text:
Please explain the android partition structure to me?
I've tried finding the answer myself, but everything that I am able to see seems to miss out the really basic first steps.
Here's my logic:
FIRST
Look at the phone's specification. Lets say Samsung galaxy S series.
There are three elements: Memory (e.g. 1Gb); Storage (e.g. 16Gb); and removable storage which may or may not be present (e.g. upto 32Gb - I have 8Gb.)
SECOND
Now the systems settings of Android 4+, there is an "Apps" item which shows at the bottom of the screen a label "Internal Storage". In my case it will say 1.4Gb used and 627Mb free. That's 2Gb.
If I swipe right, will will say "SD Card storage" 4.6Gb Used and 6.9Gb free. That's 13Gb or so.
THIRD
If I use an app like "Hardware info" it says:
System RAM 790Mb
Internal Storage 2Gb
External Storage: 11.7Gb
So, my question is how do I correlate these?
1. On which physical storage does "Memory" sit.
2. On which physical storage does "Internal storage" sit
3. External storage is easy - that's the removable card.

See also: our partition tag-wiki and file-system tag-wiki, plus Android Folder Hierarchy.

Related: How disk space is used on Android device?

1) On which physical storage does "Memory" sit

When the specs say "Memory", it's referring to the RAM that the device has. This is not persistent storage, it is "volatile" storage, which loses its information when unpowered (after a brief discharge time). RAM is memory the system and apps use to function, for things like storing the state of an application (variables, functions, etc), graphics buffers, and the like. Most mobile systems on a chip will have the RAM attached directly to the CPU die to make it as fast as possible.
As per the specs: the device has 1 GB of RAM available to the system and running apps. It reports less than this because the system reserves some for things like the cellular radio and the graphics chip, which it will not give to user processes. The hardware info app is reporting the amount of RAM available to user processes.

2) On which physical storage does "Internal storage" sit

In this case, "internal storage" and "SD storage" refer to the same physical storage area. This is persistent storage, generally flash or eMMC based, that is soldered onto the motherboard. The storage chip is partitioned into two pieces, which you can visualize roughly like so:
                         Total Storage
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Internal Storage |                 SD Storage                   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+

Internal storage is where apps and their private data are stored; e.g. it is the /data partition. SD storage is accessible via USB when attached to a computer, and is where media (music, photos, videos, etc), downloads, and any non-private app data will be stored. Again, looking at your specs, you can see that:

The device has 16 GB of storage. That is, it has a 16 GB storage chip embedded in it.
Of that, 2 GB is partitioned as "internal memory" for apps
The remaining is partitioned for "SD storage" (13 GB, in your case, probably due to filesystem overhead and such; this is very common).

This partitioning scheme as become somewhat less common since Android migrated to Media Transfer Protocol for providing access to the storage from a PC. The reason the separate partitions were originally necessary is because Android used UMS in the earlier versions (anything <3.0), which requires block-level access to the storage space, meaning Android had to unmount the storage space that it provided to the PC. A consequence of this was that the entire partition could not be given to the PC because Android would basically cease to function until you unplugged your phone if it did.
The storage space and the RAM are unrelated to one another, and are not on the same physical chip. They serve entirely different purposes.


text:
Are non-OEM batteries not optimized to work on a specific model and thus resulting in poor battery life?
I am looking to replace the battery in my Samsung Galaxy S8.  Amazon shows many available batteries, ranging in capacity from 3000mAh to 4350mAh, all about $20 or less.  The one and only authorized Samsung technician in my neighborhood tells me that none of those batteries is optimized to work with the phone, that any of them would result in very poor battery life, and that I need an OEM battery, a capacity of 3000mAh, for $99 (plus labor of course).
Are non-OEM batteries not optimized to work on a specific model and thus resulting in poor battery life?

Samsung technician is telling you what he has been trained to say (like a call center operator). It does not make any sense:

Think of the bigger battery as an extended battery and it will work as long as it fits in the battery compartment and the battery terminals are identical (if it is advertised for your model by a reputed seller, it should). This is not a unusual situation as after market battery manufacturers make a large capacity battery that serves for several device models as long as the battery dimensions and terminal connections are same.

It's no secret that accessories such as batteries, cables and other accessories are far more expensive from OEM compared to after market manufacturers (added revenue for them). Therefore standard refrain of buy OEM products only.

But, you would face a problem of correct battery reading in your status bar  When you change your battery and replace with an extended battery, the ROM information pertaining to battery is not updated ( battery capacity is hard coded - for more details see Where are the battery capacity files located?).
So, your battery readings in status bar would be wrong. To overcome this problem, use 3C Toolbox and adjust the capacity of the battery manually in the app (from Battery Manager → Tap the 4 small square icon → Adjust Capacity or use Configuration Wizard) and create a shortcut on your home screen for the Battery Mgr widget and use that to measure (not the status bar battery status)

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How to change the date format within WhatsApp messages?
In WhatsApp, you see the date as DD/MM/YY or MM/DD/YY and you want it the other way around.
How to change the date format within WhatsApp messages?

WhatsApp doesn't read the date format settings from Android's date format settings, but rather it adjusts the date format depending on the language set for the Android interface.
Solution:

If you want DD/MM/YY, change the language of Android to English (UK)
If you want MM/DD/YY, change the language of Android to English (USA)

Settings > Language & Input > Language (in the phone settings)

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


text:
What are the meaning of each category under WIPE menu in TWRP?
I'm new in using TWRP (version 3.0.0-0 to be specific), there are some menu or operation that confuses me.
Under WIPE menu and inside Advanced Options there are many choices to wipe, which are:

Dalvik / ART Cache,
Cache,
System,
Data,
Internal Storage,
MicroSD,
USB OTG

Can you explain what are each of those means one by one?
and also can you elaborate one by one the effect of wiping each of those 7 categories, for example IF let say I ONLY wipe Data, THEN it will only delete app data not the app itself nor any music, videos, pictures, downloads.
and also what will Factory Reset do? will it wipe all of those 7 categories? or will it only wipe some of them? if only some of them deleted, which of those 7 categories will be deleted under Factory Reset?
Lastly I notice that under Home > Advanced > Partition SD Card > on MicroSD I saw that the value stated there around ~5000MB while my external SD Card (removable MicroSD) is much more than that, which is 16GB, so it occurred to me that word "MicroSD" inside TWRP is not the same as the physical removable disk (SD Card / MicroSD), am I right? If yes, then what is the meaning of MicroSD inside TWRP?
Thank You.

Did you read the TWRP FAQ and especially this portion ?  . Also see the tag wiki of TWRP tag which you used, which covers aspects in your Question. Please do some homework before asking. If things are still not clear edit your question to ask

I am not sure how much more self explanatory this can be...

Dalvik / ART Cache - This is the runtime cache, where executable binaries are stored (after APK files are "optimized"). It is a unique partition of the system
Cache - /cache partition, where temporary data is stored.
These (numbers 1&2) are wiped on any clean or dirty flash of a ROM, or if problems occur in a running system. Wiping these is usually done together and do not effect actual user information or data.
System - the /system partition, basically the operating system.
This is only wiped when changing ROMs and a clean flash is required, it should never be done on a "stock" system in most cases other than already stated.
Data - the /data partition EXCLUDING /data/media (Internal Storage).
This is how to perform a "factory reset", this will wipe all applications and user data, but not user's file (picture, music, documents, etc). When doing this, both cache and Dalvik/Art cache should be wiped as well.
Internal Storage - This is your /data/media folder, or user files.
If you want a TRUE factory reset, you need to wipe this as well... be aware this will wipe all user file such as pictures, music, documents, and ROM images if you downloaded them there.
MicroSD - self explanatory
USB OTG - An external USB OTG storage device (often a USB stick) - self explanatory

I would suggest reading the TWRP FAQ too.
As far as the partitioning of the MicroSD card, that is for very specific applications or uses, typically stuff like Link2SD or App2SD, where a ext2/3/4 partition is required to use symbolic links to artificially increase the space available on internal storage by moving the actual files to a special partition of the microSD card and using symbolic links to those files on the actual internal storage or data partition. By itself it has little use or meaning for most people except in conjunction with special applications. This is a rarely used feature in modern device and I wouldn't be surprised if it is depreciated in future versions of TWRP.
Basically, if you don't know what you are doing in TWRP, don't do it. It does have the potential to damage your device, sometimes irreparably.

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


text:
does my zte model n817 have a built in IR blaster so I can use it as a tv remote for my Sony tv
I have a ZTE model N817 android smart phone.  Does it have a built in IR blaster? If not, what do I need to do so that I can use my phone as a remote for my Sony flat screen TV.

check your phone's specifications online, because, each region may vary with some specifications.

According to the spec sheet at http://mobilespecs.net/phone/ZTE/ZTE_Quest_N817.html, it says IrDA = no which means it doesn't have an IR blaster.
As for using it as a tv remote, you can always get an 'ir blaster dongle' - there are various types, if you don't use the headphone port there are convenient ones that will go into the 3.5mm headphone port and not hang around as wires etc. (easier to carry in pocket).
However, you should check the TV as well; if its a newer tv with bluetooth remote then you just need a bluetooth remote control app.

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


text:
All android processes crash when booting device
Today I turned on my tablet (a Samsung Galaxy Tab A6). I was expecting to see the usual home screen, but as soon as the operating system loaded, I got a lot of process crash errors. Please note that I'm not opening any of these apps, the error messages are appearing by themselves.
All the error messages are overlapping.
Here are some of the processes that are crashing:
system
android.process.acore
android.process.media
External Storage
EmergencyProvider
LogsProvider
BadgeProvider
AutoPreconfig
Google One Time Init
Samsung Push Service
Bluetooth
Camera

These are just a few, the device suddenly reboots after a while (it doesn't always reboot automatically).
When I boot the tablet, it shows, behind the error messages, a welcome screen (the one that appears when you buy a device and boot it for the first time). This welcome screen is unusual, as I never formatted the tablet's memory.
Here's a photo, so I can explain better.

