text:
Is app size larger in older Android versions?
I currently have Android 6.0 Marshmallow. If I install a newer Android version, will the app take less storage on my phone? In other words, does an app carry excess luggage to get it working on older phones?

That depends. In Google Play Store you developers publish multiple versions of an app for different Android versions. Additionally you can split modern apps based on the CPU type (ABI), language and other factors so that each device needs to download and store only the required parts. This feature is AFAIK available since Android 5.

@Robert If you are able to confirm which version of Android started allowing those splits, please do let us know. Thanks!


text:
How to install Samsung apps on non-Samsung devices and make them run?
I really need Samsung Voice Recorder to work on my OnePlus 7 Pro, but it doesn't work. Samsung limits it to only Samsung devices.
I tried the APK but it doesn't work.
Anyway to run it on other non-Samsung devices?

Samsung devices have not only just a GUI that is a little bit different but the changes Samsung makes go deeper. This goes down to the available libraries and APIs an app can use. They add proprietary features and libraries and if a Samsung specific app uses those features you simply can't install it on a non-Samsung phone unless you have heavily modified the ROM.
The app "Samsung Voice Recorder" is a Samsung specific app that only works on Samsung devices.
I have checked version v21.1.06.11 as provided by ApkPure. This app defines in it's AndroidManifest.xml that it requires the following Samsung specific features:
<uses-feature android:name="com.samsung.android.feature.resopt" android:required="false"/>
<uses-feature android:name="com.samsung.feature.device_category_phone"/>
<uses-feature android:name="com.samsung.android.api.version.2801"/>
<uses-feature android:name="com.samsung.feature.samsung_experience_mobile"/>

Only one of those features is optionally (require=false) but the other three are mandatory.
Note that features are device/ROM specific features, you can't just pretend that your device has those features.
Therefore to make this app work on non-Samsung phones you would have build a custom ROM that includes these features (usually special Java/DEX libraries plus the native libraries and potential device drivers, ...).

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Use Firefox as the in-app browser instead of Chrome
When I click a link in another app, say "Gmail" for instance, it opens up an in-app browser to view it.
When you click on the top right menu bar, you can see that at the bottom it says "Powered by Chrome".
On another older phone, it somehow used to be "Powered by Firefox". I don't remember exactly how I enabled it. How should I enable it in other phones?

I assume you are talking about the "WebView implementation" - the embedded webbrowser used by many apps. It can be configured in developer options but Firefox does not show up in the list of available web view implementations (but I only have "Firefox" installed at the moment Mozilla has quite a few different Firefox based browser in PlayStore available, may be one of the other apps can be selected).

It's not webview implementation. I think it used to be called "chrometabs" but I haven't done android dev in a while so I'm not sure.

Setting the default browser as Firefox (it was set to none, because I had disabled Chrome) worked.
For Firefox, the instructions can be found here.
For others, the "default apps" menu in the settings is what I had to change for my version (Android P), YMMV.

Robert's WebView implementation comment above leads me to figure it out. I had Chrome disabled. I had "Open in app" set for the app I have been trying to wrangle. But still, when opening a web link from any app, the link would open the full version of Firefox for Android.
I disabled & uninstalled the updates for Android System Webview; and restarted the device.  Now I get the 'Powered by Firefox' web applet/WebView implementation/thingy I was after. Hope this helps someone.

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


text:
How to install TWRP or any custom recovery for a device that's not listed?
My phone is Tecno Camon 15 Pro, and I cannot find any custom recovery for my device. (e.g. TWRP, OrangeFox, Pitch Black, or others). How do I install a custom recovery on this or any such device for which it's not available?
There are tutorials like https://kitikus.com/how-to-install-twrp-custom-recovery-on-tecno-camon-15-pro/, but I am too afraid to try as I have bricked my device once before. Or do I have to accept the fact that it's not possible for devices not listed there?

If your device is not listed u can port a recovery from a device having same chipset like mediatek mt6582 if anything went wrong phone will boot loop so make sure to have a stock recovery and Rom image in pc

The problem is if u want to Install custom Roms and they aren't available then u have to build from sources at own

try to port TWRP from Camon 12 (Helio P35 is most likely just a overclocked Helio P22)

Its not available for Camon 12 either

You have to extract the stock ROM first and then port TWRP for your device.
You can follow this or this guide.

Your post mainly consists of external links. If the linked web pages go down or the URL changes then your answer will be useless. Therefore always quote the important info from external sites when linking them.


text:
Migrate entire WhatsApp from iPhone 6 to Android
I'm looking to migrate my WhatsApp from iPhone to Android, including media (not just chat). I know that it is not possible via native WhatsApp features. I don't want to use a third-party app (not reliable, sensitive & private data).
Is there a way to do it manually somehow? Even if it is conversation-by-conversation (including the media). I mean, it is about putting the right files at the right place at one point. Is there a way to do this manually?

Thanks but the problem is not to restore chat history (which is easy) but to restore medias, maybe manually, without third party app

there is a WhatsApp folder on the phone you can copy to PC


text:
YouTube Premium doesn't play the video in the background but only shows thumbnail instead, and screen starts flickering
With YouTube Premium, the video will not play in the background, but only the thumbnail will appear. When you tap it open, the screen starts flickering.

is it the latest version of youtube?

Can you provide the device model, Android version, and whether you're using custom ROM or not?

@andrew
Android 10, Stock rom (realme ui 1).   Device model: Rmx2001


text:
Unlocking capability of a locked Samsung Galaxy J3 Emerge phone only for medical purpose
I have just been given a very special type of a phone and I want to know what I can do with it. Let me explain my situation:
I just got a Medtronic pain pump installed via surgery and after I was given a Samsung Galaxy J3 Emerge phone to control it. When they gave it to me, they just said it is to control the pump and nothing else could be done with it. Yeah I do not believe that.
I researched the phone and found that it is a Samsung Galaxy J3 Emerge that runs Android 7.0. The phone looks like it is capable of everything a normal phone can do so I ordered it a case.
Medtronic has basically taken all the apps off the phone like internet browsing, Google Play Store, app to make phone calls, and a texting app. They then installed all of their apps like one to control the pain pump, a web browser the doctor can use in his office, and a user manual for the pump.
I connected it to my Wi-Fi already. What I want to know is, how do I put a web browser, the Google Play Store, and all the regular apps back on it?
I do not want to delete or mess up the pain pump controls but I want to try to use this phone like a regular phone and unlock its full potential.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. Sorry but we don't know how Medtronic locked this device. Furthermore most unlocking methods involves factory reset. Kindly understand we won't help without more information.

DO NOT USE THE DEVICE FOR ANYTHING BUT WHAT MEDTRONIC SET IT UP FOR as ANY or all additional software (apps) often co-use code and you May open the MEDTRONIC Controller up to a plethora of vulnerabilities thus causing pain pump management System (galaxy phone) to received improper direction which may lead to over or under medicating.


text:
How to boot into the Recovery mode without volume buttons and reset hole?
I'm having a Chinese tablet Allwinner Quad Core A33. The tablet has only Power and Home buttons. No Volume buttons, no reset hole.
When it boots, it freezes on the Company logo.
The ADB devices command sees no devices.
I am trying to boot into the Recovery mode by holding down the Power and Home button, then releasing the Power button, but nothing happens (like pressing the Power and Volume Up buttons on other devices).
Is there any way to boot into the Recovery mode?

Nice tip for the future: before you buy a phone, always check its rootability on the Google. If you find such problems like yours, boycott the whole manufacturer.

try one of this to repair 1) livesuit 2) phoenix-suit 3) phoenix-usb-pro 4) phoenixcard

I found that I can go to the Download mode by pressing and holding down the Home button. Then I connect the USB and press the Power button. I also used Phoenix Suite.

