text:
Custom init rc constantly failing/rebooting
I created a custom .rc file (/etc/init/nerding.rc) which initializes a custom "service" I made (/system/bin/listen) at boot, but after an hour or so my Android gets sluggish, isn't very responsive and when I check the dmesg, my nerding thing has failed and restarted thousands and thousands of times. Like once every 3 seconds.
The idea behind my file is that it listens for specific volume key and touchscreen taps whereupon it then hides or unhides some specific apps. Think 'Apex,' but with less evidence.
I'll post the code and see if anyone has any suggestions/ideas. Please keep in mind that I only have JavaScript experience, so my BASH (or whatever Android's version is called) coding is haphazard at best. I am guessing my issue is because I'm not running my service as a 'oneshot,' but if I don't then the listen tool only listens once and quits. It needs to run every...2-5 seconds?

code for /etc/init/nerding.rc *

service nerding /system/bin/listen
   class main
   priority 10
   user root
   #oneshot
   seclabel u:object_r:system_file:s0

end of code

code for  /system/bin/listen *

#!/system/bin/sh
function checkQuickHide {
  ups=$( dmesg | grep '(released) HW keycode = 0' | wc -l )
  if [ $ups -gt 4 ]; then
    dmesg -C
    pm hide jackpal.androidterm
    hider
    exit
  else
    checkuptime
  fi
}
function checkuptime {
  #grab last 115 (volume up key)
  uptm=$(dmesg | grep 'keycode = 115' | tail -1 | tr -s ' ' | cut -d ' ' -f2 | cut -d ']' -f0 | cut -d "." -f0)
  if [[ $uptm -eq '' ]]; then
    dmesg -C
    exit
  else
    checkdowntime
  fi
}
function checkdowntime {
  #grab last 114 (volume down key)
  dntm=$(dmesg | grep 'keycode = 114' | tail -1 | tr -s ' ' | cut -d ' ' -f2 | cut -d ']' -f0 | cut -d "." -f0)
  if [[ $dntm -eq '' ]]; then
    dmesg -C
    exit
  else
    checkdiff
  fi
}
function checkdiff {
  daff=$(( $dntm-$uptm ))
  if [[ "$daff"  -gt 3 ]]; then
    dmesg -C
    exit
  fi
  if [[ "$daff" -lt 0 ]]; then
    dmesg -C
    exit
  fi
  fing1
}
#Screentouching
function fing1 {
  #first finger
  f1x=$( dmesg | grep 'tpd_down id: 0' | tail -1 | cut -d ':' -f4 | cut -d ',' -f0 )
  if [[ $f1x -eq '' ]]; then
    let f1x=1000
    exit
  fi
  f1y=$( dmesg | grep 'tpd_down id: 0' | tail -1 | cut -d ':' -f5 | cut -d '-' -f0 )
  if [[ $f1y -eq '' ]]; then
    let f1y=1000
    exit
  fi
  fing2
}
function fing2 {
  #2nd finger
  f2x=$( dmesg | grep 'tpd_down id: 1' | tail -1 | cut -d ':' -f4 | cut -d ',' -f0 )
  if [[ $f2x -eq '' ]]; then
    let f2x=1000
    exit
  fi
  f2y=$( dmesg | grep 'tpd_down id: 1' | tail -1 | cut -d ':' -f5 | cut -d '-' -f0 )
  if [[ $f2y -eq '' ]]; then
    let f2y=1000
    exit
  fi
  finglocs
}
function finglocs {
  if [[ $f1x -lt 740 ]]; then
    exit
  fi
  if [[ $f1y -gt 50 ]]; then
    exit
  fi
  if [[ $f2x -gt 50 ]]; then
    exit
  fi
  if [[ $f2y -lt 1200 ]]; then
    exit
  fi
  endgame
}
function endgame {
  dmesg -C
  app=$( pm list packages | grep jackpal.androidterm )
  if [[ $app != '' ]]; then
    pm hide jackpal.androidterm
    hider
    exit
  else
   # echo 'Reveal Hidden App'
    pm enable jackpal.androidterm
    pm unhide jackpal.androidterm
    exit
  fi
}
function hider {
  svc wifi disable
  appst=/data/data/jackpal.androidterm/app_HOME/apps.txt
  app=$( cat $appst )
  for x in `cat $appst`;
    do
      if [ -e /data/data/$x ]; then
        pm hide $x
      fi
    done
  exit
}
checkQuickHide

end of code
I'm sure this could be more succinct and efficient, but everytime I tried to combine some steps I broke it!
The error I constantly get in dmesg is (with a higher pid each time):
[  277.585578] (3)[1:init]init: Service 'nerding' (pid 4073) exited with status 0
[  277.585621] (3)[1:init]init: Sending signal 9 to service 'nerding' (pid 4073) process group...
[  277.585871] (3)[1:init]init: PropSet [init.svc.nerding]=[restarting] Done
[  282.457675] (1)[1:init]init: starting service 'nerding'...
[  282.458615] (1)[1:init]init: PropSet [init.svc.nerding]=[running] Done
[  282.458687] (1)[1:init]init: property_set("ro.boottime.nerding", "282427639311") failed: property already set

Please, any suggestions, revisions, or criticisms are greatly appreciated.


text:
Block audio and video playback in the browser in the background
Prehistory:
On the phone (android, xiaomi) of the child, "Google Family Link" is installed with a time limit for using applications (when the screen is on). But the child turns on an audiobook or video and turns on the screen lock - the media plays in the background and the time of using the phone does not increase.
Question: How to block media browser playback with a locked screen?
I did not find a solution in chrome://flag and phone settings (sounds, battery).
Turning off the sound in the tabs is also not an option (it's easy to turn it back).
Maybe I missed something and was looking in the wrong place?

Have you tried to block/restrict those media apps via https://support.google.com/android/answer/9346420?hl=en

You'll need to access the settings for the apps themselves. From your device settings to apps. Select your app. Find the battery usage Setting. In there you will be able to optimize battery usage. There should be an option to restrict or allow the app to continue running.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
ADB file transfer works on internal storage but not SD card
I am trying to transfer a large amount of files (>40k images and videos). I've had trouble transferring it by dragging and dropping in Windows File Explorer so I used the adb push command. It works on the internal storage of my phone just fine. However, when I try to do it on my SD card, it just refuses to start. It would be stuck at "daemon started successfully". I've tried restarting my computer, my phone and the adb connection, still same thing.
This is the command I tried:
adb push "D:\Pictures and Videos" "storage/A01D-69AC"

Phone Model: Xperia 1 III
SD Card: Toshiba Exceria 256 GB

expected behaviour, no permissions

@alecxs thank you, do you happen to know what i need to do to fix that?

@alecxs does not seem to be a permission problem, i manage to move single files using the same command, might just be a size issue

How old is the SD-card? What file-system  is the SD-card formatted with? As it is larger as 64Gb it should be formatted as FATex by default.

@Robert i am using toshiba exceria 256 gb exFAT formatted, the sd card is about half a year old.

@alecxs i've tried using usb 2.0, same issue. For now, i am just using an sd card reader to transfer the files.

The adb command in your question uses the path storage/A01D-69AC. I think this path missed the leading slash to be correct (to become an absolute path).

try adb over tcpip (wifi)

Remove the spaces in the folder in your computer.
then do this:

adb push D:\PicturesandVideos /storage/A01D-69AC/

Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.

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


text:
Can I change the default media player on Pumpkin Android 11 radio?
I have a USB disk with MP3 music connected. Everytime when the Pumpkin radio has booted, it recognizes the USB disk and starts the preinstalled media player automatically, which starts playing the first song from the disk. This is annoying, and furthermore, I'm not satisfied with this app cause it lacks relevant features.
I want that the media player "Phonograph", which I have installed, starts instead. I have asked Pumpkin support, they say it is not possible to change the default media player app. I have looked in the settings "Apps -> Standard apps", but there is no setting for the topic "Mediaplayer" available (there is a setting for the default browser and one other topic, only)
I tried to disable this default player app (I forgot the name) but not possible, is greyed out.
Does anyone have an idea? If possible, without root.
Thank you.


text:
adb server stutters ubuntu desktop
My environment is:
Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS (xubuntu to be more specific),
NVidia driver 470.103.01,
Android SDK 33
When I start adb server by running some adb commands, the UI, mouse and other things starts to lag and stutter, only terminal keeps responsive. You can see the type of lags I'm talking about on the video. Note that even when the cursor is lagging the terminal still works smoothly. The task manager doesn't seem to register any spikes neither on CPU nor on memory usage. Do you have any idea of how to debug or fix this issue? Probably you faced something similar?
Thanks in advance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YSdN9WtYQU
Edit:
If I use MX Master 2S bluetooth mouse which connects directly to the bluetooth integrated into the motherboard, I see the effect described above. But if I connect cheap bluetooth mouse via its' bluetooth dongle, I don't see the stutter effects, everything runs smoothly. Looks like adb somehow interfere with builtin bluetooth device

Have you connected an Android device via USB? If yes try what happens if you remove it. What other USB devices are connected?

Thanks, but no android devices connected. Even if I connect one and make adb recognize it, nothing changes, it still acts just like on the video

Reader's note: also posted on Ubuntu.SE: https://askubuntu.com/q/1450546/331791

Okay, so I ended up connecting the mouse using a USB dongle instead of built-in Bluetooth. Not a solution to the initial problem, but anyway, this is a note for somebody who faces similar issues.

Try starting your adb server as root with these commands in the terminal window:
adb kill-server        # Get rid of any running server
sudo adb start-server  # Start a new one running as root

If that does not start the stutter, try running your other commands and see if they stutter. In general, ADB works much better on Linux if the server is running as root.
OK, that isn't the problem, which seems to be something to do with the motherboard bluetooth controller. Check if there are driver updates for that, and for the USB controller?

Thanks for the answer, but unfortunately sudo doesn't make any differense, the same stutter, no changes

I've added more info to the question, looks like this is somehow related to the bluetooth device

Added another suggestion.


text:
Connect to ADB without confirming the box(Usb debugging is enable)
I have an Android with a broken screen and I want to access the Android without ADB check to see the Android screen in Windows.
(USB debugging is already active and the problem is only in confirming the box)
Phone : J1 Ace
Android : 5.1.1

That authorization dialog is a security feature to prevent an unauthorized person from accessing sensitive user data or installing malware into the device. You cannot bypass it. However, if OTG mode is enabled and working you could try a USB hub (1 outlet, 2 or more inlet) where one inlet is connected to a mouse and the other one to the PC. See if that arrangement works out. Using mouse you can click on OK on that dialog.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. Looks like you have found a similar question on How to enable Android USB Debugging option without the "Allow USB Debugging" popup?, though it is yet unanswered

you tagged the question with lollipop, so there is most likely a way to by-pass that by flashing modified boot.img

edit question and add phone info, such as model, android version, bootloader lock state

Just for the note: I checked, adb over wifi is not available in 5.0

@andrew-t Thank you, my Usb Debugging is enable, my problem is popup confirmation dialog

download ROM from samfw according to your region/carrier, extract boot.img, modify default.prop, repack boot.img into tar file and flash with older version of Odin3


text:
Changing cluster size of SD card formatted as exFAT from 128KiB to some lower value?
I'm using an app that allows me to download data for offline usage. The app is setup to store the data on my 64GB SD card. This all works fine, however, when I downloaded a larger set of data, i.e. some 6GB of data, that data used up some 30GB of storage space, and filled the SD card. I was baffled in the first place, so I had a deeper look at the data.
It turned out that the data consisted of some 120'000 files of 40KB in size, some larger, some smaller. I next had a look at the SD card and found it was formatted as exFAT and to use 128KiB blocksize (FX tells me so, I guess this should read cluster size).
I'm thinking about reformatting the SD card to use a smaller cluster size, say 48KiB or 64KiB, which would be more suitable for this kind of data.
Can this be done? Any inhibitors?

