text:
How to change time on Android 6 (Nexus 5x) with display off (adb?)
I need to change time on my phone while screen is powered off (because of some notifications I need to test).
On other devices I did this in adb shell as root by typing:
    date -s "YYYYMMDD.hhmmss"

But on this device my command has no effect (just printing out current time).
Do you have any advices?

I found answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32498628/change-date-on-rooted-device-android-m
I used wrong date format, apparently since Android M I should use
   adb shell date $(date +%m%d%H%M%Y)

This works to me (in adb shell signed as root):
toolbox date -s 20161231.235959
Sat Dec 31 23:59:59 GMT 2016


text:
Emoji viewing on Android 5.1
I've seen a number of similar questions, but none have worked for me.
A friend keeps sending me emojis, and 99% of the time, it's perfect and I see what I want.  However, the other 1% I can't see them.  I would like to know a specific one, but I am getting the little box.  I've tried copy and pasting it into a browser, etc. and it still does the same thing.  Please help.

Try Emojisearch.
It displays image of searched emoji so if particular emoji is not supported for your mobile you can still see it.
FAQs on Emoji

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Where can I report vulnerabilities to Google?
Where can I report glitches/bugs/vulnerabilities to google? I would look it up, but I don't know how to word it. Besides, I am working on more devices I can count (don't ask) and I have found some... Weaknessess in youtube.

Go to this page
Select option for reporting bug.
Enter your contact details.
Select Google Product as affected.
Enter how to reproduce that vulnerability
Submit It.

Google will contact you within day or two. If vulnerability is vaild and they successfully reproduce it you may get Bug Bounty.

That link is just for  security vulnerability issues.

Settings → Developer options → Bug report.  If that doesn't exist, try holding both volume buttons plus Power (USB Debugging might need to be enabled).

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


text:
The amazing expanding "android files"

Guys, I've got a Galaxy S7 Edge (Exynos version) which just received an update over the weekend from Samsung. Since then, I've had a really weird issue with the phone suddenly telling me that all the storage is used up and I need to delete/remove apps even though I had over 7gb free just a while ago.
I finally managed to get screenshots from Storage Analyser showing the status at 7.39am this morning and 10.19am - at 7.39am, I had 7.5gb free in internal storage and "android/inaccessible files" was using 8.63gb, however at 10.19am my space fell to 51mb and "android/inaccessible files" was a whopping 15.59gb! Bear in mind I hadn't installed any additional apps over this period...
Any ideas what I can do? I can't seem to see what the additional 7gb was utilised by, is there an app I could use to snoop further? Thanks!
[update] - I used another app - "DiskUsage", which proved more effective and told me the system app "Voice Service" was acting up and taking up 7GB of cache files! I cleared it which solved the problem, but anyone have any ideas why this is the case?

Many apps accumulate junk (ads and stuff) or even updates when you think they are off. They sit idling by, and suck on your battery too. I've used some "cleaners" but by and large they do the same thing.
Try force stopping the app when you aren't using it. If you never use it try disabling it. Some of these things will boot right back up after a restart, reset, or turning your phone off and back on.
Some are connected to other things which won't function if you turn it off.  So far I have been able to disable many bloatware apps that did the same as yours. When I accidentally disabled something I shouldn't have, I updated the app on Google play and the system worked again.
Hope this helped.  Crapps. Hahaha


text:
Difference between Google Photos Sync and Google Photos Backup Sync?
In the Accounts section of setup, what is the difference between
Google Photos Sync and
Google Photos Backup Sync?
When would I want to enable one over the other, and when would I want to enable both?
Specs:
Moto G 4G, 3rd generation, UK edition
Android 5.1 Lollipop

Did you see this thread: what is google photo sync under account>google?

Then there is also this article which kind of make things a bit more clear: Yes, Google Photos Can Still Sync Your Photos After You Delete The App and this brief tutorial on what is Google Photos Backup Sync. This XDA thread also helps: Does Google Photos Backup Even When Uninstalled?.

Google Photos in sync is what synchronizes your photos saved in Google Photos with the device. So if you add a photo on one device, it automatically appears on your other devices. This is only going to use data when photos are added/removed from Google Photos, so it shouldn't really be a concern for the battery unless you're constantly uploading photos to Google Photos from other devices or the computer.
Google Photos Backup is the automatic photo backup feature that uploads your pictures/videos to Google photos automatically. You can disable this, but you have to go into the Google Settings app. In there go to Google Photo Backup and you can turn it off or set it to upload only on wifi or mobile as well, and you can even set it to run the backup only when charging. And this will only be contributing to battery usage while photos are being uploaded, so unless you are taking tons of photos and have them set to upload over mobile or wifi.
Now the decision is yours!


text:
Phone not booting after flashing Hyperion 9
I followed the steps on this link to install Hyperion 9 on my old Samsung Galaxy Y. After completing the installation and rebooting, the phone is stuck at the Samsung logo start screen. I have tried redoing the whole installation a few times, just in case, but only to get the same result. I waited for around twenty minutes at the Samsung logo each time. I previously tried two other ROMs which do take time on the first boot, but the wait (~3 minutes) is after the Samsung logo screen, i.e., at the ROM's own logo screen, and everything was fine after that.
I had installed something with "EXT4" for one of the earlier ROMs. I'm not sure if this might be preventing Hyperion from starting.
What could I do?

maybe this link could help? http://howtorootmobile.com/stuck-in-android-boot-loop-tips-to-fix-recover-from-boot-loop/

For me this sounds like you are formatting the /system partition after flashing the rom. After installing the HYPERION-09.DXMJ1.GM-FINAL.BUILD zip don't wipe anything. If your are following those steps carefully I don't see why it should not work. EXT4 is the partition type and that should be fine too. Please add a link to the other roms you have installed so we can see what has been flashed to the device and what changes have been made.

authors: خالد ابوبهجت


text:
Google Photos did not compress a few items, even on high quality mode
As the title suggests,

My settings on my Android app is high quality, not original size
Most photos are getting compressed, very few photos are left uncompressed
Most videos are left uncompressed
The uncompressed items aren't eating into my Google Drive space
For checking, I uploaded with these individual files on another test Google account and found out that they are getting compressed.

I want all items to get compressed since it's the algorithm is best of both worlds - retains 99.99% quality and reduces space by >50%.
I can't delete these items from the cloud since that would immediately delete it from my phone, not allowing another attempt of uploading. What can be done to compress these missed items?

It's best to forget about it since the storage for the uncompressed items isn't coming out of the 15 GB Google Drive limit anyway; although the unlikely wish of downloading the items would mean downloading uncompressed items - a very small price to pay for a free service.


text:
Android not updating from 6.0 to 6.0.1 for Moto G 3rd gen
So...

Moto G3 2015 from UK, purchased as carrier independent
XT1541
Current system version 24.41.33.osprey_retgb.retgb.en.GB retgb

According to the official Moto UK website, Android 6.0.1 was made available to the Moto G3 months ago.

https://motorola-global-en-uk.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/110389/p/30,6720,9390

I have been on 6.0 (it's not called 6.0.0) for AGES but there are no notifications to update to 6.0.1.
Tried:

Factory reset
Cleared cache through recovery

Didn't. Help.
When I go to About Phone and check for new OS software, I am being prompted that my software (6.0) is already up-to-date. This is contrary to the Moto UK website.
It doesn't help knowing that all my acquaintances using the G3 had been automatically upgraded to 6.0.1 AGES ago.
How can I upgrade my Moto G3 from 6.0 to 6.0.1?

I started a parallel topic here on Moto-Lenovo forums.

According to the discussion on the official Moto forum, it seems that the updates are inconsistent.
USA devices are all on 6.0.
Indian devices are all on 6.0.1.
European devices are inconsistently on 6.0 and 6.0.1, even though the devices may be from the same country, purchased SIM free from retail, and on the same network.
Source
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/MOTO-G-3rd-Gen/Moto-G3-not-updating-from-Android-6-0-to-Android-6-0-1/td-p/3386562

UPDATE UPDATE!!! It is confirmed now that Moto is slowly pushing the update. Comment on their thread here and pressurise them to roll out faster!!! https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/MOTO-G-3rd-Gen/Moto-G3-not-updating-from-Android-6-0-to-Android-6-0-1/m-p/3488829#M7865

One of my phones STILL has 6.0 while the other one is on 6.0.1. This is very frustrating. There are also different security patch levels on the phones that are on 6.0.1.

OTA updates are typically incremental... 6.0.1 can only be installed over 6.0.0, and 6.0.0 can only be installed over 5.1.1, and typically more than just version has to match, the exact build number must match as well. You will not be prompted to install the 6.0.1 update until you are running the 6.0.0 update. If you want to completely skip 6.0.0, then you will have to manually flash the 6.0.1 image which will wipe all data from the device.

Yes I am already on 6.0 (it's not called 6.0.0). I'll edit my question and make the 6.0 more eye-catchy.

@SumanKrishnaSaha Have you tried clearing the cache through recovery?

I have cleared the cache through recovery. Didn't help. I also did a factory reset. Didn't help. Would you have any more ideas please?

What is the exact model and variant? We know that Moto started rolling out 6.0.1 to some Moto G 2015 devices earlier this year, then stopped the rollout with no indication as to why or for how long it would be until it continued. XT1541, XT1543, XT1548, and XT1550 did get 6.0.1, with some caveats... the XT1541 only got 6.0.1 on the retail and Three UK variants, the Tesco UK, Vodaphone UK, and O2 UK variants did not and still only have 6.0.0, just as examples

it's at Moto G3 2015 from UK, more specifically a XT1541 sim-free from Carphone Warehouse. Would you perhaps know about this?

@SumanKrishnaSaha Where you actually purchased it from isn't relevant, the variant does. Go to Settings - About Phone... What is the full System Version displayed?

24.41.33.osprey_retgb.retgb.en.GB retgb

@SumanKrishnaSaha that is the retail version, should get 6.0.1... Have you tried removing your SIM when on WiFi and checking for updates? If that fails, you could just flash the stock firmware image.