Sorry, this site cannot help in finding external sites for firmware. Also, unlike traditional forums where posts are used to reply to each other, Stack Exchange is a Q&A site, thus answers can only be used to answer the question, not for asking further questions.


text:
Installing full YouTube app on Tecno phone (Android Go) failed silently
I have a Tecno phone with Android 8.1.0 Go. YouTube Go is my system app, however, I grew tired of using it because of its limited features and decided to install the YouTube app. But that's when the trouble started. The app downloads until 100% and then shows that it is installing and then nothing, nothing at all back to square one, and no error is shown.
I have enough space, I have cleared data and cache for Play Store, restarted the phone, even tried APKs but still, nothing worked.
What could be the issue? The only advice I have received so far is to root the phone. What should I do? Other apps download and install just fine.

have you tried 'uninstalling' system app via adb package manager (no root) https://android.stackexchange.com/q/179575

Dupe of Cannot install YouTube app on Tecno devices (Android Go) (but also no answers)


text:
Mount Android device directly in Mac OS X Finder
I have a Nexus 5 and I have to use Android File Transfert to copy/check my files.
It's working but it's not enough for me.
For example, if I want to see my picture, there is only a list view, no thumbnail. Also, if I want to upload a picture on a website, my phone doesn't shows up in Finder so, first I have to copy my file to my SSD then I can see it.
Maybe it's possible to use Samba or anything else to make my Android device shows up directly in Finder ?

This probably isn't what you're looking for but facing the same issue I've settled with AirDroid.

@Huey Thanks for your comment, I discovered AirDroid during my researches and it's really awesome! The only issue here is the Premium feature, I want something free (for large file transfert mainly)

I've had some luck with Portal for large files. Though honestly there really should be some straightforward way to mount the device on OSX.

There is also the alternative http://mightytext.net but as you said, I'm looking for something more "native", directly on Finder, as in Windows.

Create a FTP/SSH server on Android and mount the server on OS X. See Map FTP server as a (local) drive in Finder, mount_ftp -- mount a FTP filesystem. In Linux, one can use curlftpfs, but it seems not to be available for OS X. But anyway, you got the idea.

For those who are searching this question because of not working Android File Transfer with message "Could not connect to device. Try connecting or restarting your device": on my Samsung S7 it magially started working after enabling USB debugging on the phone.

Transferring files between macOS and Android or any other MTP devices has always been a nightmare. I have tried a lot of apps and was disappointed with the poor support for Android phones on macOS. Either they were too slow, bug-ridden or too expensive. Finally, all these made me sit and write a macOS MTP app for myself.
Well, then I thought to give it to the community.
OpenMTP | Advanced Android File Transfer Application for macOS is safe, transparent, open-source and shall be free for a lifetime!
Download latest version of OpenMTP from https://ganeshrvel.github.io/openmtp
GitHub repo: https://github.com/ganeshrvel/openmtp

I love you so much. brew install openmtp --cask for Homebrew users!

I can't shift up to down select files making it hard to select hundreds of files. I also can't search for terms and operate on the result.

+1 but let me add a note regarding some points that the question asks for: thumbnails do not work yet (https://github.com/ganeshrvel/openmtp/issues/144) and uploading to a website still requires you to first copy to disk (https://github.com/ganeshrvel/openmtp/issues/149 https://github.com/ganeshrvel/openmtp/issues/172).

Was hoping to love this, but it's just a big empty window. Filed a bug at https://github.com/ganeshrvel/openmtp/issues/249

Working Great on MacOS 14.2.1 M1 Chip!! Nice thx.

THANK YOU GANESH.  Android File Transfer - you will not be missed.

That is how Android File Transfer works for Mac, since Apple doesn't support MTP mode by default.
The only way for this is to mount your device in USB Mass Storage Mode (because by default, Mac supports FAT32 and vFAT file systems).
This mode was available in Android till Jelly Bean.
Since KitKat (4.4+), USB Mass Storage (UMS) mode is removed.
To enable UMS in Android 4.4+, there are a few apps that you can try, which needs root access, like:
a) USB Sharer (This is a paid app, but really works. There's a evaluation version of that app which is free for 7 days; you can try that before buying)
b) USB Mass Storage Enabler (This is an app that can mount the memory card in UMS mode, created by me)

It is possible to use the "Android Debug Bridge" command line tool. It is intended to test and install apps, however it enables developers to run commands like adb ls to list all files, and adb pull <remote> <local>. See more here https://developer.android.com/studio/command-line/adb.html

There is an application called SyncMate that claim:

SyncMate can easily sync personal data, media files, folders and lots more between your Mac and Android device. Mounting Android device as Mac disk or managing phone’s SMS on Mac - SyncMate has it all handled perfectly.

But you have to pay to obtain this application.
Another solution is to use jmtpfs:

jmtpfs is a FUSE and libmtp based filesystem for accessing MTP (Media Transfer
  Protocol) devices. It was specifically designed for exchaning files between
  Linux (and Mac OS X) systems and newer Android devices that support MTP but not USB Mass Storage.
The goal is to create a well behaved filesystem, allowing tools like find and
  rsync to work as expected. MTP file types are set automatically based on file
  type detection using libmagic. Setting the file appears to be necessary for
  some Android apps, like  Gallery, to be able to find and use the files.

It's free but less user friendly.

ADB (android debug bridge)
The fastest and officially supported method to transfer files to/from an android device is via adb (Android Debug Bridge) which will be installed automatically if you install Android Studio. Once you activate Developer Options on on your phone and enable Android Debugging in settings, and connected to your android device via adb, in Android Studio you can 'mount' the device via View > Tool Windows > Device File Explorer.
For details see https://developer.android.com/studio/debug/device-file-explorer
Mounting an android device in Finder via ssh
There are no ootb ways to do it, but as mentioned in other answers you can achieve it by starting an ssh server on android and then mounting the android file system on your computer with something like sshfs.
The steps below are approximate and might need tweaking and adjusting for your specific case.

On your android install https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.termux and then start sshd as described at https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Remote_Access#Using_the_SSH_server. You'll need to configure either password or rsa-key based authentication. As an alternative you might also want to check out other SSH servers for android.
On your computer install sshfs — for debial-like linuces: apt install sshfs; for mac brew install sshfs.
Note down the IP address of your android device, the termux user name (type whoami to see it), and the port of the ssh server (on most androids the IP can be seen by viewing the details of the wifi connection under Settings > Wifi). Also set a termux user password by typing passwd.
Mount the android filesystem on your computer with a command similar to (replace with the correct ssh server user and IP):

    sshfs -p 8022 PUT_TERMUX_USER_NAME_HERE@192.168.1.123:/ ~/some_existing_folder -oauto_cache,reconnect,defer_permissions,noappledouble,negative_vncache,volname=myandroid

(the flags are specific for macos, for linux you'll need to adjust them). For mac you'll also need to install osxfuse.

Recently I've been using HandShaker. It's a little bit tricky to install because I had it from a Chinese forum but maybe this is not the only place where to find it.
What is good is that it is wireless (WiFi), and fast. A little bit like AirDroid but without limitation.
I just found a nice and easy to follow tutorial.
It is a little bit off topic because this doesn't resolve the initial issue of USB but it's worth a look.

Try using sshfs.
See the answer for this question: https://askubuntu.com/questions/893090/how-do-i-mount-my-androids-filesystem-over-the-network-with-sshfs

I was looking to accomplish the same thing - mounting some part of my S4's filesystem on my Mac - and was looking at the range of SMB servers available for Android.   The one I've been using that checks off the most "just works" boxes is SAMBADroid, which runs an SMB server on my local LAN over WiFi.   The free version shares the external SD card by default, but I'll be checking the capabilities of the paid version to see if there are more export options.   The only criticism I would have is that it's kind of slow, but from the standpoint of simplicity it's the best of the lot I tried.

Something to note, Requires your device to be ROOT enabled

LG G4 Verizon, running Android 5.1: had the phone a year, and still unable to connect to 2008 Mac running Lion. Verizon, LG and Apple technicians have all failed.
I finally "fixed" the problem by getting a USB card reader and mounting the SD card on the mac. For quick transfers, I got a Verbatum convertible thumb drive.  But I miss the convenience I had with my Droid2.  It worked.

On Android 6, the following worked for me:
Enable developer options (settings > about phone > keep tapping on 'build number')
Settings > Developer options > Networking > Select USB Configuration > MTP (if it's already on MTP, switch to something else, then switch back to MTP).

On my Nexus 6P this was the default. How do you mount the phone as a drive in MPT mode? Mine only seemed to work with Android File Transfer anyway, so I wonder if there is some way to get it to mount as a drive.

and then how to mount?

