text:
Ethernet Calling on Android
We've been using iPhones for as long as they've been out, but they've recently began blocking features that we use.  We're looking for a change.  Can you make calls and/or text via ethernet connection on an Android?

I assume you are referring to "Wifi Calling" and "SMS over Wifi". In that scenario "Wifi" means just any IP based network connection, so if you would use an USB Ethernet adapter (and a device that supports it) it should also work using Ethernet. Of course the device and your mobile network provider have to support both features.


text:
How to recover data from an erased android SD Card
Last week when my phone(Galaxy Note 10+) was stolen, I logged into my Google account from my laptop and chose the option to erase the device. The cops managed to catch the guy and retrieve my phone but by that time I had lost all the important stuff on my phone and my SD card. I tried to recover the data from my card by connecting it to my laptop (Windows 10) and using software like EaseUS, Recuva but both didn't find anything to recover. I don't care about anything but family pictures on my phone/SD card which were not synced to any cloud. I would really appreciate it if someone could help me with some suggestions on how to recover the erased SD card. I am also new to this forum so please forgive me if I am not following the best guidelines for asking a question and please let me know if there is any other information I should add

Don't you think an "erase data function" would be worthless if you could easily recover the data later? Phones are a bad place for storing important data you have no backup of as phones can get lost, stolen or destroyed. So always ensure you have the data copied to a safe place.

I understand and I wish I had them synced to secure cloud account but unfortunately I didn't and those pictures are fond memories with my family so I am trying really hard to get those back and I am hoping someone or some answer from the forum would be able to help me out.

was the sd card encrypted?

@alecxs No, I had never selected that option

https://www.klennet.com

@alecxs That couldn't find any erased files either :(

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Handcent Next SMS just flagged by Play Protect -- what's going on?
I've been using Handcent Next SMS app for many years. A few moments ago, the Playstore's Play Protect just disabled the app on my phone saying the following:

This app is fake. It tries to take over your device or steal your data.

The webpage for the app comes up blank now:

To my knowledge, 10,000s of people have been using this app for many years.
Did something just change?
Anybody have more information about this sudden change/situation??

not the first time and not unusual

Note to visitors: Welcome to a Q&A site Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange. Unlike traditional discussion forums, "answers" should only be used to answer the question/explain the situation. While we understand your confusion, please refrain from posting an answer when you have the same issue and only want to inquire about it further. Note that this issue is purely between Handcent and Google. As a community of Android users who don't have any affiliation with them, we do not have access to the matter and can only wait for further official information. Thanks for your understanding.

@AndrewT. Understandable. Where would I keep a look out for such info?

@theforestecologist mostly the Android news outlets, Android forums, or directly contacting the customer support of Handcent.

Related on Reddit: Next SMS removed from google play?, Handcent/nextSMS removed from Play Store?, Play store telling me to remove Next SMS, cited as harmful and "trying to take over my phone". Anyone else seen this?.

The Handcent Next SMS app was flagged by Play Protect and taken down from the Play Store on March 26 due to embedding a malicious 3rd-party library and returned on March 30 with an updated, clean version.

Timeline
On March 26, according user223149 while attempting to reply to this question,

Got this answer from support:

Our app Handcent Next SMS has been misidentified as malware by Google, we are in talks with Google to get our app back to play store. [...]

Around 1 hour later, this was later confirmed on the official Handcent website, Twitter account, and Facebook Page,

Our app Handcent Next SMS has been misidentified as malware by Google, we are in talks with Google to get our app back to play store. [...]

User 'WildBSinTX' on Reddit sent an email to Handcent support and got a reply,

I got a reply this morning with an explanation and an attachment with v9.9.9.
*Security patch to fix a potential threat
*Other fixes to make sure it's in a good safe state
I installed it, and so far, so good.
[...]

Meanwhile, on March 28, Handcent posted an update to the same channels.
Official site

We have resolved the issue, together with Google. The app will return to the play store soon. [...]

Twitter

We have resolved the issue, together with Google. It usually takes one day or two. [...]. It’s safer and good to go now.

Facebook

We have resolved the issue, together with Google. The app will return to the play store soon. It usually takes one day or two. [...]. It’s safer and good to go now.

On March 30, the app was back on the Play Store with v9.9.9.1.
The official site also mentions,

We are pleased to announce that Handcent Next SMS is back to the Google Play . [...]

Handcent also followed up on their social media on March 31.
Twitter

Next SMS is now back on the play store, you could go to the play store and install it. [...]

Facebook

Next SMS is now back on the play store, you could go to the play store and install it. [...]

Those who sent an email might also receive a follow-up reply mentioning the app version on the Play Store,

Next SMS is now back on the play store, you could go to the play store and install it 9.9.9.1. [...]

Cause
I decided to send an email to Handcent Support and received the v9.9.9 APK file, then also downloaded the APK for v9.9.9.1 after it was published on the Play Store. After decompiling and comparing the content with v9.9.8.6 and v9.9.8.5, one noticeable thing is the removal of coelib.c.couluslibrary since v9.9.9 (including v9.9.9.1 from the Play Store).
AppCensus published a blog article written by Joel Reardon on April 6, titled The Curious Case of Coulus Coelib. It explained what and how this library worked in detail. Quoting a relevant part about this specific incident,

Disclosure
The following table are the apps that we confirmed communicating with mobile.measurelib.com. We reported this issue to Google on October 20th, 2021 along with this list of apps. They investigated it and removed these and other apps containing the SDK from the Play Store. [...]

App Name
Privacy Policy
Installations
phone
email
IMEI
GPS
router SSID
router MAC

[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]

Handcent Next SMS-Text w/ MMS
link
1 million+
no
yes
yes
no
yes
yes

[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]

(Emphasis added)
An article from Android Police published on April 7, titled Google crackdown kicks a bunch of data-stealing malware off the Play Store also stated,

Still, there is some hope for those who have lost income streams from Google's ban. The company may allow some apps to return — as long as they delete the Measurement Systems code. The first few are in fact already back.

Since I did not uninstall the app after the high-risk warning, I was able to go to Play Protect and enable the app. Then I went into settings for the app and changed the permissions to allow for usage of apps that aren't on the Play Store. I also changed the setting where Play Protect wouldn't scan Handcent. Once I restarted, everything was back.

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


text:
Need to close AlertDialog using Adb
i use to run some ussd code using adb android.intent.action.CALL and after read the response i need to close the AlertDialog to run another ussd command and so on .
i tried keyevent but is no good , sometimes it click somewhere in phone and open other apps ..
in logcat i found these intent and classes and i want a good way like kill process or force stop to close that dialog using ADB.
com.android.contacts;  [ ClassName: android.widget.TextView ]
com.android.contacts/com.android.contacts.activities.DialtactsActivity
com.android.phone.MMIDialogActivity

(without root if possible)

What about using back button or home button keyevent?

it doesn't close the AlertDialog , (also i don't want use touch screen x and y)

I think Firelord was talking about key events like they are generated by USB/Bluetooth hardware keyboards, not touch events.


text:
How to force desktop version of Facebook on Chrome for Android?
Until recently, it was possible to select the "Desktop site" tickbox in Chrome on Android, browse to "www.facebook.com" and get the desktop Facebook site. That has stopped working and I now get the mobile site regardless of the "Desktop site" tickbox setting.
Is there a way to ensure I get the desktop version of Facebook on Chrome on an unrooted phone without affecting other sites in other tabs? If not, can this be done with another browser?

Desktop mode for Facebook (checked on login page only) on Kiwi Browser (Chrome based) is working fine.


text:
How to create 5Ghz hotspot on a rooted Android that doesn't give built in 5Ghz option?
My Galaxy S8 did have a 5Ghz option on the stock rom, but Lineage OS 19.1 based on Android 12 doesn't have the option to host a 5Ghz hotspot.

Related for 6GHz: How to create a 6Ghz hotspot on a rooted Android?


text:
Problems booting into recovery magisk (Android 12)
I rooted my Samsung Note 10 running Android 12/One UI 4.1 using Magisk in recovery mode a few weeks ago, however since then I have only managed to successfully boot with Magisk once. I have tried many different timings of holding the power button and volume up button simultaneously to no avail.
What I've been told is that the timing is to wait for the last warning splash screen and then let go, so I tried that a few times and it didn't work.
The one time it did work I held the buttons until the SAMSUNG logo splash screen (after the warnings) when the phone vibrates, then it shows something along the lines of
[PDP]
back-up: fail
setup-wizard: success

but when I go to the Magisk app it shows N/A in the installed field and the su command in terminal doesn't work.
I'm trying to find out if there's a way to reliably boot into Magisk or if there's anything I'm doing wrong.
Thank you for your help <3

what happens when you type su in terminal

@alecxs nothing, said it's an unknown command. i managed to reliably boot to recovery using adb (adb reboot recovery) so i've been using that to get into root lately

I have the same issue, but I was never able to get the root to work. By any chance, were you able to solve it?


text:
Boot into recovery without Volume Key
My Android 9 Phone is stuck in bootloop. It is rooted.
My phone Vol Down Key is broken.
Is there a way to boot into recovery without using vol button.
(similar questions only had device specific queries or working phones to use adb or apps)

vol up key - fastboot oem reboot recovery or fastboot boot recovery.img

its emui - huawei - does not support reboot to recovery from fastboot


text:
Manually decrypt data from recovery-mode?
AFAICT, Android builds upon Linux' standard fscrypt as implemented in ext4 and f2fs.
I know my pattern and have access to a shell with any Linux program in it.
How can I decrypt /data manually, without the Android OS running? (i.e. from Lineage Recovery)
If that's not feasible, why?