Without knowing how, I got to the main screen, requiring me to put the SIM Card code. As soon as I put the code, other process crash messages kept appearing, so it's impossible to go even to the Home Launcher.
I'm wondering if there's a solution to this big problem, and what it has been caused by (a virus, file corruption...).
Please, I need help. I don't know why I get these error messages, and I didn't find any solution to this problem on the Internet.
Thanks in advance.

You can try to put your device in Download Mode and connect it to Samsung pc program and restore the rom.

Did you try performing a factory reset? Seems like data got corrupted

I performed a factory reset. The problem is that now Google is asking for my account's phone number (a old number I had and I don't even remember it). Do you know any way to bypass this lock?

I finally managed to solve this problem. I just booted into recovery mode, and I deleted all data.
After rebooting, the system started working as usual, even though I erased all my data, which I successfully recovered since I made a backup some time before.


text:
Home button for wake sleep
Using Verizon Samsung Droid Charge how can I wake the phone using the home button instead of just the side power button? (My phone is rooted.)

well, in my opinion, you can use Cyanogenmod 7 ROM. I have Cyanogenmod 7.0.3 and I can wake my phone using the home button. You can use the ROM Manager to install clockworkmod and download cyanogenmod 7 specific to your phone:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.koushikdutta.rommanager&hl=en
Refer to the following guide for installing cyanogenmod 7:
http://www.redmondpie.com/install-cm7-on-galaxy-s2-using-rom-manager-how-to-tutorial/
The guide is for samsung galaxy s2 but its almost similar for all.
Best of luck!


text:
How can I listen to sound files on my android wear device with ff/rw and saving song position capabilities?
I have a moto 360 sport. I currently have used Play Music to listen to songs when my phone is not connected to the watch. This app is missing two huge features that I need.

I cannot fast forward or rewind a track by single tapping, double tapping, or long pressing the forward/back buttons on my headphones. Not to be confused with skipping to the next or previous track.
I cannot turn the headphones off, go to a meeting, come back, and resume the song where I left off.

Is there a way to have the ability to do these two things, while not connected to the phone?
I have tried WearMedia. This one almost makes the cut, but I cannot fast forward or rewind the track with the buttons on my headphones or pause/play with headphone buttons and had limited success with controlling the finger drag ff/rw on the screen.
I have also tried podcast addict and some similar apps. These have the right player features, but are missing the offline/phone disconnected ability.
I'm open to the idea of modifying an open source app with a starting music player feature but cannot find one.


text:
Save and hide notifications and then show them later
Is there any way I could hide notifications from certain apps entire, but then have them appear later at some specific time or event? Essentially, I'd like to contextually delay notifications intentionally.
I know there are plenty of apps that can log notifications, or even roll them up into a single notification. Theses are very close to what I want, except I don't want the notifications to be intercepted at all times, and I don't even want to see that notifications have been blocked until some predetermined time or I check on them myself.
I'm pretty sure I'd have to hack together a solution, maybe using Tasker to prevent some of these apps from working and hiding the notifications from these notification loggers.
I'm on a stock, unrooted Galaxy S8 (Android 7.0).

Please add device and OS version, whether rooted or not on your question by editing it

Never tried, but I'm pretty sure the right combination of notification tools should be able to achieve this. E.g. Notification Inbox can clear unwanted notifications, and you can watch them later with Past Notifications.


text:
Difference between "unmonitored apps" and mDeviceIdleWhitelist
I've got a Galaxy S8 and have come across an interesting situation. Now, either something strange is going on, or I've got no clue how it actually works!
I've downloaded an FTP Server app on my phone which I wanted to leave running in the background. The problem was that, once the screen turned off, the wifi connection would drop after 5 mins and I couldn't connect to my phone.
I had enabled the setting for WiFi to always be connected and I know that the app has both PARTIAL_WAKE_LOCK and WifiLocks so I had expected the connection to remain in place.
I added the app to the list of "Unmonitored Apps" in the battery optimisation settings but this had no effect.
Using adb I could see that the UID of the service holding the WAKE_LOCK was not listed in mDeviceIdleWhitelist so I ran adb shell dumpsys deviceidle whitelist +PACKAGE_NAME and saw that the UID was now in the list.
After running this command, the app behaves as expected and I can continue to connect once the screen has been off for a while.
So my question is whether there is a difference between "Unmonitored Apps" and the mDeviceIdleWhitelist? If there isn't, is this a bug in the phone software?


text:
Where is my storage?
I have 12gb on my phone storage, but only half is accounted for. How can I reclaim my storage?
My phone is a OnePlus 1 running CyanogenMod. I get it that the extra space is taken by some system files or cache. The amount of space used by the system keeps going up (Half the storage space now) and I want to figure out a way to clean this. I tried several "cleaning" apps with no success.

Storage (click image to enlarge)
Update: disk usage shows me 4gb used by system, no details or options to delete. Any idea how to reclaim this space?

Unusual question - what font is that on the phone? It looks really nice

Related: My space used and free space doesn't add up, also see What can I do to manage my phone's internal storage? / Why does Android show more space used in internal storage than what adds up in the details? What device is it? Which Android version?

Possible duplicate of My space used and free space doesn't add up

It doesn't usually add up properly.  Once you take into account system data, the OS, cached data (from apps, email clients, web browsing etc) it goes down pretty quickly.  Although it's not normally that far out!  What phone are you using?


text:
What is "Easy mode" (during initial phone setup) and are there any problems with it?
I just got a new Samsung Galaxy Core Duos running Android 4.1.2, and put a new SIM card in it. The phone has taken me through some initial setup screens for a Samsung account, Gmail account, and name, and is now asking whether I want to enable "Easy mode", for which it says "Easy mode helps you to use your device more easily with the easy widgets feature and the ability to customise the font size."
Does anyone know more detail about the difference it makes?

The primary purpose of Easy Mode is to make the customization and use of a smart phone simpler and easier (usually for a first-time smartphone user or non-techy user). Easy Mode Vs Normal Mode for Android is quite similar to Apple vs Android --> Apple is often simpler, but less customizable.
If you just want to use your phone, Easy Mode will be easier for you. You won't have all of the same home screen customization options (but then again, you might not need them). Easy mode gives you 3 default home screens, a simpler settings menu, and a simpler camera interface.
If you love customizing the crap out of your phone, don't use easy mode. You'll then enjoy a full settings menu, fully customizable home screens, the full camera interface, and more.
Here are some resources I found for you on google ;)
http://www.samsung.com/us/support/howtoguide/N0000003/10091/120408
http://www.digit.in/mobile-phones/understanding-easy-mode-on-the-samsung-galaxy-s4-14698.html


text:
Is there any launcher app that behave like iPhone?
I've just switched from iPhone to Android (CM7), and I strongly prefer the iPhone way to manage apps. The separation between home screen and app drawer screen on Android is very awkward.
Is there any launcher app that behave like iPhone, ie. manage, arrange apps right on the home screen?
Apps I've used: LauncherPro, GO Launcher Ex, and ADWLauncher


text:
In Samsung's My Files app, "Documents" category doesn't show all documents in "Documents" folder
I'm using a Samsung Galaxy A14 running Android 14. In Samsung's My Files app, I have some categories, and when I click on "Documents", I cannot see all documents listed in the "Documents" subfolder of the internal storage ("Stockage Interne" on the screenshot).

Why? Are there 2 document folders with different content?

Perhaps you should give examples of documents that you cannot see

Most likely the "Documents" category is populated from the Android MediaStore Database, an Android internal database that (should) contains entries for every file in your shared storage.
That database is normally kept automatically in sync with your file-system but sometimes the indexing task hangs or new files are missed by the indexing task, then you have the database view and the real file-system view which can be different.
On older Android versions (before Android 9) the MediaStore Database was often not in sync with the file-system. On newer Android versions this doesn't happen often anymore. However things like defect files can make the indexing system go wild and then it can miss new files.
To make the MediaStore Database to be in sync again there are two options: rebuild from scratch or force it to update itself.
For more details see also an old answer of me: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/202739/2241

Robert's answer has explained how MediaStore works and how sometimes it might fail to scan. Another possibility is that not all files located in the "Documents" folder are considered documents.
The "Documents" category lists all documents from everywhere, not only from the "Documents" folder. On the other hand, not all files located in the "Documents" folder are automatically considered as documents.
Based on observation on Samsung Galaxy M12 running Android 13, the "Documents" category contains files of type: TXT, PDF, CSV, DOCX, XLSX (not an exhaustive list). Thus, files with other types inside the "Documents" folder may not be listed in the "Documents" category.


text:
Does AOSP support Wake-on-LAN?
Rationale
I have approximately 15 devices with AOSP distributions installed. These are mostly OEM derivatives, with Google Mobile Services (GMS), installed onto bare metal (via the bootloader's recovery).
I also have some BlissOS installations, operable via WayDroid (installed on Fedora 41, postmarketOS, and openSUSE Tumbleweed, although this shouldn't matter).
Initialising all of these devices can be tiresome. Additionally, sometimes I want to compare hardware capabilities, like boot time. This means that I want them to commence OS initialisation simultaneously.
Consequently, I want to know whether these devices’ and hypervisor(-abstracted)s’ installations can be initialised via a WOL (wake-on-LAN) packet.
Potential Solutions
I've located chromium.googlesource.com/aosp/platform/system/connectivity/shill/+/57a957e8112a42ce0cf16fbe94f6a482b937db42/bin/set_wake_on_lan, but I don't know whether this is what I'm looking for, because I'm no POSIX shell script savant.
reddit.com/r/AndroidTV/comments/zcpqf6/comment/iyycefy appears to indicate that this is included by some Android TV OEMs.

I think the question is asking where there is specific affordance for Wake-on-LAN, like voice assistants in base Android (AOSP).
For this, I believe the answer is no, if you are referring to specific network hardware doing a cold boot of a device from a powered down state. That would require a specific network chip running, and specific circuitry on the main board to start the OS along with the appropriate drivers / Board Support Package (BSP).
For a virtualized Android instance, I would guess that handling the WoL packet is something that the container should be managing.
Based on this post my expectation is that beyond the hardware requirements, modification to the Android Linux kernel would need to be made, which still has references to Wake-On-LAN via ethtool: https://cs.android.com/android/platform/superproject/+/android14-qpr3-release:external/kernel-headers/original/uapi/linux/ethtool.h;l=203
It seems ethtool is no longer needed to be ported since Android 10.