No SIM and Wi-Fi didn't help. Not comfortable with flashing the stock firmware image. On a related note, I started a parallel topic here on Moto-Lenovo forums.


text:
Using ADB to change the screen lock
I am looking for a way to change the screen lock type from slide to password, and set the password via adb command line. I have a device with the setup I want, and one that has slide lock. I'm pretty sure this can be accomplished via sqlite3 "copy paste" of some fields, but not sure which fields, and how to do it. I'm open to pretty much all ideas except using adb shell input commands to accomplish this. Meaning - I can/know how to/am currently using commands input swipe input text input tap commands to change swipe unlock to password unlock.
edit1: clarified adb shell input, and yes, my phone is rooted.
edit2: relevant links:
How to change lock screen type
Pass encryption on android
According to the post in the first link, it should be easy to change the lockscreen type, the only problem is that I cannot find the lockscreen.password_type field in the database they refer to. Has it moved in 4.3? After reading through the article in the second link my idea became to use the salt number stored in the database to hash out a new password using the device specific salt, and override the existing (if any) password. I'm still trying to figure out how to do this.

Since Android 8.0 Oreo, you can change the lock screen using below adb commands
adb shell

athene_f:/ $ locksettings
usage: locksettings set-pattern [--old OLD_CREDENTIAL] NEW_PATTERN

   locksettings set-pin [--old OLD_CREDENTIAL] NEW_PIN
   locksettings set-password [--old OLD_CREDENTIAL] NEW_PASSWORD
   locksettings clear [--old OLD_CREDENTIAL]
   locksettings verify [--old OLD_CREDENTIAL]
   locksettings set-disabled DISABLED
   locksettings get-disabled

flags:
   --user USER_ID: specify the user, default value is current user

locksettings set-pin: sets a PIN
locksettings set-password: sets a password
locksettings clear: clears the unlock credential
locksettings verify: verifies the credential and unlocks the user
locksettings set-disabled: sets whether the lock screen should be disabled
locksettings get-disabled: retrieves whether the lock screen is disabled

And if you want to remove the password, just use below code:
$ locksettings clear --old old_password_put_here

Here is the reference link: The Android Soul - How to change or remove lock screen pattern, PIN or password via ADB on Android 8.0 Oreo
I have tested on Android Oreo device. It works just fine.

Getting response as Request Throttled. What does that mean?

There's no built-in functionality to set the password via the command-line, neither from a shell on the device nor from adb. You can't even achieve this by pasting the stored password into the secure settings file from another device. The password isn't stored as plain text, but rather a cryptographic hash of the password is stored. This hash is generated using the password and a salt value: a random number generated once on the device.
Hashing the password prevents someone from stealing your phone and finding the password. This is important not just to protect the password itself (in case you use the same password for other things), but also because the password is used to encrypt the device's key store, and as part of the full-device encryption feature. Salting the password with a device-specific salt ensures an attacker can't use a rainbow table to determine the password. (A rainbow table is a list of every possible hashed password, which one queries to find the original password given the hashed password. The technique allows naïve password implementations such as Windows 95's to be broken in less than a second using a normal desktop computer.)
In addition, the code that updates the stored password when you change it through the GUI has other side-effects. As I've mentioned, the password is used to encrypt the device's key store, which can be used by all apps on the device to store credentials securely. Changing the saved password without updating the key store would result in the stored credentials being lost. In addition, if full-device encryption is used, changing the saved password without updating the device encryption key would result in all storage becoming inaccessible.
To achieve the functionality you want, the easiest way would be to patch a custom ROM to export the functionality that the settings app uses to change the password, and add a command-line program that can change the password in the same way. It might even be possible to hack up an app that can do this using reflection to get access to the un-exported functions, but the app would still need root, and it would be specific to the ROM (and maybe even the version of the ROM) on the device.
The relevant code is here if you're interested.

Well, the thing is I read this article: [http://forensics.spreitzenbarth.de/2012/02/28/cracking-pin-and-password-locks-on-android/] and it essentially tells you how to break open a password using the password.key file (this is the encrypted password?) and settings.db (stores the salt?) to brute force attack the password somehow (I don't know enough about encryption to fully comprehend this article). Based on this article I then came up with the idea of potentially using the device specific salt to encrypt a new pass, and overwrite password.key  Flawed logic or possible?

the article

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


text:
unlink () and rmdir() errors when running adb wipe command
I'm trying to wipe my device using adb shell su -c wipe all, but when I run it I get the following errors:
unlink() error on '/system/vendor/res/images/dock/dock.png' 'Read-only file system' and
rmdir() error on '/system/vendor/res/images/dock' 'Read-only file system'
except very many of them for varying files and directories. Is there something I should do before running the wipe command?
thanks!
PS. This occurs on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus with a slightly customized 4.3 OS. I don't really have anything else to compare against, but doesn't seem like a hardware issue, therefore no samsung galaxy nexus tag.

/system is mounted read-only for good reasons. I don't think you want to wipe it that way – otherwise, what do you want to boot from thereafter, with the OS gone? Why after all do you want to wipe at all?

I need to wipe for an automated test. UI is always clunky and slow to use in automation, so I need a command line or intent method of wiping the device. It's not that I specifically want to delete stuff from the /system dir, it's just apparently the way the wipe command is supposed to work. If it's not supposed to unlink and remove stuff from the /system dir, I'm pretty sure they would have caught these errors in the script and not displayed them if the wipe was properly executed.

Yeah. And as I wrote above: I'm not only "pretty", but 100% sure that if you wipe /system your device will no longer boot to the UI. I'm pretty sure all you would see is, maybe, the boot logo then. If you don't believe me, check e.g. Android Folder Hierarchy and the partition tag-wiki.

As Izzy points out, /system is usually mounted read-only, because it contains the operating system itself. The only reason you're getting these errors is because you specifically asked the command to wipe both /system and /data: that's what the all means. If you actually did that, you'd have to reboot into recovery to reinstall the OS. If that's what you really want, you should first remount /system as read-only by running the following command in a root shell on the device:
mount -ro remount,rw /system

If you just want to wipe user data, to get an effect like a factory-reset for a clean slate for testing, then the command you need is wipe data.

Aha I see, I was worried that wiping data only would not take care of everything. Thank you both for your help!


text:
Is it possible to update the backup android application file from playstore?
Is it possible to update android apk files saved on sdcard but are not installed. any application or any method if it is possible.
Edit
I just want upgrade the version of these files because in playstore only installed files can be upgraded.

"Is it possible to update android apk files saved on sdcard but are not installed" -- what are you attempting to update if the app is not installed? Are you talking about modding? What is your final goal?

possible duplicate of Is it possible or not?. I  find the current question beyond salvation so I recommend this be deleted than be marked as duplicate.

An .apk file already contains a certain version of an application. You can't update it since updating already means installation of a higher version .apk.


text:
How do I make the camera app save photos to the SD card right after taking them?
I know how to move photos and videos to the SD card, but I want to have it save photos and videos to the SD card in the first place, instead of the internal memory. I need that because I have very little internal storage space, only 1.72 GB, and 1.3 GB is already taken up by apps. (Mysteriously, it says apps are consuming 1.9 GB, but I know that at least 600 MB of apps is on the SD card, which has far more space), and when recording a long video, I have to do it in sequences because otherwise, it runs out of space rather quickly while recording, and stops the recording. Then I have to go into the settings app, tell it to move garbage, go back into the camera, and record the next sequence. No time for that? Too bad...
Bottom line, can I set the camera app, or basically anything that wants to save photos, to save the pictures or videos to the SD card in the first place?

Yes. There is a setting somewhere inside the Camera app ...

@rjt.rockx Strange. The setting was already, well, set. I am sure when I recorded a video yesterday, it pretty much gave me what I described here.

btw, Internal Memory is partitioned into Phone Storage and Internal Storage. Might help with that mysterious issue of yours.

Choose External Storage as default storage in Settings -> Storage. Now, make the video or capture pics. They should be in Sd Card. I too happen to share the same issue when Camera app is supposed to store in SD card but it doesn't.

There's a setting for that in the Camera App, which lets you toggle the default save location. You need to scroll down for it, though, and that's not very obvious. But, there is a setting for that.

Note however that setting is not present in all camera apps (I've come on several pre-installed ones that didn't have it). In that case, there's an easy way out: Use an alternative camera app.

But it is present on the stock camera app in most devices.

Open Camera app.
3 square dots at top>
Settings>
(May need Settings again to get 2nd page)>
Data Storage>SD card
Job done !


text:
Android SMS-App shows wrong sender
On my android 5.0 phone (nexus 5), the sms app shows sms from some (but not all) senders within a wrong conversation view. The sender's numer is +49171xyz, which is also shown in the details view if I long tap on a message. In the header of the conversation, the number shown is 09171xyz (android just bites the "+9" off and adds a "0").
Using the direct answer field in the bottom will send the message to the wrong number.
I checked the contact and did not find anything special, nor the number is longer than others.
Is there a solution for that problem?


text:
Unable to download facebook app, though having a new SD card
I have an android gt9000 and I'm getting very frustrated because it won't let me download the facebook app and it keeps saying insufficient storage available but I only have one app downloaded and I have a brand new SD card in it.

Click here to see similar questions (might have useful answer for you) under the tag [tag:insufficient-memory].

How do I remove bloatware? What is that even?

Bloatwares are the apps shipped by your OEM in your device in addition to core Android apps. E.g. You might be having some Samsung related apps (by default) in your device which you can't remove but only disable; that's what is known as bloatware. Some consider those apps as bloatware which are mostly useless to a user. Anyhow, they are system apps (supposed to be user apps) and can be removed only after rooting your device. You can use an app like System apps Uninstaller(root required) to remove them.

Android system and data storage is different partition. Are you sure only 1 app downloaded? Try to move your app to sd card from setting or if you have root access try to uninstall bloatware that came with your phone.

IDT removing bloatware will lessen the gravity of the issue here. User installed apps are in /data while bloatwares are in /system.