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


text:
How to modify /system/priv-app in Android 10?
I use ES File Explorer to modify /system/priv-app in the past with root permission given via magisk.
After upgrading to Android 10, ES File Explorer can no longer modify the /system/priv-app giving me an error message saying "operation failed."
What alternatives do I have if I like to modify /system/priv-app?
The output of running set -x; exec >>/sdcard/mount.log 2>&1; id; mount -o rw,remount /system; mount | grep 'on /system '; touch /system/test_file; cat /sys/block/dm-*/dm/name:
uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root) context=u:r:magisk:s0
mount: '/system' not in /proc/mounts
touch: '/system/test_file': Read-only file system
vendor-verity

It turns out:

On some system-as-root (SAR) devices you can no longer mount the system partition as read-write and doing systemless modifications through Magisk is the only way. If you do want to do actual edits of the system, and if it is even possible (from Android 10 it's actually impossible on some devices), you need to mount the root directory, /, as rw and not /system. You can also try editing the partition mirrors that Magisk keeps in /sbin/.magisk/mirror.

So all I needed to do is to:
mount -o rw,remount /

dm-verity? Dynamic partitions?

@IrfanLatif it looks like magisk isn't a complete root after I did some digging...

With root privileges run: set -x; exec >>/sdcard/mount.log 2>&1; id; mount -o rw,remount /system; mount | grep 'on /system '; touch /system/test_file; cat /sys/block/dm-*/dm/name. Share /sdcard/mount.log at https://pastebin.com/

mount: '/system' not in /proc/mounts I just pasted on the question @IrfanLatif

Please run with root privileges. Use su command on adb shell or pkg install tsu; tsu -p on Termux.

yes, i used su on adb shell. mount: '/system' not in /proc/mounts is the output. @IrfanLatif

You need to remount the partition as read-write. mount -wo remount / (change / to /system if you don't have system root enabled in my app). It should work then, though if not you probably have a read only filesystem like EROFS

I don't think magisk supports remounting /system it returns '/system' not in /proc/mounts.

Indeed, magisk doesn't actually mount the system partition at all. You will have to use an alternative.

'/system' not in /proc/mounts could mean that system partition is mounted as rootfs (/) and /system is just a directory inside it. Will have to look at mounted filesystems to be sure.

But if you're using magisk it makes no difference. Magisk does the craziest hacks (temporary workarounds) to modify /system

You can check reliably if system as root is used (regardless of magisk) in my app, kutt.it/trblchk

@AeroWindwalker please try to remount rw root / as Hack5 suggested

@alecxs yes that works. Thanks.

That "craziest hack (temporary workaround)" is called bind-mount. And you don't need necessarily Magisk to use this "hack". And to "check reliably if system as root is used" all that's needed is to see mounted filesystems using mount command.

@Irfan I know it's a bind mount. Except that it isn't. It's a large number of individual bind mounts. And why would you want to use this "hack"? The only advantage is that it helps magisk to hide root and add modules, and it's practically impossible unless you wrote some code to so that.

@Hack5 bind-mounts are not used to hide root. For that Magisk watches /proc (probably using Linux kernel's inotify framework) for newly created processes. And if it's an app (DVM) process which should not know about root, Magisk un-mounts /sbin in that app's mount namespace so that /sbin/su is not visible to that app. Plus there are other minor things to be taken care off to completely hide root presence. // Large number of bind-mounts are required to create a new file or directory (which doesn't exist already) systemlessly. To modify an existing file, only one bind mount is required.

Btw, original question has nothing to do with MagiskHide or Magic Mount.

@Irfan without the bind mount, magisk couldn't unmount /sbin. I think we should move to chat, but I know how the root hiding works. There are some props to set by magisk, as well as the bind mounts that are used to insert su. Of course, magisk could just insert itself to the system partition like a traditional root app, but it doesn't. This helps it to hide itself. And by the way, magisks way of finding out when an app launches it terrible. And magic mount is related to the question in that bind mounts can interfere with the remounting of /system and with the file management itself.

on Google Pixel (1st gen) any of these does not work. any ideas?

@Paschalis define does not work

I've actually created a question here: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/223872/mount-system-on-android-10-with-magisk

> adb root

> adb shell avbctl disable-verification

Successfully disabled verification. Reboot the device for changes to take effect.

> adb disable-verity

using overlayfs
Successfully disabled verity
Now reboot your device for settings to take effect

> adb reboot

> adb root && adb remount
remount succeeded

> adb push ScreenCap.apk /system/app/
ScreenCap.apk: 1 file pushed. 33.1 MB/s (1640812 bytes in 0.047s)

> adb reboot


text:
How to see which app created shortcuts on my home screen?
I have a Samsung S7, and lately some apps or virus started to create shortcuts to ads on my homescreen that look like app icons. I removed a lot of new apps but the phenomenon sticks. Usually the thug app creates shortcuts during the mid-night when I am asleep. I like to find how exactly which app is doing this. Thanks.

Have you already checked one of the many related questions: Android Automatically Adds Shortcuts To Home Screen / “Lucky try” & “Recommended” shortcuts always appear on homescreen, how to remove it? / How to Block Third Party Apps from Creative Spam Shortcuts on Home Screen? / Who is creating icons?

@Izzy "Who is creating icons?" seems to be the same question, unfortunately no one came up with an answer yet. I assume it might not be possible. I am looking into the launcher.db as we speak at this moment.

Let me give you some additional pointers. I've already pointed to the question, but check this specific answer on “Lucky try” & “Recommended” shortcuts always appear on homescreen, how to remove it?, and a related one on How to find installed apps which are using SMS feature. Your candidate requires the INSTALL_SHORTCUT permission. With that in mind, procedure is the same.

@izzy is it possible that what is creating the shortcuts is a virus and doesn't show up on the application list? I already removed all the apps having the permission to INSTALL_SHORTCUT.

A virus is very unlikely (as none exists for Android). But if some malware was able to acquire system privileges, yes: It might hide as well as not need specific permissions to do anything. And before you ask: in that case, a factory-reset won't help (as it doesn't touch system apps).

@Izzy I see. I dug into launcher.db and I couldn't find the creator of these shortcuts. The shortcut showed up last night has an intent of http://lvxin.kaixinmt.com/h5/lvxing.html#Intent;launchFlags=0x10000000;package=com.sec.android.app.sbrowser;end.

Ah, that's another pointer. The URL contained points to a Chinese site (redirecting to another one). And LVXING – well, probably ads for sunglasses. That URL would be launched with your browser. As that domain is hosted in China & owned by a Chinese company: Any Chinese apps left on your device which you've added "lately", does that ring a bell?

@lzzy The thing is, they are all gone. I am using Addons Dector to monitor my shortcuts and hopefully I get to catch the malware.

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


text:
How to use Google apps with VPN on? (Android 10)
I am using VPN because Google apps only work via proxied connections but recently all of the Google apps stop working if I have the VPN mode on (if I switch to NAT mode they works). I think Google detects VPN and disable its apps' network requests.
P.S. the servers work. The same phone running Android 9 works. Also other devices running Android 5 / 6 /7 works too.

What type of VPN are you talking about? A corporate VPN or one of the free/paid VPN providers?

VPN mode, not a specific VPN, any VPN will rely on VPN mode (or NAT mode). Read about what it is here: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/net/VpnService

Here is an additional documentation on this API: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/vpn

The reason I was asking is not the on-device part but but the network the VPN endpoint is located in. If there is a SSL/TLS interception proxy active (aka Man-in-the-Middle attack) Google Playstore does not work because it performs certificate pinning.

The server isn't an issue, I own the servers - if I use the NAT mode it works. Also older devices work too (Android 5 / 6).

I still don't understand what you mean with NAT mode. Usually the VPN just connects the client to a different network and it is not providing any routing services. You should edit your question and give more details on your set-up. Which VPN server you use what VPN settings you have on the device and so on.

NAT (network address translation) mode is a mode that doesn't rely on the VPN interface provided by android but rather directly taking over the TUN. I am not adding any of the server side information because it is clearly a client side issue - because all other devices running older versions of Android connecting via the same VPN works. If you care to know the servers are a bunch of computers in the US and they provide routing services.