What is the filesystem used on the SD card? Put it in a Windows PC, right click on the drive in Explorer and select Format... There you can set the Allocation Unit Size, the options available vary with filesystem type used, but with exFat 32KB to 64KB is common default for that size, but you can manually set it as low as 2KB. Note that the more you reduce the Allocation Unit Size the more R/W performance will suffer.

I have updated the Q and added the filesystem type (exFAT). Sorry, I missed to write that since FX app already told me.

I have changed the cluster size in the meantime. Copied everything from the SD card to my Windows machine, then used Windows' Explorer context menu "Format" to reformat the SD card.
A big part of the 200'000+ files I need to add are smaller than 32KiB, another large chunk is between 32KiB and 48KiB, so I chose 32KiB as cluster size. (48KiB would have been a better choice but this is not supported for cluster size)
Copied everything back to the SD card, and was able to store the full 6GiB set of those small files. They now occupy only some 10GiB compared to 30GiB not having been enough before reformatting.
I haven't seen any negative impact of this change so far, but is is only a day since.


text:
How to copy screen lock password from one device to another in Android11?
So I'm trying on copying the Android 11 screen lock password to another same device
our customer does not want to set the password one by one
and I find out a resolution:  copying files
However it only works in the scenario if the device password is not been set.
while copying the file below to the device without a password  after rebooting the device the screen lock will show up and the password is as expected**
Unfortunately, it will not work if the device's password has been set; the screen lock will still show up but the password was not as expected
What did I miss here? Does anyone know?
the code below what I am trying to do  is to copy
1.locksettings.db
an SQLite database containing the lock screen settings
2.copy /data/system_de/0/spblob/*
In order to unlock a real user, you need to know a synthetic password. However it's encrypted by the Keystore, so you need the real password to unlock the Keystore first
for example
.00000000000.handle: return value of gatekeeper first enroll by synthetic password derived password
handle.pwd: the second gatekeeper enroll by real password with a fake user ID (e.g. user_id + 10000).
handle.secdis: Actually a random number. Used to encrypt the synthetic password.
handle.spblob: encrypted synthetic password
3.
copy /data/misc/keystore/user_0/
keystore key. Used for encrypting synthetic passwords.
cp -rf /storage/self/primary/export/configuration/Settings/lock* /data/system/

chown system:system /data/system/locksettings.db
chmod 660 /data/system/locksettings.db

rm -rf /data/system_de/0/spblob
mkdir /data/system_de/0/spblob/
chown system:system /data/system_de/0/spblob
rm -rf /data/misc/keystore/user_0
mkdir /data/misc/keystore/user_0/
chown keystore:keystore /data/misc/keystore/user_0

cp -rf /storage/self/primary/export/configuration/data/spblob/* /data/system_de/0/spblob/

chown system:system /data/system_de/0/spblob/*
chmod 600 /data/system_de/0/spblob/*

cp -rf /storage/self/primary/export/configuration/data/keystore/* /data/misc/keystore/user_0/

chown keystore:keystore /data/misc/keystore/user_0/*
chmod 600 /data/misc/keystore/user_0/*

For additional question:
Yes those command above need to run under root acces ,however because it is a customize os so we make those command run under a system service and fix some sepolicy avc error so the customer do not have root acces for sure and we can run those command even under an unroot device

Is locksettings command not useful for you in this context? See https://android.stackexchange.com/a/194779/96277

@Firelord yes this solution is also been cosidered for us.  but we need to know the customers password first . We have  like thousands of  same device  on the customers hand it will be disaster if they forgot their password .  So the best solution for us is to try copying files between devices without knowing their password. Fortunately we have full access of our customize os so we are trying on this approach

Those files are only accessible with root permissions, so all the devices for the customer are rooted? I would really be surprised if you can change the lock screen PIN by copying files. There should be the Gatekeeper running in the ARM TrustZone which you can not copy as it should be device unique. Even if it works the first time you should test if it still works after changing the lock screen PIN.

@Robert Thanks for reply .For dev we have somesort of debug mode os and yes we have full access,but for customer they absolutely dont have the root access . However we can run those command under a system service and fix sepolicy avc error so we can copy those file even if we dont have the root access on customer os . and yes we have test some test program to test the stuff we are doing it work on if the device is not been set password and we believe we can accomplish even if the password if been set. we done this on Android 9 before and it works well for couple years not sure what they change


text:
PNG Image Files Become Corrupt Shortly After Transferring From Computer
I am running Android 12 on a Galaxy A12 phone. Recently, out of the blue, image files that I transfer to my phone from my computer have been having the following problem:
At first, right after I transfer them, they are OK. I can view them in Gallery. When I'm done, I'll close that app. Later, I'll need to view them again, so I'll go back into gallery, but they will be corrupted. Gallery will just tell me "Unsupported Media" or some such nonsense and refuse to display them. I can transfer them over from the computer again, replacing the corrupted files, and they will work again for my first session of viewing them... and then they won't.
This never used to be a problem.
I am saving them to my external SD card. I have not tried saving them on the phone's internal storage, but that would not be feasible. My internal storage is tight, and I need to conserve it. The images happen to be PNG format images. That is what I use most commonly. I avoid JPEG due to it being a lossy format. But I CAN verify that this problem happens to GIFs as well.
I have tried using Gimp on my computer to open and resave the original images in the hopes that there was just something odd about the files, and Gimp would save them "properly". That actually worked for a few of them for a while, so I thought that that was the problem, but then even that stopped fixing them. Even my gimp-saved images started doing this.
I have tried installing and using several other gallery apps in the hopes that the default one was just stupid, but no luck. Nothing can view them once they spontaneously corrupt like this. I don't even know what causes them to go corrupt. Sometimes they will work for a few viewing sessions, quitting and restarting the Gallery and coming back to view them later a few times. Sometimes they will go bad after the first session. I can never predict when they will die.
Even more confusing, sometimes the thumbnail will become corrupt along with the image, causing the Gallery to display a blank icon both when listing images and viewing individual ones, and sometimes only the full image will get corrupted, so that I can see the thumbnail in lists, but not the full-screen image when I try to view it. It is completely unpredictable which images will do which.
I am at a complete loss here. Has anyone ever encountered this and/or does anyone know what is happening?
EDIT: I should also mention that any images saved before this started happening don't get corrupted. This only happens to images newly transferred after the problem started.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. I don't use an external SD card, so all of this is basically a guess, but could it be that the SD card might be encrypted? How did you set up the SD card; as portable storage or as internal/adopted storage?

What happens if you copy the corrupt image files back to the computer and compare them to their original source files? Are they still identical?

Samsung, external SD, photos? Ouch. My wife swears on Samsung. That combination ALWAYS turned out as you described: the Sammy phone breaking the SD card – on EACH of those devices (3 Galaxies meanwhile). Please check: does the same problem occur if you copy the photos to the internal card? I bet not. Which most likely means your Sammy ate your external card, as (to my experience) all Sammies do.

Just tried transferring back to the computer, and yeah. The file from the phone is wrecked. Both Gimp and Windows Photo Viewer are unable to open it, saying that the file is corrupt.
Next I'll try saving to the phone's internal storage...

As for how I set the card up, I have absolutely no idea. Portable storage? Internal adopted storage? What's the difference? All I did was shove it into the appropriate slot on the side of the phone for that purpose before starting the phone up.

Then there is a high chance that the SD-card is defect in any way. How old is the SD-card? If it is new it may be a fake card claiming to have more space as really flash chips are inside and writing to it overwrites existing data. If the card is old it may be simply be defect because of too many writes.

I don't remember how old it is exactly, but yeah. I guess it's at least kind of old. But I still don't want to risk yet another SD card on this phone if, as Izzy says, every one of his wife's Sammys have always broken their cards like this (and that I have now tried saving to internal storage and verifying that this is indeed the issue he describes). I think there's a much higher chance that it was the phone, not the card.

Furthermore, my Motorolla phones never had this problem with their cards. So I'm pretty sure the problem is Samsung. I switched on a whim to try something new. That was a bad idea. I liked Motorolla, and I should go back as soon as I can.

As @Izzy advised, I tried saving my pictures to the internal storage instead of the SD card. It seems he was right. The answer to my problem is simply that Samsung Phones have a major defect. In this case, eating/destroying my SD card.
At every turn, through one incident after another, I have been finding that experimentally switching from Motorola to Samsung when last I needed a new phone was the worst phone decision I ever made, and this incident has been the worst yet.
Never buy Samsung. Period. That is the answer/solution. And if you already have, your only solution is to discard it for something that actually works, instead of being actually LESS than not working--actually malicious.

I have used Samsung phones for 10+ years and I have used an SD card (the same one in fact) for at least 6 years.  And I replace my phone almost every 18 months. I have had no problems.  Perhaps you should be looking at the quality of your SD card !

No. Pretty sure it's the phone. See Izzy's comments on the original question. According to him, every one of his wife's Sammys have always broken their cards like this. I think there's a much higher chance that it was the phone, not the card.

Furthermore, my Motorolla phones never had this problem with their cards. So I'm pretty sure the problem is Samsung. I switched on a whim to try something new, not because there was anything wrong with Moto. That was a bad idea. I liked Motorolla, and I should go back as soon as I can.

Thats as much proof as my comment, which makes it null and void.  My wife also uses Samsung, and similarly, no SD card has ever been destroyed, ever.  ITs more likely to be the quality of the sdcard or some app you may have on the phone.  And I have 300+ apps, and it still works. !!!  As I change my phone, I take it out and plug into the new one.  I have swapped phones 4 times this year.