Thanks. A shame. I presume that the WOL script that I referenced exists to send WOL packets, rather than receive them, then?

Regarding ethtool, the method by which I get WOL to work on my desktop Linux OSes is by what the Arch Wiki's NetworkManager section describes. Should I have included this in my answer?

Would your answer differ if I had installed BlissOS on the bare metal of my X670E Taichi motherboard? That does have WOL capabilities listed in its EFI GUI, which I have confirmed via an installation of the Fedora 41 KDE Spin. It should also work on Windows 11 Pro (Canary).

If the board has WoL capabilities then its just a matter of the kernel communicating with the UEFI/network chip. I'm looking at the same resources so if you have access to root to update the network chip for WoL via ethtool great, otherwise you would have to create an Android system app/setting for doing such.


text:
Google services on Raspberry Pi 4 Model B saying it is offline while connected to WiFi
I have just been setting up Android 12L on my Raspberry Pi 4 Model B. After I installed Google Play onto the Raspberry Pi, no matter how hard I try fixing it, all Google services still say it is offline even when it is connected to ethernet and WiFi (separately).
Help?

Just to clarify: is the same Wi-Fi/ethernet connection using other devices possible to connect to Google services? (ping/telnet/etc.)

Have you checked adb logcat for errors? As there is no official Android for Raspberry what custom ROM have you used? Were the Google play services already integrated or have you installed them yourself (what what variant/package have you installed).

You can find a list of servers used by Android and Google Play Store/Services in this answer. Check them if you can resolve their DNS name and if you are able to connect to them via https.

The only other google device i had was the old rom that the same raspberry pi had 2. No. 3. I had to manually install NikGApps.

So i just tried reinstalling Android 12l with another gapps file and i still had the same problem

So... Turns out that I needed to enable WiFi access to google play and all other corresponding apps manually by going to Settings > Apps > [app name; particularly Google Play Store] > Mobile Data & WiFi and then turn on Allow Network Access. I didn't even know it was that simple.

Good to know that you found the solution. Interestingly, looks like there's no "Allow Network Access" on Pixel 3a Android 12, only "Background data" and "Unrestricted data usage". I'd assume this was added by the maker of the ROM for the Raspberry Pi...? Could you mention the name of the ROM?

I don’t know the exact name of the rom, all I know is that it is a LineageOS fork made specifically for all Raspberry Pi 4 models. That is interesting though that on other Android phones that they don’t have that option. Must be a Raspberry Pi exclusive.


text:
How can I see which Google account WhatsApp is using for its backing up?
How can I see which Google account WhatsApp is using for its backing up?
For example, I have various Google accounts on my phone.

From the WhatsApp app, go to Settings - Chats - Chat backup. Under "Google Drive settings", there is "Google Account" entry that shows the current Google account used to backup.
It is also possible to change the Google account from there. From WhatsApp FAQ - How to back up to Google Drive

Change the account you want to use for backups

Open WhatsApp.
Tap More options > Settings > Chats > Chat backup > Google Account.
Select the Google account you’d like to back up your chat history to.

Note: If you change your Google account, you’ll lose access to any backups saved in that account.


text:
Is `device_idle_constants` deprecated in Android 12?
Recently I've been trying to optimize the doze settings for my device. I found many guides that date back to 2015/16. All of them say something similar: To change a deviceidle setting, I have to input adb shell settings put global device_idle_constants inactive_to=30000,sensing_to=0 (for example) in a terminal. When typing in adb shell settings list global, device_idle_constants doesn't get listed tho. Seems to me it's deprecated.
My Problem: This setting doesn't change anything at all. When I change sensing_to to 0 like I have shown above, it's still at 4m0s0ms. I can confirm this by putting adb shell dumpsys deviceidle in the terminal.
Does anyone know how to change those doze parameters in Android 12(L)?
Btw: I have a Poco F3 with LineageOS 19.1

Doze configuration has been moved from global system settings until Android 11 to device configuration since Android 12.
Until Android 11, the Doze configuration is in Settings.Global with device_idle_constants as the key, thus it's still possible to change the configuration using adb shell settings put global device_idle_constants [VALUE], with [VALUE] as a single string, separated with comma for multiple values.
However, since Android 12, the flags have been migrated to DeviceConfig with device_idle as the namespace. To change the configuration, use adb shell device_config put device_idle [KEY] [VALUE] instead.

I know I'm late, but I wanted to thank you for this. Still using this to tweak idle drain for my Android phone.
I've also written a guide on xda for this and mentioned your answer there. If you want to check it out, here it is: https://xdaforums.com/t/improve-idle-drain-by-tweaking-android-doze-parameters.4479005/


text:
Android 5.1.1 - cannot add Google account; getting stuck on "add phone number?"
I am now trying to get my old phone to life.
This is Nexus 4 with Android 5.1.1. I have successfully restored it to the factory, now I am trying to configure it with my Google account. Unfortunately, each time I enter a password, it redirects me to the "Add phone number?" screen and I get stuck there - links "more info", "skip", and "I'm in" simply do not work. The only thing I can do is cancel the whole operation.
I also gave a try with another Google account - it also got stuck on the screen asking "Who will be using this device?".
Is there any way to configure the account?

The second symptom finally allowed me to google the solution.
I found the proper answer here.
Before logging in, I have chosen that I do not remember my login.
I have entered a valid recovery address and entered the recovery code.
Then I was able to go through the logging process (including the "add the phone?" screen) smoothly.

I have the same problem here with Android 6 on a Nexus 5. I did the trick here which worked up to the screen saying "Welcome back" then it is stuck when I tap on continue.


text:
I can't get any of the Android Virtual Devices started
I copied the ADT in C:\Program Files, updated the SDK path, deleted the .android folder in my user's folder, but that didn't solve my problem. When I start a virtual device, it shows the load bar, but after that, nothing happens.
What else should I try?

Check that you didn't allocated too much RAM, if your host doesn't have enough RAM, it won't start without giving you informations...

it's set to 343MB, and I have free a lot more than that. Also, SD space is 0, and internal storage is 200MiB. I have tried with both GPU Acc. enabled and disabled and I've also reinstalled it a few times.

So I've managed to make it work by unchecking the option: "Scale display to real size."
Very strange...

user3262360,
Try the following:

Configure the AVD to have 512k RAM
Assign 8 GB to SD space.
Keep internal storage at 200MiB.
Uncheck the box for GPU accelaration.

Start the AVD and wait at least five minutes to give enough time for the new AVD device to load and display the Android unlock screen.

how do I set RAM to 512k?


text:
Why is my lock screen scrambled sometimes?
Occasionally my phone (specs below) will awake to the dots on the lock screen being all the way up in the corner. I can't unlock it because the other 6 dots are cut off and turning the phone or sleep/awaking it doesn't change the layout. My only option, annoyingly, is to restart.
Here's an image of it doing it this morning:

Screenshot (click for larger variant)
The white chunk is an ICE number I've hidden. How do I stop this?
My phone is:

A Samsung Galaxy S2X SGH-T989D on Koodo
Running Android version 4.0.4
Kernel Version 3.0.8-perf-T989DTLLG2-CL836160 se.infra@SEP-89#1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Jul 13 23:39:44 KST 2012
Build Number IMM76D.TLLG2
Using a stock lock screen

Thanks for any assistance.

After enough frustration with this issue I actually moved to a custom ROM. This mainly happens due to rotation as mentioned by Colin
I used to face this issue when I had the phone in landscape mode, in an app and then locked the phone! When it came back on there was major juggling and it used to end up this way!
Software Fix:

Pray that samsung fixes it! or
Get a custom rom!

Temporary fix:
1) Dont lock your phone without exiting an app in landscape mode
Sorry but this was what I used to do, given S2 is a pretty old phone I highly doubt an official fix for it.

My best guess would be an issue that is causing part of the render process of slide lock to take place in landscape mode. I have no idea why that would happen although I have had some strange screen rotation issues with my nexus 7 and a factory reset did indeed fix it.
But since you don't want to turn to that here are some suggestions:
-Try locking rotation on your phone (unlocking when needed)
-Switch your lock screen to PIN or password (there error could be isolated to the slide password).
-Upgrade to a new version of android using kies (it should be available)
Let me know if any of those work out

Even PIN lock has this issue, locking the rotation is a good fix though :)

Factory reset is the only solution. At the very least it will exclude software issues.

To check that out, one also could boot into safe-mode first (without losing any data).

This occurs way too infrequently to consider nuking everything for, and doesn't explain how I can avoid this from happening in the future


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Make "tap to add priority senders" disappear
I have recently updated the OS of my phone, and since then I have the following "Tap to add priority senders." on my SMS app which I don't like, it just uses screen space.
How can I remove it?
Android version: 4.4.2
Galaxy S5

Example Screenshot (click for larger variant)

To remove it, click on the three vertical dots on the top-right of your screen.
Then, go to Settings.
Scroll down to "Priority senders" and unmark the tick box.
Hope it helps.


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How to root my Omnirom using Multirom?
I have Omnirom installed on my Nexus 4 inside Multirom. How should I root my Omnirom then? Problem is that the OS on which Multirom was setup always gets stuck in a bootloop for a reason not known to me. So I use other ROMs by getting them installed on my Multirom. How should I root my Omnirom then?