"I think Google detects VPN" isn't that already an answer? google coorporates with government

@alecxs how do we cripple the detection?

idk. do we need google apps?

It's funny google apps just work again today even with the vpn on, I then restart the phone and they still work with the vpn on, I restarted a few more times and they kept working...


text:
How to install xapk, apks, or multiple-apks via adb?
xapk, apks, or multiple-apks is the new standard for apps that is basically one folder and multiple apks in it.
I know there are apps like apkpure or SAI that can do it, but I want to know how to it manually.
I know we can use adb install-multiple to install signed apks but if they are unsigned how can I do it if I have the root?
I used to be able to copy and paste single apk to /system/priv-app/${folder} to bypass the signature check but simply copying and pasting multiple apks under the same folder doesn't seem to work in this case.

AFAIK XAPK is no official format by Google, it is more a community driven package format. The official format is "Android App Bundle" (aab) which is installed using the tool bundletool (by Google).

@Robert ok, so if i have multiple apks, is it possible to put them in /system/priv-app/${folder} and get it to work, if not, how can I make an aab a system app?

What do you mean by but if they are unsigned how can I do it if I have the root? APK files always have to be signed if you want to install them.

Here is a guide on how to install an XAPK file to your Android device via adb on a Windows machine:

Rename your .xapk file to .zip.
Unzip the file to a new folder.
In the new folder, you will see a few .apk files, and sometimes also a folder Android which includes a .obb file (you can ignore the following files: icon.png and manifast.json).
Open a Command Prompt from within the new folder and run adb install-multiple "com.application.name.apk" "config.one.apk" "config.xxhdpi.apk" (these apk names are just an example; replace them with the apk names you see in your folder).
if your XAPK file contains a .obb file (you should see a folder named Android), then run also the following: adb push Android\obb\com.application.name /storage/emulated/0/Android/obb/ (replace com.application.name with the name of the apk you are installing).
Done!

I also include a few notes from @user337422's excellent answer:

There might be more APK files, make sure to include them all.
If there are several APK files with different architectures (example: config.arm64_v8a.apk), make sure to check your phone's CPU architecture before proceeding with installing the APK.

I tried this and the app seems to open normally, but then Google Play replaces the app content a second later and wants me to log in. Any way to prevent that?

Bundletool can install .apks files:
java -jar bundletool.jar install-apks --apks my.apks


text:
How to read comments to app of another country?
Google Market allow me by default to read only comments of my country (Italy). Unfortunately not popular application have only few or even no comments. How can I read comments from other country (USA, UK, etc.)?

When using the Google Market website, go to the bottom of the page and change the language in which you are viewing the Market pages. You will then get user reviews based on the currently selected language.
Note that the system seems to display comments only in the language the users have been using when posting them, so if you are looking at applications that make sense only for a specific country, you will probably see English comments interspersed with others in the native language.
Nothing precludes you from leaving a comment on a Swedish application on the Italian page written in Urdu, should you choose so.

If you search for your app on Cyrket, they show the latest comments from all of the Markets in one list under the app.
AndroLib lets you change which country's Market you're searching by clicking the flags at the top of the page, this also changes the comments displayed to ones from that country's Market.

If you are on your phone, you'll have to change your phone's locale to a more popular one, such as English, in order to see that country's comments.

It works, but it is annoying change the language of whole ssytem


text:
Applications: Rollback latest update
I updated Winamp today from the market and now I'm having troubles playing shoutcast stations and some mp3's. Is it possible to rollback only the update I installed this morning? or am I out of luck?

no, you are pretty much out of luck. Once you update, you have that version and cannot go back.
I do not know your android knowledge, but, if you have the apk file for a previous version, you can "sideload" the application on to the device (unless you have at&t). But that is a bit more complicated if you never done it before. It requires the drivers for your PC, copy the file to the sdcard, and then "open" the apk file with an file manager, which will then launch the Package Installer.

Thanks, but I dont have the apk and wouldn't want to go through that trouble. Phone isn't rooted so I don't know how far I could get in that process anyway. Figured I was out of luck.

you don't need to be rooted to sideload an application. but since you dont have the old version...

This is also why you should run a daily backup (preferably @ night or when you're not using your device). It helps to restore an older version of the app.

Something is wrong with the world when it's recommended to backup your phone daily.

I dont back up daily, but I do back it up from time to time. Mainly because I am always flashing new ROMs to it and dont want to lose any data. I dont think there is anything wrong with the notion of backing up, the google services are a form of data backup, it is just automatic.

I guess it will be fixed in a future update but until then, have you tried contacting the developers for an older version. I'm sure they'll be appreciative of any feedback you give and it would be easy for them to provide you with a previous version directly.
If you are feeling brave, I found the following two sites that might have what you need as a direct download, may need something like Astro file manager (free) to install and will need to enable unknown sources in the settings.
http://www.freewarelovers.com/android/app/winamp
http://getandroidstuff.com/?s=Winamp+Android
I don't know how reputable the sites are so I would try my first suggestion initially.

For free apps, you can typically find an older version on ApkMirror. They keep older versions of most popular free apps and have good reputation of being malware-free.
For paid apps, you'll have to use your own backup (it's always a good idea to make backups of your data from time to time, including the apps you're using), or look at more dodgy websites. In the latter case, it's highly recommended to check the APK with VirusTotal before installing it on your device.


text:
What will I lose if I manually upgrade Galaxy Tab 7" to Honeycomb 3/3.1?
I have a Galaxy Tab 7" WiFi running Android 2.2.1. This particular device will be used for business purposes (I am working on developing some local custom apps for my department), and I would much prefer to use Honeycomb instead, due to the encrypt device support.
However, reading around I understand I will lose some functionality if I manually upgrade. What will I lose?
Also, as an addendum, if I upgrade but it does not work out, I assume I can do a factory reset. If this is incorrect, please let me know.
Thanks!
Jared

Were you looking at this build or is there another one floating around? That one seems to be more of a novelty than anything else, honestly. Developing for it seems like it would hardly be worth it :-/

@eldarerathis - How did you come to that conclusion?

@Jared: Well it's basically the SDK emulator image made to boot on a Tab since that's all they have to work with. They call it an "Alpha" and say in the description "Using an alpha rom can be very dangerous. Don't just flash, because you see its HONEYCOMB, read everything very carefully first!". It also looks like it doesn't have 3G, screen rotation/gyroscope, GPS, bluetooth, mic support, hardware acceleration, or stable audio output. It's an impressive effort to get it working, but it definitely doesn't seem to be feature-complete or stable.

Actually, some of that information looks like it's in the GSM thread but not the CDMA one. They seem to be the same base ROM, though, as far as I can tell. Same developer at least.

@eldarerathis - Hmm, that's interesting. So you're saying unless I want to walk on the wild side, I should probably stick with Samsung's Froyo on the Galaxy Tab 7"?

@eldarerathis - Believe me too, I am but a new babe in this world, both Android and in replacing/updating device OSes. I want the advances available to admins with Honeycomb, but ultimately, I need the thing to work consistently (and I don't much care for Samsung's custom stuff, I just a need a device that works).

@Jared: I guess the easy way to sum it up would be to say that it's very much bleeding-edge. Also, I've essentially converted my previous comment into an answer below since I seem to have inadvertently covered much of what you asked in the first place.