@Firelord and the data of the /system/ apps are in /data/data/

True! I forgot that.  However, why uninstall when you can disable and clear data of any bloatware.


text:
Sony Xperia L WiFi and Bluetooth not turning on
It happened a couple of months ago when I accidentally relocked my bootloader through the Flashtool instead of Backup TA , wifi and bluetooth became inconsistent and kept on crashing the phone.
It sometimes starts to work for a short period of time , but then phone crashes and it doesn't work again for a long time and sometimes on a random reboot it starts again, only to crash the phone. It keeps on showing Turning WiFi/Bluetooth on... but it does not turn on.
Here's what all I have tried...

Going back to stock ROM and relocking bootloader through restoring TA. (But it didn't help , its worse on stock ROM my phone freezes and I have to go back to custom ROM)
I visited the service centre after doing a software repair and relocking it.(They told I might need to replace the motherboard to get it right , its 10 thousand rupees making it senseless option)
Tried to look into phone's important files related to wifi and bluetooth to see if something can be done( I don't have enough coding knowledge so I couldn't understand much)

I need help of anyone with knowledge on this topic to kindly help me. I have my TA backup with me. I am ready to provide you with any logs etc. you might need to diagnose the problem.
Also , I have seen some related questions like this but I want a specific solution for a Sony device.And for Android 4.4.4. After reading related questions I think it has to do something with wpa_supplicant files and other module files.
Here is a logcat output:-
--------- beginning of /dev/log/main
I/dalvikvm( 2960): Enabling JNI app bug workarounds for target SDK version 11...
E/Term    ( 2960): onCreate
D/Term    ( 2960): TermService started
I/TermService( 2960): Activity called onBind()
I/Adreno-EGL( 2960): <qeglDrvAPI_eglInitialize:381>: EGL 1.4 QUALCOMM build:  (CL3869936)
I/Adreno-EGL( 2960): OpenGL ES Shader Compiler Version: 17.01.11.SPL
I/Adreno-EGL( 2960): Build Date: 03/28/14 Fri
I/Adreno-EGL( 2960): Local Branch:
I/Adreno-EGL( 2960): Remote Branch:
I/Adreno-EGL( 2960): Local Patches:
I/Adreno-EGL( 2960): Reconstruct Branch:
D/OpenGLRenderer( 2960): Enabling debug mode 0
I/Term    ( 2960): Bound to TermService
I/TermService( 2960): Activity binding to service
D/dalvikvm( 2960): Trying to load lib /data/app-lib/jackpal.androidterm-1/libjackpal-androidterm4.so 0x41f95c48
D/dalvikvm( 2960): Added shared lib /data/app-lib/jackpal.androidterm-1/libjackpal-androidterm4.so 0x41f95c48
I/libjackpal-androidterm( 2960): JNI_OnLoad
I/Term    ( 2960): waiting for: 2976
W/IInputConnectionWrapper( 2960): showStatusIcon on inactive InputConnection
I/Term    ( 2960): waiting for: 3133
D/dalvikvm( 2960): GC_CONCURRENT freed 616K, 15% free 4143K/4836K, paused 9ms+4ms, total 35ms
W/InputEventReceiver( 2960): Attempted to finish an input event but the input event receiver has already been disposed.
I/Term    ( 2960): Subprocess exited: 129
W/InputEventReceiver( 2960): Attempted to finish an input event but the input event receiver has already been disposed.
W/InputEventReceiver( 2960): Attempted to finish an input event but the input event receiver has already been disposed.
W/IInputConnectionWrapper( 2960): showStatusIcon on inactive InputConnection
W/IInputConnectionWrapper( 2960): showStatusIcon on inactive InputConnection
W/IInputConnectionWrapper( 2960): showStatusIcon on inactive InputConnection
W/IInputConnectionWrapper( 2960): showStatusIcon on inactive InputConnection
W/IInputConnectionWrapper( 2960): showStatusIcon on inactive InputConnection
D/dalvikvm( 2960): GC_CONCURRENT freed 1240K, 22% free 4823K/6140K, paused 3ms+29ms, total 68ms
W/InputEventReceiver( 2960): Attempted to finish an input event but the input event receiver has already been disposed.
I/Term    ( 2960): waiting for: 5269
I/Term    ( 2960): waiting for: 5284
I/Term    ( 2960): Subprocess exited: 129
I/Term    ( 2960): Subprocess exited: 129
W/InputEventReceiver( 2960): Attempted to finish an input event but the input event receiver has already been disposed.
W/IInputConnectionWrapper( 2960): showStatusIcon on inactive InputConnection
E/Term    ( 2960): onCreate
D/dalvikvm( 2960): GC_CONCURRENT freed 2139K, 33% free 4669K/6880K, paused 1ms+9ms, total 76ms
I/Term    ( 2960): Bound to TermService
I/TermService( 2960): Activity binding to service
W/InputEventReceiver( 2960): Attempted to finish an input event but the input event receiver has already been disposed.

It could be useful to have any log files or at least some Warning or Error messages in "logcat"

Could you please guide me which log files you need? I made a logcat file though but it doesn't state anything about Wifi or Bluetooth.

just post it to pastebin, for example, and share the link to it here.

You could focus on the Errors only with the specific filter spec, by doing something like adb logcat *:E or Warnings and Errors with adb logcat *:W

to focus specifically on "WIFI", for example, do adb logcat |grep -C 5 WIFI on a Linux machine; or maybe adb logcat |grep -i -C 3 network.

I don't have a Linux machine , sorry, can you please guide me if I have a Windows machine or at least show me a online guide page.

Also there is a copy of what I saw in logcat in my question.

Use Root Browser and Navigate to device/system/etc/wifi
Replace all the files with Sony Xperia L (stock Firmware) ROM's /system/etc/wifi files.


text:
Rooted Motorola Moto G 2014 xt1068 OTA always loads up TWRP
I've rooted my Motorola Moto G 2014, it`s using a standard ROM (I think).
Today I got a notification about the OTA update to lollipop so naively clicked it. It downloaded and then when it came to rebooting it turned off and booted into TWRP.
Every time I turn it off in TWRP then attempt to turn it back on again it gets to the unlock screen then powers off again and loads up TWRP...
How do I save my phone because its just repeating that process... is there any way to get it  not to go into TWRP and instead load whatever is meant to load to update the phone?

You will probably need to flash the stock recovery to finish the update process.

If you know where the stuff was downloaded to (I can't tell), there should be ways to delete that from within TWRP.

I just ran into this exact problem with a Moto G 2015. TWRP themselves warn not to install OTA updates with TWRP. Here's what I did:

Install the Android SDK or download fastboot separately
Get the build number for your phone

From TWRP on your phone go to Mount and make sure System is selected
Connect your phone to your computer and open build.prop with a text editor
The build number is on the line beginning with ro.build.id=

Download the stock ROM for that build number and unzip it
From TWRP on your phone go to Reboot → Bootloader
Flash the factory recovery
sudo /path/to/fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

Use the volume buttons to select the option to boot the phone. It should then install the OTA update successfully.

Next time you can save yourself some time by flashing the stock recovery ahead of time.
If the update fails for any reason after that point, it's normally because other files have been modified and the checksum failed. You can normally look at /cache/recovery/last_log to see which file is causing the problem and replace it with stock. More details on that here:
Moto G OTA update error

I downloaded the stock ROM, but there doesn't seem to be a file named recovery.img (I only found boot.img)

I've never seen a stock rom that didn't have recovery.img. Which ROM did you download? I typically get mine from here: http://www.filefactory.com/folder/c6cdedc45a775d27

I got it from here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-g4-plus/how-to/fxz-flashable-stock-npjs25-93-14-4-t3623010/page2

From the first post in that thread: "The zip contains all parts of a full stock ROM EXCEPT for the BOOTLOADER, PARTITION TABLE and STOCK RECOVERY"


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Rooted phone having problems with switching on
I recently rooted my samsung galaxy s5, i did something wrong on one of custom roms, I thought I was installing the new system or something, it got me into the boot system.
I choose apply (something) and it restarted... ever since I cannot switch my phone.
I mean it does switch on but then the home screen is completely black, and the notification shows unfortunately, settings has stopped it shows a notification to almost every single app saying it stop working. Once I press OK every single notification, it just black screen, nothing changes if I press anything.
I tried to restarting, rebooting, re-rooting...nothing.
Does anyone have a solution for this.

What about Factory reset? You can go to recovery I suppose.

i suggest going back to official firmware. its the only thing i can think of. if you want to download official firmware got to this page http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/ and find your variant, its latest firmware, and install it. the page has instructions as well.


text:
I'm having trouble making a custom ringtone
I have an LG-LS855. I don't seem to have any way to plug it in to my computer. I've made a ringtone I want to use. It's an mp3 file. I've uploaded it onto Google Drive. The only thing I seem to be able to do from my phone is play it.
I've downloaded three apps for custom ringtones. The only one that came close to helping was Tone Picker. It lets me use an mp3 from Google Drive as a ringtone. Or at least, it appears to. The phone still uses its default ringtone.
I've also figured out how to use any of the music on my phone as ringtones, but I can't figure out how to download the mp3 as music either.

See also: Add New Ringtones, Notifications and Alarm tones on Nexus One, How to manually upload ringtones and notifications to DroidX?, Ringtones from my mp3, and many more (simply search for "ringtones" or click the "ringtone" tag) :)

answer taken from the question:

The Dropbox app actually lets you download stuff onto your phone. Once
  I did that, the phone's ringtone manager let me use it fine.

Have you tried Ringdroid? Lots of people seem to have success with it.

Create your own ringtone, alarm, or notification sound from an existing audio file, or record a new one directly on the device.

I tried it. All it seems to be able to do is mess with audio files that are already in my song list and record stuff. As I already mentioned, I have no trouble using those as ringtones. I just can't figure out a way to move my custom ringtone onto that list.

@DanielLC Have you tried putting the MP3 file in a local folder in your phone, instead of putting it on Google Drive?

How? My plan was to upload it to Google Drive on my computer and then download it onto my phone from there. I can't figure out how to download it though.

@DanielLC Did you download the MP3 file by clicking on it and "Download a copy"?

I don't have that option. I just have Send, Move to..., Remove offline, Open with, Send link, Rename, and Remove. Open with just plays it.