@Rohit Gupta My Sammy recently got destroyed since posting this question, and I had to buy a new phone. I switched back to Moto. It's cheaper, and better. It is already showing up my Sammy to have been relatively expensive garbage at every turn. I'll have to wait and see if it handles data transfer from computer to the card any better, but if it does, then consider the "More proof than your comment" acquired. I suspect it will, since the Motos I had previously to the Sammy did.


text:
How do I get my 3 button controller on Wired Headphones to work/get enabled in Android 12?
I have just acquired a Lenovo M9 tablet running Android 12.
It has a 3.5 mm port for audio output.
All my wired headphones of various brands that have worked on all my previous Android devices, do not work with this tablet.
I can get Audio out but I cannot use the volume+/-, PLAY/PAUSE hard buttons on my headphones. They don't work at all.
Bluetooth headphones work OK.
My main reason for using wired headphones is so I can doze off and my ears don't have something sealing them, and I have a hand disability so find it hard enough to find my ear let alone trying to tap a sequence out. I can operate a controller though.
Lenovo couldn't help me but somewhere in the Android O/S there must be an option to enable external device to take over controls using wired 'phones?
Or, does it require the port to be of a particular type?
My workaround has been to use the Accessibility Shortcut to have a menu at side of screen to tap on, then I can use volume up/down but I still have to go to the notification shade to play/pause media. And that is still delayed with my awful dexterity.
I also searched for both the Headset Droid and Headset Controller Button apps which were both recommended on this forum 3 yrs ago but neither of those apps appear in Google's Play Store.
I do feel this could be remedied with correct drivers, but not a clue how to do that. I would be most grateful if someone could give me a fix to enable a hard controller. Or even a way to get play/pause/volume in an accessible but discrete floating button on-screen would help. I've tried loads of apps that just weren't that easy to use. Sorry, I can't remember which I used, they were all called volume control with no play or pause . Thanks :)

There are two different pin orders for headphones: CTIA and OMTP, see https://hardwarerecs.stackexchange.com/q/15086/21257 and https://source.android.com/docs/core/interaction/accessories/headset/jack-headset-spec?hl=de

Try using a settings database editor (e.g., SetEdit — you'll likely need to grant it additional permissions via ADB, per the instructions included within the app description on G Play market — and check your Secure Table for the following key/value pairing:
media_button_receiver : ComponentInfo{com.mxtech.videoplayer.pro/com.mxtech.videoplayer.MediaButtonReceiver},0,1
The included example value is for MX Player, you may need to research the value you need for your specific use case.


text:
Change Chrome Tab View/Layout
I have a problem with changing Chrome Tab View/Layout.
Before I had this tab view:

Now I have this tab view:

I don't know how and why it is changed. Perhaps, due to Chrome auto-update?
How to get back?
What I've already tried so far:

Chrome -> Settings -> Accessibility -> Uncheck "Simplified view for open tabs", but my Chrome does not have Simplified view for open tabs:

chrome://flags -> Tab Grid Layout, but my Chrome does not have Tab Grid Layout:

Very confused. Need help.

"but my Chrome does not have 'Simplified view for open tabs'" it's only available if other accessibility services are enabled, though it's not the culprit for the design change.

Meanwhile, the change looks like related to the recent redesign of using Material You, though I was unable to see the difference even after toggling the flag.

@AndrewT. After I enabled "Switch Access" the "Simplified view for open tabs" appeared. However, enabling the "Simplified view for open tabs" does not change the tab view/layout. Furthermore, accessing https://www.androidpolice.com/ leads to This page isn’t working right, www.androidpolice.com didn’t send any data., ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE.


text:
Gboard's "Spell check" does not work: why and how to fix?
I have an Android 10-powered smartphone with Gboard (v12.9.20) installed. In Gboard, the "Spell check" is enabled. The problem is that the spell check does not work: if I type in the Gmail app "hellowx" (for example), it isn't marked with red underlines.
What I've tried so far:

clear Gboard cache
clear Gboard storage
force stop Gboard
restart the smartphone

No effect: if I type in the Gmail app "hellowx" (for example), it isn't marked with red underlines.
Any ideas why the spell check doesn't work? How to fix it?

UPD: It works in Gmail in "Subject" input field. It does not work in Gmail in "Compose email" field:

Very unexpected. Is it a bug in Gmail?

UPD2. In Gmail desktop web version I selected "Spelling suggestions off" (UPD3: AND clicked the "Save" button at the bottom):

The spelling keeps working in Gmail Android app in "Subject" input field, but keeps not working in Gmail Android app in "Compose email" field:

The Gmail Android app was re-opened. Any ideas how to proceed?

Does it work in other apps? Messages, for instance?

Yes, it works in Messages and WhatsApp. Any ideas why it does not work in Gmail?

UPD: It works in Gmail in "Subject" input field. It does not work in Gmail in "Compose email" field. Very unexpected.

Yes, I think we have the evidence to say this is a Gmail behavior. My guess, based on other Google products, is that Gmail has some sort of it's own spell check that's expecting to run that prevents the Gboard one from processing that text. I haven't found a setting yet, but will continue to look.

WOW, I found a solution that works for me. I'll post it as an answer, but it's super strange, and would change the question to be more about Gmail than Gboard - we may consider editing the question as appropriate.

Gmail has a setting on the web for spell checking which, ironically, disables the checking done in the Android app (presumably by Gboard). If you go to Gmail on the web, open settings, and turn Spelling to "Spelling suggestions off," this should allow the Gmail app to show the red lines for misspelled words.
Interestingly, this seems to be using the system spell check rather than Gboard (see the different underlines and spelling suggestions), but will at least achieve spell check within the Gmail app.

I don't have access to Gmail non-HTML version. Neither in Android Gmail version nor in Gmail HTML version I cannot find "Spelling" option. It seems that all these Gmail versions (mobile, desctop, web, etc.) use different UI.

If I open on Android Gmail HTML version and scroll down and click Gmail view "standard", then it opens Gmail mobile version. Very confused. Is it a bug? How to open Gmail non-HTML (i.e. standard) version on Android?

It's much easier to access via a desktop browser, but if you don't have access, I was able to reach the settings I needed by going to HTML gmail on mobile and selecting "Desktop site" from the chrome overflow menu (three dots).

Thanks! See UPD2.

This is going to sound silly, but when you set those settings in "web" Gmail, did you make sure to click the "Save" button at the bottom? It's small, and the settings don't auto-save.

Yes, I clicked the "Save" button at the bottom. I am aware of this peculiarity.

I also checked that the next time I open the settings in the "web" Gmail the "Spelling suggestions" is "off".

I figured, but always worth checking. Wild that we can see such similar details yet different results. I'll let you know if I find anything else that may help.

Thanks! Extra: I also see that spell checking does not work in Chrome for Android in text input fields. However, this seems to be another issue.

FYI: for a long time I have another issue with Gboard: from time to time the cursor keeps blinking, but the Gboard does not appear. How am I supposed to type? I don't know whether this is Android bug or Gboard bug. Or both.


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My old Android 7 phone can't connect to my Hotspot
I've an old Android 7 phone that can connect to my home WiFi just fine, on 2.4 GHz and on 5 GHz. But if I start an hotspot on my Pixel 7, the old phone can't connect to it... But if I try to connect to my hotspot with another phone, it's working fine, so it's not the hotspot...
The old phone can see the network, but it alternate between connecting and saved... It can't connect...
I've tried to activate Extend compatibility, it doesn't change anything.
Do you have an idea what the problem could be?

On Android 7 you may try changing the wifi encryption from WEP to WPA if available, which is supported by newer Pixel phones. WEP was found to have weakness and that's why newer phones like Pixel7 come with WPA encryption.

Hi. OP mentioned that their Android 7 device does not connect to the hotspot created by Pixel 7. A client device cannot change encryption setting of a Wifi outside of its control. Only the Access Point device can (which is Pixel 7 in this case). So changing hotspot's encryption setting on Android 7 is not something OP can do. Second, it is not established so far that OP's Android 7 device is incapable of connecting to a Wifi with WPA encryption.


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Pixel 7 Pro on Android 13 does not natively recognize exFAT-formatted 4tb Crucial X10 USBC SSD
Title says most of it. I have a Pixel 7 Pro and a Pixel Tablet. I just got a Crucial X10 4TB portable SSD, which advertises as compatible with Android. I have Solid Explorer installed, and when I plug the SSD into the tablet or phone, Solid Explorer sends me a toast saying it's preparing the USB drive. Except it never appears or enumerates. Solid Explorer can't see it, nor can Android Files. Neither recognize the existence of the drive. I can mount it on any of my Windows machines, as well as Chrome OS. (Interestingly, Chrome OS shows two devices on this drive, one called "USB Drive" which has no FS, and the other called "X10 Pro" that has all the files there. Not sure what's up with that, never seen it before).
I have installed the Paragon exFAT app and Total Commander, and that combination uniquely lets me interact with the drive, and only via Total Commander.
I read that Android 13 added exFAT support, and I've used exFAT USB flash drives on my Android devices before, so I am not sure what is going on with this.
I have a 2TB BeeDrive that I can connect to natively on Android and Windows without any utilities, and it is also formatted exFAT. What's going on here? Is the 4TB X10 too big or something?
Any help is appreciated.
**EDIT:**I realized that the X10 and the BeeDrive were different disk formats, BeeDrive is MBR and X10 is GPT formatted. Time to play with disk manager and see if that's the problem

Are you sure that the SSD gets enough power from the phone to operate correctly?

Yep, tried via a powered hub as well. Turns out Crucial in their infinite wisdom had two partitions. The first, which Android attaches to by default, was only 15MB and had no file system or partition structure. I nuked it in diskpart and recreated the GPT record & one single partition, now it works

This was dumb. Crucial put a 15MB unformatted, locked partition at offset 1024k that has no partition/fs data. Android hooked that first, useless, partition and ignored the second. I went into diskpart and was able to rebuild with one partition
DISKPART> LIS DIS
  # My problematic drive is Disk 1
DISKPART> SEL DIS 1
DISKPART> LIS PAR
  # My main data partition & the volume are on Partition 2
DISKPART> SEL PAR 2
DISKPART> LIS VOL
  # Partition 2 is mounted at Volume 6
DISKPART> SEL VOL 6
DISKPART> DEL VOL
DISKPART> LIS PAR
  # After deleting the volume, diskpart got rid of the corresponding partition
  # If you still see your partition in this list, run the next step, otherwise skip
DISKPART> DEL PAR # SKIP if diskpart removed your partition for you
DISKPART> SEL PAR 1
DISKPART> DEL PAR OVERRIDE
DISKPART> CLE
DISKPART> CON GPT
DISKPART> CRE PAR
DISKPART> LIS PAR
  # There should only be one partition listed for the full drive size
DISKPART> SEL PAR 1
DISKPART> LIS VOL
  # You should see a volume with an * next to it, with a RAW FS and the size of your disk
  # If you see the volume but there is not a * you need to select it (replace 6 with your volume number)
DISKPART> SEL VOL 6
DISKPART> FOR FS=EXFAT LABEL="X10 Pro" QUICK
DISKPART> LIST VOL
  # The selected volume should now have a Label and an exFAT filesystem
DISKPART> ASS
  # This will assign a letter to the volume and mount it in Windows
DISKPART> LIS VOL
  # Verify that your new volume has a letter under the Ltr column. If so, done!
DISKPART> EXIT

**To verify correct partition setup**
DISKPART> LIS DIS
  # Note which number is assigned to your disk (2 in this example)
DISKPART> SEL DIS 2
DISKPART> LIS PAR
  # This should only have ONE partition, if it has more then something went wrong
DISKPART> SEL PAR 1
DISKPART> LIS VOL
  # Ensure that the selected volume (denoted by a *) has the expected Ltr, Label, FS, Type, and Size
DISKPART> EXIT

And that's it. Stupid formatting from the factory.
EDIT: This seems to completely break the Crucial Storage Executive program from recognizing this disk. My guess is that the micro "partition" causing problems was actually a chunk of metadata or memory-mapped interfaces for I/O with the control software.


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Tasker service still want to start after uninstalling it
Here is a warning from my Logcat

07:04:44.099 ActivityManager( 1143)  Unable to start service Intent {
  act=android.service.notification.NotificationListenerService
  cmp=net.dinglisch.android.taskerm/.NotificationListenerService } U=0:
  not found

I unistalled Tasker a few months ago.
Why is there still a call to start a service?

I incidentally downloaded "Settings Database Editor" (by4a.setedit22) and found in "Secure Table" a reference to Tasker notification. So I deleted it. I also found a lot of ES file browser (+ Baidu) references (also uninstalled some months ago), deleted them too.