This is a possible solution to https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/246840/how-to-back-up-encrypted-data-atomically-in-android-12 but I feel it's worth its own question.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/3894561


text:
Need some help with fastboot to install twrp on moto g pure
I am trying to root the phone, by following the instructions here. I did unlock OEM and am able to see my device. But can not flash to recovery. So I tried booting twrp first but that does not work for me either. I did see this link and the comment about using the stock boot image. I have not tried that yet since my issue is slightly different. Thanks in advance for any advice. I am doing all this on Fedora platform.
sudo ./fastboot devices
[sudo] password for ****:
####### Motorola Fastboot Interface

sudo ./fastboot boot recovery.img
[sudo] password for *****:
Sending 'boot.img' (42408 KB)                      OKAY [  1.581s]
Booting                                            (bootloader) Command is not support
FAILED (remote: '')
fastboot: error: Command failed
sudo ./fastboot flash /recovery recovery.img
Sending '/recovery' (42408 KB)                     OKAY [  1.676s]
Writing '/recovery'                                (bootloader) Invalid partition name /recovery
FAILED (remote: '')
fastboot: error: Command failed

The partition name is recovery (without slash), not /recovery.

some devices don't have recovery partition. temporary flash twrp into boot partition instead (slot B), switch active slot, boot into twrp, Menu > Advanced > Install Recovery Ramdisk (slot A), don't forget copy slot A > slot B to restore boot.img

beware the link you shared is for Qualcomm (rav). yours is MediaTek SoC (ellis)

@Andrew I tried w/o slash and same result.

@alecxs I tried to boot; the output is in the post. Thank you for info on Media Tek. I did not know that. If I mistyped something, please let me know?

https://developer.android.com/studio/run/device link says to do something with Groupdev if you are using Ubuntu. I have not given that fastboot devices gives me an output.

I doubt you actually have TWRP for your device (code name ellis?) therefore root it by patching boot.img without TWRP

@alecxs thanks. I think the steps are https://android.stackexchange.com/a/212029/374168 . The comment also says Magisk is an option. Do you agree? I can not get over how the errors seem to be due to the wrong command. Am I wrong? I posted a question in the Motorola forum.

@alecxs it looks like even if I root it, with Magisk or a patch I can not flash it a costume rom. According to https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/moto-g-pure-xt2163-4-vs-xt2163-2-lte-bands.4368073/

if bootloader is unlockable you can boot GSI https://www.xda-developers.com/dsu-sideloader-boot-custom-android-gsi

@alecxs wow sounds like exactly what I need. I'll try it. Thank you.


text:
How do you record the first time setup of an Android device without USB Debugging enabled?
I'm trying to record the initial setup of an Android phone/tablet for my company but i'm running into an issue where none of the Android to PC mirroring programs work during this part without having USB Debugging enabled. The problem is that these settings are not available because of the company settings and even then trying it on a private Android device it seems that when you Factory Reset the device the enabled USB Debugging setting is reset to its default which is off.
So my question is how do people take pictures or recordings of the initial Android setup with this conundrum in mind?

Robert's suggestion of taking a screenshot helped. I used screenshot key combination Power + Volume down button wherever I needed to take screenshots during device setup. Those screenshtos were saved to the Gallery.


text:
Can somebody reset my phone without opening screen lock?
Suppose somebody took my phone and reset the phone ( all files will be deleted like factory reset ) without knowing my screen lock password or even opening my phone.
Is that possible? if possible then how can i prevent that technically?

You cannot prevent that. Only your device vendor can. All you can do is to keep backups of important files.

it is possible to create custom ROM with user-settable root of trust that can run on locked bootloader. but even if you disable recovery and download mode still attacker can flash stock ROM in EDL/bootrom mode or erase data via JTAG


text:
Google Maps navigation stopped playing guidance
I used Google Maps navigation for times without any problem, on several different devices; currently I'm using a Google Pixel 3a, and it first worked properly too.
But suddenly, it began to cut EACH guidance phrase before the end, like in this example (freely translated from French):

In 200 meters, at the roundabout, take the (silent here)

This happened systematically during some days, after which it started working properly again.
But it started again cutting phrases some other days later!
This has occurred during months: working - not working - working - not working...
Till it totally stopped talking: visually the navigation process works fine, but now the device never says anything at all.
Obviously I controlled my configuration, which is correctly set to have the guidance playing.
Important precision: very strangely, this happens for car guidance, but pedestrian one talks normally!
I tried following numerous help pages from the net, without success: they all address either configuration settings or device malfunction, so the proposed solution always concerns a general problem (affecting any sound usage, at least inside of Google Maps), while my problem clearly happens for only certain parts.

TL;DR
Depending on which car (in fact, which software bundled in the car) the device is connected to, the problem may happen or not.
When it happens, the solution is to disconnect the device from the car: then the guidance normally plays again.
Detailed explanation
After a lot of tests, I finally discovered that all works fine as long as the device is not connected to the car.
(BTW this explains why it works fine when in pedestrian mode)
A posteriori I also understood why it suddenly started to fail, when I realized that it happened after exchanging my Volvo XC60 for a Volvo V70.
The previous one was a most recent model, and it clearly appears that the bundled software is not exactly the same version.
I guess that something special in the new one (new for me, but older in time) is responsible to cause (may be indirectly) the activation of a certain configuration option (either at the device or app level).
But despite a lot of investigations I couldn't discover which one: all options I could think of seam to remain unchanged when connecting/disconnecting.
Does somebody have any idea about what might be concerned here?
So my current solution (not the ideal one, indeed) is simply to disconnect the device when I want to use Google Maps navigation.
I resign myself to not being able to use the phone during this time.
BTW if you wonder why I prefer to use Google navigation system rather than the car-bundled one, it simply comes from the obvious enormous difference at the "enter address" level: Google Maps seam to know any little locality or suburb name, as well as numerous little shops, curiosity points, and so on.
While the car-bundled navigation system (at least the ones I know) labouriously claim for town, street, number... and doesn't know anything else.
Last point: what remains totally unexplained is why, starting to fail, the guidance system was not immediately silent, but began only cutting the end of each sentence...

This additional information should be edited into the question, not posted as an answer as it doesn't answer the question.

@Chenmunka: I don't understand. Why do you think it's not an answer? My question asked for an explanation about the cause of the problem and a solution to solve it: don't those two responses belong to my answer?


text:
How to raise a KEYEVENT_ENTER?
NOTE: I am not writing an android program, I am using someone else's program.
It seems that the enter-looking-button on my virtual keyboard isn't raising the enter key event on some websites that I go to.  I'm not entering text - I know that the website is listening for an enter keypress event in order to initiate some behavior.  How can I raise the enter key event with my virtual keyboard?

ask the creator of that keyboard

@alecxs I'm just using the stock keyboard

my keyboard toggles the key automatically depending on which input field the cursor is
https://i.sstatic.net/U9gi0.jpg
https://i.sstatic.net/wigpt.jpg
https://i.sstatic.net/4Hx2n.jpg


text:
Disable prompt when sending messages to shortcodes
I use Textra for my messaging, and am running Android 12 (kernel version 5.4.86) on my OnePlus 9 Pro. I interact with several services via shortcodes and know and trust them (and know I do not get charged for using them)... stuff like appointment confirmations from doctor's offices, etc. However, every time I try to respond to a message I get this annoying prompt:

Textra would like to send a message to XXXXXX.
 This may cause charges on your mobile account.
Cancel       Send

I recall getting something like that before, but I thought it'd had a "don't show this again" option -- which evidently no longer exists. Is there a way to make this prompt go away? Preferably I'd like it to just STFU altogether (I'm not going to text a shortcode I don't recognize, it's going straight to the blocklist) but if I can even get the message to go away on a per-shortcode basis that would be an improvement.

For reference this is in the US (I know SMS billing works differently in different countries)

Started getting the same thing on my OnePlus 8 after the recent upgrade to Android 12. The app (Google's) has full permissions to send SMS messages.

@Corrodias yes, I think it's an Android thing, thanks for noting that you are using a different app (Google Messages, vs Textra). It's really dumb that this can't be disabled, if I wanted my phone to babysit me I would've bought an iPhone


text:
How to access sync'd Nextcloud files in termux
I am syncing files to my phone (Fairphone 4) with Nextcloud, and wish to access these files using termux. Currently access is denied, is there a way to set this up to work other than rooting the device or is that the way forward?

Unfortunately Termux cannot pass SAF-based storage access (like you would do with a file explorer by selecting - for example - a file using Google Drive app).
But there is an alternative : Rclone.
Rclone can give you access to many and many online drives (including NextCloud). It is only a command-line utility.
To install it in Termux, simply run pkg in rclone.
Then, you need to set the remotes (= online drives) you want : rclone config. See the docs to know how to add remotes correctly.
Say you now have a remote with the name "myRemote", you can do whatever you want :

Copy a file to current local directory in Termux : rclone copy myRemote:file2Copy.txt .
List the files on the remote : rclone ls myRemote:
Etc...

The only drawback, is that you can only access to rclone remotes using a terminal.
There is a way to mount rclone remotes on the device, but you need to be rooted. Check this great answer here if you are interested.


text:
How to install gapps on anbox for linux
I want to install gapps on Anbox. Below is a screenshot of Settings, about device.
I'm hoping to find out what version of gapps should be used.

Is your anbox a snap?

@karthiknair I run both  snap based and non snap based Anbox

You should be able to get the Androdi device info by executing adb shell getprop. As far as I know Anbox should be a fork of Android x86, so most likely is is an x86_64 or x86 platform.


text:
TWRP doesn't offer the usual option to protect itself, and is replaced by stock recovery on first reboot to system
I'm very familiar with installing TWRP on a new Samsung phone. But this time it's not working, and I don't know why.
The phone is a Samsung S9+ (SM-G965F). Bootloader unlocked, data wiped and reformatted. All confirmed. Odin is working. I can flash lastest TWRP with odin, and reboot into it at first reboot. So far everything is as normal.
It should offer an option to prevent the stock rom from replacing it with the default recovery, or automatically do so. But whatever I do, it doesn't happen. First reboot to system, and I go back to default recovery. Things tried:

flash TWRP -> reboot directly to TWRP -> select "allow mods" -> reboot to system. (This has always been all that's needed, before now)
flash TWRP -> reboot directly to TWRP -> select "allow mods" -> flash multidisabler (never had to use that before) -> reboot to system

What am I missing? Why isn't it working? What else should I do?
Thanks!