@DanielLC Find another way to put it on your phone. Send the MP3 to your GMail, and download it there. Once you have a local copy, try and set it with the apps you've tried. Then, come back and let us know if it worked.


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Download error, passing the 100% mark
I'm from India and tonight (friday 20 june 2014) at around 10:58pm a sight happened to my downloading notification bar. I was downloading ESPN FC FOOTBALL AND WORD CUP app and suddenly after reaching 100%.
And time 0 seconds left the download kept on going and as it passed the 100% mark the time started to go in negative and this continued for about 6-7 minutes.
Please let me know if there is a problem in my android device or it's an error from the play store.
After some time it ultimately installed the app but it kept on closing automatically. I uninstalled it and when I tried to install it again from play store it downloaded but after reaching 100% it said 'a fatal error occurred 961'.
I was using a MOTO G XT1033, non-rooted.
Here are the images:

Sounds like a bug with the app. Did you contact the developer?

Error code 961 appears when there is a misconfiguration of system files on the Google Play store. It is happening when downloading,
updating and upgrading mobile applications for
Android Operating System.
To fix this issue, follow these steps.

Go to settings
Apps
All and clear the cache
Clear data for google play store
Go to settings
Accounts and sync
Remove all the synced accounts
Open google play and register your id again

If this won`t work, you could do reset for Google
Play Store. Here how it do.

Go to Setting
Click Application or Apps
Click Manage Application
You will see downloaded, running, all, on SD
card.
Select All
Choose Google service frame
Choose force stop,
Clear data.
Restart.

This will reset the Google Play Store and you can
start downloading Apps as normal again.

Thanks Dhaval.s .Itbtotally worked for me but still one question. Why did my seconds went to negative and % over 100%??was this because of the error 961?

Actually due to the error, the android system thought that the download was not completed. Android calculates remaining time by using remaining MB to be downloaded and the current download speed. As the remaining MB was not decreasing(due to error), the time started to go in negative. Remaining time is just an integer for Android so it went in negative.


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How to apply changes to keyboard layout without reboot
After playing with keyboard layout at /system/usr/keylayout/.. the changes are take effect only after a system restart. How to apply the changes immediately ?
Additional details
Phone : Samsung galaxy chat - gt B5330
OS : ICS (stock) ,rooted
file correspond to physical keyboard : bcm_keypad_v2.kl

Switching to another keyboard and then back might work.  If you see the keyboard in your running apps/services, stopping it and then performing an action that would bring it up might also work.

Thans for the suggestion. Unfortunatelu it's not working. it's a built in PHYSCIAL KEYBOARD.

Oh, I see.  You might need to unload and reload a driver / kernel module but it's hard to say.  Can you add the details of your device and software version to the question?

Updated. Can we use modprobe or services command as in linux.

@totti Android is based on linux and there are terminal apps available. I don't know those commands but it might work. Best way to find out is to try! :)


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How to filter IP address in a hotspot/tether
For non rooted phone IP can be filtered/blocked by using a firewall like NoRoot firewall. Every apps in the pthone can be controlled this way. But when mobile data is shared with other devices (like tether to a PC, WiFi hotspot) they aren't under the control of the firewall. Applications, like software update, on the other devices are sucking the whole data which lead to exhaustion of mobile data.
So How to filter IP/domain from  connection on a phone that act as a WiFi/USB hotspot.
I have visited many hotspot manager apps but none of them seems to have a filter option. Does any hotspot manager support it? or any method? nonroot highly recommended.
**Update  **
PLAN to identify spam IPs
After creating the hotspot client devices are connected. Clients are requested wait for some time so that spam apps begin to update/download by connecting to their server. These IPs are noted and filtered by the hotspot manager.

I believe your question is this: In your device you can control which app gets to connect to Internet and fetch or send data by using the said firewall app. However, when your phone is tethered the other connected devices consume like hell because the apps on those devices are not controlled by anything, so they all try to get a share of mobile data through hotspot.

But why are you trying to filter the whole IP address? Filtering usually implies restricting something and that would mean access denied to the whole device. Is that what you want? Or the objective is to identify and restrict a particular request from an app running on an other device? In Android 4.2.1 you can block the tethered device's IP address temporarily. Which Android version and device do you have?

ICS. stock ROM. I don't want to block the client. Just some domains from that client like updaes.android.com

That can be achieved through DNS. On rooted device put 0.0.0.0 updaes.android.com in /etc/hosts. On non-rooted devices use some firewall or ads-blocking VPN app that incorporates hosts functionality.


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6.0.1 fails to send MMS over PIA Always-On VPN when using 4G LTE
Yesterday, I set up a PIA VPN. I've configured it to use IPv4 over T-Mobile 4G LTE.
I'm unable to send or receive MMS while connected to the VPN -- they can be sent/received as normal when the VPN is disconnected. Any insight as to the origin or solution for this problem would be appreciated.
SMS works. Voice works. WiFi calling works.

Using L2TP/IPSec PSK.
VPN server is configured on the Android device using IP, rather than domain name.
DNS server is also configured by IP
I have no L2TP secret.
No IPSec ID
Using IPSec pre-shared key
Not using any DNS search domains
No forwarding routes configured

I suspect there is some sort of configuration issue with my APN settings; the current configuration works when disconnected from the VPN.
** Update - I haven't yet found a resolution to this specific issue. After getting frustrated using the manual configuration in the settings menu I decided I would try their official Android app. It will set up the connection for you. Unfortunately, the currently version of the app doesn't expose what specific configuration it is using.

If you can send/receive MMS messages with the VPN disconnected, your APN settings are correct. Remember that MMS uses a data connection, not your normal "voice" connection like phone and SMS messages do. I can't say for certain, but this probably failing because you are not using T-Mobiles DNS servers or you are not accessing them from "inside" T-Mobiles network due to the VPN which will cause them to fail because the device is not seen as on Tmo's network.

@acejavelin Based on this, it sounds like configuring my connection to use TMO DNS is the correct option: this would seem to make sense if the MMSC can't be resolved. Will troubleshoot more later today and post updates...

It is just a guess, that is why I left it as a comment and not an answer, but it seems reasonable knowing that the APN is correct since it works when the VPN is disabled.

I've just found an issue in AOSP that tracks this and has a suggested fix for it:

I tried Textra as a texting replacement app (for other reasons). In
  the settings it has an option to use either System or Legacy protocols
  for MMS. It even tells the user to try System if they have a VPN
  enabled. I switched to System from the default Legacy, and now my MMS
  works flawlessly with a VPN running.

Thanks for sharing this @zamber -- I tried out Textra and it unfortunately didn't work for me. It appears to have worked for others in some instances, however. There seems to be a great many issues open against Android's Always-On VPN as evidenced by a site-specific search https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=site%3Acode.google.com+%22Always-on+vpn%22

Doing site specific searches will do you no good as you'll get closed issues too. It looks like there are 25 open issues that match "always on vpn" https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/list?can=2&q=always+on+vpn&colspec=ID+Status+Priority+Owner+Summary+Stars+Reporter+Opened&cells=tiles . Take a look through these issues (and the old ones too) to see how you could debug your issue.


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Activating the Android 5 native SIP client
Android brought a native SIP client with version 2.3, which some carriers/phone manufacturers disabled. You can re-enable it in Android 4 by setting some values in /system/build.prop.
I do have a Android 5 phone (Wiko Rainbow UP), and there are no SIP settings in sight. build.prop does not contain the
ro.config.hw_support_ipcall=true
ro.config.hide_sipcall=false

settings.
How can I enable the native VoIP client on Android 5?

have you tried adding the lines manually?


text:
Change SMSC on dual-sim phone
I've got a Wileyfox Swift with two SIM cards, running CyanogenMod 13. I can only send SMS from one card/carrier, not from the other.
My guess is that is has to do with the Short Message service center setting.
Changing the SMSC as described on the CyanogenMod wiki only allows me to set one SMSC - but I think I would have to set both.
Is that correct, and how can I set the 2nd SMSC number?
Others have similar problems: ilogik@reddit

Came across this when I had the same issue. A bit late for the OP, but another thing to look out for.
If you go in to:
Settings> Sim Cards> Preferred SIM for SMS messages> Select SIM card> Ask every time

LineageOS 14.1 does not offer the "ask every time" option :/


text:
A Daydream of OnePlus 3T
According to Carl Pei (OnePlus CEO) are there no plans to add support for Google's Daydream VR platform to there latest smartphone, the OnePlus 3T.
So my question is, is the OnePlus 3T nevertheless capable of running the Daydream VR Environment (App & Controller) without hacks?
There is a hack for the OnePlus 3, which involves rooting and side-loading, which i would really want to avoid.

Without One Plus guys adding support, there will be no direct way to do this.
However, rooting is one of the ways, but I would prefer not to do so.

Some videos say it's enough to just root and change the xml config file. Some forums say it won't work without unlocking the bootloader, which means full backup and wipe. What's the truth? And does the 1+3 trick work on 1+3t?

Supposedly the hack for O+3 (2 extra XML config lines) should work for O+3t as well. Rooting + side loading part: How to flash and root OnePlus 3T on Linux?

I managed to get it working during the summer, but during the fall the hack stopped working after an OS update :(.


text:
Modify shared_prefs XML file from adb shell
My Tolino Vision 4 HD e-book reader has no vi, vim.tiny or any other text editor executable, so to edit files I have to "adb pull" it to my PC, modify it there and "adb push" it back.
This takes too long for quick tinkering. "adb push" also sets new user+group to the file (root:root) instead of the original permissions.
Is there an in-built cli tool to modify application shared_prefs XML files while inside adb shell? (Add a new property and value, modify existing property's value, delete property)

I already patched adb to allow root access, so permissions are not a problem. I'm just asking for a convenience tool.

Sorry but if you expect an answer you should at least name the ebook reader you are talking about. Are you sure it runs on Android? Can you install Android app to it? Have you root access on the device? Please edit your questions and add those deatils.

By "in-built cli tool", did you mean from the Android device itself? Some custom ROMs provide an in-built Terminal app, but to access other app's internal data (including shared preferences), the device needs to be rooted due to the nature of Android's app sandboxing.