Omnirom is already rooted, if anything you might have to install SU.
as to the problem with your primary ROM on multirom, reflash the primary over the top of itself, then when complete install multirom again. As long as you didn't wipe data, your other ROMs should still be intact.....my primary ROM in multirom got glitchy, so I did what I recommended to you and its working perfect again


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Memory settings menu inconsistently shows internal storage half-empty and completely full at the same time
I own a sony xperia tipo that has around 2 gigabytes of internal storage.
Today, I got a warning that my phone's internal storage is full, while using google currents, so I went to the storage menu in the settings, to take a look, and I saw that the calculated amount of used memory in the internal storage section was a tiny bit over 1gb. This didn't sit well with the fact that  the reported free space was only 2mb instead of one giga and a half, as I thought it ought to be.
Trying to update apps that reside in the internal storage fails with an "insufficient memory" error.
I have no idea about what the problem might be and how to solve it, but I would like to try and avoid a factory reset, if that is possible.
Any help is greatly appreciated and thank you in advance for it.
EDIT: Here are two screenshots where you can clearly see that the total used space and available space do not add up to 2.15GB as they should but are only around 1gigabyte.
I have no idea what could be responsible for this phantom gigabyte, but one would think that the amount of memory the OS uses would have been subtracted from the "total space" and from the "phone memory" entry (not shown here) instead of the internal storage.
(I removed some apps to free up a few megabytes of memory)

Perhaps the issue is that Android itself takes up a large chunk of memory? On my phone, I officially have 16 GB, but it says I have only 13 GB in my settings, because the other 3 GB are used by Android. If your phone displays this in a quirky way, that could be it. So I'm afraid I would go by what it says your free space is if I were you.

@Cerberus: wouldn't the os be in the phone memory? I can see 3 different memories (?) here. They are: phone memory(700mb), internal storage and my sd card. Shouldn't the first one be android's host?

I would think the OS was in the "phone memory", yes. But I would also think that the OS would be in the internal storage, because I think phones don't normally have anything else besides internal memory and SD card. So I would say your "phone" memory was really part of your internal memory, and what is displayed as "internal memory" really means "internal memory left after accounting for the OS partition". It is a bit misleading, I know. You could post a screenshot of your settings if you felt like it. But I'm afraid this is not something that can be fixed.

Your phone keeps the thumbnails of all the photos that go through your phone. Connect it to your computer and delete all the contents of the folder called ".thumbnail" in the internal storage. You should find that folder inside the DCIM folder.

This was actually it, even though the folder gets repopulated when i launch image gallery apps.

Devices with internal SD cards / memory (for instance, my Galaxy S3 has 16GB), are split into many partitions.
4GB goes for OS/bootloader/recovery/system/etc
12GB is partitioned into /dev/mmcblk0p15 and mounted on /data
/data contains 4 main folders:

/data/app
/data/data
/data/dalvik-cache
/data/media

/sdcard (aka your user-available storage) is not a real partition, its actually a 'symlink' of sorts to /data/media
So the settings->storage (and a lot of apps, eg; ES File Manager), will report 12GB as your "total" partition size for /sdcard, even though your "sdcard" actually has 12GB - app - data - cache = 10.5GB (in my case) space available to it.
You need to be rooted, and use an app called "DiskUsage" from google play.. It will show you where your used space is going. Hope that helps!

This is my thought too. A tiny /data/data partition ended up being the cause of my own frustrating encounter with a similar error. You'll see errors when the applicable partition is full, sometimes long before "internal storage" fills.

I think this is really an issue with some driver/software or less expectingly hardware. Both me and my wife have the Sony Tipo and at her phone (blue edition) is reporting a wrong amount of free space (177mb free, 1,2 GB used)  were my phone (white edition) is reporting a more accurate amount of free space(1,1 gb free, 0,9 used).
Beside the color of both phones is different there is no difference in sw versions.
The only difference in usage I can imagine is that she is rebooting her phone quite often (daily) and I am only chaging phone volume in the night.
Maybe there is a problem with bad memory blocks on the sdcard, although I do not want to root her phone and don't know whether it is possible to see it another way.

After some searching i discovered that it has something to do with incorrectly removed data. I tried to remove a lot of files lately which were actually not removed from the card when I was looking to it connected to my computer(In Android not visible anymore). Although trying to copy the files did not work. Removing the files using the computer did fix the issue, although I haven't found a confinient way of finding the files which were incorrect. When trying to copy the files using windos 7 it just stops suddenly without an error... (to be continued)

It's probably better to add that comment to your question instead, but you could add a marker... like a BOLD "EDIT #1: ", then "After some...". :)

The internal storage is also used to store system apps, and the data from system apps.
It is possible that most of the space is going to system apps, and Sony is quite bad for including loads of bloatware.

Even if that is the case I find it kind of hard for Sony's apps to cover one whole gigabyte...

You would be surprised - my Mum got a Sony phone, and the entire 1GB memory was gone within a week.

Well, turns out all Sony's apps are stored in the phone memory and alltogether are responsible for something like 4mb total. It must be something else...

Try this... hook your android device on any pc... plug it in and turn on USB STORAGE... and then right click on the device and then choose properties and then choose tools tab... run error checking and then let check both automatically fix system errors and scan and attempt to recover bad sectors... after this go to the root of your memory there would be a hidden folder named FOUND.000... delete that and youll be problem free...

Not a solution, but look at the difference between an apps memory usage when its on the internal memory, then on the phone memory. I have an app taking up 1.39 mb on the internal, move it to phone and suddenly it's 33 mb. Why it hides all this memory I don't know.


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Will moto brick loading wrong firmware?
I cant load recovery to flash new ROM
As its the first time im about to use ADB, ive read that  i need: Motorola drivers, mfastboot, my phone firmware
In this link i have two options for XT1064 "Niimx" and "Iusmxaus" ... Found that retca, retuaws and niimx are for canadian, usa and mexico phones... but how do i know if this phone comes from usa mexico or canada? I already used it before it failed to load recovery, and ive had signal in mexico. Im still affraid of bricking my phone if loading a non fitting firmware, could this happen?

You can enter the bootloader and execute fastboot getvar all and you will see the current variant installed. Flashing a different variant firmware will not recommended. I would honestly go to XDA to your device specific forums and look there, just googling random files can lead to less than desirable results. Flashing the incorrect variant firmware will likely not cause a brick condition, but will probably not have any connectivity (no WiFi or mobile connection). Note the last sentence is Moto specific, and does not cover all models but does apply to the Moto G line in general.

Yes. Almost certainly it will brick (see link above for reasons). Search XDA for your specific model ROM


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Tapping the screen to bring back from screen dimming without registering the tap
I had been an iOS user for the past 10 years. Now I have switched to LG G6 Android phone.
There are quite a few quirks that I somehow find very disturbing.
For example this:
I have set the screen dimming at 1 minute. When I tap the screen after it has dimmed after 1 minute inactivity, it registers the a tab on the screen. In iOS you could touch anywhere on the screen, it would just remove the dimming effect but it wouldn't register a tap.
I am not trying to wake the device from sleep. I am trying to wake from the dimmed state.
Is it possible solve this problem?

I am not trying to wake the phone from sleep. I am trying to wake from the dimmed state.

it locks the screen.


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Android TV Google Play Services Keep Crashing | Raspberry Pi 3
On my Raspberry Pi 3, I am running Android TV 6.0 Marshmellow (From this tutorial), and gApps from This post (Second Post Down), but for some reason, Google Play Services keeps stopping. I've tried clearing the cache for Play Services, but that did nothing. BTW, if I have to do some ADB code, that's fine :). Thanks for any help.

I just had to uninstall the updates, and re update it from the Play Store.


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What is the path to the trashed content of the Samsung Gallery app?
On Samsung Android devices, I'm looking for the path to the trashed content of the Samsung Gallery app. Not Google Photos app.

If you trash a file in Samsung Gallery app it will be renamed and moved to
/sdcard/Android/.Trash/com.sec.android.gallery3d/<some_random_number>.<original file extension>

The file extension remains the same, but the name of the file before the extension dot is changed to a large ~18 digit random number.
Note that some file manager apps hide folders that start with a dot by default. Therefore you may not see the .Trash folder in some file managers (some have an option to temporarily or permanently show hidden files and folder which will reveal the .Trash folder).
Tested with Samsung Gallery app: v15.1.03.12 on Android 14


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App-specific folders can be accessed without any 3rd-party app or root. Bug in Android 14?
I was trying to access my /obb and /data folders in my Samsung Galaxy M33 5G, but because of restrictions in Android 14, I was not allowed to do so, somehow I found out this.
I checked that whenever you update your Google Play system update, your Files app gets updated, I uninstalled the update and I got it in the apps screen, and I could finally access these restricted folders without any 3rd-party applications or something.
Video demonstration on Google Drive.
I found many solutions on YouTube, but each of them involved 3rd party apps.
Is it a bug that I can access them?

I just tried on Galaxy M12 (Android 13), and uninstalling the updates of the Files app reverting it to t_frc_doc_330543000, minimum Android 10, targeting Android 13. Maybe that's related (I don't remember how storage permission works since Android 10)

The key here is the fact that you reverted back to original version, which I think still targets Android 13. For backwards compatibility, Android doesn't apply all restrictions until the app targets the Android level the restriction was introduced.
So when you update Files to the version that targets Android 14, restriction gets applied.
This is not a bug per-se, just Android's approach to not breaking older apps that already had that permission.
All apps updated after August 31st, 2024 will have to target Android 14, so all new/updated apps (outside system apps, preloaded on your phone) will be prevented from accessing data folders on external storage.

Ya , maybe after android 15 , this time it will be resolved

It's not a function of Android version, but a function of application itself. Once the apps migrate the ability to access those directories will be phased out.

if what you said is true. Then what i infer from your text is that , if the files app is again updated back to the android 14 version , then i will be hidden again and the obb and data folders will not be accessible again .

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1My9Bk8fvLjPRAiFKkCaZIcf943hq3MA2/view?usp=drivesdk

@SuTech AFAIR, the Files app was hidden from the app launcher in the latest version.

Okhay if thats the case i shall close this question...


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Why does calling setuid() return "Bad system call"?
So actually, I have Android 13.
The problem is in my C code (probably?).
When I call setuid(0) or setuid(getuid()) in my phone, I get this output:
Bad system call

Meanwhile on my laptop with Ubuntu, setuid() doesn't throw any error, and returns -1 (so that's how it should be).
Then why does Android's setuid() throw that?
And if Bad system call is normal for Android, then how can the Android system call setuid() for each Java application (uid 10000 and greater)?