TWRP < v3.6 without logical partition support is unable to mount system rw on super partition. I wonder multidisabler throw an error in recovery.log

What am I missing?

You probably took a gap modding Android and meantime lot of things changed

Why isn't it working?

I dont remember since when was this implemented, but since a few years (1-3), stock ROMs replace custom recovery

What else should I do?

Try (any of the first 3) at your own risk

I have heard that deleting /system/recovery-from-boot.p helps but haven't tried myself so can't guarantee anything

I am aware of a magisk module that keeps twrp installed even after reboot, maybe try Googling to find it.

Maybe install a GSI or a custom ROM instead of stock, since they don't replace custom recoveries

Give up


text:
Why my wireless debugging device permission keep revoking again and again?
I have enabled wireless debugging on my android phone and connected it with a linux machine. But after few minutes or hours i have to re-enable the wireless debugging to keep connected.
When running adb connect 192.168.1.11:5555 i am getting Device refused to connect error. So i have to connect my phone again with usb and give permission for wireless debugging. Which i am doing with below commands
adb tcpip 5555
adb connect 192.168.1.11:5555

I am on android 12 and arch linux. One more thing i want to share is, in wifi settings randomized mac-address is enabled, i have no idea if this is the reason or not.
If this is how wireless debugging works than is there a way to keep your device connected to adb with wireless-debugging without getting permissions provoked.

"randomized mac-address is enabled, i have no idea if this is the reason or not" - please rule this out first

@alecxs while going throgh developer options i found disable adb authorisation timeout according to it if not connected for a time period (default 7 days) permissions will be revoked. So maybe this is the reason.


text:
How can I see the numpad option(s) I typed when on a call, after I made the call?
Some customer service phone numbers ask the users for type some option (e.g., "press 1 for making an appointment").  How can I see the numpad option(s) I typed when on a call, after I made the call?
I don't see it on the phone history of the built-in phone app:

I use a Google Pixel 6 with Android 11.

I don't think it's stored anywhere, nor that I know if there are 3rd-party phone apps that have this functionality.

Not sure if maybe some call recorder might have this option, but I haven't heard of that yet either (though if they record the "beeps", you might be able to reconstruct from that).


text:
Device only boots to fastboot
After turning off the phone . I tried restart the device but it only boots to fastboot. I tried the volume up and power button one but it automatically boots to fastboot. I also tried flashing with MiFlash tool but I accidentally Flashed clean all and Lock after the flash the device booted to Fastboot mode again. Now if I try flashing it says error “not allowed in Locked state. Please help me fix it . Device name: Redmi Note 8 pro

try 'fastboot continue'

thanks for the help . It says "Failed (remote: not support on security) "

try to unlock bootloader from mtkclient https://www.droidwin.com/unlock-bootloader-on-mediatek-devices-using-mtkclient/

thanks I will let you know if it worked !! thank you

sorry it didn't work

copy-paste exact steps and terminal output of mtkclient into your question (windows mark with right mouse click and hit enter). (post formatting: type four leading spaces for lines of code, or use three \``` backticks markdown for code block)


text:
How can I make a phone call on Google Voice on a phone without mobile service?
On an Andorid hone without mobile service, I try to use Google Voice to make a phone call in two ways:

is it possible to make a phone call on Google Voice app? It always asks for verifying your own phone number and linking number.

When I try to open voice.google.com on Google Chrome browser, and try to make a phone call, it asks "Google will call your phone and connect you to ...". (I used to have a mobile service, but now don't.)

How can I make either way work, without having a mobile service?
Thanks.

According to Google, on Android in the GV app, you just have to open settings and under "calls" tap "Making and Receiving Calls" and select "Prefer Wifi and mobile data"
I THINK you might have to unlink your mobile number if it is still linked. If you don't have carrier service anymore, you should do this anyway. Has to be done through web browser, if I remember correctly.

Thanks. Why does Google Voice want to link phone number? I linked it to the phone number on a phone that I borrowed with mobile service. Do you mean that I should unlink it on that phone. I now want to use it on a phone without mobile service, besides the one that I borrowed.

Almost two years late, I know, but should anyone need an answer to this in the future:
To make a call look like it's coming from your GV# without having/using a data/internet connection, do the following:

Call your own GV #

Wait for your name/greeting to play, then press * (asterisk) - it might take multiple tries due to GV's picky timing.

Enter your GV PIN & press # (pound/hash sign).  If you have a linked phone number on your GV account (one that calls to your GV# are forwarded to), then you'll be asked to enter it for additional security (also followed by #).

If you have voice messages, they'll start playing - press * (asterisk) to get back to the main menu.

Press 2, then the phone # that you want to call (with the receiving end showing your GV# number as the caller ID).

Enjoy!


text:
Cannot install certificates. Error: "Private key required to install a certificate"
I am trying to download and install a certificate to use my workplace's wifi. I have a Pixel 2 running Android 11. I took these steps to install the certificate as intended: I Download the file, go through Settings > Security > Encryption & credentials > Install a certificate > Wifi certificate, and select the downloaded cert. This kicks me back a screen displaying a toast that reads "Private key required to install a certificate." I've contacted Google support on this issue, and this was their response:
Due to security vulnerability reasons, the option to bypass the CA Certificate validation for enterprise networks has been recently removed from Pixel. In this case, we'd recommend you to reach out to your local network administrator to explore the alternate options in connecting to their Wifi network. For more information please refer to this link https://source.android.com/security/bulletin/pixel/2020-12-01
I realize this may mean I'm out of luck, but still, I'd like to ask if anyone has any suggestions, workarounds, or suitable alternatives. I haven't asked a question on here before, so I hope I'm in the right place. Thank you for your help.

I think you have chose the wrong category. On Android a "Wifi certificate" is a certificate with private key used for WPA1/2/3 enterprise authentication by using a certificate (EAP-TLS). If you just want to install a trusted certificate without private key select "CA certificate". The newly installed root-CA certificate should then also be available in the Wifi WPA enterprise CA-cert settings.

Thank you for your comment. If I try to install the certificate as a CA certificate, I click "Install anyway" at the warning and select my certificate, but am met with the same error message.

In what file type did you got the "Wifi certificate" you are trying to install (crt/cer/der file or PEM file with text content)? Because CA certificate installation on Android 11 works, I have just tested it.

It's unedited name after the download is "https_interception_ca_certificate.crt".
I believe you, I've successfully installed them in the past as well. Recently resetting my wireless settings forced me to reinstall this certificate, but I am met with the above error.

The file name sounds not like a Wifi certificate for authentication, instead if seems to be an network interception certificate from a proxy. Even if you install it, it will only be valid for Chrome, apps ignore such installed certificates by default (-> no network connection for apps). CA certificates that are accepted by all apps can only be installed on rooted devices. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/62730978/some-androids-apps-wont-connect-through-fiddler/62731432#62731432

Ok, thank you, that looks like a really complete answer. I don't want to be picky, but at this point, even just being able to use Chrome would be great. Do you think there is there anything I can do to just get it installed?

As it is a public certificate there is no reason to keep the certificate secret. So if you could upload it somewhere we could check if the problem is the certificate. Because on my Pixel 3 running Android 11 (but not with the latest security updates) certificates can be installed without problems.

Though I am reasonably confident it's not the certificate, that would be great, thank you. How would you prefer I share it?

Certificates are so small, just upload it somewhere and post the link.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N-aNvKeWIGKvf1DbJvM4WEVICCEyyp1H/view?usp=sharing

The file is a regular X.509 certificate just as you would expect. Could be really a bug in Android preventing the installation. Google in the last months is good in adding new bugs...

Yeah, that's what I was hoping to avoid, but if that's it then that's it. Thank you very much for your help, you've been kind and knowledgeable.


text:
Cannot write WhatsApp message directly from address book
I used to be able to see a contact in the address book (Contacts), and have an icon to jump straight to writing a message in WhatsApp.
Also, whenever I added a phone number for a contact, if that phone number was ok for receiving WhatsApp messages, the icon showed up after a few seconds. So this was also a quick way to check if a phone number that I added was good for receiving WhatsApp messages.
Now I don't see that anymore. Is there a way to recover that?
Using Android 12 in a Galaxy S10e.

it might be some integration issue. clear data/cache for both apps if you have backup on cloud for both apps. you can also try reinstalling the apps.

@MANI - Do you have android 12? Do you see that integration?

Yes, I have used all Android versions. Never faced this kind of issue. I'm using Google Phone app as of now. Did you try my suggestion?

@MANI - So far, I have cleared cache in both apps, and checked they have the required permissions. This didn't help. The two next steps 1) Clearing data, 2) Reinstalling apps, require more preparation, with a backup.
Many of my contacts are stored in the phone, so they are not backed up to my Google account (and I would rather keep it that way).


text:
Is there some way to move apps and settings from an Android phone to another?
Is there some way to move apps and settings from an Android phone to another?
I remember I could open Google Store in a webpage in computer, and then see what apps are installed on a phone, and request an app to be installed on another phone. Is it still possible? I can't find it in Google Store webpage any more.
Thanks.

app itself actually is only apk file - can be installed from google play. settings are phone specific and can't migrate. apps data depends on app + phone model. nowadays it's common OEMs provide D2D transfer apps 1, 2,

3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Thanks. @alecxs. Does D2D transfer app require to be installed on both phones? The source phone has Android too old and can't install some of the apps. Which tool(s) can I use for the source phone being Kyocera Hydro Icon, and the destination Moto G Pure?