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


text:
How can I obtain root access inside Daydream shell?
I am trying to get familiarize with the Daydream VR adb shell command, but I can't get to find for the right documentation. How can I obtain root privileges once I have done:

adb shell

I used the following command to see if root or sudo was an actual command

ls /system/bin


text:
Keep daydream even when not charging
I'm using an old Wileyfox Swift as bedside clock, with FsClock-Android running as DayDream service showing the time.
To give the battery a long life, I prevent it from charging more than 80% via Battery Charge Limit.
Unfortunately the display (and thus the clock) is turned off when the battery is charged to 80% and the charge limit app stops charging.
How can I keep the display (and DreamService) on even if the battery is not charging anymore?

The phone runs LineageOS 17.1 (Android 10), rooted with Magisk.


text:
Daydreaming -- does it decrease screen life?
Does enabling daydreaming (display a clock while charging, i.e. never turn the screen completely off while charing) affect the life of the screen in any significant way?

I don't think so.. Besides, a phone's (or tablet) "usable" life itself is less than two years these days. (meaning they become outdated) So I have stopped worrying about a phone's "physical" life.

As life of LCD screen is measured in hours of its usage, keeping screen turned on does consume some of its life hours.
But, average life of LCD screens range from 30,000 hours to 60,000 hours, so I don't think it would a matter to you.


text:
Device file for USB controller/joystick not created
I've got an Android 4.1.2 device (OUYA) and a PSX-USB-Adapter with two Playstation controllers attached. Attaching it to the USB port makes the device show up in dmesg:
<6>[  331.002934] usb 2-1: new low speed USB device number 13 using tegra-ehci
<6>[  331.039183] usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0810, idProduct=0001
<6>[  331.046013] usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
<6>[  331.053437] usb 2-1: Product: Twin USB Joystick

Unfortunately, no device files in /dev/input/ like /dev/input/js0 are created.
Who/which part of android is responsible for detecting that an USB device is a joystick and creating the corresponding input files?
Btw, the controllers are detected fine on a standard Linux (Ubuntu 14.04).

It turned out that the necessary kernel modules were not compiled in (I checked that in /proc/config.gz).
See http://cweiske.de/tagebuch/ouya-usb-joysticks.htm for information about compiling your own kernel with the modules.


text:
List of default applications for a given android version
Is there a list for the stock applications (those who are installed by default with android), and libraries? for example: Atci_service, calendar, com.mediatek are they default applications? Or where there added by someone else?
Thanks.

You might want to check on android.com, which contains the list of apps included with each version:

1.1
1.5 (Cupcake)
1.6 (Donut)
2.0 (Eclair)
2.1 (Eclair)

Unfortunately, they stopped that listing after Eclair (2.1). And of course each "ROM cook" might have added other apps (and bloatware) to the list...


text:
Why/ How do some manufacturers remove the Encryption option?
I've owned two Android tablets now - one a no-name cheapo device (running 4.1.1); the other a more mainstream Asus Memopad HD 7 (4.2.1).  Neither have had the "System" -> "Security" -> "Encrypt Data" option; that is,  the option is simply not there, rather than being present but greyed out.
I'm really disappointed and, above all, bewildered by this: what motivation has a company for removing such a useful feature when it comes built into stock Android? What other devices have people used that don't have this feature?
As an addendum: does anyone know of any e-mail clients that will encrypt all your e-mail and passwords as they are written to disk, so that if the device falls into "enemy hands", as it were, they won't be able to read them, even if they have root access? I'm thinking specifically as a workaround for the confusing lack of whole device encryption, here.
Thanks!

You're asking lots of questions at once here, and not all your questions are suited to this site's format. "What other devices have people used that don't have this feature?" doesn't have an objective answer, so it's not really suitable here. Your question about email clients sounds too much like an app recommendation. We don't tend to accept such questions, because they are heavily opinion-based, and the answers go out of date very quickly as apps come and go, and add and remove features.

To get better answers, I suggest you split your addendum into a separate question, and rephrase it as, "How do I keep my email and passwords secure without full-device encryption?" That way, you're opening it up to answers that aren't just about an app.

Thanks for the thoughts, Dan - I'll definitely split off a "How do I keep my email and passwords secure without full-device encryption?" question, but would also really like a list of other devices that don't support encryption.

This is just a guess, but it may be for certain variants of the device that go to countries covered by U.S. munitions export regulations. Strong encryption counts as a munition for the purpose of the regulations, so this feature might have been left out to allow the device to be sold in such countries. Even if the manufacturer is not from the U.S., the Android software comes from there, so it's still covered by the regulations.


text:
TF700 boot loop after update to CM10.1.2
The Transformer Pad TF700T worked almost fine with the previous Cyanogenmod10. Today I updated the pad with the CM-Update Manager. It downloaded the cm10.1.2 update package and then booted recovery. After the installation was completed I found the pad stuck at boot loop.
The Cyanogenmod circle circuits but then stucks, waits for a few seconds and then the pad reboots and the same happens again.
I Hope anyone can help me.
Thanks in advance,
mrstrauss
EDIT:
I did a format of the cache partition as well as the dalvik cache. The result is still the same. It boots until the circle stops to circle and then it reboots.

Does it boot into safe mode successfully? Also, you might try to re-flash CM. Though not that often, but I've heard of cases where that helped. Wipe again, optionally factory-reset even, flash, do another wipe. If that doesn't help either, I'm out of ideas (except for going back to the last version you had working on the device).

I did not find any hint on entering safe mode on the transformer pad.
Reflashing the update did not solve the problem. I flashed the previous - working - version of CM and it seems to boot normally into android.

So it's most likely a bug the specific CM version has with your device. You might wish to post that solution as answer, and accept it lateron to show a possible way to solve that issue.

Bug still exists in the new 10.1.3 version.

Installing the previous, working version solved the problem. After that an installation of the gapps zip-package may be required.


text:
Are settings and accounts (like email) removed when changing the SIM card?
My android phone was stolen. The SIM-cards PIN must be entered on start and I also had a PIN set for unlocking it. My question now is if the SIM card is changed, will all the settings be reset or could the "new owner" now just read my emails etc...?
EDIT:
As addition to my below comment:
On another Android device it seems that the SIM-card PIN and the unlock PIN must be entered before the phone can be accessed so I guess I'm safe?

The setting differ from device to device and SIM only allows one to access call and internet it has no part in the email account credentials holding and all.
So if you have new device then you can just put old account credentials and access the data.

And yes is the stolen device is not protected with some lock then the person can access all the data of your phone

Well it was locked as in a PIN needs to be entered to access the phone and when restarting it the SIM must be unlocked. However what happens if the SIM is changed? Then the PIN is known and the phone can be accessed?

Exactly. The SIM lock only holds as long as the SIM is inserted. If the thief removes the SIM, and there's no other lock defined (pattern lock, device password/PIN, face unlock), he's free to access everything then which is not otherwise protected.

Accounts and data are not removed if you switch the SIM.
For obvious reasons:
Travelling abroad when you don't want to roam, or getting a new phone/data plan from a different carrier, etc. You could guess how mad people would get if their device got wiped by a SIM switch.
You're not safe, unless you also have set up a screen lock (or full device encryption).
All common smartphones act similar here (Windows Phone/iOS/Android):

If the SIM is locked with a pin, it must be re-unlocked each boot if it's present
If the device has a screen lock, it must be unlocked each boot and if you switch on the screen

I.e, a SIM lock is only bound to your specific SIM and it only prevents misuse of your number and phone/data plan, not the device and its data stored within. As soon as the SIM is replaced or removed, one doesn't need the SIM-PIN to to access the phone. Only a screen lock PIN (or password, unlock gesture or full device encryption) will do.

I did set a PIN for screen-unlock. But yeah this answers my question. So it is very, very important to set a screen unlock PIN (or gesture,...). For my replacement phone I now configured it for android device manager.


text:
android vpn allow connection dialog
I sometimes use light screen manipulating apps on my galaxy s4(such as twilight app,...) and when the apps are enable,in my vpn apps,ok button in vpn allow connction dialog does not work(cannot be tapped) but cancel button works az usual!
I want to know what is the behind?i think this is not a bug, it is something like a rule.

Screen overlay apps cause this; this is to prevent malicious overlay from manipulate your operation.

Your security is the reason
This is to prevent Tapjacking . See bmdixon's answer here Screen overlay detected, what is the problem? for details
So, VPN is not permitted but if you don't have a Cancel option to go back ( and disable the screen app, normally option for this is available in app settings) - how do you go back ? You can't, therefore, Cancel option is NOT greyed out


text:
Is it possible to change the background of a keyboard or change the color of a key?
I want to change the look and feel of the keyboard , by changing its background and also the color of individual keys. Please help if there is a way to do it.

You can theme keyboards, but it requires hacking the APK.

If u got the answer of this question then please post here, I want the answer of the same question...!!!

Yes you can change the look and feel of the keyboard. But for individual keys its not possible. you can set key background and show popup (this can be changed for different keys through coding). In the android sdk example you will find a keyboard example, you can make changes in xml placed in the layout folder and see the changes

I already use android sdk keyboard. But I want to be change the background color of each key. Is it possible? If yes then how, I dont want to be use of android:keyIcon...!!!

i did a detailed research on this , but finally i did not got any solution for that. but you can change the pop up of each key which comes on key press

How? Can you give me an example...?

If you're not too attached to your current keyboard, there are loads of other ones you could try.

SlideIt keyboard is good, and it has a new support for skins! so you can make it look however you want :)
Swype has about the same functionality as the former, with a single skin that is more of a darker grey.
FlexT9 has the same support as the first two, with a white skin.
SwiftKey is good if you don't like the swipe to type thing, and has a couple good-looking included skins.

The only way to change the default keyboard on your device though, will be rooting and finding a ROM that has a keyboard that you like (or making your own if you're developer inclined ;) )


text:
VNC viewer shows only black screen, but sends events to droidVNC
I am using a VNC server on my Android device (droidVNC it is called.)  I have tried using multiple VNC viewers and each one has the same results:

the viewer window is a black screen (sometimes a blue screen.)
clicking on the viewer correctly sends the events to the phone (I can see the screen change, etc.) but it is just blind clicking and pretty unusable.