Android blocks "unused" syscalls using seccomp filter: "the system crashes an app that uses an illegal syscall".

Android blocks some system calls from being called by apps. This is implemented by the seccomp filter from Android 8 onwards. This deliberately crashes apps that try to call blocked system calls and that's what you're hitting.
Android uses Linux uids for individual apps, rather than different users. Each app has an individual uid from all of the other apps on a device. The uids apps run under have names like u0_a40 or u0_a121, rather than being defined by the app. They seem to be picked at installation time, rather than being chosen by the app developer.
There are also a number of special uids that are built into Android, such as the shell uid that adb shell sessions run under, system and wifi. Customised versions of Android have other named uids like vendor_samsungcloud which I can see on my Android 14 Samsung 'phone. To explore this a bit more:
L$ adb shell               # At the Linux shell prompt
A$ ps -A | more            # At the Android shell prompt

You'll find that there are a few cases of multiple processes running under the same u0_aXYZ uid, but the names of the processes seem to indicate that they're part of the same app.
Giving apps individual uids provides a simple way to make their data private from each other. Their files are owned by their uids, so if they have -rw------- permissions, they're only accessible to the app.
ART (Android Run Time), which hosts apps, presumably has a way to change the uid of an app, likely by bypassing the seccomp filter to allow it to call setuid().
Android uses a Linux kernel, but it is not a conventional Linux operating system. Trying to treat it as such is an exercise in frustration. Trying to find a way to call setuid() yourself is malware-like behaviour. You need to learn the Android way of doing things.
Android is far more locked-down than Ubuntu because it's designed to be hard to mess up by people who think they understand computers, but are utterly wrong about that. An example of that level of stupidity that a friend had to deal with in the 1990s: a Windows 95 user who decided to delete all the files he didn't recognise from his c:\windows directory, and when his computer stopped working, rang his ISP to complain about malware attacking him.

Android uses Linux uids for individual apps, rather than different users - Sorry, can you explain this? Uses Android setuid() or another method to change uid 0 to (for example) uid 10076?

@BHmsgameJava: revised.

now I understood. Thanks!


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In Android, does my Google account saves my custom words from the dictionary of the keyboard?
In Android, does my Google account saves my custom words from the dictionary of the keyboard?
Additionally, is there a way to import/export that custom dictionary?

No. Android doesn't saves your custom words from the dictionary of the keyboard in your Google account. Normally, the default keyboard doesn't automatically sync your personal (custom) dictionary. But you can email it or make a backup of it on an SD card.

Setting -> Keyboard -> Personal Dictionary

OR

Setting -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Type(eg HTC Sence Input) -> Personal Dictionary

Just a note: SwiftKey has a backup to cloud option that uses your Google account. VERY useful. It's free now on the Play Store too afaik.

I fail to see how this explains how to import or export at all.

Google saves all custom words up to 5 years

Can you back that with a source?

This like saying "Trump pays taxes"; where's the proof of that statement?


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Change Input Method without unlocking the phone?
I have Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini unrooted and I think the Android version is 4.4. Recently, I installed a WiFi Keyboard application on my Android phone. This way, since both the phone and my computer were connected to the same WiFi network, I could access the phone's keyboard from my computer. After that, the phone disconnected from the WiFi network and got locked (I had a password set on the lock screen). And now I cannot enter it, because I cannot enable any other keyboard than the WiFi one (which doesn't work because the phone has no WiFi).
What I've tried:

I can do nothing on the lock screen, everything's blocked. The swipe
doesn't work to change the keyboard. Also, there's no settings box.
And I cannot drag the notification bar.
I tried the adb shell ime command, but without luck. It doesn't seem to do anything.
me@myPC:/$ sudo adb shell ime list -s
me@myPC:/$

Additional Data:

Storage and SD card are encrypted. SD card has important data, so I can't simply wipe the phone.
I am able to enter my password in the Decryption screen as the normal keyboard shows up, but not in the lock screen.

Can I enable it via ADB or any similar way? Are there any solutions to this problem?

"SD card has important data, so I can't simply wipe the phone." You could take the SD card out and back up the important data. You should do that anyway!

Thanks for the suggestion Dan, but unfortunately the contents of the SD card are encrypted, and therefore even though I have backed them up, I still cannot read them. And I think that the only way to be able to read them again is opening the SD card from the phone.

Ah, that explains it. Even so, if there's anything important on your SD card, you should back it up now the phone's working. We get a lot of questions from people who only realise this after dropping and breaking, or losing their phone.

Haha, yeah, indeed, most of us realize what we should have done when it's already too late. Going to do the backup ASAP. Thank you for your help, by the way.

Try seeing if you can login when you are in safe mode. Boot into safe mode by holding down the power button to open the menu, then hold down the power-off button, and click "OK" when it asks you to reboot into safe mode. Then attempt to login once the phone restarts, and re-enable the virtual keyboard.
Hope this helps.

According to OP's 3rd revision,

This problem was solved by booting into safe mode, as proposed by ak11234.
I did so by holding the volume down key while powering on my device (pressed the power on button, waited for the phone logo to show ("Samsung" and the model number), released the power button and held the volume down key until the lock screen appeared).
However, these instructions vary from phone to phone. The ones described worked for Galaxy S3 mini.
You can find instructions for the most common phones that have Android on this webpage: http://www.droidviews.com/how-to-boot-android-devices-into-safe-mode/


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Is there an easy way to to send a simple GET request from a lock screen widget?
I've built a garage door opener that can be triggered by a GET request (with the appropriate password, of course), and right now it's controlled by a webpage with javascript. It's possible to use this page from my phone to open the door, but it's quite a hassle to get to my browser before I can use it. What I'm after is a home screen or lock screen widget that will send off the request with the touch of a button, or an easy way to create one. I've attempted to write android apps before, and found it all very cumbersome.
I have a Nexus 5, running the latest cm-11 nightly build.

This could be achieved with tasker: You can create a "task" performing the HTTP_GET you need, and then create a shortcut to that task on your homescreen (the same way you'd create any other shortcut there: Tasker Task shows up in the list of available shortcuts, and lets you select the task to create the shortcut for).

Not only looks perfect, also looks great for tinkering around with, many thanks for your help.

Oh yes, definitely! Just follow up to the questions carrying the Tasker-tag. Or see my collection of Tasker resources for more :)


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Screen goes off as soon I dial or receive a call. CyanogenMod 7.1- stable
In stable mod 7.1, I am facing this problems. I don't know if its a bug or what, please help me out.
My screen goes off as soon I dial or receive a call. After that I am unable to end the call as it never wakes up. Pressing the power button has no effect..
The problem is not just related to ending the calls. I am unable to do anything on my phone as it never wakes up. Then I have to either pull off the battery and restart the phone or plug in the charger to wake it up. It never happened on stock ROM so no hardware problem. I checked the solution for this problem and it was "It seems to be the screen protector is at fault. CM7.1 doesn't play nice with it. I just cut a hole where the proximity sensor is and it basically fixed it. " But IMHO if the proximity sensor does not work properly with cyanogenMod then why does the power button also stop responding.
But if they are related then can you guys please tell me with an image where the proximity sensor is located on a Defy? So that I may try the other solution (cutting the screen protector).

Have you looked at the settings?  I don't remember where specifically they are under the CM settings but there are a few options to tweak screen behavior during calls.

I have tried virtually everything out their in settings, but no luck...

I had the same problem and found out it was due to the proximity sensor being blocked.

I faced the same problem. After rebooting for bout 5 times its working fine. And it has nothing to do with the settings.

rebooting five times means exactly what? That you just switched on the phone and did a reboot for five times.


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Storage space running out. Some system functions may not work
In my Android in notification bar I see message Storage space running out. Some system functions may not work.
When I check I see 188 MB free in device memory and around 10 GB in USB storage.
I re-installed Android OS a few times.
It helps for about a couple of months then the problem returns.
If I delete some applications or data it helps for a few hours to a few days.
Questions:

Why do I get Storage space error if there is a lot of available space?
Can I join device and and USB memory? Will it help or at least delay the time while the problem return?
Any other advice how I can deal with this problem?

Have you tried clearing the logging files? If not then you can do that by, dialling  *#9900# and select delete dumpstack. See if this can help you out with clearing some of the space for you.

I've just added the insufficient-memory tag to your question. Please check its tag-wiki, which should get you started (contains some first-aid plus links to more details).

I suspect it's a problem with Mailbox, since it's the crashing (together with "android-process-acore"), and my system will work for some time after I "clear cache" from Mailbox.

I solved by reseting my phone to factory configurations... :/

It has to be dialed into Samsung's own dialer.

On Samsung phones, type in the dialer *#9900# then choose the second option: "Delete Dumpstate/logcat".

Well, this solution do not work on 5.0.1 Android and I suppose for 4.x also.

This is a Samsung specific thing, it does not work on other phones. Also, you don't need to dial (call) it. After pressing the the last # character, the menu appears immediately.

Does not work on my Samsung Galaxy S4. As Gayle said, nothing happens after punching the code into the dialer. If you hit the phone icon to dial, "welcome to Verizon Wireless, your phone... ...cannot be completed as dialed"

Even though there already are many answers, there is actually none answering two main questions and the third one just for a case of dumpstate problem. Read just bigger text if you're in a hurry.
Also, I'll explain why solutions mentioned in other answers help only sometimes. And offer another solution in case cat is not your problem.

Why do I get Storage space error if there is a lot of available space?

It's not an error, it's by design. The trigger for low space is quite high, usually 10% OR 500MB, whichever is lower.
"some system functions may not work" - that's not precise, some WILL NOT work.
Synchronize, some download functions, installing apps, hangouts and many Google apps.
If you'll ask:

Why there is less than 500MB available?

then the answer is, that it's either that you used it up unknowingly, or that there is a problem with something stuffing up your storage space.
If you used it up and want to check with what, follow the answers saying clean up your space, if you didn't, it might be variety of other problems, but most likely it's logcat which is leaving huge dumpstate files behind. In that case follow the answers mentioning logcat or log or dumpstate. Or jump to my last paragraph below.

