetooth-enabled "dumb phone" to my Andoid phone. The Android phone is running Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0.4). I have searched the Play store for such an app, but all I could find were applications that did the opposite (stream audio from the Android phone instead of to it).
Is this somehow possible?

George, please note that questions like is there an app for X are off topic here (see our [FAQ] for details). I took the freedom to slightly re-phrase it to prevent it from being closed. Your problem is not "to find an app", but "to stream audio", right? :)

Hello, Can you please help me regarding this same ? Any example code ? I cant find any tutorial to stream audio. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16789394/how-to-stream-audio-from-one-android-device-to-another-android-device-via-blueto

The Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) is a source/sink configuration. In an normal scenario, you have a source (for example, and Android phone) and a sink (Bluetooth headset/speakers). But in your case, the Android phone would have to act as a sink to the dumbphone source. This is not currently supported, even though the phone supports the A2DP profile.
One solution would be to install a custom Bluetooth stack, which defines which profiles are supported on the device. This would additionally require a software component that can bypass the Android Framework and use the stack directly, since the framework lacks A2DP sink support. So far, no such modifications can be found.

I'm guessing such a modification would also require rooting the device?

At the very least, probably even flashing a custom kernel/ROM.


text:
Samsung Galaxy S3 black screen and automatic reboots
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3, purchased on July 2012.
Sometimes, when I press the power button, the screen keeps black. The button LEDs turn on, but nothing else happens, and I have to remove the battery, or hold the power button for 20 seconds to force a reboot. It has happened to me 4 times; the first 2 were quite distant in time, but the last 2 were both this week.
Also this week, the phone has started to reboot itself. That has happened three times, two of them while I was using it, and the last one tonight, with the phone being idle (no wifi, no data connections, nothing). It just reboots automatically and then everything works fine.
I've never flashed the device, it's not even rooted. It's running Android 4.1.2, as I've installed all the official updates via OTA (base I9300XXELLA, kernel 3.0.31-836582, compilation number JZO54K.I9300XXEMA2). And no, I did not install recently any app which may be causing my problems.
So far, I've retired the microSD card (32GB card, manufactured by Samsung), because I've read that this may be the cause of the reboots. I'll try keeping it without the card for a few days. Although I've been using the same card for 5 months, and the reboots didn't start until this week. Edit: OK, we can rule out the SD card as the source of the problems - the phone also reboots itself without the microSD.
There are a lot of posts from people with similar problems, and most of the answers say they should try a factory reset. However, in most of the cases that doesn't seem to solve the problem. So, I didn't try it...  yet. Maybe I should, but I'm afraid that the problem will be still present, and it's a lot of trouble for nothing.
I've already contacted with Samsung customer service, but in the meantime, is there anything else I can do?
Can I at least diagnose somehow what's happening? I've read here about something called logcat, however they say the log is only kept on memory, it's not stored, so it would be of no help to determine what happened after a reboot or a black screen problem...
Any ideas?

Edit: the phone rebooted itself again, and this time the microSD card was not inserted. That means one suspect ruled out, but I still have to find the culprit.
Edit: it seems that the problems were solved after doing a factory reset. At least, the phone hasn't rebooted itself for the last 5 days...

If you feel it's worth the money, get yourself SystemPanel App / Task Manager (yes, there's also a free version -- but for this, you need the full one). The full version monitors your system in background and stores all collected information, so you can even watch it after a reboot. Try the free one first with "live monitoring" to see what information is available and if it suits your needs.

Thanks for the help, Izzy. But that app seems to collect only data related to CPU and memory usage, network activity, battery consumption... Could be useful if my phone had a bad performance, or the battery life was abnormal, but that's not the case, the phone works great (until it stops working and/or reboots itself). What I need is something like a system log where I can read what exception caused the reboot/crash.
Or, even better, somebody who had this same issue and managed to solve it... :)

Yeah, that's of course correct. My idea was it can at least show you which app(s) where "quite active" when it happened, so after a couple of times a pattern might become clear. So another idea would be to permanently capture logcat to your SDCard (say in files using a timestamp, each day a new one, so you can cleanup easier and also pick the interesting ones). Logcat Extreme would be a candidate for that, recording the logcat in background.

Just found: SaveLogCat even uses timestamped file names.

The problem with Logcat Extreme (and I guess SaveLogCat too?) is that they require to root the phone. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal, but I may end up sending the phone to be repaired, so maybe rooting it is not a great idea right now? I'm in the EU (Spain), I believe that it wouldn't void my warranty, buuuut...

Oh -- that problem with only seeing its own log entries (why do I always think that started with 4.2?)... In that case, it only leaves adb logcat if you want to go that way. Permanently hanging on a USB cable might be no option, which would turn this down as well (unless wireless ADB is possible without root)...

I gave up and did a factory reset. Since then, the phone has been working for 5 days in a row... so it seems like at least the reboots are gone (I hope not to jinx it...).
I've also noticed that since the reset, the battery lasts at least twice longer than before. I've fewer installed apps, which should lead to a slight battery life improvement, but this isn't slight, it's the double. Before the reset, at night (no data connections, no WiFi), the phone consumed about 1% of its battery per hour. Now it's consuming less than 1% in the whole night. Obviously there was something wrong before the factory reset. I hope everything is fine now...