I realized that I'm going on and on in comments for no real reason but perhaps this is better suited for an answer.
The only Honeycomb build I'm aware of for the Tab is this one on XDA (there are two versions, GSM and CDMA). It is, for all intents and purposes, a bleeding-edge attempt to get Honeycomb running on the Tab. The developer refers to it as an "Alpha" and essentially says to expect things to be buggy.
Since there is no public source code for the 3.x releases of Android yet, the build is based on an extracted image/filesystem from the Android SDK, meaning that it is not optimized for the Tab and probably lacks 3rd party drivers (excepting any official 2.2 drivers that happen to be compatible with 3.x).
The GSM thread lists the following as "not working" under the current build, meaning this is the minimum you should expect to lose:
*Gyro (no rotation, there is an app installed but rotates wrong way)
*Settings window not appearing when expanding from the Notifications menu
*3g data nor phone abilities
*BT,
*gyro,
*hardware acceleration
*SD card on boot
*headphone audio
*mic
*GPS

In general, builds like this show up on devices when a new major release appears in the SDK but they tend to be fairly unstable and also fairly slow. The videos I've seen of this ROM appear a bit more performant (in general) than other SDK ports I've encountered, but your experience may vary.
As for restoring, the "Factory Reset" option doesn't usually touch system files on most devices, from what I know. It's possible I'm mistaken on this and that the Tab does actually restore the firmware, but I'm not incredibly familiar with the Tab. You'll probably want to do a little digging to see what a "Factory Reset" actually means (might be in your manual, perhaps).
That being said, there are instructions for getting a Verizon Tab back to stock here, and there might be similar ones floating around for other carriers. If you can get a custom recovery on to your device then you can simply back up your system before trying Honeycomb and then restore from the backup. The easiest way to do it is probably just to install ROM Manager and flash ClockworkMod recovery from there. There appear to be manual instructions about but they vary by carrier.
Personally speaking: I would not use an SDK port for anything other than showing off to people (which can admittedly be a whole lot of fun). In a production environment I definitely wouldn't risk it, and I honestly never kept them installed for more than about 30 or 45 minutes at a time to play with before restoring to a stable ROM. They were fun sneak-peaks, but I've always found them highly unreliable (though "your mileage may vary" is probably a good catch phrase here).
Edit: A word of caution to Wifi Tab users, this post on one of the Honeycomb threads indicates that the current ROMs (as of 6/19/2011) WILL NOT WORK on a Wifi Tab. I personally can not verify the validity of this statement, but this would not surprise me as other devices (e.g. the Xoom) have similar incompatibility among ROMs.

@eldarerathis - I certainly appreciate your efforts; I'm still working on figuring this out, and wish that Samsung had better update support (obviously, that's a known issue). I'm not actually using a GSM/CDMA device though; it's a WiFi device (perversely, a GT-P1010). Does that change anything?

@Jared: That may actually mean that these ROMs could brick your device :-/ I have a 3G Xoom and I know there's actually some differences under the hood in the firmware. People who tried to install 3G ROMs on Wifi Xooms have all kinds of nasty trouble with them. I'm not that familiar with the tab, but this post claims similar incompatibility issues.

@eldarerathis - You certainly raise many good points that are easy to miss for the novice. I appreciate you helping me understand the issues, especially since I'm sure I would have gone ahead anyways. Hopefully, others will see this question before they go too far.

@eldarerathis - This is an aside, but I probably need to encrypt my apps database on Froyo. Any ideas? Thoughts?

@Jared: To be honest, I'm not really familiar with the best way to handle that (never tried it myself). I feel like I saw a Stack Overflow question about it recently, but I don't think I ended up reading it, ironically.

@eldarerathis - Yeah, no doubt. I'm pretty active on SO, but I didn't see that question (not that that's a surprise). I sure would prefer to use Honeycomb's encrypt device functionality, as opposed to encrypting a file or entries in a db. Not really sure what to do at this point. Sure wished that Samsung had it's act together.


text:
"Not Found" apps hanging up my autoupdate... what can I do?
I have a couple of apps that give a "not found: The requested item could not be found" error when I try to update or view them in "my apps" in the market. (PDA Net is one of them). If I do an auto update (update all) the update process tends to hang when it gets to either of them. I still have the apps on the phone, and they work fine but I can't even get to the screen where I would turn off auto-updating for them. What can I do?

You will not be able to update them, they have been pulled from the market by either the developer or by google. PDA Net for example was recently pulled by google. You could see if the developers offer an alternative means to download, either from their website or a 3rd party market, like amazon app store. Then remove then from your device so they no longer appear in your google market. Then reinstall them via the 3rd party market, or by "sideloading" them.


text:
Is it possible to set an unlimited number of Call Logs and SMS on Samsung Galaxy A10?
I have a backup using SMS Backup & Restore for a long time. But, the number of Call Logs stopped at 2000 and didn't increase. I thought it was a limit of the free version, but I found it on the official site:

The app does not have any restrictions on the number of call logs it backs up, however, most phones only keep a limited number of calls (500 or 1000 or 2000) in memory and the app can only backup those call logs.

So, it is related to my mobile - Samsung Galaxy A10 - Android 10 (One UI 2)
Is it possible to set it to unlimited or at least rapidly increase? Call Logs. Of course, SMS also (SMS still increases (555), so the exact maximum number I don't know).


text:
Why can't I select some image files on some apps, while the Gallery app can?
I have a Xiaomi device on Android 8.0 Oreo. I was editing some pictures in an application and sometimes the picture that I want to edit doesn't appear on the editing app, but there's in the gallery.
Why and how to fix this?

gallery requires media scanner for refresh which is sometimes buggy or only running on boot. media scanner excludes all directories containing .nomedia file. of course apps require storage permissions for this

Photo app can find photos stored on device memory. It support some file extension like png, jpg. If file extension is not supported then it will not appear in photo apps.
You can update apps and also reset it.

The extension is jpg but it still can't appear

You can move that file to DCIM  folder then I think it will work. All photo app can read DCIM folder.


text:
How to connect Samsung phone to Soniq Smart TV via bluetooth without the remote?
I have Samsung Galaxy A11 and Soniq Smart TV which uses Soniq QT166 remote. Currently, I don't have the remote. I am trying to download a remote on my phone as a replacement. However, I can't connect the phone to the TV without the remote.
Can I connect a Soniq QT166 remote to my Samsung Galaxy A11? Without a remote, I don't know how to connect to Bluetooth via phone to TV.

I'm sorry .. is that more accurate  I cannot connect to blue tooth via phone to tv with out remote

Please edit your question and reformulate it completely including title. And please don't forget to exactly specify (device name and version, running OS; ..) the involved devices.

How to connect  to soniq tv using blue tooth on my Samsung  a11

I am trying  to download the remote on my phone as I don't have one

Hi, I've tried to edit and incorporate the details from the comments. Hopefully, I'm not mistaken in interpreting the issue. Consider [edit]ing to add more context and details though to increase the chance for proper solutions.

Also, since I found the manual that tells about the pairing process to the RF dongle for the TV remote, I'm worried that the Android phone also needs to do the same pairing process to be considered as a "remote", and this might be the biggest problem without knowing how it's done...

There are many apps available on Google Play Store, out of those, these are two.

If your phone has IR, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.tv.remote.control.sony.remote.control
If your phone does not have IR, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.tv.remote


text:
Unlocking bootloader for Vivo Y12
I have enabled OEM unlock and USB debug from settings. I am using Vivo fastboot tool. And after entering the fastboot menu, I tried the code fastboot bbk unlock_vivo.
C:\Users\dell\Desktop\vivo_fastboot_for_windows>fastboot devices
MNFM7PSSGM75SKBY        fastboot

C:\Users\dell\Desktop\vivo_fastboot_for_windows>fastboot bbk unlock_vivo
...
FAILED (remote:  unclock fail.)
finished. total time: 0.004s

I tried various solutions on the internet but couldn't find one.
Please someone help me.

LOL the typo seems to be located in the modified vivo fastboot version you use. According to some blog on newer devices you have to use fastboot bbk vivo_bsp unlock_vivo

@Robert so how should I resolve and unlock my bootloader

@Robert I tried that command as well but it says unknown command

https://github.com/bkerler/mtkclient#unlock-bootloader

Vivo devices with a Mediatek chipset don't allow anyone to unlock the bootloaders. The Qualcomm device's bootloaders can be unlocked by the unofficial EDL method discussed by XDA Developers. Sadly, my device is also based on the Mediatek chipset.
Please be patient until the Vivo developers officially release any method to unlock the bootloaders.

Try this. I see on the system to unlock the bootloader, there is this command. Remember to type one by one.
fastboot flashing unlock
fastboot flashing unlock_critical
fastboot flashing get_unlock_ability

The problem is that even though I want to try it, there is no laptop or PC at home.

Just want to confirm if you're sure this command will work on Vivo Y12 or other Vivo devices? OEM unlock can have different commands per vendor.

yes i think it will work on vivo y12

@VickyZakaria no it won't, and you haven't tested. that's just the common google unlock method. vivo hasn't implemented that commands this way. please note the 'fastboot bbk unlock_vivo' in question


text:
Stop the phone from disconnecting Discord calls
My phone is an LG K40+. Sometimes when I'm on a call on Discord, it'll disconnect from the call. I'm connected via WiFi and the quality is fine, so I don't think it's an internet issue.
Is there any way to prevent this behavior?