Which parts of memory are monitored for free space.
we may distinguish two model situations according to the FS structure in an Android phone:
(Note, that what I call INTERNAL STORAGE is not standardized name, usually it's weirdly called sdcard, might also be called USB storage as it possibly is in your case.)

DATA partition is separate partition from INTERNAL STORAGE

INTERNAL STORAGE is not monitored and you can fill it up to zero free bytes and nothing happens. DATA storage is monitored, on galaxy S2 it's 10%, from 1500 MB, 150MB must be always available.

one partition for both DATA and INTERNAL STORAGE

INTERNAL STORAGE is emulated as a separate partition with different permission rights. It also has a "fuse" or reserve, which will not allow all space of the real partition be used. Files on INTERNAL STORAGE are actually located in /data/media/

old models, maybe up to Android v2.3, also has DBDATA partition, which was separately monitored - if I remember this correctly
A change from one system to another might have been done by a FW update. I still remember when such update removed thousands of my holiday pictures on Galaxy Note2. An INTERNAL STORAGE partition was removed and mounted on DATA partition using FUSE, there was 100MB difference when I checked free space on each.

So, depending on a data structure you have, you need to keep for example 400MB of free space on an INTERNAL STORAGE which might, using df or a free space analyzer app, show as 500MB free space on DATA partition.
Note that,
- the minimum size is different for each model and sometimes also FW version.
- You need to wait for about a minute to see if the notification will clear itself after you make some more space available.

second question:

Can I join device and and USB memory? Will it help or at least delay the time while the problem return?

Fast answer, NO. And if it would help? Yes, it would help to avoid the problem of low space, by means of having bigger total storage.
To elaborate:
IF "USB memory" is pluggable SD card, or a pluggable device in your case,
or if it's located on a separate memory chip, as it's on Tab 1 and phones from similar age, then it's not possible to join it with DATA partition.
IF "USB memory" is an INTERNAL STORAGE in your case, you can join them but it's not an easy or safe process. In other words, if there is not a guide by someone who have successfully done that on the same model of a phone as is yours, we might also figuratively say, NO, it's not possible.
While searching the Internet for the guide, be aware that it wasn't a clever idea to name the INTERNAL STORAGE as "USB storage", because there is also a real USB storage. You'll find a lot of solutions for enabling USB for storage drives, so called USB OTG feature, don't get diversed.
basically you need to:
re-partition your memory chip, called eMMC for some reason, delete USERDATA - what is a partition name for INTERNAL STORAGE and merge the freed space with DATA partition. then find/compile fuse module which would take care of emulating the partition with full permissions for media_rw or some other user,
edit init script, to create a mount point for new INTERNAL STORAGE, many more changes and tweaks which I can't think of.

third question:

Any other advice how I can deal with this problem?

The best option, if you have a root access, is to
lower the threshold of the minimum free space.

You can put it down to 1%, possibly even less. That means 20 - 120MB of minimum free space.
It involves sqlite3 editing but although it might look difficult, it's very straightforward process. Just follow any good guide and you'll do it alright. THIS guide looks splendid or there also are sqlite3 editor apps, or find another guide using THIS gugl link.
There are two things to note:
- different guides are mentioning different table names. 'Secure', 'system', 'global' or even 'gservices'. The truth is, it was applicable in different tables through different Android versions. Now it should be in 'global' before it was in 'secure' and before that 'system'. My advice is, just put it in all of them, you will not hurt anything. That means follow the guide you'll find and repeat the steps while replacing the table name with each of those names I mentioned above.
- you might find settings.db file locked and not writable even with root, it happened to me when ICS came out. But didn't happened since. Anyway, in that case, boot into recovery, pull the file out, edit on PC and push back in.
If 1% (around 100MB if you have 16GB chip) is still too much for you to waste, as it was for me, add sys_storage_threshold_max_bytes value too, I have 20000000 = around 20 MB and never had much of a problem, although many apps don't have available space checking and will error without stating the reason, so you need to keep in mind it might always be free space issue. There is -OR- statement between those two variables. Don't put less than 20 there because if a certain system file which resides in /data folder will fail to write, your phone might not boot. I find 20MB quite safe as there are no files larger than that in /data, while excepting /data/data, /data/app/ and dalvik. and if a file will get broken in /data/data, no big deal. Data reset of that app will solve it.

If something is eating up the free space
If you suspect that there shouldn't be so much space taken, or you just want to clean up space, as in a couple of other answers here, I also recommend DiskUsage to help with the job of visually locating what is taking how much space.
In the DiskUsage app, in the second column, the 'media' stands for INTERNAL STORAGE and Apps represent /data/app and /data/data - space taken by apps.
The 'System data', in green color, on the bottom is the rest of /data folder and shouldn't be too high. 300MB is fine, over 1GB is probably a problem.
If this System data is too high, it's possible your logcat has gone wild and created tons of dumpstate postmortem poems. In that case, and only in that case, will all of the other answers here be applicable. Meaning that deleting this gigs of wasted space in folder /data/log or dialing a *#9900# , which by the way is not a valid command for every device, will bring your Android back to a good mood.
For how long is a question of whether the culprit which caused the excessive logging has been patched, or removed.

"The trigger for low space is quite high, usualy 10% OR 500MB, whichever is lower." Can you put a source to that? I know about the 10%, but instead of the 500MB the number was much lower when I checked last time (25MB, see e.g. here. Never found an "official reference" to that number, though.

If you refer to my use of the word usually, I wouldn't say it was fairly used adverb today. That was what all my phones were set to. But this might not apply for earlier or later models, or for brands other that which I had then. On my devices, 500MB was a fixed amount. I was testing this using 1MB files. If I duplicated one to leave 499MB of free space, notification appeared, when I deleted some to have 501MB free, it disappeared. When I edited the sys_storage_threshold_max_bytes value to 20000000, I've been able to have just 20MB of free space without the full memory notification.

Thanks papo – that definitely nails it. Special thanks for mentioning that constant! And admitted, those 25MB where in the times of Eclair/Froyo where devices had quite limited storage altogether. Tag wiki updated :)

I had the exact same problem. Had the phone into the Samsung Service location a number of times, where they performed a full software recovery twice and then replaced the mainboard, but the problem persisted.
I realised that the memory logs, which were filling up the logs file, seem to be connected to a network issue and decided to try and obtain a new sim to see if this helped. I got the new sim yesterday and everything that seemed to kick in the log files and fill up the system memory seems to be ok.
Previously, it might be ok once I had cleared the logfiles (*#9900#, delete log files) for a few hours, but then all of a sudden the log files would start again. Within a few hours, my phone (Galaxy Note) would start becoming unresponsive, and I would get the Storage space running out message and my system memory would be down to 100mb rather than 1.4g.
After weeks and weeks of the same problem I am reticent to say that things are completely resolved. Putting the new sim in seems to have solved the problem for me.

YES! Swapping my two SIM cards seems to have solved! Thanks!

Ops, it started to fail again after some minutes...

May be you should check this link, hope this will solve your problem.
Excerpt:

Root your phone.
Download the Root Browser app fro here
Reboot
Open the newly installed Root Browser app, a pop up will come stating if you want to give the app root permission. Grant it.
Navigate to /data/ and delete the folder log
See the magic :)

On a Galaxy S2 with Cynagoenmode 11 running, I did below steps to free space. This clears all unnecessary logs generated.
> adb shell
$ cd /data/log
$ rm *

Well, the best way to zero in on what you can get rid of to free up storage space is an app that maps out your storage use such as Disk Usage, a cleanup app such as SD Maid, or a file manager that can search for large files.
But since you're facing the Catch-22 of needing to free up some storage before you can download any apps that help you free up storage, start with the stock file manager, called My Files:

Tap All Files, then Device Storage, then navigate to the folders where you're most likely to have large files you can get rid of. Some likely candidates are the following default folders:
DCIM/Camera
Download
Pictures
Sounds
Documents
Temp
Music
Movies

In order to see the file size in the list, so that you don't have to long-press each file and select Details to see how large it is, tap the menu button, select View By, then select List and Details.
To help you determine where you're using the most storage, you can go to Settings > Storage (the exact location of Storage may vary depending on your device and OS version, for example on a Samsung Galaxy S it's on the More tab):

If, for example, you see the largest number under Pictures, videos, you probably want to start with the folders DCIM/Camera and Pictures; if the largest number is under Audio, look in Sounds and Music for files to get rid of.
Since it's a tedious process using the stock tools, I recommend only doing it this way until you have enough space to download some apps that can help you clean up more efficiently.

I have been through this storage problem. This is the solution to your problem only if you have "root" access. This problem occurs due to old application data of apps which have not been uninstalled properly.

Download "SD Maid" from the Play Store.
You can search for application data which exists on your device in spite of being uninstalled. Clear the corpses and retry installing the app you want to install and it should work.

I think APP2SD will work for you. With this you can set default app location to USB or ext card.For this I can suggest you to download and install AIO Toolbox. It has tonnes of features builtin. See if it might help you.

authors: Алексей Александрович


text:
Crash while adding google account
Facing trouble while adding Google account to my android device. In logcat I got these two messages:
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to create service com.google.android.gms.gcm.GcmService:
  java.lang.SecurityException: attempting to read gservices without permission: Neither user 10073 nor current process has com.google.android.providers.gsf.permission.READ_GSERVICES.
  java.lang.SecurityException: attempting to read gservices without permission: Neither user 10073 nor current process has com.google.android.providers.gsf.permission.READ_GSERVICES.

Screen shot of my device Samsung Galaxy S3 (4.2.2)

Screen shot of my device Samsung Galaxy S3 (4.2.2) / while restarting

Did you just install an update to your device? Or did you do a factory-reset? The second screenshot indicates the Dalvik cache being updated, which points to one of these two possibilities.

Reinstall CM with minimal gapps, your /system folder is most probably full due to gapps-kk taking up too much space.
http://goo.im/devs/BaNkS/GApps/4.4.3

what is CM and how can i   minimal gapps?

CM stands for "CyanogenMod" and is a custom ROM. So this answer is unlikely to apply to your issue if you didn't install a custom ROM.