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Battery drain issue on idle phone, how to find out the culprit?
Overnight, starting from a 100% charge, all apps closed, even from a fresh reboot, screen of course off, my phone (Redmi 6) ends up with a ~90% charge. I know this is abnormal, as my previous phone (Redmi 5A, with worn out battery) ends up with ~99% in the same situation.
That's quite annoying to know that something needlessly drains my battery! I'm pretty sure it's due to some software bug. Encountering the issue as well on MIUI 10 and 11.
I'd like to find out the culprit in order to fix the issue. What can I do?

For the record, my syslog receives the following two errors a lot (several per second):
BoostFramework() : Exception_1 = java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.qualcomm.qti.Performance
BoostFramework() Ux Perf : Exception = java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.qualcomm.qti.UxPerformance

(then, just in case, I went to the Developer options and fully disabled logging, who knows! But it didn't fix the battery issue.)

Also for the record, I have already done a lot of googling about that battery drain issue, and tried the following fix: Go to "Settings > App > Permissions > Autostart" and disable everything (in my case I only had "Camera" enabled). Sadly, it didn't fix the issue.

Update:
I've had run "Battery usage stats" during the day, and it reported me that the screen was most (like 90~95%, as I recall) using the battery, followed by a few % by the networks (cell, wifi).
But here I just looked at "Battery usage stats" and it gave me interesting results: Screen 35%, Cell standby 31%, Wifi 24%…
This is something I was also suspecting. It's highly possible the battery drain is caused by network (both cell and wifi) activity, which in turn could be caused by some software bug. Even though I made sure that no apps or widgets are running. What could I do to investigate further this path? Maybe there is some setting (possibly advanced) that could fix the issue?

Update 2:
As suggested in the comments, I tried "airplane mode" (i.e. cell and wifi networks disabled) and it seems to solve the issue. I think that both, cell and wifi, cause battery drain.
However, that adds an annoying handling step, and I cannot receive calls while in airplane mode. I wish I could avoid that extra handling. I usually don't use wifi, so I'll try disabling only wifi and see if it's sufficient.
The MediaTek chipset of the Redmi 6 definitely seems to be a bad pick. This chipset forbids almost any custom ROM, and now I discover it's not energy-efficient at all for networks…

Update 3:
Some feedback after an extensive period of testing. I can keep cell network and mobile data always on, turning the wifi off seems to be sufficient. Overnight, the battery goes down to barely 99%, it reaches 98% at the very worst… sometimes it even stays at 100% :)
Coupled with a good mobile plan, I just keep the wifi always off, and no longer think about this issue :)

What do you see in battery usage? 2. Is the phone hot/warm on morning, or cold? If hot, it is likely power consumption issue. If cold, it is more likely power supply issue.

@v6ak 1) I have added an update to my question. Thanks to you, I looked again at "Battery usage stats" and it gave me some hint. 2) Phone is cold (and just to make sure: it is unplugged). I think the battery is drained slow enough so that the phone doesn't warm up.

What happens when you put the phone in flight mode for a night?

Is your phone in air plane mode (Wifi and mobile disabled)? Because I have never seen a device that has a battery usage of 1% overnight without having all interfaces disabled.

@GrasDouble Aha, for some reason, I implicitly assumed it was being charged overnight. If not, then the phone is unlikely to be hot on morning.

I'll try the "airplane mode" over a night, and I'm pretty confident it will fix the issue. However, it would be annoying having to switch the airplane mode on/off again and again… and I wouldn't receive calls/messages… I'd prefer to avoid having to do this… Is this some design flaw of the Mediatek Helio P22 chipset?

I added "update 2" to my question. Any suggestion to improve the situation would be very welcome :)

I also noticed this now, my wifi usage shows as it is "active" all the time in the battery usage graph details.  I wonder if it's got to do with changing the wifi hardware but keeping the same SSID and password? That's the only thing I've done recently that might have started causing this? Perhaps "forget the wifi network" on the phone and re enter the password by connecting again to it?

Another question, is your Wifi-Assistant off? Goto to Settings -> Wifi -> Additional Settings to turn it off

Related: WiFi drains battery even if it's off

I had this same issue, it seems to be related to media control apps like Spotify and Google Home mini always staying on and keeping wifi awake.
Also check for any other network connected devices that could be spamming. Could be a printer, or a laptop even, anything on the network is a suspect.
Also try this which seems to have helped:

Removing fingerprint unlock. Perhaps I had 3 fingerprints, before I had 2, maybe that affected battery life and device being active.
Removing one of the themes from the miui Themes app, it seems dodgy, using default theme seems to be helping too.

Network changes:

Some routers and your phone's wifi chip might be a bit funny, so perhaps switch to Static fixed IP address for your phone instead of a dynamic DHCP ip address.
Also try fixing the Wifi Router's Channel to a specific channel instead of leaving it on automatic. (Use WirelessNetView on PC to see which channels are quieter in your neighbourhood, choose between 1, 6 or 11 only)

Indeed, it could be interesting to monitor the network activity and check if there's something unusual. For instance, I'm surrounded with residential gateways with wifi, and had thought that at least one of them might cause the issue (for example because of repeated lookups). So we could determine if the battery drain is caused just by having the wifi module turned on, or when there is network activity in addition. But for my case, I have just turned the wifi off on the phone and called it a day.


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How to Upgrade Sony Xperia Z3 Compact (D5803) to Android 8.1?
How do you upgrade the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact (D5803) to Android 8.1?
There are a number of web pages that attempt to answer this question, but none of them provide every step along the way. These include:

https://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/general/z3-compact-marshmallow-to-oreo-step-step-t3720857
https://www.getdroidtips.com/omnirom-xperia-z3-compact-8-1-oreo/
https://rootmygalaxy.net/install-android-8-1-oreo-on-sony-xperia-z3-with-carbonrom-cr-6-1/
https://arnowelzel.de/en/carbonrom-on-the-sony-xperia-z3-compact
https://www.kbloghub.com/2018/02/root-install-twrp-recovery-on-sony-xperia-z3-compact.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyXperia/comments/5vt6cs/flashing_marshmallow_concept_rom_on_a_sony_xperia/

They all skip steps or are missing key pieces of information that someone who is unfamiliar with the process would prevent from completing. A comprehensive, step-by-step guide for a complete novice would be helpful.

Disclaimer: unlocking the bootloader will lose some Sony proprietary DRM protected functionality, such as X-Reality Engine and Miracast. And there's no way to get it back if it's gone, unless you make a backup of a specific partition. More details here: https://www.xda-developers.com/restore-lost-functionality-unlocked-xperia/

Upgrade Sony Xperia Z3 Compact to Android 8.1
These instructions describe how to upgrade the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact (D5803) smart phone. These instructions do not include backup instructions, so be sure to save any important information and then proceed at your own risk.
Requirements

Laptop or Desktop - Windows 7
Xperia - Stock Build Number 23.5.A.1.291 (revert if necessary)
Xperia - Fully charged (100% recommended)
Xperia Companion
TWRP

Disclaimer
These instructions could brick your phone, rendering it a paperweight. Read all the instructions thoroughly at least once before you begin.
Unlocking the bootloader erases Sony's DRM-protected functionality, such as X-Reality Engine and Miracast. Unless you make a backup of a specific partition, the functionality will be permanently lost.
Enable Developer Mode
Enable developer mode on the phone as follows:

Power on the phone
Open Settings
Tap About phone
Scroll down to Build number
Tap Build number at least 7 times in succession
Enable developer mode

Developer mode is enabled.
Install Device Drivers
On the laptop or desktop computer, perform the following steps:

Disconnect Phone from USB, if not already disconnected
Download Flashtool v0.9.24.4 for Windows

Hint: Use BitPort.io and a throw away email service to download torrent (fast download)

Install into C:\Flashtool
Plug phone into laptop or desktop USB port
Run C:\Flashtool\drivers\Flashtool-drivers.exe
Check Flashboot Drivers
Scroll down
Check Xperia Z3 Compact Device Driver
Click Install
Accept any warnings that appear

The device drivers are installed.
Install Platform Tools
Download and install the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) as follows:

Download ADB platform tools
Unzip into C:\Program Files\platform-tools
Open a command prompt
Type: cd C:\Program Files\platform-tools
Type: adb devices
Authorize the connection on the phone.

The phone is listed and the ADB platform tools are installed.
Unblock the Bootloader
Advanced users can use Flashtool to unlock the bootloader, which is not described herein.
Unblock the phone's bootloader as follows:

Follow along with Sony's Guide
Complete Step 1: Check if the bootloader can be unlocked on your device
Skip Step 2: installing devices drivers and platform tools
Unplug the USB cable
Complete Step 3: Connect to Fastboot
Complete Step 4: Enter unlock key
Type: fastboot -i 0x0fce oem unlock 0x{UNLOCK CODE}

Replace {UNLOCK CODE} with the unlock code from Sony

The console shows:
...
OKAY [  1.544s]
finished. total time: 1.560s

The bootloader is unlocked.
Reboot
After the bootloader is unlocked, reboot the phone as follows:

Type: fastboot reboot
Wait for the reboot cycle to complete

The phone is rebooted with an unlocked bootloader.
TWRP
TWRP is a tool for writing custom software on mobile phones. Install TWRP as follows:

On the phone, visit https://twrp.me/sony/sonyxperiaz3compact.html
Install the Official TWRP App from the Play Store.
Download image into C:\Program Files\platform-tools:

twrp_z3c_O_2018-10-27.img

Power off phone
Unplug USB cable
Press and hold volume down
Plug in USB cable
Wait for blue indicator light in top left (may have to re-plug in)

Or run: adb reboot bootloader

Type: fastboot flash FOTAKernel twrp_z3c_O_2018-05-09.img

The output resembles:
target didn't report max-download-size
sending 'FOTAKernel' (10730 KB)...
OKAY [  0.345s]
writing 'FOTAKernel'...
OKAY [  0.722s]
finished. total time: 1.075s

TWRP recovery mode application is installed, to assist flashing ROM.
ROM
A handful of ROMs exist. When choosing a ROM, also find the version of GApps that is suitable for the selected ROM. The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact uses a Snapdragon 801 Processor, which has a 32-bit architecture.
Note: These instructions have only been successfully accomplished using CarbonROM and MindTheGapps.
CarbonROM 6.1
Download CarbonROM from:

https://mirrorbits.carbonrom.org/z3c/CARBON-CR-6.1-NOCT-RELEASE-z3c-20200323-0711.zip

Download the ARM architecture version of MindTheGapps from:

http://downloads.codefi.re/jdcteam/javelinanddart/gapps

Alternatively, download the 32-bit ARM architecture version of Open GApps for Android version 8.1 from:

https://opengapps.org/?api=8.1&variant=nano

The version of Open GApps must match the Android version of CarbonROM.
Skip to the General ROM Installation section.
LineageOS 15.1
Download LineageOS from (forum post):

https://rapidgator.net/file/1f8a3bdde3cd7ef6a19e9d87c314007b/lineage-15.1-20171103-UNOFFICIAL.zip.html

Skip to the General ROM Installation section.
OmniROM Oreo 8.1
Download OmniROM Oreo from either of the following sites (forum post):

https://releases.nailyk.fr/omni/z3c/omni-8.1.0-20180320-z3c-nailyk.zip
https://drive.google.com/open?id=15COhmKqMBMiVeSLONSs38DaKymH2TWsv

Continue to the General ROM Installation section.
General ROM Installation
The ROM filename will differ, depending on the ROM that was downloaded, such as:

CarbonROM: CARBON-CR-6.1-NOCT-WEEKLY-z3c-20180605-0603.zip
OmniROM: omni-8.1.0-20180320-z3c-nailyk.zip
LineageOS: lineage-15.1-20171103-UNOFFICIAL.zip

The steps to flash a given ROM are as follows:

Reboot the phone using: fastboot reboot
Start Xperia Companion
Click Browse Xperia
Copy both the ROM and the Gapps files into the phones download directory (e.g., Computer\Xperia Z3 Compact\Internal storage\Download\)

Power off phone
Unplug phone
Press and hold the volume down button
Press and hold the power button
Wait for a slight vibration before releasing both buttons
Wait for recovery application to load
Swipe to allow modifications
Select WIPE
Select Advanced
Check the following:

Dalvik / ART cache
System
Cache
Data

Swipe to confirm wipe
Tap Home icon
Tap Install
Browse to and select the OS ROM file
Tap Add more Zips
Browse to and select the GApps file
Swipe to confirm Flash
Tap Reboot System
Wait for the boot to complete

Android and the GApps are installed using the specified ROM.