In case it's helpful for anybody else, this what the Samsung Customer Service told me to do:

Start the phone in Secure Mode for a couple of days. That means that only preinstalled apps will work. So if that solves the problems, there is an app causing them. To enable Secure Mode, you have to reboot the phone, and press the options button (the left one) when the Samsung logo appears; it should vibrate, and then you will see "Secure Mode" at the left bottom corner. To disable Secure Mode, turn off the phone and extract the battery for a few seconds.
  --- For Verizon GSIII phones: after you reboot the phone, press and hold the volume down button  when the Samsung logo appears. Directions also state that you may need to hold the button for up to 45 seconds before you will see "Safe Mode" in lower left-hand corner. http://support.verizonwireless.com/support/devices/knowledge_base.html/59242/
Perform a factory reset (if the phone still has problems running in Secure Mode). To perform it, go to Menu > Settings > Backup & reset > Factory data reset. It will revert the phone to its original factory status, therefore, you will lose all the data and applications stored in your phone's memory (it will not affect the SIM card, nor the microSD if you have one). Be sure to backup everything you don't want to lose! You can use Samsung KIES for that backup.
If the phone still has problems after the factory reset, it should be checked by Samsung Technical Service.

I found that the battery in my phone was a little smaller than the battery holder in the S3. It seemed that my phone would reboot or just turn off with just the right shake. I put a small piece of duct tape in the holder at the opposite side of the battery contacts to make the holder have more of a press fit with the battery. Problem solved for me!


text:
how to install custom rom on mmx bolt a35
I want install the dream xperia a35 custom on my mmx a35.
I downloaded the base rom and main rom but how to install them in cwm recovery how to install the base rom and then main rom if base rom can be installed by install zip from sd card but how to install the main rom when where can i need to reboot mobile to install 2nd zip
give me both procedure with links detailed
thank you

It is an easy process but you can use only custom roms on the device. Just have look at this link
https://lifehacker.com/how-to-flash-a-rom-to-your-android-phone-30885281


text:
When I click "enable secure and erase" in Find My device it says "request sent", but nothing happens
I'm trying to enable remote locking and wiping for a phone. When I go to https://www.google.com/android/find  and click on “enable secure and erase” then it says "request sent", but I see nothing on the phone, no notification.
The strange thing is I can ring the phone via the web interface, so it reaches the phone, but I cannot enable lock and wipe, because I get no notification on the phone after "request sent". Why can this be?

Is find my device enabled in device administrator apps? Search your settings for device administrator

@beeshyams  yes, find my device is in device administrators and enabled

Obvious but asking - is your phone connected to Internet?

@beeshyams yes. I mentioned in the question that pressing the "play sound" button on the web interface does make the phone ring and there is even a notification then on the phone saying "find my device found your device". So there is a connection from the web, ringing works, but pressing the "enable&secure" button does not bring up a notification on the phone.


text:
Touch Screen not working
I am using Samsung Galaxy Pro B7510. The problem is that my touch screen is not working sometimes. It has been like this for several weeks. I use Pin lock feature to unlock the phone and EZanswer Trial to attend calls. This is possible only because of the qwerty keyboard. Without which I would be doomed. Some times the touch screen starts working for some time and then, without a warning, it becomes not responding. No error messages are seen.
This all started when after I upgraded it into GingerBread 2.3.6 and rooting . After seeing this problem, I downgraded into the stock rom, unrooted it, and everything.
Not sure if its a software issue or hardware problem.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I have had this issue before when I rooted my galaxy ace it was extremely random and I fixed it by flashing an old stock rom and then using Kies to upgrade to the latest.
If this doesn't work it would suggest that your digitizer has gone, or is in the process of going. If you have time remaining on your warranty, and have returned it to stock, you should be able to return it for repair to samsung.

I tried to update firmware after flashing stock rom, because I heard it may cure it, but kies always says that my phone doesn't support flash upgrade.

It is out of warrenty :-(
maybe digitizer is going to be gone, don't know.
Is there anyway I can check my digitizer?

If kies wont allow you to upgrade you are still using some form custom firmware. http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/ try getting a stock firmware from there.

Downloaded and Flashed...
But kies was always like that. Even the first time I connected(Stock ROM)

There is no way to check that I know of other than attempting to use your touchscreen and the issue you have with kies is very strange and something i have never heard of.

It might be because this phone is not as famous/marketed/sold like ace or S series..

One another thing,
The touch screen works for a few seconds when I press it too strongly...
I know it is dangerous for the phone and it might break, but Frustrated......

For future reference for anyone who comes to see this post,
CHANGE THE CHARGER!!!!!
Even if you are using the original one, My touch screen is working now...


text:
Why are personal dictionary entries unavailable in some input fields?
So my android 4.3 personal dictionary abbreviation/expansions work fine in some text inputs such as memo pad or text messaging, but it seems if the input is specialized such that it knows to expect an email or a phone number, the expansions are not available. Is there a way to make these always available when the keyboard is active without exception? If not, how can I otherwise avoid typing out my long email address when setting up settings, filling out web forms, etc?

As you've noticed, the app you're typing into can tell a "hint" to the keyboard app (or input method) to let it know what kind of text to expect, such as an email address. It's then up to the keyboard app to decide how to interpret that. For example, it can look in your contacts for email addresses.
You haven't said which keyboard app you're using, but from what you've described it seems that this app chooses to ignore expansions when it receives this hint. Since it's up to the keyboard app what to do, you might like to install and try out a different keyboard app. I don't use expansions/abbreviations myself, so I can't recommend one, but there must be one out there that lets you use them for email addresses, phone numbers, etc. as well as normal text.
Do bear in mind that a keyboard app can record all the text you type, so be extra careful to only install apps from reputable sources and developers.

OK, good tip. I'm using the stock android keyboard at the moment because in 4.3 and 4.4 the swyping is so good I haven't tried any third party ones yet, although I have tried several in the past on earlier android versions.