I am not sure if it's possible to migrate such android version gap. surely it's not a straightforward process. maybe check if "backup user data" entry exist in recovery mode. otherwise you could root the device, or dump userdata from EDL mode. next you could try my script and see what's happen if restored to new device. another approach could be adb backup or google drive


text:
Google Pixel 2: Is it possible to verify that it cannot be OEM unlocked and why?
Background
Apparently, I have bought yet another brand new phone that is absolutely useless and has a value of zero.
It is a Google Pixel 2. I would like to OEM unlock it. This option is greyed out in settings -> system -> dev.options. Therefore neither bootloader nor recovery (nor anything else that would be in any way useful) are available. I can also not flash LineageOS and am stuck with what the ****** have provided for me in their boundless wisdom and unending benevolence.
It appears this is the case for many Google Pixel phones, see here, here, and here. It appears that some companies like Verizon routinely sell phones that are crippled in this way.
I understand that I have most likely wasted another bunch of money on this and will not be able to use this phone with Lineage. (And therefore I am not going to use it at all.)
Question
However, before I throw it away, I'd like to make sure that there is absolutely no way to get around the OEM lock and that I understand why. How can I do this?

Is there a way to verify positively that this phone cannot be OEM unlocked?
Is there a way to verify that it's perhaps one of the infamous Verizon ones that I didn't know about before I got this?
Is there another way to try to unlock this besides in the settings (see above) or via fastboot oem unlock?

Software
... is Android 10 from 2019, apparently. I know that this is old, but I do not care what software it has when I run it over with a steamroller.
Build number is something like QP**.******.004
Additional Information

Some people reported that factory resets work to enable the OEM unlock option. Factory reset (System -> Reser options -> Erase all data (factory reset)) changes nothing for me. This is unsurprising, since it was new.

Some people report that some Google Pixel Phones somehow come from Verizon (see here, here, and here); Verizon locks them and refuses to help unlocking them. Therefore, Google Pixel phones from Verizon seem to be unlockable (and as far as I am concerned unusable). I have not bought the phone from Verizon (at least not directly), I have never interacted with Verizon in any way (at least not directly), and I do not live in the US. I am therefore unsure this is actually a Verizon phone. Google's trademark obscurity, however, makes this very hard to know.

The greyed out OEM unlock option says "Connect to the internet or contact your carrier". This is a wrong and highly misleading error mesage. I assume this is a practical joke on the part of the ******* from Google. I am connected to the internet via Wifi and I do not have a carrier because I have not even a SIM in this device.

The first time the device is connected to the internet after each factory reset, I can actually switch the "OEM unlock" option. However, it doesn't actually unlock anything, it just pretends it does. After switching to fastboot mode, the device is still locked.
$ fastboot getvar unlocked
unlocked: no
$ fastboot getvar all
...
(bootloader) unlocked:no
...
$ fastboot oem device-info
(bootloader) Verity mode: true
(bootloader) Device unlocked: false
(bootloader) Device critical unlocked: true
...

There is also no integrity warning when the device reboots, and while the "OEM unlocking" switch can be switched (leading to the apparently usual confirmation dialogues), it always says "Allow the Bootloader to be Unlocked", while it should apparently say "bootloader is already unlocked".
Once I have actually tried to go into fastboot mode and do anything and then boot back into the "normal" Android ("normal" in quotation marks, cause this is about as normal as Kim Jong Un's Red Star OS), the option is greyed out again, not available any more, and says I should connect to the internet even though I am connected.

Of course:
FAILED (remote: 'Flashing Unlock is not allowed
')
fastboot: error: Command failed

(Yh, some programmer at Google or Verizon or whereever was too lazy to fix the newline in this stupid error message.)

Why would anyone end up in such a stupid situation, buying phones they cannot possibly use?
Well, I'd like LineageOS. Lineageos.org has a list of devices Lineage should work with, including Google Pixel 2. Unfortunately, for most of those, there are multiple versions. On many of these, in turn, you can, in fact, not install or run Lineage for various reasons. And as far as I can tell, it will be 100% impossible for you to know which one you get before you actually have it an try it directly. So we're stuck with wasting money.

Does this answer your question? Bootloader wont unlock on Google Pixel 2 (G011A)

@alecxs Thanks for your reply, the Google Support thread linked in that answer is helpful. I can confirm that my device behaves the same w.r.t. the get_unlock_ability setting. So would this answer my question as follows: No, it is impossible to know a phone is OEM-unlockable (cause Google wants it that way), but almost all Google Pixel devices (both those from Verizon, those from EE, and all those refurbished by Google) are, in fact, not unlockable?


text:
How do I turn on Carrier Location Services?
I have found a similar question about this, and it kind of makes me wonder what this service is. In the description it says you can turn it on and off in the apps if you look for Carrier Location Services. Now I had the request pop up after I updated to android 12. And after I denied the request on reflex I changed my mind and it seems like the app doesn't exist. Not even in the app store. What is that all about?
https://youtu.be/SLKc2DLNi4k
Not my video, but it shows the pop up and the text if you click on it.

Related: What is "Carrier Location Service"? (though not yet answered)

And after I denied the request on reflex I changed my mind and it seems like the app doesn't exist. Not even in the app store.

It is actually com.coloros.locationproxy. Now i do not know what it does but it is a system app found in Color OS,Realme UI, Funtouch OS, Oxygen OS (Color OS based versions), etc (basically OSs of brands under BBK Electronics)
Now if you want to re-enable it, go to settings> apps> list> check system apps> then search "carrier location services" or if not shown, use this app


text:
Why doesn't Monkey generate the same sequence of events?
I'm running stress tests on Android using Monkey to generate the workload. For the type of analysis I have to do, I need to generate the same sequence of events for each experiment. So, in every experiment, I always use the adb shell monkey command with the same seed. For instance:
while true; do

adb shell monkey -p com.android.chrome -s 1 --pct-appswitch 100 --ignore-crashes --ignore-timeouts --ignore-security-exceptions --monitor-native-crashes -v -v 1

sleep 1
adb shell monkey -p com.facebook.katana -s 1 --pct-appswitch 100 --ignore-crashes --ignore-timeouts --ignore-security-exceptions --monitor-native-crashes -v -v 1

sleep 1
adb shell monkey -p com.google.android.apps.maps -s 1 --pct-appswitch 100 --ignore-crashes --ignore-timeouts --ignore-security-exceptions --monitor-native-crashes -v -v 1

done

The applications I launch are ten in total. However, looking at the measurement data, it seems to me that the system is stressed differently with each run. In particular, I find that the average launch time of applications degrades to a different extent in each experiment. Is everything normal or is it possible that I am doing something wrong?
I realize that in different executions the system may respond differently. But by always setting the same seed (-s 1), shouldn't the extent of performance degradation be similar for each experiment?

Do you reset the app state of all involved apps every time (kill process and clear private app storage)? Because if the app start state is different then monkey may take a different path in each app. Also keep in mind that external factors like network delays can have an impact: If a network request takes a few milliseconds longer so the next monkey action is ignored

At the end of each experiment I do the Android reboot. It might not be enough? @Robert

Rebooting only kills the processes but leaves their app data so if an app saves internal state to app data and restores the state on next start you may get different results. So consider clearing app data using adb shell pm clear packageName

All right, thank you. One last thing. Should I clean only the apps that are part of my workload or would it be appropriate to clean others as well? @Robert


text:
assert failed: asus.verify_modem
Following the procedure for LineageOS installation after rebooting on recovery and using:
adb sideload lineage-18.1-20220228-nightly-X01BD-signed.zip

I get:
--Wiping data...
Formatting /data...
Formatting /cache...
Data wipe complete.
Enabled ADB.

Now send the package you want to appply
to the device with "adb sideload <filename>"...
Supported API: 3
Finding update package...
Verifying update package...
Updating package verification took 798.3 s (result 0).
Installing update...
Checking for MODEM build time-stamp 2019-09-03 16:24:00
assert failed: asus.verify_modem("2019-09-03 16:24:00") == "1"
E:Error in /sideload/package.zip (status 1)

Any ideas?

Looks like the updater script check for the current firmware build. Googling asus.verify_modem returned a few results (XDA, Reddit) mentioning that this usually happened if you skip some Android versions and that you need to flash the official firmware first to upgrade them before flashing the ROM.

adb sideload gives "Signature verification failed" for the ROM

Your device does not fulfill installation requirements. as @AndrewT. already stated official firmware up-/downgrade is required: "Error: This package requires firmware version 16.2017.1908.070 or newer. Please upgrade firmware and retry!" - try Version MaxProM2_downgrade_to_9

I've found a workaround that might be useful. It worked with me using the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1. I was having the exact same error using the latest Lineage version lineage-19.1-20221115-nightly-X00TD-signed.zip. This phone didn't receive updates since 2018, which seems the reason for the failure.
So here is how I fixed it:

Extract the Lineage zip file:
mkdir x
unzip linage lineage-19.1-20221115-nightly-X00TD-signed.zip -d x

Edit the modem assertion in the updater-script:
vim x/META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script

Change the line from:
assert(asus.verify_modem("2019-11-2512:49:03") == "1");

to
assert(asus.verify_modem("2019-11-2512:49:03") == "0");

This will bypass the assertion for the modem date. I've also tested the modem connectivity after updating to make sure it will not break. I didn't find any hardware failure. After the bypass, everything is working normally as it should.

Save the file and zip it again:
cd x
zip xoot.zip -r .