If you're not running CM/CyanogenMod/Custom rom, do please "root" your phone, and check if there's enough space on the /system partition. If that's not the cause - i'd suggest cleaning up app data for google play services & later doing a factory reset if cleaning up the app data didn't help (but fist back up your data).


text:
How do I disable this prompt?
Every time I boot my phone, I get a message about not having a cellular carrier.
I only use my phone for gaming, so I select "No". Selecting "yes" leads me into something where I might select a carrier, but I cannot fill it out, because I do not have a carrier. The app launches automatically but is not obvious what it is called. The phone's OS is Android version 7.1.1. The phone is a ZTE N9560.
How can I permanently disable this message?
Where are applications that start on boot configured / stored?

Is that a full screen message or just a dialog? Do you get to use the overview button when you see that message? If yes, does the app not show up in the recent apps list?

Have you tried Aeroplane mode?

Is there a sim card in the phone? Maybe just putting a sim card in the phone will stop this ( be aware this can have privacy consequences)

The files that gets executed during booting process are definitely located in the root folder and also some of the files under system/xbin folder....
You can't access both root and xbin folder unless you have administrative permission (clearly speaking unless you have rooted your phone)
If your phone us rooted you can access the folders using root file explorer or android terminal and delete the files which are creating problems.


text:
Prevent bluetooth keyboard from losing connection to android tablet
I have an Android 6 tablet (Sasmung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 if it matters) and use a bluetooth keyboard with it. After a few minutes of being idle, the keyboard loses the connection. To reactivate it, I have to start pressing buttons on the keyboard, and wait a couple of seconds to start reading the keystrokes again. I want to prevent this 'standby' feature. Is there a setting?
EDIT: FYI: the most annoying side effect of this disconnection/reconnection of the keyboard is that video playback behaves strangely. Namely, it suddenly starts, or some other times it stops while I'm watching something or jumps to a different time point or a different video from the playlist. This happens with VLC and another app (Safari Queue) that has an integrated video player. I haven't tried other audio/video players but I'm guessing this a general problem and not something to do with the two apps I mentioned.

See if this app helps https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.myklos.btautoconnect

@beeshyams Thanks for the suggestion, I tried btautoconnect for the past few days but unfortunately the problem persists.

The connection loss over bluetooth is a feature of the keyboard itself.
Bluetooth 5 is little better than previous versions, but still you can only minimise the connection loss little because of the wireless nature of the connection and there is always a gap there which can lead to a connection loss.
BT5 should however be much more stable but end devices are still short in supply.
Differential solution: USB-C keyboard later if supported.

Thank you for your answer! I will see if I get different results with a better BT keyboard.


text:
Issue with CWM recovery mode
I have flashed CWM onto my phone by using Odin as I'm trying to root, but when I boot into recovery mode, it just takes me to the stock recovery mode, and not the CWM version, so I can't install the ZIP. How do I get around this, or boot directly into CWM recovery mode?
I am running a Samsung Galaxy J3 2016 Edition running Android 5.1.1

The bootloader is most likely still locked, detects a recovery tamper then reflashes the stock recovery.
Try flashing CF-Auto-Root for your device and then flash TWRP and boot into it right as the device is rebooting after Odin's flash. Flash whatever ROM you're looking to install while you're in recovery and it should keep the recovery you have just flashed.

Thank you, I have now advanced further. I flash it through Odin, but first turn off auto reboot, then take out the battery, and go into recovery mode. But when I go into recovery mode, it just says "recovery is not seandroid enforcing". How do I get around this?

That's fine if it says that.
It just means essentially it is not a stock recovery, some recoveries do trick it into think thinking it is seandroid enforcing.
If you get that message and it won't boot into recovery, you've flashed the wrong file. Just repeat said steps and make sure you flash the correct file for your carrier variant.


text:
How to have microG works on Havoc OS?
Long story short, microG is supposed to take advantage of signature spoofing in order to do his magic. But I couldn't make this happen.

Context :
I just did a clean install of Havoc OS (Android Pie) on my Oneplus 3 using this thread.
This distro is supposed to natively support Signature Spoofing, as it claims in its features list (twice). And migroG is officially supported. But there's no support provided on SourceForge (official website for Havoc OS) and the way to contact the dev is Telegram (which I don't use).

What I've tried ?
There is a switch available in the Settings app, and according to the terminal, it's working : settings get global allow_signature_fake returns 1 or 0, depending on that switch.
However, when trying to check with microG or with this checker I get a negative answer.
You can see it on these screenshots :

Over the 600 pages of the official thread, I saw other people having issue with this but noone really have a working solution.
Some said they used a Magisk module called NanoDroid, but in its today's version, this one detects that the distro already allow it and do nothing.
Plus, I read this override on distro natively supporting it is not recommended anyway.
According to this thread :

LineageOS for microG since December updates refuses sigspoof to work when the permission is not defined in privapp-permissions, this is now the case (on all ROMs with native sigspoof support)

As Havoc OS is based on LineageOS, I've tried that too.
I've then installed a magisk module called [Terminal] App Systemizer and use it to swap both apps (Checker and microG) to /system/priv-app.
Then after reboot I've got some progress : Signature Spoofing Checker still says "Disabled", but microG show one more checkbox filled (System grants signature spoofing permission). See the screenshot :

Now I'm stuck and have no clue were to go next. Any idea ?

Have you tried Xposed method, if you already running xposed, (not sure about compatibility with Pie), but on my device Android 4.3 runs perfectly with signature spoof

@xavier_fakerat : this is android pie, not supported by Xposed framework. it's not even stable on oreo...

oops my bad. You are right

Havoc Os v2.2 is out, (see on xda thread for Oneplus 3/3T)
This version correct the problem and everything works as expected now.


text:
Samsung Galaxy S5 turns on when fully charged and never turns off
I just 'upgraded' from the Samsung Galaxy S4 to the S5. Both use similar Android 4.4.2 Touchwiz software, but the new one has some odd behavior. I set smart screen sleep (or timeout, how it's called) to on and put it to one minute. I do have the Developer Options revealed, but the "Stay awake" is not checked.
I'll describe some situations:

Phone unplugged, unlocked -> Sleeps after 1 minute idle.
Phone unplugged, locked -> Sleeps after 1 minute (or even less) idle, no matter if I have notifications or no.
Phone plugged in, unlocked -> Sleeps after 1 minute idle.
Phone plugged in, locked, manually woken up (pressing some button) -> Sleeps after one minute.
Phone plugged in, locked, woken up by some notification -> Rings, displays the notification, and never sleeps until I press the lock / power button.

I tried to minimize the problem by minimizing the notifications I get while it sleeps: turned off WiFi, blocked messages, etc. But there is still one problem. I charge my phone overnight. Plug it in at evening (22:00), at about 1:00 (night) it finishes charging. The "Battery full" notification appears, and also the popup saying "Close the charging cover for water protection" fires up. And after that, the phone does not timeout. And when I wake up, the phone is very hot. I bet it's not OK. And also, from my knowledge, static images burn into OLED displays. I really don't wanna break my phone by charging it at night.
What I have tried:

Restoring and leaving developer mode off.
Resetting to factory, twice.
Tried letting it on silent with and without vibrate.
Tried putting some apps to block notifications.
Tried changing all the power, timeout and sensors options.

Nothing stops it from lighting up and never lighting down at night, and overheating itself. Any ideas?

AFAIK this is a 'feature' of the new Samsung bootloader. There's no work around outside of modified kernels etc and even then nearly all, if not all, custom ROMS have similar issues. It's worth noting that leaving it plugged in all night isn't great for the battery whether on or off.

A custom ROM would make me loose all the cool sensors and features, so.. Nope for now. But I found a workaround, see my answer.

Cool, but you don't necessarily lose them if you have the Touchwiz framework in place in the ROM, obvioiusly with CM and AOSP you will. But I never use them, and the speed difference is enough for me to never, ever use TW again. BUT as with all these things it's user preference!

Wow, do you know any roms that are based on tw framework? I'd be interested in trying custom firmwares, without loosing the fingerprint sensor and the gestures. Anyway, for now I'll stick with the (towel) root'd kk stock, but a custom fw that keeps the sensors would be dead cool for the future. xD I had CM on my GS4 and it was a major speedup, but sacrificed the gestures. I don't wanna loose them on this one cause' they're pretty cool.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5   Under 'development' (most ROMs) and 'Original Development' which is more 'from scratch or specific code written by devs'. Full of ROMs!

I had the same problem and today I did find what was causing my problem.
It just started yesterday, 2 weeks after I got the phone. And the ONLY thing that was different is that I started using a generic AC charger that arrived yesterday.
When I suspected it was the charger this morning, I switched back to the white Samsung charger that came with the phone - and when the battery was fully charged, there was no 'beep', just a notice on the notification list. Screen did not light up. So I suspect that the generic charger I had just received was overcharging the battery, and the phone must be designed not only to do an audible alert, but to keep repeating that audible and screen-on alert until the phone is unplugged.
I have the phone charging on the white cable/plug that came with it, and I have a spare for travel. That's the charger I used up until yesterday - and never had a problem. So I think this resolved my problem with the Battery Full alert - and I will update again if it turns out that my problem is not fixed.

Wow i am also using a generic AC adapter, never tought it might be the problem. Currently solved by installing a TW based custom rom. (xTreStoLite) Thanks.

I am answering my own question, because i somehow solved it. I downloaded the Battery Doctor app (the one featured by Clean Master) and created a scheduled profile for night that has timeout set to 5. Also enabled 'charging screensaver'. It's ok now. Battery doctor takes over the TouchWiz uselsss popups and notifications, and forces it to stand by after 5 secs. It's all OK now :).
This is the app I am using: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ijinshan.kbatterydoctor_en&hl=en

Excellent, you should accept your answer, but I'd recommend a quick edit to add in a link to the app you are using! This will no doubt help others!

OK, I add the link now. I tried accepting my own answer, but it forces me to wait 9 hours from posting time (7 hours from now on).