I think that since this is the same problem on multiple different viewers (TightVNC Viewr, RealVNC Viewer) that it is a problem with droidVNC server.
Do you think the problem is actually with the VNC Viewer?
Has anybody experienced something like this before, and are there any tips you can give to make the droidVNC server run faster/better?

I think the problem is with droid VNC server. I have faced the same issue recently and the project seems to be abandoned (app last updated on June 11, 2012).
Then I tried different options under Settings->Display Access Method. The default option is auto-detect. I changed it to Framebuffer. Restarted the server and I could see the display on my viewer software. You should try all options till it works.

Tested on my ancient phone GT-S5360 running Android 2.3.5 (Better options available for recent android versions but they don't work on 2.3.5. So, I needed to find a solution by any means)

This was quite a bump, but I've also searched for ages for a good and reliable way to get the display and send events to android phones, and never had too much success. Pretty much every solution relied on an app on the phone, and they were quite laggy (like VNC usually is).
This all changed when I met scrcpy.
As the developer, puts it:

scrcpy provides display and control of Android devices connected on USB (or over TCP/IP). It does not require any root access. It works on GNU/Linux, Windows and MacOS.

All that's required is ADB debugging enabled, and you're basically good to go. You can set the bitrate, the scaling, everything. But most importantly, the latency is ridiculously low.
If you're looking for a similar solution to this problem, I'd give it a go. I know I'll be never fiddling with remote desktop servers and clients anymore!


text:
Stop Text Notifications From Showing On Edge
I have the Galaxy Note Edge and have tried the stock app, Handcent as well as Chomp, but all of them will display a text message on the Edge Screen.
I have disabled the display message over lock screen option, and no messages are displayed there, but the preview shows on the Edge.
How can I disable that?

I was trying to see if I could find a filter which would let you choose which notifications you would want to display on the edge and which you would not.  That way you could use the Edge deal, but get rid of the SMS notifications.  In all my searches I can only find a setting on how to disable/enable all or no notifications.
"Edge Screen Settings - Samsung Galaxy Note® Edge
Check out this Edge Screen video for more information.
From a Home screen, navigate: Apps > Settings> Edge screen.
The following options display:

Manage panels
Express me
Information stream
Night clock
Edge screen text
Edge screen timeout
Notifications

Shows notifications on the Edge screen.

Enabled when a checkmark is present.
Use Edge screen on left

Alternatively: you can access the Edge screen settings by swiping upward on the Edge screen from the bottom then tapping Settings icon."
Reference: http://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-140340/
Now I do not own an Edge variety of phone myself (I will not buy a phone personally that does not allow me to swap out my battery and/or does not allow me to use an external SD Card).  So there could still be a way I am unaware of to set it so you can use Edge for notifications and then just block those notifications you do not want to display.  Of course this is ONLY notifications you can still have the clock/date and news feed and other stuff still running on the Edge while notifications do not.

That was it, thank you!  I have had this phone for almost 2 years and I immediately changed the setting when I got the phone, but the recent "upgrade" to marshmallow changed it again.


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Made a Backup with TWRP, but the backup was moved to my computer. Can I still flash?
So I bricked my Galaxy S6 by wiping the system, data, boot, and all that. Before though, I made a nandroid backup and move the files to my MAC in a folder. But when I try putting the nandroid files back into the empty SD card, I won't show up in the "Restore" option! The kinds of files look like these,

I just want to restore the rom files. Not the data, how would I do this on a mac? I am currently using JOdin. Could I install md5 through TWRP? Is that even possible?? Please help!

/sdcard/TWRP/BACKUPS/<serial>/BACKUP_DIR_NAME/all files -- is this the path where you moved your backup files into SD card?

/sdcard/TWRP/BACKUPS/2016-09-11--21-24-27_LRX22G.S906LUDU1AOG8/(Then the files).                                                         It still doesn't recognize the files. I don't know what I am doing wrong! I will send more screenshots of the issue.

Inside the BACKUPS folder you need to have a folder with name as the Serial number of your device. Inside that, put your 2016...

My experience tells me that for TWRP to detect backup files the latter should be in a directory whose name would be shown as the name of the backup and that directory in turn should be under:
/sdcard/TWRP/BACKUPS/<serial>/

Here, replace <serial> with the serial number of your device. You can find the serial number of your device using the command:

getprop ro.serialno   # prefix adb shell, as appropriate

E.g. my backup files for the backup named 13-09-2016.Weekly are under:
/sdcard/TWRP/BACKUPS/X1JE45FGI3/13-09-2016.Weekly/

That was my problem. I simply didn't have THAT folder with serial number. Luckily I was able to obtain it by looking at the "recovery.log". I was able to restore my rom now. I'm so glad that my parents didn't find out I had bricked my device!


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How to import Facebook Birthdays to get merge with Android Contacts?
Apparently importing Facebook contacts to Android contacts is straight forward procedure by just checking sync option in Accounts and Settings, but is it possible to have birthday info imported from Facebook and merged with Android contacts.
PS: I was able to import FB birthdays imported to Google Calendar but that didn't help as the birthdays will just remain in calendar and not in Contacts.

I can never remember my mom's birthday either.

It depends on the android version.
I used to have Froyo and gingerbread (stock) it would not import the birthday info, but custom ROM MIUI does import the birthday info.


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How am I supposed to know if my smartphone is ARM or 86x?
I have a Sony Xperia M and installed CyanogenMod a couple of times. When ever I want to download GAPPS, I wonder, if my Smartphone is ARM or x86, and when ever I google it and don't find an answer, I have a deja vú  and I just go with ARM since it is most common and my phone is probably ARM.
But shouldn't there be a way to find out?

Related: How can I tell if my installed Android version, not CPU, is a 64 bit or 32 bit one?

Did you read How to identify the android device is 32-bit or 64-bit? BTW, at least OpenGApps employs a check for compatibility before installation, so even if you end up downloading incorrect GApps version you would still be safe.

adb shell getprop ro.product.cpu.abi gives you the hardware answer (e.g. "arm64-v8a" for my Wileyfox Swift).
adb shell uname -m tells you what the kernel is running (e.g. "aarch64" for the same device)

If you do not have ADB setup (and don't plan to), you can run the same commands in a terminal app. Just skip the preceding adb shell then:
$ getprop ro.product.cpu.abi
arm64-v8a
$ uname -m
aarch64
$

saved us thank you


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Alarm clocks aren't working on Android 6
I recently moved to Android 6 and promptly slept in the next day as my alarm clock (Alarm Xtreme) wasn't waking me up.
I search around a bit, disabled the energy setting stuff for that application and went to bed...only to not being waken up again.
I read some more and some people suggested a different alarm app ("Simple Alarm Clock" that apparently should work on Marshmallow). I set up my alarms and then went on to close the application as I always do (rectangle button, push the application window 'out') only to see the little alarm bell icon in the status bar disappear.
I went back to the Alarm Xtreme application, opened it and sure enough the alarm bell symbol appeared. Closed the app and the symbol immediately disappeared.
What is going on there and how do I fix it? Aren't alarms running in the background anymore? If yes why not?
I don't want to always remind me to open the alarm app before going to bed, mostly because I'd forget it half the time.
Oh also because that is mentioned a lot: My phone is always plugged in when I sleep.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/33110246/setexactandallowwhileidle-is-not-exact-as-of-developer-reference

@ballzak holy shit that's terrible.

When you say the little alarm status bar symbol, do you mean up the top left? If so, it sounds like that alarm app is running as a Service rather than registering with the system's AlarmManager.
When you swipe the app away from the multitasking view, you are killing the Service. More details
I have only a few suggestions:

Ensure the app cannot be optimised to save battery. Settings->Battery->Battery Optimisation (Overflow menu). Ensure app is displayed in Not optimised section.
Don't swipe the app to close it. This typically isn't needed on modern Android phones. Though really, I'd still not trust the alarm as the system can clean up apps whenever it needs to.
Use a different alarm app. I use Timely on Marshmallow and have never had a problem with it.

well there is a small icon for the app on the left and also a little alarm clock symbol between the 'Vibration' and the 'Network quality' icon. Both icons are disappearing when closing the application. I do expect the left one to disappear, but not the right one.

*edit I hadn't set the setting in the battery manager to allow the Simple Alarm Clock. After I set that both icons stay when I close the application.
For anyone reading: You can find set setting under Advanced Settings -> Battery manager -> Protected Apps

I'll update my answer to make it clear what solved it for you.

Checkout my alarm app Alarm + Task Logger FREE.
Playstore Link
I have developed this app post Marshmallow update and have circumvented the problem of missfiring alarms due to doze mode.
Besides this it offers more features & customizable options than others. Check playstore description.

The problem with my phone was because of DOZE mode. So I had to go to Battery manager and Allow All applications to run while the phone is locked. It solved my problem.

The default Clock app was only vibrating, no alarm sound. When trying the other "Clock" app of Google, it showed the warning: Alarm is muted. Unmute? after clicking it, the alarm was back.
Solution: Use the volume keys on your phone during the alarm to get the sound back.
And I admit, this little seemingly no-brainer took me one year to find out …

Just so you know, if you press a Volume Key and the volume bar appears, there is an arrow on the right side. Press it and 3 sound bars appear, one of which is the alarm one.


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Question about nandroid backus
I am using twrp 3.0.2 for backup and restore on my galaxy s4 i9506 and i dont understand some things.
I wanted to be able to switch between 5.0.1 and 4.3 by having backups of both versions.
So i backed up my phone running android 5.0.1. I then wiped my phone and flashed the 4.3 rom. Now my phone is on 4.3.
After that i made a backup of my phone on 4.3. Now i have the backups of 4.3 and 5.0.1.
When i tried to restore the 5.0.1 backup on the 4.3 system, it would get stuck at the "galaxy s4" boot screen. The 4.3 system would only accept 4.3 backups. (likewise, if i flash 5.0.1, it will also only accept 5.0.1 backups)
Furthermore, when i restore the 4.3 backup with a 5.0.1 system, the "galaxy s4" boot screen will be still be the one from 4.3. (the one from 4.3 has vibration while 5.0.1 doesnt).
This also happens when i try to flash custom roms (it gets stuck at the galaxy s4 boot screen, and it is the same screen as the previous OS). Hence, i am unable to flash any custom rom.
I thought that nandroid backups are supposed to restore the entire system to the way it was (exept internal and external sd cards), i dont understand why it does not. I also dont understand why the galaxy s4 boot screen does not change when restoring or flashing custom roms.
I tried to make this as clear as possible, thanks for reading!