Run the sideload again:
adb sideload xoot.zip

The new file will have a signature fail, and therefore when they are sideloaded, Lineage Recovery will present a screen that says Signature verification failed, this is expected, click Continue.


text:
How to check which installed apps have been taken off the google play store?
Each time I restore my apps using my Google account I find out that some apps were just left out; the apps were no longer available on the Google Play Store.
How can I confirm that all apps installed via the Google play store are still available on the Google Play Store, so that when I restore my backup via my Google account I don't have apps missing.
I would do this by using an Apk Exporter to store the apps which are no longer available on the Google Play Store.

The easiest way to check if an app is still in Play Store kein my opinion the Google Play web site. The app package name is in the URL and if the app is still in store the web page exists, if not an error page is displayed. Using the device package list gained by pm list packages and a small script it would be possible to filter out apps that are missing in Play Store. May be there is already an app that uses this way to check the installed apps but I don't know such an app.

See How to get notified about removed apps from Google Play Store?. Has my own answer there written long time ago.

While Firelord's linked question has a title that is more specific ("notify" vs "check"), I believe his automation approach should work well in general, and I may consider this a duplicate of that question. Consider trying his answer and let us know. Thanks.

@AndrewT. I was more assuming there would be an app that could be installed rather than scripts.


text:
Simultaneous USB connections limitation
I get my hand on a Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite LTE and I want to connect several devices to it. I use an USB Hub with 7 sensors connected to it and my app retrieve all the data. My problem is I can't connect more than 5 devices simultaneously with the samsung tab. This is odd because I have a Huawei (MediaPad M5) and I can plug it in 10 devices at least without any trouble. Unfortunately, Huawei doesn't produce GMS compatible devices anymore so I need to change my supplier brand.
So my questions are: Why is this USB connections number restriction? Do you think it's a soft or hard issue? Can we find out any list of tablets with the max devices number supported? Why doesn't it show up in the technical specs ?
Thanks for reading me, any help would be appreciated !


text:
Error while unlocking bootloader | FAILED (remote: 'Unlock failed - Err:0xffffffff')
I was trying to unlock the bootloader of an old Redmi Note 4x, Downloaded fastboot and adb.
I first enabled developer option and turned on USB debugging. I tried finding OEM unlock option which was not present on the phone. After few hours of searching about it online, I finally concluded it is not available for the phone. So I went on and fired up my terminal [in administrator mode];
$ adb devices
> List of devices attached
> 8H4DZP69S44DQOEM        device

then I rebooted my device in bootloader (fastboot)
$ adb reboot bootloader

My Phone restarted in bootloader, then I went back to my terminal and checked if the fastboot was working or not;
$ fastboot devices
> 8H4DZP69S44DQOEM        fastboot

After confirming that the fastboot is running, I tried unlocking OEM;
$ fastboot oem unlock
> (bootloader) Start unlock flow

> FAILED (remote: '
> Unlock failed - Err:0xffffffff
> ')
> fastboot: error: Command failed

which.. well... failed and I don't know why. I tried searching this very error code online but failed to find anything close to it.
My other attempts like unlocking flashing failed in similar fashion;
$ fastboot flashing unlock
> (bootloader) Start unlock flow

> FAILED (remote: '
> Unlock failed - Err:0xffffffff
> ')
> fastboot: error: Command failed

$ fastboot flashing unlock_critical
> (bootloader) Start unlock flow

> FAILED (remote: '
> Unlock failed - Err:0xffffffff
> ')
> fastboot: error: Command failed

Nothing seems to be working, Please help!

It doesn't work because you use a tutorial not meant to be used with your phone. Search for a matching tutorial and you will notice that you need the "MiFlashUnlock" tool https://en.miui.com/unlock/download_en.html

you need mi account bonded to phone and sim activated for 7 days - RTFM ;)

The sim has been with me for almost a decade now, created an MI account during the unlocking. But it seems to get stuck while sending the OTP code with a prompt "Checking for security issue" which never ends.

that's a broken CAPTCHA use QR-Code instead @Thebluedragon there exist instant unlock methods but requires some basic linux skills (@ me if interested)

I solved mine when I enter in MI website and put my phone number and verified it on the website. After this, I tried again, and then something happens differently.
However, in the next step, you are going to have to unlock something in developer options. It required internet from a SIM card, not WiFi. After this, enable OEM unlock in the developer options to run the program, and then you have to wait for 200 hours.

There's no "OEM unlock" option inside the developer option and I tried virtually everything I found on the internet.


text:
How can I disable remote wipe, in a way that can't be remotely re-enabled?
I don't want my Android phone to be remotely wipeable. I have this setting disabled on my phone, and the device administrator for Find My Device is disabled. However, https://android.com/find has an "Enable lock and erase" button that will remotely change these settings back, which seems to defeat the purpose of having them in the first place. How can I actually turn these off in a way that can't be remotely turned back on?

Have you tested that Find My Device can reenable wiping remotely or is it just a guess?

@Robert I've previously tested that it actually does change the settings I mentioned, but I haven't tried actually doing the wipe.


text:
chmod and chown silently fail in shell for TwinApps media directory
I think I have a similar issue to Can't use chmod to alter permissions on emulated phone but the emulation is happening on the android device itself via the TwinApps feature, which allows you to use multiple copies of an app that doesn't support multiple accounts (in this case, WhatsApp).
I would like to copy a photo to overwrite the profile photo of one of the accounts into the directory. Unfortunately trying to open the folder on the device itself or via adb, the app's folders in media are Permission Denied. No matter what I try I cannot get into the folder.
Here is interesting output of ls -la (I made a tmp folder which I was able to rm later)
total 6
drwx--S--- 2 u0_a228    media_rw 3452 2022-04-15 14:53 test
drwx--S--- 3 u2357_a228 media_rw 3452 2022-04-03 13:08 com.whatsapp

This 'u2357_a228' user is likely the emulated app user, and I have no idea how to become it to mess with the folder inside. Like I said, chmod and chown just fail silently.
Any tips on what I can do are appreciated.

android 11 scoped storage - use built-in file manager

@alecxs same issue even with built-in file manager. Shows up as an empty folder and that I have no permissions.

probably intended because you only have permissions for profile 0. can you login to another profile maybe? I am afraid there is no way to access


text:
Facebook whitehat settings
I am trying to enable Facebook whitehat to test the Facebook Android app. I
went here:
https://facebook.com/whitehat/researcher-settings
I click "Enable the Whitehat Settings menu for your Facebook account". Then I
click "Facebook Lite for Android". Then I go here:
https://facebook.com/whitehat/researcher-settings/help
Under "Enable setting from Facebook on Android", it says go to the "Bookmark
menu". I don't know what that is, so I just click on the menu button on the top
right corner. Then I click Settings, then Privacy. On the next screen, I don't
see anything for Whitehat.

It seems the "Whitehat settings" option does not show up immediately, but after about one day upon enabling the option.


text:
Forgot password for android device not able to reset it
I recently bought a new phone and forgot about the old one, and now I can't remember the password for the old device. I tried

google findmyphone: didn't work
hard reset: asking for the password
ADB : USB debugging is on but can't accept the pop up

Is there any way I can reset the password of the device?

The password it is asking for after hard reset is the Factory Reset Protection (FRP). It just wants to know your Google password (not the device pin/password). So if you can use Google FindMyPhone you should know the used Google password and be able to unlock the device after factory/hard reset.

@Robert the password asked is 'indeed' the prev lockscreen password, not the Google account password. OEMs these days store lockscreen password on some separate partition => resetting /data and /system doesnt make the phone 'forget' the prev password. Refer my answer for the possible solution

OEMs these days store lockscreen password on some separate partition => resetting /data and /system doesnt make the phone 'forget' the prev password.
But there is a solution that works on most of the devices (the solution is flashing all partitions without formatting the partitions that store imei). Get the firmware flash tool for your device (eg sp flash for mediatek devices, something similar exists for qualcomm devices too).. A googling in the format "how to flash stock firmware on <your device>" would lead you to the right page.
I can't give any specific guide since you haven't mentioned your device model and there exists no generic guide except the outline I mentioned above.

Thanks for the comment, I tried using the qfil flash tool, But could not figure it out how to actually flash it.
I'm using Vivo z1 pro with android 11


text:
Reading incoming SMS from a computer through an API over WiFi or internet
I want to read incoming SMS'es from my computer, through an API, preferably in Python but I can write the Python code myself if the API is plain HTTP or JSON.
The phone uses the same WiFi as the computer, but the phone is not rooted and is not cable-connected to the computer. Is there a way to do so?

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. Please note that app development is off-topic since Android Enthusiasts focuses on end-users or power-users (but not necessarily developers) solving their issues, so we can't really help with APIs and code-related issues since they are out of scope.