A small note to Dave Jarvis' answer:
I almost gave up, just getting adb/fastboot talking to the device.
Turned out to be a Windows 10 problem, because it refused without notice (?) to install drivers. The flashtool64 did complain however that it failed 2  of 3 in one of its windows, but I assumed (wrongly) that it was okay. I followed this guide to disable driver signature enforcement:

Please check if you have performed these steps to disable the driver signature enforcement in Windows 10 Technical Preview.

Press the Win + C and click on PC settings.
Switch over to the “Update & recovery” section.
Then click on the Recovery option on the left hand side.
Once selected, you will see an advanced startup section appear on the right hand side. You will need to click on the “Restart now” button.
Once your Computer has rebooted you will need to choose the Troubleshoot option.
Then head into Advanced options.
Then Startup Settings.
Since we are modifying boot time configuration settings, restart your computer once more.
Here you will be given a list of startup settings that you can change. The one we are looking for is “Disable driver signature enforcement”. To choose the setting, you will need to press F7.

Once this was done, the drivers were installed from guide links and with flashtool64, and then I got a message that the adb "was too old", so they were updated as well.
Note: If you follow the guide, you will have new adb drivers. I assumed wrong (again) that my present ones would suffice.


text:
Disable "swipe to lock" screen on Galaxy S10e
Using a Galaxy S10e, pressing the side button turns off the screen, as expected:

Pressing the side button again turns the screen on, and asks the user to swipe to continue:

I neither have nor want biometrics on my phone.
What is the canonical way to disable the swipe-to-open screen so that pressing the side button goes directly home?
Using adb to change the settings would be fine.

Disable the lock settings using adb as follows:
adb shell locksettings set-disabled true
adb shell locksettings clear

After running these commands, the "swipe to unlock" screen will no longer appear.


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No way to clear the Monthly Data Limit on Huawei Mate 10 Lite, Android 7.0, EMUI 5.1
So, I'm in my 3rd month of ownership of my first (and last) Huawei smartphone and I have discovered yet another strange family of issues.
I have a 20GB monthly data limit from work so I rarely check my data usage. But I had a few extra charges on my last bill so I decided to check it out. (First time on this phone)
The first shock was that there was no Sum of the usage, just a graph with the daily peaks and that's it. So if it was say the 30th, then you would have to add-up 30 days worth of data to find out how much you have left. What a joke:

Anyway, so I figure that I should add a data limit and maybe that will Sum-up my usage. So I tap on the gear icon on the top right, then on Monthly Data Limit and enter 18GB. Voila, my total appeared:

From here on, the story gets even stranger.
I tapped on the pencil icon and for some strange, inexplicable reason, you can actually edit your usage. What exactly is the point of that??? So I enter a number and tap on OK to see what happens, and now the Used total becomes whatever amount I entered:

So I decided to revert to the ACTUAL total usage and I was confronted with yet another trademarked Huawei irritation. You cannot clear your own usage, you have to enter something in that box, otherwise Save stays disabled:

So as a last resort I thought that I should clear my data limit and be done with all this mess. Sadly I discovered that there is no way of doing that. It seems that once you enable the data limit, you're stuck with one. You can only change the number of MBs or GBs and again like above, you have to enter something in that box otherwise OK is disabled:

I tried Network settings reset but all that does is delete your stored Wi-Fi networks (thanks Huawei) and Bluetooth devices (thanks again !)
Any ideas?

Have you tried to enter a zero ("0") into those fields? If that doesn't work, then an "imaginary limit" of e.g. 200G? And simply put back the original number of your usage (and no, I have no idea why one should edit that)?

@Izzy - that was the 1st thing I tried. Alas, 0 actually means 0. It effectively disables Mobile data right away. Also, you cannot reset the actual data usage, either

OK, so set 500G for the limit. And what do you mean you cannot reset data usage? According to your question text you did exactly that (from 1G to 111M).

Once you've typed your own total. There's no going back to the actual total.

See if this works:

What are you trying to achieve? I see lots of complaints here but I'm not sure what the actual question is.

Clear "phone manager"  app data, it will return limit to "not set"
Works on all huawei phones.

I will accept this as the answer, however it does not only delete the usage settings. That's not your fault though :)

Just clear the Phone Manager's cache and it will go bat to 'not set' if you don't want to clear its data, Setting → Apps and Notifications → Phone Manager → Storage → Clear Cache.

Go to settings → apps and notifications → phone manager → storage → clear data
After clear data it will go back to 'not set'

You can reset the settings app. Find Settings app in the apps list and clear data.
To check what’s using your data, go to data usage ranking.
It doesn’t let you see a total unless you set a limit.

How to reset back Monthly Data Limit to "Not set"
1st Optimizer from the home screen, Optimize it
2nd Go to Settings -> Apps -> Optimizer -> Storage -> Clear Cache & Clear Data, then restart the mobile

On my P20 Pro it was "Optimizer" instead of Phone Manager.
Settings -> Apps -> Optimizer -> Storage -> Clear Cache


text:
How do I know If my phones Bootloader is locked or not?
I want to flash TWRP & SuperSU to take a backup, but I read that if you flash TWRP with a locked bootloader it would brick my device & wipe my data, now that would just defeat the purpose. How do I determine if my device bootloader is locked or not?
I have enabled developer options, enabled USB Debugging, there is a option in the menu 'OEM Unlock', what does it do? Does it wipe data?
Device - Samsung Galaxy-J700F

Normally I'd say fastboot oem device-info, but does Samsung talk with fastboot? Related: How to check if your bootloader is unlocked // How to determine if the bootloader is locked (the latter is for a Samsung device as well).

Izzy has given you  pointers. In addition to address OEM unlock - it's only a pre requisite and does not unlock bootloader or wipe data //@Izzy deleted my answer being a dupe to existing ones

I'm not sure if this directly answers your question. However, here's what I can add:

Android phones should display a warning at bootup, informing you that your device's bootloader is unlocked and that it cannot be trusted. This is the default behavior for all modern Android phones. If you do not see any such warning, then your device is most likely still locked.
The OEM unlock setting in developer options should fade off (and get disabled) when the bootloader is unlocked. Here's a screenshot of how it looks on my phone:

So, since both of the above show that your device is not unlocked, I will go with it.
And AFAIK, trying to flash TWRP on a locked bootloader would actually fail, instead of bricking the device. That's all the purpose of a locked bootloader - to avoid tampering of the system.
You will actually have to look for a way to backup your data without the bootloader unlock. Since, if you decide to unlock it now, all data will be erased. I believe XDA-Developers forum will be a good place to look for information.
Edit: Try if you can boot the TWRP, instead of flashing. And then flash SuperSU from TWRP. Things like these were possible on older devices.

How to boot TWRP instead of flashing?

Ideally, fastboot boot recovery.img
But, yes, same question from comment on your question. Does Samsung talk with fastboot? Probably not. So, I'm sorry, it won't work.

I forgot to mention that my device is not tied to any carrier, this link from izzy says that samsung does not lock bootloaders, only some carriers do that, is this true? https://android.stackexchange.com/q/187873/16575

No that's not true. Carriers may make bootloaders on some branded phones as non unlockable. All Samusng phones come with a locked bootloader. Some are unlockable via a simple unlock command; while others require the user to have an encrypted unlock key to unlock it. That is why in my answer I mentioned that Android phone with unlocked bootloader will show the warning.

If I flash CF-AutoRoot, would that work? What about kingroot? are they safe to use?

There is always some degree of risk involved. I have used KingRoot and it didn't brick my device even when it failed to unlock it.

@singhnsk I don't recall neither old nor recent non-carrier Samsung devices having a locked bootloader. They are protected by the OEM unlock toggle, but that should be all.

to just answer your question, and without needing any software, you can start your phone (or tablet) in bootloader mode by holding the  volume key and the power key from an OFF state. the software will then tell you the info you want.

Putting it in Download Mode I get The Following ODIN MODE, DOWNLOAD SPEED : FAST, PRODUCT NAME : SM-J700F, CURRENT BINARY : SAMSUNG OFFICIAL, SYSTEM STATUS : OFFICIAL, SECURE DOWNLOAD : ENABLED, WARRANTY VOID : 0 (0×0000), RP SWREV : B:4 K:0 S:1, FRP LOCK : OFF      What does all of this mean, it says nothing about the bootloader state.


text:
Google Play Store won't download app
Play Store downloads successfully first chosen app, but it get stuck on downloading the second one. There is no error message. Only activity I see is notification of content waiting to be downloaded. Solution is to reboot the phone.
Here is a screenshot that shows kind of notification I am writing about, since I am unable to provide an actual one. No error messages, just a continuous progress bar:

I tried clearing cache, then all data and then data in Google Play Services app, but it didn't help. The phone is Oukitel U11 Plus, using Android 8.
I have visited wiki page of google-play-store tag and didn't found any reasonable advice in regard of this situation.

On the side note, one other frustrating thing is happening, too. When searching in Chrome it redirects to local .rs domain, but it then prints out err_tunnel_connection_failed. I got around it buy using no redirect link to force it to go main .com domain.

Have you already checked with our google-play-store tag-wiki? It lists many issues around playstore and links to solutions. Without an explicit error message it's hard to help in another way.

@Izzy I didn't, thank you for providing me that! How to get an explicit error message on this kind of problem?

No error message shown? Nothing like "coulnd not be downloaded due to an error (498)"? Just sticking and doing nothing? Well, that would be a hint to include with your question, too. Also see these posts on stalled or on stuck downloads with Playstore then.

@Izzy Nothing, just an infinite downloading progress bar as a notification.

Thanks, that update helped. So it's the "stalled or stuck" categorie, but rather the download not even starting ("knight-rider style" progress bar if I get that right). Maybe one of the search results I've linked to in my previous comment provides some help/ideas? Have you checked?

@Izzy I've checked your link, but have found no help. Thanks anyway.

As a work-around until your issue is solved, you could use Yalp Store or Aurora Store.

See if this works: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/197291/209414

Do you have background data restricted? If not then try clearing cache & data of the following Apps:
Download Manager,
Google Account Manager,
Google Services Framework
Then reboot & open play store it will ask you to log in with your Google Account, after logging in try installing something it should be working now.

Is it possible that the problem is related to the carrier (and/or 4G)? At the moment I can't test if switching to 3G helps.