I just had this problem too. The solution without having to download any outside apps is to go to "developer options" then uncheck "stay awake while charging"
Not sure why they would have this as a default setting...


text:
How can I get heads-up notifications for WhatsApp?
I really love the new heads-up notifications in Lollipop because they look much cleaner now, but it's really weird some apps use them or not.
I would really want them to work with WhatsApp, but I just don't find out how, or if it is possible.
Any suggestion?

Update: WhatsApp has implemented heads-up notification natively. However, users can still use the apps listed here to display heads-up notification for other apps. If the user is already using it, don't forget to disable WhatsApp's entry to prevent double heads-up notification.

At that time, it's impossible to do this directly from WhatsApp official app.
The heads-up notification is only shown when the notification is set to high-priority, max-priority, or full-screen notification by the developer. So, the "official" answer was to wait for them integrate the function.
However, there are 3rd-party apps that implement this feature for all apps:

Heads-up notifications
Heads Up! - notifications

You can control which apps are permitted to show the heads-up notification (I recommend you to do that before they flood the screen), and the customization is also pretty extensive.


text:
Resizing the /data partition (rooted)
My app market (Google Play) has a problem. I can't install any apps on my phone (Lenovo, rooted) because of "There isn't enough space in the disk", but actually there is. After asking a friend, I moved apps to the SD card. After more tries, I understand that the apps are installed on the /data partition and when it is full, I can't install more apps.
When typing df I get:
# df
Filesystem               Size     Used     Free   Blksize
/dev                   482.1M   128.0K   481.9M   4096
/sys/fs/cgroup         482.1M    12.0K   482.0M   4096
/mnt/secure            482.1M     0.0K   482.1M   4096
/mnt/asec              482.1M     0.0K   482.1M   4096
/mnt/obb               482.1M     0.0K   482.1M   4096
/system                885.8M   679.5M   206.4M   4096
/data                  908.5M   825.9M    82.6M   4096
/cache                 123.0M     4.0M   119.0M   4096
/protect_f               8.8M     4.1M     4.8M   4096
/protect_s               8.8M     4.0M     4.8M   4096
/mnt/cd-rom              1.2M     1.2M     0.0K   2048

I know from another app that there is more free, not mounted space.
How can I resize this partition? If more output is needed so tell me what to type. Thanks.

You should never ever resize any partitions on Android. That not mounted space might be something the device uses in something like an emergency mode to restore the device. Moving apps to SD does not do anything because the SD you are moving the files from /data/app to some hidden folder inside /data/media (your "SD").
You might want to either uninstall some apps, use some weird method to swap internal SD and your external SD or check if you had an app already installed and check for left files or folders in /data/data and search for the package name.

As GiantTree correctly pointed out, That not mounted space might be something the device uses in something like an emergency mode to restore the device. More precisely: it not only might be, but it is. Your df output e.g. doesn't say anything about the /recovery or /boot partitions. And there are even more we are not aware of.
Another argument against re-sizing: You won't be able to install any Android updates anymore, as those often come as "images" to flash (replacing entire file systems) – which then no longer would match the partition size, causing the update to fail to flash at best, or bricking your device at worst.
If app2sd no longer gives you enough freedom, you can take a look at link2sd – which is able to not only move the entire app to your device's external SD card (App2SD only moves parts), but can even move more, such as their data files and libraries.
For some more background, take a look at the link2sd tag-wiki, and also the app2sd tag-wiki.

Thanks for critisizing (downvote). I'm willing to learn, so I'd welcome a comment on that: Did I get anything wrong – or was it just "bad mood"? ;)

Sorry for the necropost, but there is and always has been a way to do this if a user wants to. The previous comments are correct, there are more "hidden" partitions present that are not easily seen or manipulated from Windows or Android local installs so what you have to do is have a look at the drive from an outside perspective using a tool that recognizes many file systems. In my experience the best way to do that is by using GParted (live image available here)
Use a tool such as Rufus to create a bootable USB stick using the GParted live image, and then boot to it (using a USB hub and OTG cable if necessary for keyboard, mouse, etc). I prefer the graphical interface, but GParted is also usable via command line. Once booted into the graphical interface (requires the user to type startx where prompted), GParted will automatically run and analyze all partitions and eventually give you a comprehensive display of their configuration. As it is Linux-based and you're automatically logged in as superuser you are now in full control as far as any hdd or partition in the machine (tablets, phones, PCs, size and shape doesn't matter) and you can see all hidden partitions. For the record GParted is intended for variations of x86 architecture but may work on other devices as well via built-in emulation so always worth a shot at least IMO.
With God-like power comes God-like responsibility so
1) I'm not responsible for what happens if this screws the pooch on you and
2) BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU DO INSIDE GPARTED. VERY VERY CAREFUL.
That said, if you find a partition while analyzing via GParted that is of any usable size which is marked as unallocated you can trust it. In my experience it sees all and I've never heard otherwise from anyone else. If there is space you can move it so that it's next to the partition you want to expand and then expand to encompass that space. I just did this last night on a Chuwi Vi8 that I no longer wanted Windows on (it came as dual-OS). I deleted the Windows partition and added it to Android's data partition, giving me 22GB of glorious, fully-usable space.
I found this thread while refreshing on all the steps needed and noticed that no method had been shared. I can attest it does work, but I only recommend it for advanced users and I can't say that it won't interfere with full-OS upgrades in the future as was already stated. Running GParted as a live Linux distro is a great tool that is very comprehensive and exceedingly powerful.

This is incorrect. Android devices have limited firmware which does not support booting from USB-OTG unless the device has a patched kernel. Also, GParted AFAIK does not support native running on ARM, which is the OP's device's architecture. Please verify the validity of your claim vs. the OP's constraints in the future.

As @TamoghnaChowdhury already indicated: We're talking about Android devices here – not about desktop computers. In addition to the doubts in Tamoghna's comment concerning "boot via OTG" (have you even tried that before recommending it?) I strongly doubt each Android device would be capable of booting a "generic Linux image". Plus, why doing that just to run gParted – and not use its Android counterpart aParted? Afraid this is a wall of text, not really answering the question. But yes, MMMV :)

Those dual-os tablets / laptops are just normal PCs with Android x86 and are not real devices

@Izzy Why not use aParted? Because it's only for external SD cards, not internal memory!


text:
Moto E Not Starting Properly After Changing runtime to ART
I have recently bought a MOTO E and it's working cool. Then I have enabled Developer options and changed my runtime from Dalvik to ART. Afterwards I restarted my device. I got the message saying Android is upgraging. After completeing the process I got exceptions like
unfortunately the process com.android.phone has stopped

Please help me how to get out of this problem. I am getting that message for around 10 times and mobile restarting once again.

As even system apps seem affected (com.android.phone is such), you probably cannot even utilize safe-mode for a remedy (though you might try). So unless somebody knows a trick to revert your runtime change by other means (e.g. via ADB), that probably only leaves a factory-reset. Hope you've made a good backup before changing to ART.

Confirmed problem on Moto G 2014, phone froze when I attempted to turn the screen off. On reboot it is on 'Android is Upgrading' again but however has less apps to upgrade now, perhaps it might work.

/data/property/persist.sys.dalvik.vm.lib contains the name of the runtime library you wish to use - libart.so or libdvm.so. So, you can switch back to Dalvik like so:
adb shell 'echo libdvm.so >/data/property/persist.sys.dalvik.vm.lib'
Source

thanx but i already did a factory reset

Does this work on non-rooted phones?

 Erase userdata and reboot using fastboot.
Resort to this method if you are ok loosing your data.
 Installing Fastboot on your Desktop/Laptop .
Fastboot comes with android-sdk for windows. (make sure fastboot is installed)
 Boot your phone in fastboot mode
Its generally done this way,
press down volume key   then power on button and hold them for 6-7 secs. You will see the notification light after which release the power on button and then the volume down key.
wait for 3-4 secs. Fastboot screen will appear on the phone.
Connect it to your host (via usb) and install the drivers.
 Install fastboot drivers for your phone.
Open device manager in windows , you ll see something like 'fastboot condor'.
rightclick->properties->(select Hardware Ids in details tab)
you ll see something like

USB\VID_22B8&PID_2E80&REV_0100
USB\VID_22B8&PID_2E80

add the following lines in your android_winusb.inf based on the hardware IDs (android-sdk-windows\usb_driver_r03-windows\android_winusb.inf)

%SingleAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_22B8&PID_2E80
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_22B8&PID_2E80&REV_0100

update your drivers from android-sdk-windows\usb_driver_r03-windows\
check if your device is detected using the command
fastboot devices
in windows cmd
 Erase user data
type
fastboot erase userdata
 Reboot your phone
fastboot reboot
PS: I had a far worse problem. The phone just got stuck (in an infinite loop) with a dialog.

My friend had the exact same problem after switching to ART on his Moto E (unfortunately the process com.android.phone has stopped), and this worked for him:

Power the phone off, then power it back on.
If it gets stuck in a boot loop where it keeps going to the Android is upgrading... screen (possibly showing the wrong number of apps--for my friend it was showing 19 apps), hold down the power button until it turns off, then turn it back on.
At this point it should go back to the Android is upgrading... screen, but this time it should show the correct number of apps, finish successfully, and the phone should work normally.

This will erase all data but if you had a Google account linked to your device, it will allow you to reinstall all Play Store apps you originally had.
You may also hold volume up and power button together and scroll to recovery mode using the volume buttons and then select it with the power button.
After getting in there scroll to wipe data / factory reset.
After it has completed, select Reboot now.
This should help.

I know that this thread is old, but this may help others in the same situation. My mobile is a LG G2 Mini (D618) rooted with Kingo. After I changed it from Dalvik to ART, it took a long time to reboot, while optimizing all the apps. But then, when the UI showed up, I couldn't do anything because several error messages appeared in sequence. After a while touching OK for each message, the mobile would reboot and start it all over again. In fact it rebooted even if left alone.
I re-flashed it with the stock ROM (with the no-data-loss option) but nothing changed other than it becoming unrooted again. Also tried to access it with an ADB Shell but I kept getting an authorization error. Then, after rebooting it around 30 times, it reverted back to Dalvik by itself, and everything was fine again!