You need a couple of things for this. First, in recent Android versions only the default messaging app can read and send SMS. So you need an app that can be set to be default as SMS app, and that also allows at least a CLI functionality to allow accessing SMS. Second, you need a trigger for incoming SMS. Your SMS app or an automation app should provide a way to inform us about an incoming SMS. Third, you need a server (that would provide API) to act on that trigger and start accessing relevant SMS. NodeJS in Termux can be the server that would provide API. It can listen for events.

use old phone with old apps, no need to set as default then. I used to chat in realtime via sms on windows PC few years ago with MyPhoneExplorer (works even on wifi via adb tcpip)


text:
Camera is not working on my Galaxy TAB
Suddenly, the camera and flashlight are not working on my Galaxy TAB device. Android throws a camera/flashlight is being used by another app issue.
I have tried to uninstall the apps one by one and factory reset, but nothing has worked so far. I have run:
adb shell dumpsys media.camera > info.txt

which gives:
== Service global info: ==

Number of camera devices: 1
Number of normal camera devices: 1
    Device 0 maps to "0"
Active Camera Clients:
[]
Allowed user IDs: 0

== Camera service events log (most recent at top): ==
  06-03 19:35:35 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 18:58:49 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 18:58:46 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 18:58:33 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 18:58:28 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 16:00:27 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 15:59:16 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 15:47:29 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 15:45:36 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 15:35:20 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 15:25:20 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 15:22:41 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 15:22:41 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 15:20:52 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 15:20:52 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 13:51:54 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 13:51:51 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 13:37:58 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 13:15:15 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 13:03:03 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 12:22:11 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 12:18:29 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 12:09:06 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 12:09:06 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 12:08:51 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 12:08:51 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 12:08:50 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 12:08:50 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 11:41:59 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 11:36:09 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 08:40:54 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 05:38:45 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 03:44:35 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 03:08:13 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 02:33:07 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 01:50:41 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 01:50:38 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 00:38:16 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 00:35:47 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 00:25:47 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 00:15:46 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-03 00:05:46 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 23:55:46 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 23:45:46 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 23:45:45 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 23:41:11 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 23:40:21 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 23:40:01 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 23:18:07 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 23:18:07 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 22:53:26 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 22:24:28 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 21:52:09 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 21:52:09 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 21:52:08 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 21:52:08 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 21:51:19 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 21:04:52 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 21:01:03 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 20:54:12 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 20:38:47 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 18:13:15 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 18:13:13 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 18:04:24 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 18:04:24 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 18:04:05 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 18:04:04 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 18:00:32 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 18:00:32 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 18:00:31 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 18:00:31 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 17:38:48 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 17:38:20 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 17:38:18 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 12:27:07 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 12:26:49 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 12:26:49 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 12:26:22 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 12:26:21 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 12:26:21 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 12:26:21 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 12:23:31 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 12:23:31 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 11:55:45 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 11:48:33 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 11:43:24 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 11:33:24 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 11:23:56 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 11:23:56 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 11:23:55 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 11:23:55 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 09:07:18 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 03:20:11 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 00:31:11 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 00:21:41 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 00:11:41 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-02 00:01:41 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-01 23:51:41 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-01 23:51:15 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  06-01 23:49:53 : DISCONNECT device 0 client for package cameraserver (PID -1)
  ...

== Camera device 0 status 1 dynamic info: ==
  Device 0 is closed, no client instance
== Camera Provider HAL legacy/0 (v2.0, remote) static info: 1 devices: ==
== Camera HAL device device@1.0/legacy/0 (v1.0) static information: ==
  Resource cost: 100
  Conflicting devices:
    0
  API1 info:
    Has a flash unit: false
    Facing: Back
    Orientation: -1193648
  API2 not directly supported
== Camera HAL device device@1.0/legacy/0 (v1.0) dumpState: ==

== Vendor tags: ==

  Dumping vendor tag descriptors for vendor with id 3854507339
  Dumping configured vendor tag descriptors: 32 entries
    0x80000000 (privatedata_reprocess) with type 1 (int32) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.privatedata
    0x80010000 (cds_mode) with type 1 (int32) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.CDS
    0x80010001 (cds_info) with type 0 (byte) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.CDS
    0x80020000 (opaque_raw_strides) with type 1 (int32) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.opaque_raw
    0x80020001 (opaque_raw_format) with type 0 (byte) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.opaque_raw
    0x80030000 (count) with type 1 (int32) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.crop
    0x80030001 (data) with type 1 (int32) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.crop
    0x80030002 (roimap) with type 1 (int32) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.crop
    0x80040000 (tuning_meta_data_blob) with type 1 (int32) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.tuning_meta_data
    0x80050000 (enable) with type 0 (byte) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.temporal_denoise
    0x80050001 (process_type) with type 1 (int32) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.temporal_denoise
    0x80060000 (use_iso_exp_priority) with type 3 (int64) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.iso_exp_priority
    0x80060001 (select_priority) with type 1 (int32) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.iso_exp_priority
    0x80070000 (use_saturation) with type 1 (int32) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.saturation
    0x80080000 (exposure_metering_mode) with type 1 (int32) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.exposure_metering
    0x80090000 (use_av_timer) with type 0 (byte) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.av_timer
    0x800a0000 (dynamic_black_level_pattern) with type 2 (float) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.sensor_meta_data
    0x800a0001 (is_mono_only) with type 0 (byte) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.sensor_meta_data
    0x800b0000 (enable) with type 0 (byte) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.dualcam_link_meta_data
    0x800b0001 (is_main) with type 0 (byte) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.dualcam_link_meta_data
    0x800b0002 (related_camera_id) with type 1 (int32) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.dualcam_link_meta_data
    0x800c0000 (dualcam_calib_meta_data_blob) with type 0 (byte) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.dualcam_calib_meta_data
    0x800d0000 (reprocess_flags) with type 0 (byte) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.hal_private_data
    0x800d0001 (reprocess_data_blob) with type 0 (byte) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.hal_private_data
    0x800e0000 (enable) with type 0 (byte) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.jpeg_encode_crop
    0x800e0001 (rect) with type 1 (int32) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.jpeg_encode_crop
    0x800e0002 (roi) with type 1 (int32) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.jpeg_encode_crop
    0x800f0000 (strength) with type 1 (int32) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.sharpness
    0x800f0001 (range) with type 1 (int32) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.sharpness
    0x80100000 (is_hdr_scene) with type 0 (byte) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.stats
    0x80100001 (is_hdr_scene_confidence) with type 2 (float) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.stats
    0x80110000 (brightness_val) with type 2 (float) defined in section org.codeaurora.qcamera3.brightness

== Camera error traces (0): ==
  No camera traces collected.

and
adb logcat

Where perhaps the interesting lines from the log are:
06-03 20:05:09.751  3488  3729 E SDHMS:SDHMS_UTIL_IO: e = /sys/class/input_booster/touchkey/time: open failed: EACCES (Permission denied)
06-03 20:05:10.123  1130  1824 W WindowManager: preserveSurfaceLocked: failed, no surface, w=Window{4a036a3 u0 com.sec.android.app.camera/com.sec.android.app.camera.Camera}
06-03 20:05:10.127   897   897 E mm-camera: <STATS_AEC ><ERROR> 2285: aec_biz_init: Motion Library loading error: dlopen failed: library "libMOTION.so" not found
06-03 20:05:10.183   667   667 E QCamera : <HAL><ERROR> cameraDeviceOpen: 586: Fail. Invalid camera capability info.
06-03 20:05:10.183   667   667 E SecCamDev@1.0-impl: Could not open camera 0: -19
06-03 20:05:10.183   908  3579 E CameraHardwareInterface: initialize: openSession failed! Function not implemented (-38)
06-03 20:05:10.192  2863  2900 W CameraBase: An error occurred while connecting to camera 0: Status(-8, EX_SERVICE_SPECIFIC): '10: connectHelper:1975: Failed to initialize camera "0": Function not implemented (-38)'
06-03 20:05:10.192  2863  2900 E SemCamera-JNI-Cpp: SemCamera_native_setup fail 10
06-03 20:05:10.192  2863  2900 E Request : openCamera failed - Camera device currently not available due to invalid operation
06-03 20:05:10.424  2977  2977 E dumpstate: can't find the pid
06-03 20:05:10.424  2977  2977 E dumpstate: Failed to find: /data/misc/anrd/
06-03 20:05:10.425  2977  2979 E dumpstate: *** command 'gzip -1 -f /data/log/core/..' failed: exit code 1

Unfortunately, I don't have enough android knowledge to understand the issue and the possible fix.
I would appreciate any hints.

I have found the one thing unreliable about Samsung devices, unfortunately, is their camera software.  Frequent "camera server" errors prevented me buying another Samsung device.


text:
How to make file executable and belong to my user on Android (rooted phone)
I've put an executable into my /sdcard folder, and here it is:
-rw-rw---- 1 root everybody   4128608 2022-05-28 18:46 hello_world

it belongs to root. I tried
citrus:/sdcard $ chown citrus:citrus hello_world
chown: bad user 'citrus'

su and then chmod +x hello_world but nothing changes.
How can I make this executable and belong to a normal user, whoever this mioght be.
Android 11 Poco M3

Move your binary to /data/local/tmp/ and set permissions there. For chown and chmod read this. For understanding users concept on Android read the second paragraph here. For more details see this and this.


text:
How to change my install directory on Android 10?
I have an Alcatel phone that has Android 10 on it. I want to change the installation directory from phone memory to SD memory but it doesn't have such an option in it's settings. So I want to know should I root the phone to get such an access or there is another way doing that?
Also like to know if it is safe doing that using Magisk or there is something better? Because I also do have my bank application, Amazon, etc. installed on my phone!

adoptable-storage

@alecxs: As I said in my question, my phone doesn't have this option on it's default settings. I want to know if any other apps/ways I can do it?

@alecxs: In many tutorials they say go to settings, storage settings, then format the SD card as internal storage, but my alcatel 5004R device only has format options and doesn't have any other options to make the SD card as an internal/default storage.

try to partition from adb shell https://android.stackexchange.com/q/213312

if you're planning to root your phone 1) get full ROM dump 2) unlock bootloader with mtkclient 3) patch boot with Magisk 4) disable vbmeta from fastboot 5) try to port from other device TWRP (optional) 6) disable encryption (optional, edit super.img) 7) install Link2SD

Does this answer your question? Update to Magisk 24.1. Support for XPosed modules / Changes


text:
Gboard personal dictionary with Bluetooth keyboard
With aid from Android Enthusiasts and Reddit, I was able to bring my Microsoft Word Autocorrect shortcuts from my Windows 10 desktop into my Gboard personal dictionary on Android.
I see, now, that when I enter one of those shortcuts using Gboard's onscreen (virtual) keyboard in Android, that shortcut's full expansion is offered at the center of the top bar in the Gboard keyboard. For example, if I type my initials into the onscreen keyboard, my full name appears in that top bar. Then I can just tap that suggestion to enter it into my document.
Unfortunately, this doesn't work when I enter the shortcut using a Bluetooth (physical) keyboard. The shortcut appears onscreen, but Gboard's top bar does not change accordingly. The explanation is presumably that Gboard is designed to recognize only its own (virtual) keyboard.
My question: can Gboard or some other app be persuaded to expand shortcuts entered via physical keyboard? In Word on the PC desktop, the expansion occurs as soon as the user enters a spacebar, punctuation, or Enter keys following the shortcut.


text:
Cannot pair Galaxy S8 with PC
My PC is an old Sony Vaio SVF model. The last official supported OS is Windows 8.1.
The PC has a Broadcom 43142 Bluetooth adapter.
From early days of Windows 10 till now, I had issues connecting my Galaxy S8 to my PC. On the other hand, the S8 BT works fine.
However, whenever I tried to pair my S8 with the PC:

I get the prompt on both devices about BT connectivity authorization.
I approve it on both devices.
PC prompts that S8 is paired successfully, and shows it as "connected" for a few seconds. Then it changes to "paired".
S8 says "couldn't connect" every time I tap on the PC name in Bluetooth screen.