When restoring backups did you wipe any partition or not? Which partitions did you backup and restore in particular?

Yes, I wiped all partitions. I backed up and restored all partitions. Is it wrong to wipe all partitions?

First of all, be advised that Nandroid backups, in some situations aren't able to backup the "boot.img" properly, or isn't able to properly restore the "boot.img", even if it was backed up properly. When either of that happens, you're going to end up stuck like the way you are at the moment. The issue you're facing can also turn up, in case the partitioning structure is different between roms of two different android versions (one being more recent than the other, probably). Difference in the number and type of partitions being created by each backup can also lead to situations in which some data is wiped (upon restoring another), which some traces are still leftover.

I thought that nandroid backups are supposed to restore the entire
  system to the way it was (exept internal and external sd cards), i
  dont understand why it does not.

Nandroid backups rely on the state of other things such as the custom recovery, the "boot.img" and the rom, in order to work properly. Think of it as having multiple variables in an equation; wherein even if one of them isn't working well with the others, its probably not going to be working as smoothly and perfectly as you would expect it to.
Therefore, my first suggestion would be to make a second copy of your existing nandroid backup on your computer (being extra safe here, so as to not possibly corrupt the existing one).
0> Then, open/extract the nandroid backup and see if it contacts a "boot.img". If it does, you're in luck. Otherwise, you will need to source a "boot.img" for your phone from the internet (which may or may not work). Either way, this recently obtained "boot.img" will be used in a moment.
1> Backup your existing boot.img using TWRP as a separate backup, selecting only the boot partition and nothing else for this particular backup.
(This will give you a backup containing your existing "boot.img", which is present on the phone at the moment. Also make note which rom this "boot.img" goes with (4.3/5.0.1), based on what is currently installed on the phone)
2> Wipe all partitions currently existing on your phone using TWRP. Use the fastboot mode to flash the "boot.img" obtained in step 0, above. Please make sure this "boot.img" goes along with the rom you will try to use with it, thereafter.
3> Within TWRP, do a partial restore, restoring ALL partitions existing within the backup except the boot partition (as we have already dealt with that).


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How to read data pertaining to running applications?
On the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean interface of my Samsung Galaxy SIII, I have noticed there seem to be various places where an application's running state is documented. I would like to know what the difference is between an entry for an application appearing in the following four places:

Application appears in the Task Manager under the Active Applications tab widget.
Application appears in the Task Manager under the Clear Defaults tab widget under "Launch by default".
Application appears in the Application Manager under RUNNING.
Application appears in the Application Manager under DOWNLOADED or ALL, and when clicked the "Force Stop" button is enabled.

It seems applications can appear in any of these four places in a bunch of different ways, and would like to know what it means if an application appears in one of these four places as opposed to another one of these four places.
Thank you for clarifying this puzzling issue.

Cases 1+3 show the app is currently running; basically, both are "task manager" views.
Number 2 is rather related to "preferred apps" for a given action: if you e.g. have two web browsers installed, this decides which one is launched if you tap an URL.
Number 4 is the "application manager". Usually, an "active force-stop button" should indicate a running app which you can "kill" by clicking this; but I'm not 100% sure whether the button is always disabled when the app in question does not run.

Thank you @Izzy for your comment, but what is the difference between 1 and 3? I have applications listed under 1 but not under 3, applications listed under 3 but not under 1, and applications listed under both 1 and 3. What is the difference between these three cases? Also, is a service a process or is it part of a process. This page does a good job at explaining the difference between activities, services, content providers, and broadcast receivers. But it doesn't explain how a process differs from a service.

I understand 2, it can be used to clear which activity is launched corresponding to a given intent, so after clearing if multiple activities are available for a given intent the user will have to manually select which activity to launch upon the intent being emitted. I'm not sure about the buttons appearing when I click on such an app though.

I'm not 100% sure here, as I neither have a 4.3 device nor a Samsung device (Samsung often has "specific solutions"). If you could enhance your question with specific screenshots, that might help spotting the difference (and I'd update my answer then accordingly if I can).

(3) likely shows services in addition to apps.


text:
Storage space and memory: mobile phone architecture versus PC architecture
On a PC, there are hard disks acting as storage space where the operating system and application files are stored, and there is RAM which is memory which gets used up by the operating system executable code and applications executable code while everything is running.
On my Samsung Galaxy SIII, when I go to Settings -> More -> Storage, there are various sections which talk about storage space and memory as though these were the same thing?
So here come my questions:

Apart from storage space provided by the optional SD card which must be inserted into the back of the phone next to the SIM card, is there a single memory chip acting as both a storage medium for files when the device is turned off as well as random access memory for the running operating system executables and apps in execution? As the following screenshot reports there seem to be 16.00GB on my device used both as a hard disk and as RAM. Is this how this storage medium works, a single chip for both?
Where can I see the amount of space available on my SIM card? According to Wikipedia such space can only be used to store specific kinds of data such as network-specific information, a maximum of 250 contacts (except for newer models) where each contact can only consist of a name and single phone number pair, and SMS messages. SIM card capacities are also limited to 32KB to 128KB or more, but in any case it's a very small amount of space. It could be that because of these limitations the Samsung Galaxy SIII and other modern Android phones do not make use of this space for user data, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Thank you for your replies.

Thank you for your suggestion. The reason I touched upon the topics of internal storage, external SD card storage, SIM card storage, and temporary RAM memory storage in one post is that I was simply looking for one thing: the big picture concerning how memory and storage is broken down on Android phones and where on the system these parameters can be accessed, hence a single post. I have received answers on this topic. If after this explanation you still think I can reword my post better, then please let me know and I will act accordingly. Thanks.

Thanks. The reason I didn't accept yet is just one thing. I was just waiting to see if the term device memory refers consistently to internal memory which is not system memory, or whether in some contexts the term device memory can also be used to refer to all device memory. If you know the answer please post a comment and I will accept the answer given below. Thanks.

No 100% proof or able to cite a source, but I've never seen "device memory" referring to RAM. And with one thing I am 100% sure: It never refers to /system (where the OS stuff resides). Keep in mind we have no control how "laymen" might use the terms in forums etc :)

In this respect, there is no difference between regular PC and Android.
The terminologies, however, is slightly confusing.
System memory refers to the storage space that is used by system files, and Device memory refers to all storage space. Device memory does not refer to RAM. Your device's RAM can be seen in Settings -> More -> Application Manager.

is there a single memory chip acting as both a storage medium for files when the device is turned off as well as random access memory for the running operating system executables and apps in execution?

Sort of. Most Android device uses a System-on-chip (SOC). What is included in a SOC varies depending on the particular chip and device, but a typical SOC may have CPU, RAM, GPU, wireless, and possibly storage manufactured in a single chip. In regular PC, these are usually separate components, SOC is used in mobile devices to save space wasted due to separate component packaging, but internally there is still a delineation between the components.

Where can I see the amount of space available on my SIM card?

AFAIK, you can't. Android have very limited support for SIM card facility. It uses the SIM card only for Telephony functions and importing existing contacts there into the device's address book.

It's worth adding that usually in the Android GUI, "memory" means non-volatile storage, and "RAM" means RAM. It's a bit confusing because that's not usually what people call the two things, but that's how it is.

I've downloaded several applications under the names of SIM, SIM Card, SIM Card Info, SIM Card Information, SIM Card Manager, and so on, but almost all of them seemed to report almost no information stored in the SIM card, no contacts, just a SIM card device ID (IMEI/MEID/ESN) and a little bit of other garbage, but no data pertaining to amount of space available on the SIM card. Thanks.

@LieRyan, would you be able to clarify your answer as far as the "device memory" bit is concerned? When I go to "Settings -> More -> Application manager" as you say, it reports roughly 8GB used and roughly 3GB free, out of a total of 16GB of internal storage memory. When I go to "Settings -> More -> Storage" the "System memory" storage reports roughly 5GB. Since 8GB + 3GB + 5B = 16GB, this seems to indicate that the term "device memory" refers to all memory which is not system memory. That is: total internal memory = system memory + device memory. Can you please confirm? Thanks.

On the "Settings -> More -> Storage" screen a similar breakup is also present, since on that screen "Used space" is userland internal storage memory space which excludes "System memory" internal storage memory space. Thanks.

@JohnSonderson: Sorry for not being too clear, to see the RAM, go to Settings -> More -> Application Manager and go to the Running tab. That is the one that shows your RAM.

Now I realize that as to the first part of the question, as pointed out, the Storage
screen is displaying information on internal storage (excluding SIM card storage space, external SD card storage space, and RAM memory which is just a temporary storage location which is on a separate chip and does not serve as a persistent storage location).
The reason I was getting confused is that the terms storage and memory are mixed interchangeably on this screen. Even more confusing, on the Samsung Galaxy SIII site the amount of this internal storage is listed under the heading Memory with subheading Total Internal Memory: 32 GB / 16 GB Internal Memory, whereas in the world of desktop computers the term memory usually refers to RAM. This is what was confusing me.
I later realized that to view the amount of RAM (including the percentage of unavailable RAM on the system) there is another window which can be accessed by long-pressing the Home hardware key and then clicking on the pie-chart icon in the lower-left hand corner, as in the following screenshots:

I've added a picture of what a SOC (System-on-a-Chip) looks like. As posted, many systems now come as SOCs with CPU, internal memory, RAM, and other component all integrated into one chip but at the same time still separate from one another.