Try disabling battery optimisation for Discord only, eventually that will work.


text:
"Another app is using the camera" when trying to turn on the camera or flash
My Samsung Galaxy J4+ is having a problem. When I turn on the camera or flash, it is saying "Another app is using the camera". But I have checked nothing in the background is using these, and my flash is working only in accessibility settings (Flashing when getting notification)
I have tried restart and safe boot, but nothing works.
How to fix this?

Could be a hardware defect that makes the camera unavailable and Android thinks it is just used by another app. If you don't get other comments or answers the only option is to perform a factory reset. If that does not help most likely the camera is defect and need to be replaced.

@Robert i have done soft reset and hard reset nothing

can you confirm whether your device is running stock or custom rom?

Stock model samsung j415f android 9


text:
What is "MMI Group" app?
On my Samsung Galaxy Tab A, there is an app in the app settings called "MMI Group" and it takes lots of permissions. When researching, lots of users also have this app that takes lots of permissions, so it could be some test to see if all the permissions work or something, but it seems VERY sketchy and you can only force stop, that's it. But when researching, someone else said they contacted support and it was not a preinstalled app which is extremely sketchy. I have scanned my tablet with Malwarebytes though and I don't install sketchy things.
So, when looking, someone found the app on phones in the store, so I think it's just some weird app that gets installed a lot and maybe it's from the Google Play Store or Google, I don't know.
But the point is you can't uninstall or stop the app from using permissions, and it says that the app is needed for the system.

It is a system app coming preinstalled on many devices (especially Samsung's). Probably meant to deal with MMI codes, see eg this article for some background.

I found the following information on MMI Group and I'm still puzzled as to why it's on my phone: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mmi-group-it-holding-company

According to Samsung Support Chat,

Sylvie
This is a pre-installed app then which is included with device firmware.
Sylvie
It is actually a Samsung Electronics app used for syncing devices at home so you can control everything with your phone.
Sylvie
The pre installed apps which are included with the firmware can't be uninstalled.

According to OP's 2nd revision of the question (with copyedit),

When I went on Malwarebytes, I discovered that it said:

It's a system app
Updated: Dec 31, 2008
This date is the same for automation test, some priv. something, and things like what's new, media storage, and lots of others.

In conclusion:
This is a pre-installed app. I don't know why someone said the customer support said it didn't, there is a company called MMI group and I think the app is some kind of test or something. It is pretty sketchy, but Malwarebytes is fine with it.

It's an App to allow your carrier to give all your files, media, and location to the feds to keep track of your behavior on the device.  If you have this app on your device, your being watched for making them nervous.  An app on Google Play Store can help you view it's full details or information about the full operations of the government planted app.  It is called (Package Manager) it has a blue pill like android picture on a white background in the app Logo.  It will tell you everything you are lost about.

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

This answer claims something big but without proof, particularly the relation with the government/feds. It'd be more helpful if you could [edit] and explain more about it.


text:
How to disable FLAG_SECURE by modifying an APK file?
I want to mod an APK so that its FLAG_SECURE can be disabled. Can anyone please guide me in doing that?
I have used apktool to decompile the app, but I don't know which specific file to find in smali to disable this.

There is not one specific file you have to edit. Instead, you have to search all smali files for a specific call. Luckily, the smali syntax is very specific so that you can search easily using a full-text search tool. I prefer Agent Ransack (Windows) or  grep -R (on the command line).
In detail, you have to search the smali files for one of the following calls:
Landroid/view/Window;->setFlags(II)V
Landroid/view/Window;->addFlags(I)V

Before each call in the same line, there is noted which registers contain the parameters.
addFlags
const/16 v2, 0x2000
invoke-virtual {v1, v2}, Landroid/view/Window;->addFlags(I)V

The second entry in the curly brackets is the interesting one (v2 in the example).
If this parameter is set to 0x2000. In detail, this is a bitmask and if the 14th bit is set, the screenshot protection is applied to the current screen.
Effectively, only the fourth position matters. If it is 2 or 6 (2+4) or A (8+2) or C(2+4+8) then the bit you are searching is set. But usually (in 99% of all cases), you will find the value 0x2000.
Search the lines before the invoke-virtual if there is a command that sets the register we are looking for such as: const/16 v2, 0x2000.
If there is the call, and the second parameter has a parameter with the hexadecimal 2 at the mentioned position, you can simply comment out the whole invoke-virtual ... line by placing a # in front of the line.
setFlags
const/16 v1, 0x2000
const/16 v2, 0x2000

invoke-virtual {v0, v1, v2}, Landroid/view/Window;->setFlags(II)V

For setFlags, it is very similar, just that the 0x2000 parameter has to be present in the second v1 and the third v2 mentioned register in the curly brackets.
Do that with every occurrence of setFlags/addFlags invocations.
Again, comment out the whole invoke-virtual ... line by placing a # in front of the line.
Rebuild APK
Then rebuild (apktool b ...) the APK file (you can find it in the dist subfolder) and then use apksigner sign the built APK with a custom certificate and you are ready to install the app. apksigner is part of Android SDK, but can also be downloaded manually, see e.g. my post here.
Alternatively for signing you can use a tool like uber-apk-signer which simplifies APK certificate and key generation + signing the APK.


text:
Are updates from APK Mirror legit the same as Google Play Store?
I recently updated the Google Play Services via APK Mirror and now have the January 1, 2021 version. However, some others told me that the only thing the APK Mirror update does is changing the date (in my case: from December to January), and that Google will later send the same update for the same date, which will be the real update.
Anyone else heard anything about this? Are APK Mirror updates legit the same update Google sends, or it simply only changes the date and nothing else?
This is for an Android Pixel phone.

If you have installed an update via APK for an existing service the new APK file has to be genuine, thus "APK mirror" or somebody else can not change something on the APK because this would invalidate the signature and the installation would have failed.

The "others" should provide you a source/citation of where they heard that APKMirror changes dates. As already stated on a previous answer:

Apkmirror.com is run by the same people behind AndroidPolice.com, one of the biggest Android news websites. All uploads are manually vetted and approved, and only free apps are allowed so you won't find any 'cracked' apks or 'warez'.

You might be perplexed by what @bmdixon wrote as there were no citations. To add weight to what he wrote, here are some sample questions and answers from APKMirror FAQ:

What is the connection between APK Mirror and Android Police?
APK Mirror and Android Police are both properties of Illogical Robot LLC, our umbrella company. APK Mirror is managed by the same people who administer Android Police, and the two sites collaborate on an almost daily basis.

Does APKMirror.com host paid or pirated apps?
APKMirror.com has a no-piracy policy and does not host paid apps.
Note: There are very rare exceptions to the no paid apps rule. Sometimes, developers make updates to paid apps available to the public, usually to test beta releases. In such cases, there is usually a license check involved to make sure the apps were previously purchased. MX Player Pro is a notable example of such an exception because J2 Interactive, the app’s developer, provides test APKs on its site.

Security: What measures do you take to make sure all uploaded APKs are real and created by the respective developers?

All APKMirror.com uploads are verified prior to publishing.
We make sure that the cryptographic signatures for new versions of all previously published apps match the original ones, which means we know if uploaded APKs were signed by the real devs or someone pretending to be them.
Note: APKMirror.com has been protected from the Janus vulnerability in Android from day one.
a. For new apps that have never been uploaded to APKMirror.com, we try to match the signatures to other existing apps by the same developer. If there’s a match, it means that the same key was used to sign a previously known legitimate app, therefore validating the new upload.
b. If we see no matches, we try to obtain and compare to a version of the same app from the Play Store or another verified location. If it’s a beta, we will try to get into it. If we can’t, we will attempt to contact the developer.
c. If we’re unable to verify the legitimacy of a new APK, we will simply not publish it.

It's a good policy to always verify if the site and apps are legit even if they come from Play Store. In this case, the people who advise you about APKMirror I think didn't do their own research.