I repeated that a million times. Even tried with the Sony driver for Windows 8.1.
I convinced myself that this is either a hardware or driver issue, so I purchased a Bluetooth dongle (Orico BT-409). It is detected by Windows 10 just fine, but even with that, and after removing both from PC and phone and pairing again, the above message (couldn't connect) appears again even though I've turned the PC's internal BT adapter off.
Perhaps there's something with the S8 and not my PC after all?

What do you want to do using Bluetooth between phone and PC? The number of useful Bluetooth services/profiles in that scenario is as far as I know very limited.

Microsoft Your Phone app. And I didn't ask for use case advise.


text:
Fastboot Kernel Install
I want to install Arrow OS with OrangeFox.  I understood the installation step, but I want to install the KVM opened kernel.  I have it in the form of boot.img file and I install it with the fastboot flash boot boot.img command.  How can I install it on Arrow OS?
My Phone: Redmi Note 10S (Secret)
Note: This device uses A/B

ask maintainer of kernel to provide anykernel3 zip

So, can it be installed as .img with OrangeFox?  Or what happens if I install the .img file via Fastboot?

please clarify what is your understanding of kernel, boot and .img file. boot partition typically contains kernel + ramdisk + dtb. .img files can have different formats. maybe provide the link to whatever "KVM opened kernel"?

I just uploaded it to my own Google Drive account: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11UjxXIXq66L2oLLyBGUW7H-KRGyWZYpw/view?usp=drivesdk

sorry that's of no use to me. what I meant is link to origin of that kernel (thread/tutorial/changelog etc) not the file itself. If you are the author I recommend to read about anykernel3, and recommend not to share binary only, without any source code (which is violating GPL licence)


text:
Why notifications sound is controlled by media sound settings?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S9+ with Android 10 and I have the following problem - in the sound settings, I have media and ringtone set to halfway, but notification and system sound set to 0. But I can still hear notification sounds, and they are as loud as I set the media sounds settings. Why are notification sounds controlled by the "media" and not the "notification" setting? How can I fix this, to have silent notifications, but still hear music?

Are you talking about all notifications or notifications of a specific app? May be the app that plays the notification sounds just plays them using the regular media API and thus they are controlled by the media volume.

It happens to more than one app. I am sure that Messenger and Outlook have this issue, I don't remember if other apps do it as well.


text:
Chat between two Android smartphones
Suppose two people are on a plane, a few meters apart, with Android smartphones without internet access, and would like to communicate by text messages and if possible also by audio call, using Wifi or Bluetooth (both allowed on this plane).
How can this be achieved?
So far I have only been able to think of very complicated solutions, like using XMPP clients on the two phones, or Mumble clients on the two phones, setting up an XMPP server or a Mumble server on one of the phones, and communicating by Wifi, the main problem being that I haven't been able to find any XMPP or Mumble server for Android, so the only way out I have devised would be to install a Linux distro on one of the Android phones and inside of it, a standard XMPP or Mumble server. This is very heavy. Surely there must be easier solutions. Many thanks in advance.

Just search for Wifi direct chat.

I remember an option with bluetoooth. I clicked on the above link and I also see "wifi bluetooth chat" in the list. If this is the one I'm thinking of, it worked real well, without requiring connection to wifi.

I finally found, used and enjoyed Briar, which exactly did the job for text messages and pictures (communicates over wifi or over bluetooth, in p2p fashion), though not for audio or video messages or calls.


text:
My SD card is acting up, how can I recover what's in it?
Last night, on my phone, I was trying to copy a file from one folder in the SD to another folder. But whenever I tap paste, the SD card would disconnect (I see a "this operation could not be completed" message when I try to open a folder). I'd have to either restart the phone or force stop the explorer app in order to access the SD card, but then, again as soon as I paste, it disconnects. I couple of restarts and I get a message "SD card currputed  fix?" (or something like that).
I took out the card, put it in a card reader and plugged it into the computer. It mounted normally and I could see my files. I started uploading its contents to the cloud but one folder was taking too long so I opted to back up to local drive. But then all of a sudden the SD card dismounts, I guess similar to what it was doing in the phone. A few more such attempts and now I see the drive name changed to strange characters.
What can I do to extract/recover everything from it? I remember doing something similar a while back (thanks the Alecxs) on Linux, but it was for getting my files out of a corrupted adopted SD card...can't remember the steps for the life of me. It was very involved (relative to copy and past on Windows), but WELL worth it.
Appreciate all the help I can get!

this card is dead, don't use it anymore. you can try gddrescue to get image, or try on PC straight from card reader. but I guess it will disconnect again

https://www.klennet.com https://www.z-a-recovery.com https://www.runtime.org


text:
Does Heimdall have the option to boot without flashing/substituting the kernel? (like fastboot boot boot.img)
Fastboot has the option fastboot boot Image.gz to boot a kernel without flashing it to the phone. Is there something similar for Heimdall? I did not want to mess with my phone's kernel for now. It's a Galaxy A50.
By the way, what is the "no reboot" button for?

Buttons on heimdall?

@alecxs on the frontend for it, or the command line


text:
Is it possible to dump the internal storage of an unrooted, boot-looping Android 9 with locked bootloader?
Is it possible to dump the internal storage of an unrooted, boot-looping Android 9 with locked bootloader via USB or to SD card, e.g. using some firmware tool in download or recovery mode?
If YES, what is the procedure, and if NO, how exactly does Android prevent read access while simultaneously allowing full read & write access in download mode (= required for flashing/updating firmware files)? Shouldn't it be possible to read out data from disk if it's possible to write data to disk?

Also for now...decryption is secondary (and not part of the question either). First I need to see into the device storage as I'm literally facing a brick with no inside information...I need introspection

"If an API only allows writing then this possible without problems." - Is this a definite statement regarding the Android download mode or just a general remark concerning APIs unrelated to the download mode?

yes, it's possible to dump raw partitions. for MediaTek you have BROM + preloader mode. for Qualcomm you have EDL mode. for Exynos you have usb-emergency-recovery (smdk-tools). all of these have extra security, for Samsung mobiles leaked programmers are rare. ask Alexander Tarasikov. of course dump is useless because of encryption and there is no way to backup TEE

it's possible to dump physical layer (chip off method) or middle layer (easy JTAG). NAND flash file system software exist. it's even possible to fly to the moon, if you have a rocket. I think the cheapest way is buy a second device for experimentation, find a way to hack into and make big money with your solution

its also possible to dump upper file system layer with ISP In-System Programing if you have good soldering skills (Medusa Box or similar required, maybe cheap Arduino??) https://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f664/samsung-a40-isp-pinout-answered-2967555 https://phonelumi.com/samsung-galaxy-a40-sm-a405f-fn-g-schematics

What all Samsung devices have in common, download mode (fastboot) has been replaced with proprietary Odin protocol.
Benjamin Dobell (author of Heimdall) has reverse engineered Odin Software, or at least some parts of the protocol by sniffing libusb traffic. I remember that Heimdall can read the PIT from device. So my assumption is there may exist secret commands not yet discovered. If Samsung call the firmware flashing process "Download", then what you're looking for is "Upload" aka read back data off the device. Feeding search engine with some keywords give this answer:
There exist a Heimdall based S-Boot Dump that uses the Exynos exploit SVE-2019-15230 (discovered by Alexander Tarasikov) to dump memory (RAM?) off the device in UPLOAD_MODE.
The vulnerability has been fixed, but there exist other causes (and maybe secret command?) that will switch from download into upload mode.
you can read step by step tutorial here
https://hexdetective.blogspot.com/2017/02/exploiting-android-s-boot-getting.html

"Wish to test this method in a fully-featured demo license? Contact us via this form" https://www.forensicfocus.com/news/samsung-exynos-support-in-oxygen-forensic-detective


text:
Some music metadata/tags dissapeared after copying to micro sd
I tried copying my large music library from my internal storage to my external micro sd card, only to find 50% of my album art went missing, some artist and album info is gone, while the songs themselves are fine. Tried copying them back to my computer just to check and there the tags where intact. I've tried converting every id3 tag to a specific version to see if that might resolve the issue, but it didn't. Which got me thinking, could it be the sd card? I mean it's not damaged, i just bought it, it's brand new. But perhaps the filesystem of the sd card is somehow different from the one in internal storage, and doesn't support some of the tags..? I'm not an expert when it comes to filesystems, so any help would be appreciated.
I tried to check the files on the sd card from both 2 file managers (google files & ES File Explorer) and Rocket Music Player. I'm running Android 9 and formatted my micro sd card as usaul through the settings app. I'm using an motorola moto e6 plus. My device is NOT rooted.


text:
How to make sure Android'a notification can give sound and vibrate?
I bought some Xiaomi phones to play video games, and then set a notification so that when something happens in the game while I am on the computer, then the phone would play some audio and also vibrate.
However, it is strange that some phone would do both. Some only vibrate, and some do not do either, but just slide down a narrow dialog at the top of the screen for a few seconds. It is even the case that a phone that played audio would stop playing audio a few days later, with nothing changed for the notification settings.
Is there a way to make them all work reliably?
I was thinking of the Do Not Disturb but the notifications are set to "give notification even in Do Not Disturb mode", so this should not be the reason.