If we have set the download by WiFi only could be the reason. Change to Mobile data as well or try connecting to WiFi


text:
How to read gfxinfo
I'm using Apache TVM do benchmark DL models - this is long story, but I want to preview GPU usage of TVM. On Android device I have runing APK, which spawn 1-2 processes, which use GPU. I have turned on "GPU Profiling", and I dumped logs via adb shell dumpsys gfxinfo. But I'm not sure how to properly read it? Example of TVM process is below.
My questions:

do you know any tutorial/instruction for reading and understanding following stats? how to interpret it?
I do not care about jank frames, I need information about GPU usage, GPU memory usage

** Graphics info for pid 14811 [org.apache.tvm.tvmrpc:RPCProcess] **

Stats since: 5644930627488ns
Total frames rendered: 1
Janky frames: 1 (100.00%)
50th percentile: 97ms
90th percentile: 97ms
95th percentile: 97ms
99th percentile: 97ms
Number Missed Vsync: 0
Number High input latency: 0
Number Slow UI thread: 1
Number Slow bitmap uploads: 0
Number Slow issue draw commands: 1
Number Frame deadline missed: 1
HISTOGRAM: 5ms=0 6ms=0 7ms=0 8ms=0 9ms=0 10ms=0 11ms=0 12ms=0 13ms=0 14ms=0 15ms=0 16ms=0 17ms=0 18ms=0 19ms=0 20ms=0 21ms=0 22ms=0 23ms=0 24ms=0 25ms=0 26ms=0 27ms=0 28ms=0 29ms=0 30ms=0 31ms=0 32ms=0 34ms=0 36ms=0 38ms=0 40ms=0 42ms=0 44ms=0 46ms=0 48ms=0 53ms=0 57ms=0 61ms=0 65ms=0 69ms=0 73ms=0 77ms=0 81ms=0 85ms=0 89ms=0 93ms=0 97ms=1 101ms=0 105ms=0 109ms=0 113ms=0 117ms=0 121ms=0 125ms=0 129ms=0 133ms=0 150ms=0 200ms=0 250ms=0 300ms=0 350ms=0 400ms=0 450ms=0 500ms=0 550ms=0 600ms=0 650ms=0 700ms=0 750ms=0 800ms=0 850ms=0 900ms=0 950ms=0 1000ms=0 1050ms=0 1100ms=0 1150ms=0 1200ms=0 1250ms=0 1300ms=0 1350ms=0 1400ms=0 1450ms=0 1500ms=0 1550ms=0 1600ms=0 1650ms=0 1700ms=0 1750ms=0 1800ms=0 1850ms=0 1900ms=0 1950ms=0 2000ms=0 2050ms=0 2100ms=0 2150ms=0 2200ms=0 2250ms=0 2300ms=0 2350ms=0 2400ms=0 2450ms=0 2500ms=0 2550ms=0 2600ms=0 2650ms=0 2700ms=0 2750ms=0 2800ms=0 2850ms=0 2900ms=0 2950ms=0 3000ms=0 3050ms=0 3100ms=0 3150ms=0 3200ms=0 3250ms=0 3300ms=0 3350ms=0 3400ms=0 3450ms=0 3500ms=0 3550ms=0 3600ms=0 3650ms=0 3700ms=0 3750ms=0 3800ms=0 3850ms=0 3900ms=0 3950ms=0 4000ms=0 4050ms=0 4100ms=0 4150ms=0 4200ms=0 4250ms=0 4300ms=0 4350ms=0 4400ms=0 4450ms=0 4500ms=0 4550ms=0 4600ms=0 4650ms=0 4700ms=0 4750ms=0 4800ms=0 4850ms=0 4900ms=0 4950ms=0
50th gpu percentile: 4950ms
90th gpu percentile: 4950ms
95th gpu percentile: 4950ms
99th gpu percentile: 4950ms
GPU HISTOGRAM: 1ms=0 2ms=0 3ms=0 4ms=0 5ms=0 6ms=0 7ms=0 8ms=0 9ms=0 10ms=0 11ms=0 12ms=0 13ms=0 14ms=0 15ms=0 16ms=0 17ms=0 18ms=0 19ms=0 20ms=0 21ms=0 22ms=0 23ms=0 24ms=0 25ms=0 4950ms=0
Font Cache (CPU):
  Size: 2.66 kB
  Glyph Count: 2
CPU Caches:
GPU Caches:
  Other:
    Other: 988.00 bytes (1 entry)
  Shadow Gaussian Falloff:
    Texture: 128.00 bytes (1 entry)
  Scratch:
    Buffer Object: 48.00 KB (1 entry)
    Texture: 2.00 MB (1 entry)
Other Caches:
                         Current / Maximum
  Layers Total           0.00 KB (numLayers = 0)
Total GPU memory usage:
  2147420 bytes, 2.05 MB (128.00 bytes is purgeable)

Pipeline=Skia (OpenGL)
Profile data in ms:

    org.apache.tvm.tvmrpc/org.apache.tvm.tvmrpc.RPCActivity/android.view.ViewRootImpl@a9f6eba (visibility=0)
    Draw    Prepare Process Execute

Window: org.apache.tvm.tvmrpc/org.apache.tvm.tvmrpc.RPCActivity
Stats since: 5644998711873ns
Total frames rendered: 1
Janky frames: 1 (100.00%)
50th percentile: 97ms
90th percentile: 97ms
95th percentile: 97ms
99th percentile: 97ms
Number Missed Vsync: 0
Number High input latency: 0
Number Slow UI thread: 1
Number Slow bitmap uploads: 0
Number Slow issue draw commands: 1
Number Frame deadline missed: 1
HISTOGRAM: 5ms=0 6ms=0 7ms=0 8ms=0 9ms=0 10ms=0 11ms=0 12ms=0 13ms=0 14ms=0 15ms=0 16ms=0 17ms=0 18ms=0 19ms=0 20ms=0 21ms=0 22ms=0 23ms=0 24ms=0 25ms=0 26ms=0 27ms=0 28ms=0 29ms=0 30ms=0 31ms=0 32ms=0 34ms=0 36ms=0 38ms=0 40ms=0 42ms=0 44ms=0 46ms=0 48ms=0 53ms=0 57ms=0 61ms=0 65ms=0 69ms=0 73ms=0 77ms=0 81ms=0 85ms=0 89ms=0 93ms=0 97ms=1 101ms=0 105ms=0 109ms=0 113ms=0 117ms=0 121ms=0 125ms=0 129ms=0 133ms=0 150ms=0 200ms=0 250ms=0 300ms=0 350ms=0 400ms=0 450ms=0 500ms=0 550ms=0 600ms=0 650ms=0 700ms=0 750ms=0 800ms=0 850ms=0 900ms=0 950ms=0 1000ms=0 1050ms=0 1100ms=0 1150ms=0 1200ms=0 1250ms=0 1300ms=0 1350ms=0 1400ms=0 1450ms=0 1500ms=0 1550ms=0 1600ms=0 1650ms=0 1700ms=0 1750ms=0 1800ms=0 1850ms=0 1900ms=0 1950ms=0 2000ms=0 2050ms=0 2100ms=0 2150ms=0 2200ms=0 2250ms=0 2300ms=0 2350ms=0 2400ms=0 2450ms=0 2500ms=0 2550ms=0 2600ms=0 2650ms=0 2700ms=0 2750ms=0 2800ms=0 2850ms=0 2900ms=0 2950ms=0 3000ms=0 3050ms=0 3100ms=0 3150ms=0 3200ms=0 3250ms=0 3300ms=0 3350ms=0 3400ms=0 3450ms=0 3500ms=0 3550ms=0 3600ms=0 3650ms=0 3700ms=0 3750ms=0 3800ms=0 3850ms=0 3900ms=0 3950ms=0 4000ms=0 4050ms=0 4100ms=0 4150ms=0 4200ms=0 4250ms=0 4300ms=0 4350ms=0 4400ms=0 4450ms=0 4500ms=0 4550ms=0 4600ms=0 4650ms=0 4700ms=0 4750ms=0 4800ms=0 4850ms=0 4900ms=0 4950ms=0
50th gpu percentile: 4950ms
90th gpu percentile: 4950ms
95th gpu percentile: 4950ms
99th gpu percentile: 4950ms
GPU HISTOGRAM: 1ms=0 2ms=0 3ms=0 4ms=0 5ms=0 6ms=0 7ms=0 8ms=0 9ms=0 10ms=0 11ms=0 12ms=0 13ms=0 14ms=0 15ms=0 16ms=0 17ms=0 18ms=0 19ms=0 20ms=0 21ms=0 22ms=0 23ms=0 24ms=0 25ms=0 4950ms=0

---PROFILEDATA---
Flags,IntendedVsync,Vsync,OldestInputEvent,NewestInputEvent,HandleInputStart,AnimationStart,PerformTraversalsStart,DrawStart,SyncQueued,SyncStart,IssueDrawCommandsStart,SwapBuffers,FrameCompleted,DequeueBufferDuration,QueueBufferDuration,GpuCompleted,
1,5645013569772,5645013569772,9223372036854775807,0,5645014148949,5645014150180,5645014151103,5645081986026,5645084159488,5645092585719,5645092703796,5645118001873,5645120370719,0,1326769,0,
8,5645030205523,5645113538858,9223372036854775807,0,5645125786949,5645125790103,5645125954565,5645126136103,5645126148565,5645126504257,0,0,0,0,0,0,
---PROFILEDATA---

View hierarchy:

  org.apache.tvm.tvmrpc/org.apache.tvm.tvmrpc.RPCActivity/android.view.ViewRootImpl@a9f6eba
  14 views, 26.56 kB of render nodes

Total ViewRootImpl   : 1
Total attached Views : 14
Total RenderNode     : 26.56 kB (used) / 97.82 kB (capacity)

And this is log only for Apk:
Applications Graphics Acceleration Info:
Uptime: 6901736 Realtime: 6901736