Those are some tall claims with no way to verify them. Or is there a way to verify that they do indeed follow through what they preach?


text:
Truecaller reads new SMS sometimes even without having SMS permission
I use Redmi 9 Prime. On that, I use the Truecaller app. I want to use Truecaller only for calls and strictly not for SMS. So I never give SMS read permission to the Treucaller app.

But still, sometimes Truecaller read new personal SMS. Till now did not see any service or OTP SMS in Truecaller. Don't know how come.
What can be the reason or source for getting this possible? How can I stop Truecaller from strictly touching my SMS?

Does it read any SMS or specific SMS (like an OTP)? In the latter case, see https://android.stackexchange.com/q/201599/96277

@Firelord I have updated question, Thank you

During app installation from Play Store, you may have given permission. Without it, the app will not install. Uninstall and reinstall Truecaller.
Which app is the default SMS app?
Open app / clear cache and storage. Force stop the app. Restart mobile. Again check permission status.
The last option is to start mobile in recovery mode and clear the cache partition.

Had the same problem with one of my phones.
I had to do a clean install - i.e. before uninstalling, force kill > clean cache > clear storage and uninstall the app. Then while reinstalling, only provide access to call, call logs, and contacts. When launching, it will ask for SMS permission > deny > and then most important is to select 'never ask again'.
This way, SMS is fully blocked from the intrusive app. It may occasionally ask, but the permission prompt will not come up from Android.


text:
TWRP seems to be corrupt or not working for Infinix X5515F
I was trying to install TWRP recovery to my Infinix X5515F (Smart 2). I followed these steps:

enabled OEM unlock and USB debugging
connected to a computer
logged into adb and sent adb reboot bootloader
send fastboot erase recovery
flashed this file using fastboot flash recovery <filename.img>
tried to boot directly from the image using fastboot boot <filename.img> (after a while without any response, it performed a normal boot to the system, not to recovery)

Then I tried to reboot to recovery by these methods:

pressing and holding the Volume Up and Power buttons until the Infinix boot logo appears (after releasing all the buttons it shut down without showing anything, booted again, and performed a normal boot)
send adb reboot recovery (it boots to system recovery, not to TWRP)

What is the problem? Is this image corrupt or not right? If it is, can you provide any image for X5515F (not for X5515)?

what was the output of 'fastboot flash recovery <filename.img>' did it flash successfully?

yes it did.and boot command too

try PitchBlack Recovery for X5515

no i wanted to install a custom rom.

will this recovery work for X5515F

can you provide a vmbeta image

if you refer to 'empty' vbmeta you can generate one yourself with python (or try this trick) Android Verified Boot and generation of vbmeta image

You dont need vbmeta for this device since it is android 8. I searched online and it seems it has mediatek processor. Its been two years now and no one seems to answer here. Please double check if the bootloader is unlocked, this is required for installing custom roms and rooting devices...
Enter the fastboot oem device-info command and run it. It should list some device data, including the bootloader information.
Look for Device Unlocked from the info.
If it says true next to it, it means that your device is unlocked. If it says false, it means that that it’s still locked.
Once you really confirmed that it was unlocked then you can go and try porting twrp to your stock rom recovery.img. Proceed at your own risk. Please double check the model of the stock rom since it may confuse you and you will end up bricking your phone
You should only tweak the recovery partition of this phone don't touch any other things. If it happens that the device is not opening after flashing wrong recovery.img. You can try mtkclient and use the command python mtk e recovery


text:
Use image file as camera (Android 10)
Instead of using the real camera, I would like to simulate the camera input as a static image file. I want it to work with any app, as if it was a camera. This question had been answered Use image file as camera but it doesn't work with Android 10.
The real world use case is that I will need to scan a QR code / tag from WeChat in order to use WeChat official accounts, and WeChat made it mandatory to do it via the camera. You can test it on: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/ (You will need to register an account first obviously...)

https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/124751/use-image-file-as-camera

If it's a built-in in-app camera, then https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/145020/how-to-emulate-camera-input-in-android-to-activate-whatsapp-web?noredirect=1&lq=1 should be more relevant, though there's no satisfying answer yet.

@AndrewT. someone in that question referred to https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/124751/use-image-file-as-camera which is not working for Android 10. So I am guess in Android 10 this is not doable.

It's a different use-case: Q #124751 (mentioned on this question) was interpreted as taking a photo from an image file, whereas Q #145020 is about emulating camera input (e.g. scanning barcode/QR) from a file. The answer (now converted to comment because it's essentially a link-only answer) on Q #145020 that referred to #124751 doesn't apply. So, it's not because of Android 10, but it's a different use-case and not yet answered.


text:
How to add route with busybox (for specified destination and gateway)
I tried the code:
alias netstat='/system/xbin/busybox netstat'
alias grep='/system/xbin/busybox grep'
alias awk='/system/xbin/busybox awk'
alias route='/system/xbin/busybox route'

gateway=`netstat -rn | grep ^0\.0\.0\.0 | awk '{print $2}'`

route add -net 1.0.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw $gateway

It doesn't run and print out the manual for route command...
Does busybox support route add -net $des netmask $mask gw $gateway? If so what did I do wrong?
Update: I tried to update to magisk 12.0, and now it just shows applet not found instead...
So I did try /data/magisk/busybox route This gives me applet not found again. Then I tried /dev/busybox/route It prints '/dev/busybox/route not found'. I checked and the file '/dev/busybox/route' exists (as a shortcut), so I am not sure what is going on anymore. BTW, I did run su before I tried to run these commands.
Also if I run these commands line by line, I will get different error message than "not found" when I put them in a .sh file and run sh script.sh

Magisk:
/dev/busybox/route add -net 1.0.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw $(getprop net.dns1)
Busybox:
/system/xbin/busybox route add -net 1.0.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw $(getprop net.dns1)


text:
Canceling the sending of a queued email in Gmail for Android
How do I cancel the sending of a queued email in Gmail (Android)?
The conversation is in the outbox and I don't see an option for deleting the message alone. I'd like not to have to delete the whole conversation.
I am temporarily in China where Google is blocked and I want to rewrite an email I had written and tried to send.

I didn't try Matthew's solution but it seems the safer solution to try first.
If that doesn't work though, I deleted the entire conversation from the outbox, having given up on trying to keep the conversation. I was surprised to find that this only deleted the queued message. The rest of the conversation stayed intact in my inbox.

This worked for me, thanks!  I agree Matthew's solution seems safer, but in my case I had another way of (sort of) recovering the conversation so I gave your solution a shot because it was quicker :-)

One way would be to clear the data for Gmail via the Settings app.

This worked, however, when you go back to Gmail you'll get any prompt screen that you previously dismissed, you'll have to re-enter any personal settings and Gmail will then have to re-sync all of your email. For me, that took a long time. That being said, it worked!

I'm at Boston/Logan airport and have the same issue. Went to Gmail settings, turn off Auto Snyc,roll the days counter to 1 or 2,and do a manual sync. Worked for me,  this issue only since marshmallow update 2 weeks ago.

I figured out how to delete a stuck queued email.  Open tbe main menu list from the button at the top left and go to Outbox.  The stuck queued email will be there and easy to delete.

Well, the whole point was the fear that deleting from outbox might delete the entire conversation (multiple emails), because that's what it looks like in the outbox. But it turns out that deleting the entire conversation there still preserves the conversation in the inbox. Thanks for your input though.

For me none of the posted solutions worked. But what did work after trying everything else, was phone settings, disable battery saving mode. There must be some configuration there that causes messages to queue.

Try to press and hold and the option will appear. I did mine through this.


text:
Timezone is not updating with WiFi and ethernet network in Android
I am working with Android AOSP. When I connect my Android device with cellular network, then the timezone is updating (if I enable the "auto-update time zone" option). But if I connect my device with WiFi or ethernet network, then the timezone is not updating (even if the "auto-update time zone" option is enabled).
I studied some forums, they are saying that the timezone will not update with WiFi and ethernet network.
Is it right? Please give some summary regarding this issue.