Based on the notification you can use automation to trigger playing audio and vibrate

Example


text:
Encrypting an SD card so that it will also work on a new phone
I have a LG G8 running Android 10. Your basic, unrooted, stock ROM phone commercial phone. It has a 64GB SD card where I place most of my data.
I want to know how I could achieve the following 2 goals simultaneously:

I'd like the files on the SD card to be encrypted so that if I lose my phone, the person who finds it cannot access the data on the SD card

If the phone dies on me, I'd like to be able to access the data on the SD card, simply by inserting the card in a new Android phone. Since it's encrypted, I'm fine with entering a password or decryption key that I would extract from my current phone.

Caveats:

My future phone will be by a different manufacturer since LG has abandoned Android manufacturing. So no suggestions specific to my current phone.
I don't want to set up proper backup for my SD card (eg using SyncThing or similar tools). I already know how to do backups, and it's what I'll do if there is no other choice, it's just common sense.
I don't want to use 3rd party commercial apps or (more tolerable) open-source/F-Droid apps, though you are free to mention them for other people who find this question. I want a solution supported by the base Android OS (eg Developer Mode), or with standard tools like adb.
I don't want to root my phone or change my ROM from the stock

There are other questions similar to mine (5 to 10 years old), where the answer is "you can't decrypt your encrypted SD card from your old phone". But in all those questions the OP has broken his/her old phone, or forgotten the password. That is not my case, my phone still works, and I can take action to prepare for the future.

Afraid you might be asking the impossible. If you want a manufacturer/device independent encryption "in userland", to my knowledge there's nothing offered by the "stock system" (you'd at least need root to extract the keys) – so going with a 3rd-party app will be your only option. You can find some candidates in my corresponding app listing.

So even with Developer Mode and adb, I cannot extract the encryption keys, and in the future transfer them to a new phone (again by adb) when needed?

The encryption keys are bound to the device and can not be extracted. If you use an encrypted SD-card make sure you always backup it's content.

That's unfortunate. Thanks for setting the record straight.


text:
Network connection not working while calling Xiaomi 10T
My boyfriend and I call a lot, and for the last few months we noticed that he isn't able to use his 5G network when we are calling. We call a lot and we don't always have a wifi connection, so it is necessary for us to fix this issue.
His profider is Telford.
The phone in question is the Xiaomi 10T.
He is currently using MIUI 13.
We appreciate any tips and fixes <3

Voice over 5g is as far as I know not yet available in most mobile networks, so if a call comes the phone has to switch to LTE or UMTS or GSM (depends on what is available in your country and your mobile network provider). And for LTE voice only works if VoLTE is active and available by your MNO.

The simplest solution would be using  VoIP, eg whatsapp calls. As mentioned by @Robert , device should fallback to LTE and VoLTE while calls are made. Can you share the output after doing this: (1) Dial *#*#4636#*#* (2) choose phone information (3) then the drop down menu and tell me what's being shown under "IMS Status"

@Robert can u review my comment once?


text:
Need later Samsung-specific posts to get a photo from dropbox to Gallery
Can't believe how hard this is and the lack of recent posts with current menu options.  I have a photo modified on the PC, saved in dropbox and cannot set it as my wallpaper on my Samsung S8.  Every help post found shows options not on current apps.  Dropbox has very limited options, hold and press doesn't help, and select and download icons produce blank screens.

The current Dropbox does not "have limited options". It just may not be able to place exactly where you want, because of privilege concerns. I'll demonstrate how to get a photo to the "Downloads" folder, for example, where it can probably be able to be incorporated from whatever your wallpaper app is.

Start Dropbox and find the file within its folder hierarchy.
From its upper "hamburger" menu, which is short to start, scroll to "Export".
Choose the first option "Save to device".
In the upper left menu, it will have probably given "Documents" as a target.
From its down arrow dropdown, select your device name.
Scroll the device folders available to find your "Download" folder, select it.
Drill further or more if you like, finally, hit the "Save" button.


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Help interpreting logcat messages related to BackupManager Restore
Appreciate any help interpreting the following logcat messages from an adb shell bu restore command.
06-11 19:41:35.342  1450  3609 I BackupManagerService: Beginning restore...
06-11 19:41:35.342  1450  3609 D BackupManagerService: isPrivilegeBackupApp() pkg name is android.uid.shell:2000 value : false
06-11 19:41:35.342  1450  3609 D BackupManagerService: Starting restore confirmation UI, token=144556548
06-11 19:41:35.386  1450  3609 D BackupManagerService: Waiting for restore completion...
06-11 19:41:38.596  1450  4769 D BackupManagerService: acknowledgeAdbBackupOrRestore : token=144556548 allow=true
06-11 19:41:38.648  1450 15003 I BackupManagerService: --- Performing full-dataset restore ---
06-11 19:51:20.395  1450  1450 V BackupManagerService: Scheduling immediate backup pass
06-11 19:51:20.405  1450  1450 W BackupManagerService: Backup pass but enabled=false setupComplete=true
06-11 19:51:35.390  1450  3412 I BackupManagerService: sep backup/restore timed out waiting for success
06-11 19:51:35.392  1450  3609 I BackupManagerService: adb restore processing complete.
06-11 19:51:35.395  1450 15003 E BackupManagerService: Unable to read restore input
06-11 19:51:35.404  1450 15003 D BackupManagerService: Full restore pass complete.
06-11 19:53:50.976  1450  3412 V BackupManagerConstants: getKeyValueBackupIntervalMilliseconds(...) returns 14400000
06-11 19:53:50.976  1450  3412 V BackupManagerConstants: getKeyValueBackupFuzzMilliseconds(...) returns 600000
06-11 19:53:50.976  1450  3412 V BackupManagerConstants: getKeyValueBackupRequiredNetworkType(...) returns 1
06-11 19:53:50.976  1450  3412 V BackupManagerConstants: getKeyValueBackupRequireCharging(...) returns true

Specifically does the following indicate a permission problem writing to /root/data/data ?
> isPrivilegeBackupApp() pkg name is android.uid.shell:2000 value : false
> Backup pass but enabled=false setupComplete=true

enabled=false probably refers to BackupManager is not enabled

I would assume that isPrivilegeBackupApp is just called to decide if the users has to confirm the process in a UI dialog (isPrivilegeBackupApp=false) or if the restore process can be performed invisible in background without user interaction (isPrivilegeBackupApp=true).

@alecxs successful backup was performed from the same device, which assume is also managed by BackupManager. Further, wouldn't the other actions shown in  the log indicate BackupManager trying to do work? In any case, how do you separately enable BackupManager?

The code from here
suggests some kind of IOException.  Any help interpreting will be appreciated.


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Disable Auto Updates for specific app on Fire TV
Is there a way to disable automatic updates for a specific app on a Fire TV device without disabling auto-update for all apps?
I have a specific app that I sideloaded an old version (but is also on the app store). I'm worried that if I have auto-update on it will update to the app store version. Optimally I'd like auto-updates on for all apps except for the one I sideloaded. Thanks!

Usually, this setting is on the App Store itself, like Google Play Store has "Enable auto update" setting on per-app entry.

I don't think such a setting exists for the Fire TV Store.


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Remote connect adb to android device
How can I use adb shell for an android device wireless and remotely? With ssh, wifi, or bluetooth. For example can I connect to my mobile from laptop with bluetooth and use adb shell in laptop for my mobile?

ADB is a plaintext protocol without any transport encryption or protection. Because of this it is not recommended to use it remotely (e.g. through Internet) as command injection would be easy on the adb connection.

@Robert You are right, but I want to do it almost once. I do not think there is a dangerous risk for a short connection.

wireless adb is IPv4 based and does not work remote

https://developer.android.com/studio/command-line/adb#connect-to-a-device-over-wi-fi-android-11+

@IrfanLatif Thank you, but it would be better if there is no need to android studio

All that you need is adb binary, not Android Studio.

@IrfanLatif This is a part of the guide:
Before you begin using wireless debugging, you must complete the following steps:

...
...
Ensure that you have Android Studio Bumblebee. You can download it here.
...


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Android Automotive media Player Application
how does the Media app know/ displayed once we add media files to local storage?
TIA.

Some specific media playes (for example, MX Player) have in-app refresh features (e.g., pull-down refresh is a setting in aforementioned).  VLC also has a trigger in the settings somewhere to rebuild database.  I'm unsure if AA native UI has anything, though.

With the help of storage permissions and file scanning in n intervals


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adb command to connect phone to known bluetooth device(my headphones. using it's name or MAC e.g)?
I'm going to automate the reconnection of the headphones between my computer and phone based on events on the phone and computer.
how can i tell my phone (using adb) to connect to the known headphones ?
now i can connect/disconnect it to my pc. and on phone i can on/off bluetooth and get list of bonded devices..
i know its mac if needed..
now i can [dis]connect my phones from pc using:

bluetoothctl connect [MAC] and bluetoothctl disconnect [MAC]

and line in bash script if [[ $(bluetoothctl info [MAC] | grep "Connected: no") == "" ]]; to get state.

i'm using adb shell settings put global bluetooth_disabled_profiles 1 to turn phone bt on and "0" at the end to turn off(to disconnect from headphones e.g.).  using the

adb shell "dumpsys bluetooth_manager | sed -n '/Bonded devices:/,/^$/p'"

command i'm getting bt devices list with mac, supported bt profiles and some other info that i cant identify. will it help me to write a command to connect headphones to phone?..