** Graphics info for pid 12574 [org.apache.tvm.tvmrpc] **

Stats since: 500523944950ns
Total frames rendered: 439
Janky frames: 23 (5.24%)
50th percentile: 6ms
90th percentile: 10ms
95th percentile: 19ms
99th percentile: 61ms
Number Missed Vsync: 1
Number High input latency: 69
Number Slow UI thread: 12
Number Slow bitmap uploads: 0
Number Slow issue draw commands: 5
Number Frame deadline missed: 13
HISTOGRAM: 5ms=199 6ms=39 7ms=45 8ms=72 9ms=21 10ms=20 11ms=7 12ms=5 13ms=1 14ms=3 15ms=4 16ms=0 17ms=1 18ms=0 19ms=1 20ms=0 21ms=0 22ms=0 23ms=0 24ms=3 25ms=1 26ms=0 27ms=1 28ms=1 29ms=3 30ms=0 31ms=1 32ms=3 34ms=0 36ms=0 38ms=0 40ms=1 42ms=2 44ms=0 46ms=0 48ms=0 53ms=0 57ms=0 61ms=1 65ms=0 69ms=0 73ms=1 77ms=0 81ms=0 85ms=1 89ms=0 93ms=0 97ms=0 101ms=0 105ms=0 109ms=0 113ms=0 117ms=0 121ms=0 125ms=0 129ms=0 133ms=0 150ms=0 200ms=1 250ms=1 300ms=0 350ms=0 400ms=0 450ms=0 500ms=0 550ms=0 600ms=0 650ms=0 700ms=0 750ms=0 800ms=0 850ms=0 900ms=0 950ms=0 1000ms=0 1050ms=0 1100ms=0 1150ms=0 1200ms=0 1250ms=0 1300ms=0 1350ms=0 1400ms=0 1450ms=0 1500ms=0 1550ms=0 1600ms=0 1650ms=0 1700ms=0 1750ms=0 1800ms=0 1850ms=0 1900ms=0 1950ms=0 2000ms=0 2050ms=0 2100ms=0 2150ms=0 2200ms=0 2250ms=0 2300ms=0 2350ms=0 2400ms=0 2450ms=0 2500ms=0 2550ms=0 2600ms=0 2650ms=0 2700ms=0 2750ms=0 2800ms=0 2850ms=0 2900ms=0 2950ms=0 3000ms=0 3050ms=0 3100ms=0 3150ms=0 3200ms=0 3250ms=0 3300ms=0 3350ms=0 3400ms=0 3450ms=0 3500ms=0 3550ms=0 3600ms=0 3650ms=0 3700ms=0 3750ms=0 3800ms=0 3850ms=0 3900ms=0 3950ms=0 4000ms=0 4050ms=0 4100ms=0 4150ms=0 4200ms=0 4250ms=0 4300ms=0 4350ms=0 4400ms=0 4450ms=0 4500ms=0 4550ms=0 4600ms=0 4650ms=0 4700ms=0 4750ms=0 4800ms=0 4850ms=0 4900ms=0 4950ms=0
50th gpu percentile: 3ms
90th gpu percentile: 6ms
95th gpu percentile: 11ms
99th gpu percentile: 24ms
GPU HISTOGRAM: 1ms=0 2ms=56 3ms=192 4ms=100 5ms=16 6ms=17 7ms=6 8ms=0 9ms=1 10ms=2 11ms=10 12ms=6 13ms=4 14ms=1 15ms=0 16ms=0 17ms=0 18ms=0 19ms=0 20ms=0 21ms=1 22ms=0 23ms=2 24ms=5 25ms=0 4950ms=0
Font Cache (CPU):
  Size: 17.38 kB
  Glyph Count: 5
CPU Caches:
GPU Caches:
  Other:
    Other: 0.00 bytes (1 entry)
  Shadow Gaussian Falloff:
    Texture: 128.00 bytes (1 entry)
  Image:
    Texture: 54.45 KB (3 entries)
  Scratch:
    Buffer Object: 48.00 KB (1 entry)
    Texture: 2.00 MB (1 entry)
Other Caches:
                         Current / Maximum
  Layers Total           0.00 KB (numLayers = 0)
Total GPU memory usage:
  2202192 bytes, 2.10 MB (54.58 KB is purgeable)

Pipeline=Skia (OpenGL)
Profile data in ms:

    org.apache.tvm.tvmrpc/org.apache.tvm.tvmrpc.MainActivity/android.view.ViewRootImpl@1038509 (visibility=8)
    Draw    Prepare Process Execute

View hierarchy:

  org.apache.tvm.tvmrpc/org.apache.tvm.tvmrpc.MainActivity/android.view.ViewRootImpl@1038509
  27 views, 38.25 kB of render nodes

Total ViewRootImpl   : 1
Total attached Views : 27
Total RenderNode     : 38.25 kB (used) / 38.25 kB (capacity)

My thoughts about it:
Total frames rendered - Number of frames created to render
Janky Frames - Number of dropped frames
50th percentile: 6ms - 50% of frames was rendered in or under 6ms
90th percentile: 10ms - 90% of frames was rendered in or under 10ms
95th percentile: 19ms - 95% of frames was rendered in or under 19ms
99th percentile: 61ms - 99% of frames was rendered in or under 61ms
Number Missed Vsync - vsync is complex mechnism for syncronizing frames from GPU and frames displayed
Number High input latency - Input latency or lag refers to the amount of time it takes from when it receives a signal (when you press a button on your controller or move your mouse) to when that action occurs on the screen.
Number Slow UI thread: ???
Number Slow bitmap uploads: ???
Number Slow issue draw commands: ???
Number Frame deadline missed: ???
HISTOGRAM - histogram of what? ms is time from this moment?
GPU HISTOGRAM - histogram of GPU usage? in what units?

--edit--
I was trying to look for gfxinfo and dumpsys in AOSP, but I haven't found anything interesting. There is parser of gfxinfo written in java, just parses few things. In dumpsys I cannot find reference to gfxinfo service (https://cs.android.com/android/platform/superproject/+/master:frameworks/native/cmds/dumpsys/dumpsys.cpp)

This is interesting blogpost about understanding PROFILEDATA: https://www.hellsoft.se/profiling-view-performance-on-android/ : "This will, among a bunch of other stats, print a comma separated list of numbers. These are the nanosecond timestamps for each of the phases in the rendering of a frame (up to the last 120 frames)."


text:
Authorize ADB connection from another connection
Let's say that I have access to the phone via serial port (edit: FTDI USB Serial Device converter). I want to install apk, so I need to have working adb connection. But I don't have an access to the touchscreen, to accept authorization dialog. Phone is also connected to the same WiFi networks as my computer. Is there a command in phone shell to accept incomming adb connection?
--edit--
It looks like I don't have enable "Developer options", and what is worse there is no possibilities to activate. Is this blocker issue for authorizae adb connection?
--edit2--
After @Rober suggestions from comments, I have issued activity manager from shell to show developer options am start -a com.android.settings.APPLICATION_DEVELOPMENT_SETTINGS, but I'm getting message that it is not available: Error: Activity not started, unable to resolve Intent

What commands can you execute through that UART connection?

I have access to shell via UART. You mean special command in UART, or shell commands?

@Robert I have edited question - I'm using "FTDI USB Serial Device converter"

If you have shell access you can try to send simulated key strokes to navigate and execute something in the Android UI: https://stackoverflow.com/a/8483797/150978

Sending such input to the device is not problem in this specific case. The problem is, that there is no authorization dialog. Should I have "Developer options" enabled?

To open developer settings directly: am start -a com.android.settings.APPLICATION_DEVELOPMENT_SETTINGS

Almost done, but I'm gettin info that there is no such activity. Maybe I should look for activity which enables "Development settings"?

Is this phone locked under some kind of MDM? Those devices usually prevent developer settings from being enabled on production mode.

I am sorry but I don't think we can help you here. Your device seem to be a non-standard developer board or something similar as it has a serial shell access and no developer option.

Anyway, thanks for help

usually developer options is hidden behind build number. for emulating touch events use /system/bin/input. adb can be enabled in default.prop and rsa-key can be placed /data/misc/adb


text:
RCA Android Viking Pro 10
Can't remember RCA viking pro 10 Google sign in or password. I did a factory reset and was stopped by the FPR request. I don't recall EVER "syncing" to a Google account. Is there any way I can get around this ?
   Thank You for any help.                John

It's a bit unclear what you're asking here: did you forget the password, or do you simply not want to use a Google account on the device, or only not enable syncing for specific (which?) items? Did you maybe mean you performed a factory-reset instead of a simple reboot, and now hit FRP (factory-reset protection)? Please [edit] your post and make it clear. While on it, also give it a clear title so folks with the appropriate knowledge know to chime in; with the current title only the few using that specific device might do so ;)

Thanks Izzy. I did indeed perform a factory-reset instead of a simple reboot, and now hit FRP (factory-reset protection.) I don't recall EVER "syncing" to a Google account. but that's what is being requested. Is there any other way of starting over or getting around the FRP?

What's important is not if you ever "synced" – but if you ever configured an Google account with that device. As for getting around the FRP: Have you followed the link to our wiki which I provided, and checked with the corresponding section? That's why I included the link in the first place ;)


text:
Photos missing in both gallery and google photos
This morning i stupidly formatted my SD card (J2 prime lack of storage issue), and after noticed that photos were missing from both my gallery AND google photos, that were taken over the last few weeks.
After i noticed that my camera was set to store photos on the SD card rather than device. I definitely don't remember putting my camera to store photos on the SD card so not sure what happened there?
Also whenever i delete a photo in gallery it also removes it from google photos.
Will formatting the SD card remove photos from google photos?
I've since taken a photo to make sure it was uploading images so i hope that doesn't mean the images are not recoverable from the device?
I'm only using the phone on 4g.
Any ideas on getting the photos back?
Thanks for any help.

Formatting your SD card shall not delete the synced items from your Google photos account.
Google photos app also shows your offline photos. So, unless they were uploaded to the cloud drive, they are now gone and cannot be recovered.
Please check once by logging into your account at photos.google.com. If your photos appear there, then they are in the cloud and you can safely get them back on your device.


text:
How to disable hidden trackers, in google play store applications
So most applications, on google play have hidden trackers, analytics they don't tell you about. This site lets you search any app shows trackers. The article explains what i'm talking about.
Example: https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/reports/37324/
Article : https://theintercept.com/2017/11/24/...-android-apps/
Article : https://www.wired.com/story/android-users-to-avoid-malware-ditch-googles-app-store/
The second article explains Fdroid is partly a solution as those apps there don't have these trackers. One other not a full solution is uninstalling the app removes the tracker.
Certain apps on google play store either open source or proprietary don't include trackers as far as exodus-privacy.eu.org analysis is aware of, it's possible there's some there unaware of as they state.
Applications without trackers could later receive trackers through application updates. The other option is researching the extent of the specific trackers used in certain applications and what there been used for.
I want to know how it's possible to disable these trackers, analytics so there not active in the background "while" using these apps.
I saw XPrivacyLua xposed module can disable certain analytics.
Appreciate all advice.

See https://android.stackexchange.com/q/202282/131553

Yeah i've seen that, you can be tracked regardless of a app displays ads, that's why there hidden trackers. Read this: https://theintercept.com/2017/11/24/staggering-variety-of-clandestine-trackers-found-in-popular-android-apps/

XprivacyLua is the best I know of 2. Izzy's repo warns you of the anti features to make an informed decision.

I was wrong about F Droid and deleted those comments

XPrivacyLua is not based on the hosts file. It disables the corresponding activities in the apps having them. But to do so, it must know them; I'm not sure of the coverage, though it certainly covers the major candidates.

Yeah it's apps on google play with trackers hidden in them, the permission system of android and XprivacyLua won't do anything to stop them. Not to mention there kept secret from anyone installing apps, simply having an app installed means it's happening, i just no from reading XprivacyLua forum, it can block some Analytics but not through app permission allow, deny camera access example i'm sure it doesn't cover everything either. So it's either avoid all google play store apps or use fdroid only not entirely feasible, install the extention Exodify exodify.org browse google play website will

show you all the trackers in apps using a web browser you would use Ublock Origin or Disconnect extentions ect pretty hard when there embedded inside the apps themself.

Root access needed
Both of these apps are likely using built in pm disable command in Android, which lets you to disable app's services, activities, receivers and providers (all of these can be done from command line too). Significant part of ads and tracking stuff can be disabled this way. Of course developer can hide whatever they want, so it won't be accessible through pm disable. Afaik it can disable only things mentioned in app's manifest. Also apps can reenable all of these back (I think I noticed such behavior only in system apps)
1) MyAndroidTools Pro  (which I use)
It has free and paid versions. Author was banned in Play Store, but you can still buy outdated version (1.5.1 instead of 1.6.0) on Amazon or find apk somewhere else..
App has convenient option to display component info after new app is installed/updated.
Developer made Xposed module to prevent apps reenabling components, but it was abandoned long time ago, so you'll have to check if it works for you.
(Click on image to enlarge it)

2) Lucky Patcher
Free app, also not in Play Store. Downside: developer started embedding ads (removed in current version) and analytics recently, which require excessive permissions.
To disable components:
Long tap on app in the list -> Change The App's Components -> Disable components 'pm disable' method (may be enabled by the application) -> Select components -> Apply

That module hasn't been updated in last two years and developer is inactive on XDA thread

@beeshyams yep, I don't even know if it works. Just added for completeness.