As an alternative place where to find information on RAM used as opposed to long-pressing the Home key and clicking on the pie-chart icon, one can also go to Settings -> More -> Application manager and swipe twice to the right to see the RUNNING tab which displays the same information at the bottom as in the following screenshot (click to enlarge):

The above screen displays all running processes. By contrast, long-pressing the Home hardware key only displays those running processes which have a GUI in the foreground, excluding background tasks.
Thanks.


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Item that looks like the keyboard's Backspace key in the notification panel?
I would like to know what the icon that looks like a backspace keyboard key in the upper-left hand side of the notification panel means (what application does it correspond to?).
In the screenshot given below the icon is found in the very left-most position in the notification icons area.

Thanks.

If you can, please provide some kind of screenshot, so we know what you're talking about. Otherwise, I think the icon you mean is the indicator for 2 or more other notifications.

OK, I've added the screenshot.

This is the indicator for 2 or more other notifications. Their icons have been hidden because they would overlap other (system) icons.
The icon is not bound to an app (well, it's System UI but I don't treat it as an app) and is only removable by swiping away enough notifications, so that all the icons fit into your notification bar.

Would have been nice if you could swipe the notification icons left and right like you can do with the buttons at the top of the notification panel, clock app, etc...


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Phone app: what does the blue forbidden sign (with optional blue "A" in front) mean in the call log?
I have the following question concerning the Samsung Galaxy SIII:
When one taps Phone -> Logs it is possible to see the following icons:

Incoming calls which were answered and received text messages
(icon displays a green arrow pointing to the left)
(clicking entry displays date and time call was received
or text message was received and call duration for calls)
Incoming calls which were not answered
(icon displays a white arrow bouncing to the left off a red phone receiver)
(clicking entry displays date and time call was received
and displays the text "Missed")
Outgoing calls
(icon displays an orange arrow pointing to the right)
(android phone app does not differentiate outgoing calls which were answered
from outgoing calls which were not answered, but clicking on the entry displays
call duration for calls which were answered or the text "Canceled" for calls
which were not answered)

However, I am not sure what the following mean in the Phone application:

icon displays blue circle with diagonal line through it
(clicking on this entry displays a date and time and the text "Canceled")
icon displays blue circle with diagonal line through it
with blue uppercase "A" in front of it
(clicking on this entry displays a date and time and the text "Canceled")

What is the difference between these two icons?
Thanks.
The five different possible icons I mentioned appear in the following screenshot (contact names and phone numbers scribbled-out, click to enlarge):

The icon that displays a blue circle with diagonal line through it in the Phone app's Log tab appears when the user receives a call and manually rejects it with a swipe when the phone rings. As soon as the user swipes to reject the call, the caller will hear the tone of the phone call change from a ringing signal to a busy signal.
The icon that displays a blue circle with diagonal line through it and a blue "A" in front of it in the Phone app's Log tab appears when the user receives a call but the caller has been added to the reject list from the Contacts app. In this case the caller will never hear a ringing signal and will hear a busy signal as soon as the call is made, and the receiving party will not hear the phone ringing since the contact was added to the reject list of course. The blue A in front of the blue circle with a diagonal line through it is most likely understood to be the first letter of the word autorejected.

Regards.

Just now 'The blue A in front of the blue circle with a diagonal line through it' happened to me.  I read your answers and assumed the person I was in contact with added me to autoreject list.  Please do not come to conclusions that technology always works as we predict it to work.  The person was in a government building which blocked all his calls.  He had to contact his boss and realized his phone was not working. I assumed he put me on autoreject list, when in fact, the building he was in must have some controlled signalling system setup.


text:
Rolling back app update
A recent app update (adding annoying adds) has been caused some stability issues, app crashes, etc. How can I roll back a Google Play store app to a previous stable version?

Check for the official site of the respective app for previous versions if available.
If you have a backup of the previous version, uninstall the current version and install the old version.
Try to avoid Update all option and make sure to turn off automatic updates in the Google play store.


text:
Locking the speed of the cpu on an android phone
The battery life of my cell phone lasts for about 6 hours. About 2 days ago I downloaded the app CPUControl to reduce the speed of my CPU. This resulted in more than 20 hours of battery life. However I changed the settings and I haven't been able to achieve the results I had before. I have a 4 X ARM Cortex-A7 CPU with a top speed of 1.3 GHz.
When I change the speed to 600 MHz, the change only lasts about 2 minutes ant then the processor goes up to 1 GHz draining my battery life very quickly.
You can't tell the difference between the processor running at 600 MHz or 1.3 GHz, either way it's fast enough.
What happened, how come I cant lock the processor speed anymore?

Which CPU governor are you using?

I am not aware of CPUControl's settings but you can try some other applications to lock the speed. You can try KernelAduiter to perform this and many more operations.
You can change the CPU speed by specifying the minimum and the maximum and for best battery and if you're unable to do so, change the CPU governors.

If the CPU speed increases to 1.3GHz only for a few seconds randomly, set the governor to Conservative
If the CPU stays for long at 1.3GHz, check out which application is using the CPU so much.

2a. Open Terminal Emulator

Gain root access using su
Run top and let it display results on the screen
Press Volume Down + c to terminate the command
Scroll to the top and check out the process/app using the maximum CPU. If you find that process/app useless, terminate it

For some reason, the only governor that works is hotplug. All the others would work until the screen blacks out. So this solved the problem.

authors: พีรดนย์ ปรัชญาวรวัฒน์


text:
Disabling downloaded app
In Android, you can disable a built-in app so it won't run and will disappear from the app list. But it will still remain on the phone and
can be easily re-enabled.
However, there's no such option for downloaded applications, you can only uninstall it.
Is there, perhaps, a hidden way to do so?
A use case could be a public transport app for a city that you visited for
a while, and may visit some time again. You don't want to lose bookmarked routes, but you don't want it to update its schedules and waste
internet traffic and other resources, either.

You can use the pm command from either adb or a terminal emulator to enable or disable any app (package) by package name. pm is short for package manager and can do more than just installing, disabling or listing packages.

@GiantTree seems like pm disable is the answer. Why don't you post it as a proper anwser so I can accept it?

Requires root (at least on 6.0.1). System permissions (uid<=1000) is required but adb runs as userid 2000.
The Package Manager (pm) will do exactly what you want.
In either adb or Terminal Emulator (both require root), run the pm command and you can see its capabilities.
We look at 2 of them:

pm list packages
pm disable <package>

pm list packages lists all installed packages, this list is unsorted but if you know some easy bash, you can use grep to search for substrings in the package names:
pm packages list | grep google will list all packages with "google" in their name, effectively returning just Google's apps:
Sample output:
package:com.google.android.apps.unveil
package:com.google.android.gsf.login
package:com.google.android.apps.translate
package:com.google.android.backuptransport
package:com.google.android.apps.books
package:com.google.android.apps.giant
package:com.google.android.ears
package:com.google.android.keep
package:com.google.android.talk
package:com.google.android.apps.ads.publisher
package:com.google.android.apps.youtube.music
package:com.google.android.play.games
package:com.google.android.apps.magazines
package:com.google.android.apps.adm
package:com.google.android.inputmethod.latin

pm disable <package name> disables a single package you specified. Disabling the Google Keyboard would then be pm disable com.google.android.inputmethod.latin.
To find out what package name maps to what app try this url: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=<package name>
Replace <package name> with the package name you want to check.
Instead of using pm, you can use Titanium Backup, given that your device is rooted.
In Titanium Backup you can scroll through all your apps, filter that list and select the app you want to disable or in TB's case freeze.
This, however, requires the paid version of Titanium Backup.

+1 great answer. Maybe you can include further ways of doing this (for users who don't want to operate with a terminal). For example: Using a File Explorer with root privileges and browse to /data/app. Find the Folder of the application you want to disable, browse into it and change the file extension of the base.apk to base.apk.disabled. Or if someone is already using Titanium Backup they might want to use that. Does pm disable require root privileges?

@benjaminS well pm requires at least system permissions. Running it from adb will work but from a terminal emulator will require root permissions. I add more information to my answer.


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Entering very long Google password during setup
If I have a new phone how can I enter my Google password in a secure manner during setup without having to type it (it is VERY long at over 30 random alphanumeric characters and a pain to type).
Since the phone it not yet set up I have no way yo send it to myself from another device via encrypted email, messaging, PGP because I have no apps installed yet.

Well technically I don't think you need to actually setup a Google account right away. So what I would recommend is skipping the part of the setup process where you setup a Google account and then use a built in app to retrieve it (SMS, copy a file onto your phone or any method to read text).
Other than that I think the best thing would be to just temporarily change your Google password for a few minutes, than change it back right after (once you have methods to get the new password onto the phone without typing)

Yeah, There is no way for that as told by @L_Pav.
But, In new phone you can always skip those settings and do it later on whenever you are free.

There is no way you can shortcut, without entering the password manually, since you cannot copy and paste it from elsewhere, or receive it from elsewhere, good luck with your typing!


text:
android improve internal storage
is it possible to use an sd card as part of a smartphone's internal storage, even rooting the phone?
I have read that google has been on that feature since android M, but what about versions like kitkat?
thank you in advance for any help.

Tell me your device name

for testing I am using a vodafone smart first 6. but the device belonging to the person who requested this from me is a selectline, some model I may not remember, but runs kitkat 4.4.2, and has 4gb of internal storage divided in partitions of 2 each, as I understood, and is using an sd card of 16gb.

the mobile device model is a selecline-854599

You need to change the layout of the device
You need to build a specific rom  and a specific recovery to adopt the sdcard

What do the specific rom  and specific recovery means ?

Let me start by how android manages storage
As per kitakat the storage is determined by the fstab and the storage-list.xml
This define what blocks should be used for what purpose more specifically they determine the partition

To adopt the storage

You need to build a new rom  with modified fstab and
storage-list.xml (till lollipop because android 6 uses only the
fstab)
Then build twrp (or any other recovery) with modified fstab and
storage-list.xml
Then flash twrp and wipe everything using advanced wipe a word of
caution this will wipe your sdcard

Enjoy

@pemq you can see HTC one x 's xda forum new layout that will give you more idea

@pemq do your phone has a external sdcard or a inbuild one?

external, but it has a built-in slot

@pemq you mean you have a sdcard ?

yes, that is it

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