@janot bro, if you haven't used it, know it hasnt been updated, and don't even know if it works, why bother plugging it?  And put those disclaimers in the answer.


text:
Possible to use mods with locked bootloader? Xposed, Root, zip files Twrp
I want to unlock bootloader install twrp, flash xposed and magisk zip files through twrp. Flash the stock roms recovery again relock the bootloader to be able to use those mods.
Is this possible, i think it was as i've seen it suggested before however issue here is lots of phones delete data during the unlock relock, so that would remove all the mods relocking it defeats the point.
Also my current phone the Samsung S7 Edge, has factory reset protection. I have to unlock the bootloader to flash, tho if i lock the bootloader after flash. Reboot it is permantly stuck on a screen saying locked with factory reset protection in red.
Only way out of this is to go into download mode and flash stock through odin. So i'm guessing Samsungs factory reset protection, ontop of data be deleted even more impossible.
Samsung has dm-verity so magisk or a file to remove dm-verity has to be flashed or rom won't boot.
Maybe i can root without twrp and use flashify, i don't no if it can install xposed magisk.
Looking for suggestions of phones this could work with.
Thanks.

I would advise against relocking BL after any sort of modding, since you're effectively sealing the easiest (and often the only) way of recovery.

Yes i no, flashing a rom with flashify without a recovery is risky tho seems flashify can install twrp, and restore stock recovery with locked bootloader.Looking into that, I no the point you make, except there's actually dozens of attack vectors! your exposed to leaving bootloader unlocked. So using an exploit to gain root and maybe using flashify. Hope some devices allow installing twrp removing it then relocking the bootloader while retaining the modifications.

Also if a device did allow unlocking and relocking the bootloader without removing all the mods, then while it would be a pain you could just unlock the bootloader and install twrp in situations that really required it, then lock it again afterwards.

It's not about whether the OS allows retaining the mods on locked BL (although indeed many stock OS have implemented this); it's about being able to recover from faults if it's allowed. You do know that if the phone can't boot you won't even be able to flip that "allow OEM unlocking" switch (Samsung), right?

So are you saying some phone brands do allow to retain mods after locking the bootloader? If the phone can't boot with a locked bootloader, odin doesn't require OEM unlocking to be turned on to flash the stock rom files. Just boot the phone into download mode odin detects it, flash stock rom, start all over again. Problem should be solved. Twrp isn't the only way to recover depending on the phone brand, maybe fastboot requires oem unlocking to be turned on i'm unsure of that samsung does it's own thing.

This is what i'm talking about tho http://geekgiant.in/install-twrp-without-unlocking-bootloader-qualcomm-device/ and i've seen posts about people installing roms with locked bootloader flashify will let you install img files if you have root locked bootloader can install twrp twrp will install zip files, roms flashify can make backups of the original recovery and restore it. Some suggest different brands might protect the recovery prevent flashing twrp, other people suggested if it messed up would be a hard brick and fastboot wouldn't work to recover,  i'm trying to find more info.


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Stock OS vs Custom, Proprietary Camera
So i no stock manufacturers, roms have the blobs drivers for full potential of the camera.
Does this only apply for the stock camera app say from Samsung? if i download third party apps while on stock rom do they also make use of the proprietary drivers? if they don't then is the quality the same as it would be while using lineage os for example?
Appreciate all answers.

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The short answer is that like custom ROMs, it depends on which phone model.
The camera driver in the ROM implements Android's standard Camera2 API, which is common to all phones. Any app can use this API to access the camera. As you've pointed out, on some phones this requires having a binary-only camera driver in the ROM: without the binary part, only some modes may be available (e.g. lower resolutions), or the camera might not function at all. But if you have the binary driver, any app gets the full functionality of the Camera2 API, which is usually the full functionality of the camera.
The answer's not quite a flat "yes" because some phones have extra features. Phone manufacturers like to add extra camera features that aren't present in Android's API (yet). This mainly applies to the flagship phones from the big names like Samsung and LG, who compete on extra features not in stock Android. These extra features are only present in the manufacturer's own camera app, and they might use a special API to communicate with the camera driver, as well as Android's API.
These extra features will only be available from the manufacturer's camera app, and usually only on the stock ROM. Third-party camera apps will still be able to use the full functionality of the Camera2 interface: they just won't have access to these added features.
Note that image quality isn't just a property of the drivers. Many camera apps (both stock and third-party) do some amount of post-processing to make the image look better. You might find that a third-party camera app produces worse images just because its image processing isn't as good as in the stock camera app. Or you might find that a third-party camera app produces better images, if it uses an algorithm or technique that the stock app doesn't use.

Cool so it kinda sounds like your saying on roms like lineage os or aosp and the like that don't have a binary driver as only stock does, they can use camera2 api if you set that up correctly. In this case third party camera apps can function to the same full potential of picture quality as they would if they were installed on any stock rom that had the binary driver, is that accurate? also does the binary driver on stock only specifically effect the companys own camera app and has no effect on third party apps using camera2 api, as the binary drivers benefits and the companys own api's sound

completely different to camera2 api in general. Not all third party apps use camera2 api some still use camera1 api. Thanks.

No, I'm saying it depends on the phone and the ROM. The binary driver is what implements the Camera2 API.

Hmm that confuses me, as lineage os and aosp ect they all don't have a binary driver, yet there's magisk modules to get camera2 api working for things like google camera ports. Yet there's no binary present at all they lack those drivers?

So how do third party camera apps on lineageos nonstock roms with camera2 api enabled compare to stock? the fact they don't have the binary seems camera2 api and binary drivers are separate?

Some builds of ROMs incorporate the binary driver from the stock ROM. Some phones have an alternative open-source driver, possibly with less functionality. If the camera works at all with that ROM, it's because there's a camera driver, and every app can use it via the Camera2 API.

Yeah exactly, that's what i'm getting at all open source roms lineage os aosp a dozen more, don't have that binary driver, because it's proprietary closed source, they can't use it. Only custom roms based on stock will have it. The open source drivers they use obviously aren't that great compared to the closed source ones, so with that in mind would third party apps on open sourced roms that use there own drivers take photos through those apps in the same picture quality that you would get if they had been on a stock rom that had the closed source binary? this is why i don't believe third

party apps really use the closed source binary driver and perhaps instead just rely on camera1 and 2 api's instead, ontop of that all open source roms lineage os ect they don't even have camera2 api working when you install them! they have working cameras but you really gotta go out of your way to get camera2 api installed and working so all third party apps you install work without camera2 api unless you no to manually install it. Hope your seeing where i'm going with all this now.

Lots of people avoid open sourced custom roms, that don't include the binary driver as it's common knowledge image quality, is subpar i've never seen any post suggest anything different. Note that image quality isn't just a property of the drivers, google camera ports which are regarded as the best camera you can use looks good on an open source rom, then it looks amazing on stock with the binary driver does it benefit from that driver we don't know.


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How can I access/retrieve data from an SD card formatted as internal storage from my PC?
My phone's screen broke and I would like to retrieve the data on the external SD (which was used as internal storage).
Using KDE's partition manager tool I can see on my Linux Mint 19.1 that this is the structure of the SD:
 29,81 GB Storage

Partition    Type      Dimension

sdb1         fat32     16MB

sdb2         unknown   29,80GB

I can mount sdb1 with no problems, but inside there is only a folder named "Android" containing 3 folders with no files inside it (see picture)

All those folders are also empty.
My question is, is this 29,80GB partition encrypted or my phone wasn't at all using the SD card?
I never encrypted the internal memory, also I had internal space problems (which could mean the phone wasn't using the SD card as intented).
I couldn't find any information using search engines, and other similar answers on this website had no useful information.
Edit:
My phone is rooted and with debug USB enabled, it turns on fine, but with no screen.

Possible duplicate of How to decrypt Adopted Storage?

If it was adopted storage (ie. "internal storage"), and you are not already rooted, and cannot access the card in the device, basically you're screwed, the data is lost.

@acejavelin I checked and am now sure it was "Adopted storage" (also called "Internal storage").
Also my phone is rooted and has USB debug enabled, for some reason it doesn't currently allow me to connect to it with adb but before it worked.

As your device is rooted you could try to install app via recovery to the system partition or the user data partition if it is not encrypted. This app could autostart on BootCompleted and then provide somehow access to your data (if e.g. Wifi is enabled and still working). This looks a bit like the approach I described.


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Does the fastboot erase cache command wipe all your data off your phone?
As the title says. As i was trying to flash a new recovery to my phone, i followed a tutorial and that said i needed to do this command but now the OS isnt booting up anymore.
Did this command wipe all the data?
I'm using the phone: Oneplus 5t and used this tutorial
https://www.techrrival.com/flash-recovery-adb-fastboot/

Our fastboot tag-wiki is a good starting point for such questions. fastboot erase cache should just have erased the cache partition (check the output from that command). But I can't tell how your OS would deal with an unformatted cache partition. If you can still boot into recovery, that should give you a "wipe cache" option. Try that. If it doesn't help. please [edit] your question and include details on which device it is, which ROM you've flashed, what tutorial you refer to, etc.

Possible duplicate of What fastboot erase actually does?


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One end of usb cable got wet while still plugged into an outlet
I have a galaxy s7 edge phone. The usb cable for charging, the end that plugs into the phone (I think it's called a connector) got sticky due to some food. I used an antibacterial liquid to clean it. Unfortunately I noticed too late that the other end is still plugged in to an outlet because I felt some electricity through the end. I panicked and quickly dried the end that plugs to the phone. After drying, I Immediately plugged in my phone. It charged without any problems.
Given what happened, is my phone and my usb cable still safe from harm?

I don't think you can get a definitive answer but I would strongly  recommend using not using that cable any more
Reason being that the food matter and the anti bacterial liquid may have seeped a wee bit into the cable or form some conductance between the pins. Drying out fully is not easy unless you had used rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) which is generally recommended.
The fact that it is working fine now is no guarantee that you won't have a problem in future and replacing the cable is a small price to pay
Also see How to physically clean a USB connector safely from our SE.Superuser
Edit I was Googling and found this link from Samsung that suggests it's fine if you don't get a moisture warning so you could take a chance and replace the cable earliest

I will not be able to buy another cable at this time. Until I can buy a new one, can I safely use this old cable before it breaks?

Please note that Samsung is talking of moisture in the charging port and your problem is with USB cable. I would still suggest you replace cable ASAP. Small price to pay to avoid problems

I'm curious, how can liquid get through the cable? I can't find any holes in the connector. Is it just too small? Also, I forgot to mention that the reason
I noticed it's still plugged in to an outlet is because there is a little electricity I felt while cleanning. Is this the conductance you are talking about?

I am also not sure if liquid can actually get in but being safe. Ideally one shouldn't feel any electricity when touching so maybe some thing to do with the cleaning agent used

Also remember that devices may be water proof rated but not cables - they needn't be. Nobody is expecting you to charge in rain :)