Time synchronization via Wifi/Ethernet bases on the NTP protocol. All NTP server are running with UTC time, hence they can not provide a time zone.
If if they would the time-zone would be useless, as an NTP server can be located anywhere in the world. Typically one NTP DNS name consists on multiple NTP servers, and based on a region the closest server is selected, but that still does not mean that the server is located in the same time-zone as you are.
Only the cellular network has the Network Identity and Time Zone (NITZ) service which provides not only time but also the current time-zone. As a mobile network cell is limited to a very small area it is possible to deliver correct time zone data via cellular.


text:
Decrease the screen size (not resolution) on Android 11 (`wm overscan` is deprecated)
I recently bought a Pixel 4a and being used to a way smaller phones before (4.7 inches), it's gigantic for me. I'm trying to find a way to decrease the usable space of the screen (from the top) and hide the camera cutout.
I found out this, but the option is only available on Samsung (and other brands). Then I found out this thread and the wm overscan ADB command and just as it looked like I found a solution, it turned out Google deprecated the overscan command in Android 11.
I tried also Nacho Notch and other "notch-hiding" software, but they only "blacken" the notification bar and don't actually reduce the screen size.
Any ideas what I can do to actually achieve this on Android 11?

I have the same issue with my Google Pixel 4a. Fortunately even though overscan is deprecated, setting size still works. The downside is that the screen is centered instead of being aligned to the bottom of the screen.
Open a root shell on your phone, then run:
wm size # to get your current phone display size
wm size 1080x1800 # slightly reduce the display size

You can also use wm size reset to reset the display size.
Edit: you can also use Screen Shift to edit the screen resolution. (Overscan won't work.)


text:
Determine Android version on a device that is stuck on lock screen and with FRP
On my Motorola Moto E6 (XT2005-5) that is locked with a PIN I don't have and also with FRP, does "surfna9" mean it is Android 9? If not, where do I look without the PIN to know what version is installed?

According to some online database the xt2005-5 was shipped with Android 9. If it has received an update to Android 10 I don't know.

you can read properties via fastboot commands in fastboot mode: 'fastboot getvar ro.build.fingerprint' 'fastboot getvar ro.build.version.full' 'fastboot getvar version-baseband' 'fastboot getvar kernel.version'

fastboot getvar all is another quick way to see all available variables on your device. I am assuming FRP prevents you from getting to recovery since that is where data can be reset. My Android version was shown there.


text:
LG5 call interrupted with cheek touching "hold"
LG G5 accidentally touching "Hold" button with cheek during phone calls, thereby unintentionally put the call on "hold".
How to prevent this from happening?

Most Dialer apps use the proximity sensor to turn off the screen while it's on call to prevent accidental touch. So, either 1) the Dialer app you're using doesn't support this, or 2) the proximity sensor is not working properly. Try installing 3rd-party Dialer app or sensor checking app.


text:
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 (SM-T210R) won't turn on or charge
I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 and for years it worked very well until last year, out of a sudden, it stopped working. It didn't want to charge or turn on.
When I plugged it to my PC, the PC wouldn't detect that it was connected.
I returned back on the issue to try to fix it but the problem is that I don't know what I can do to fix it.

The PC won't detect the phone if it's turned off though. Have you tried different chargers/adapters, electric ports, and USB cables? Or try buying/replacing the battery? Otherwise, the internal hardware may have a defect, which is possibly out of the scope of this community to DIY fix it.

Open up the back cover of the tablet.
Disconnect the battery from the motherboard.
Plug in the charger and let it attempt to charge for 30 seconds.
Disconnect the charger and hold the power button for 30 seconds.
Connect the battery again and close the tablet back up.

This worked for reviving my Tab 3 Lite 7.0 with the same chipset, but it has not been tested on the Tab 3 7.0.


text:
Where are the libraries/dependencies for an Android app stored on the file system?
I found a file path from Where Android apps store data?

/data/app/<pkg>*/lib/<arch>/*.so (shared libraries)

However, this only shows libraries for some apps.
Is there another location where shared libraries are stored for an app? If not, is there a way to find this information from the APK or such?
Note: I have root on my phone.

https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/122280/download-purchased-apk-from-play-store

Would it be possible to elaborate on how I would use this to find the libraries/dependencies?

that might be more of a StackOverflow question.  I just left as a comment because it's helpful.  Your best bet is a decompiler.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/43752446/how-to-decompile-an-android-app-from-the-google-play-store

I tried decompiling. Did not provide me with any useful info

you're going to have to read the source code.

Libs aren't extracted to that path if extractNativeLibs=false is set. Simply get the APK file and explore with any ZIP explorer, even without decompiling. Libraries are in lib directory. But if not being loaded by Android's dynamic linker/loader, apps can store native code in other locations too (e.g. assets, raw) and may extract to any path where they have write access. App's dependencies on OS native code are obviously already there on device in /system/lib* directories.


text:
Finding and removing Android adware that opens Chrome tabs when unlocking the lockscreen
I'm battling an adware on multiple Android devices which none of the Malware removal tools I tried (Kaspersky, Avast, and Norton IIRC) can find.
Behaviour
While the phone is locked, new Chrome tabs (not the default browser, Chrome specifically) are launched periodically, pointing at (don't visit!) http://vpg.dorputolano.com. This redirects you to various ugly ad-sites for gambling, betting, new phones, and what have you. It doesn't act, while the phone is unlocked.
Importantly, this behaviour has jumped devices: I first had the issue on my OnePlus 3. I was changing phones anyway at the time and I thought with a fresh install on my new phone I'd be golden. I used the OnePlus transfer app to transfer my stuff to my new OnePlus Nord, which in hindsight might not have been the best of ideas. Now after ~3 weeks of using the new phone, it started again. No apps have been installed in this period, so it seems to have a dormant period before it starts acting up.
What I have tried

Most obviously, switch to a brand new phone
Finding rogue processes via adb shell and ps -A
Trying to change /etc/hosts to at least not visit the bad site, but this needs root access
Neither of my devices were/are rooted

Device info

OnePlus Nord, Model AC2003
Oxygen OS 10.5.10.AC01BA
Carrier Wingo (read: Swisscom), not known for malicious behaviour
(The old phone was a OnePlus 3, up to date with the last update they shipped)

I'm hoping for

Identification of the malicious app and how to remove it
Further tips on pinning it down myself, maybe more adb tricks?
If all else fails, workarounds to mitigate the behaviour

Related: How to find out which app is trying to open spam websites?

Using my Google Activity History, i spotted a few activity entries of my Barcode Scanner app which didn't belong there as I didn't use the app at the time.
Uninstalling the app resolved the problem. In my case, the com.qrcodescanner.barcodescanner] was the culprit.
Edit: The app has been pulled from the store since.
The most recent 1-star reviews confirm that the apps is an adware since the last update.
For completeness' sake, this might not be the dev's fault since the app Andrew pointed out (com.google.zxing.client.android (Play store)) suffers from the very same condition it seems, the reviews now all say it delivers ads.
Edit: Apparently this is a false positive, as it unfortunately had an identical app name and got hit with negative reviews for no reason
Edit: Maybe some barcode library further upstream got compromised?
In any case, caution on using either of the apps is advised.
Use zxing's Barcode Scanner for a better alternative
Credit to @andrewT. for pointing me to the solution
Update, 08. Feb 2021: There is now a writeup of the story at Malwarebytes Blog

Thanks for mentioning the package name, now we know a little more about its update history. The reason I wanted to check the package name is that app names are not unique on Play Store, and only the package names are unique. Thus I'm afraid that one of the most popular and credible Barcode Scanner apps (open-source, no update since 2 years ago, and no ads) has also become a "victim" of review bombing due to this confusion (I'm personally still using it and no sign of malware).

Also, scan result of the APK. FWIW, we found this approach with help of Malwarebytes Forum. However, someone there accused the wrong Barcode Scanner app due to having the same name, that's why I wanted to clear it up.


text:
Phone won't stay off when charging Motorola Edge Plus on Android 10 and above
After getting a replacement phone from Verizon, the new Motorola Edge Plus will not stay powered off while charging, as the last one did.
After looking on the forums, I enabled developer options, but "stay awake" was not enabled.
The problem persists with 5 and 15W chargers, as well as Qi charging.
It turns on when plugged in if it was previously off, and restarts automatically if I turn it off while it is already plugged in.
To be clear, all I want to do is be able to turn the phone off and see its charging progress without turning the whole phone on.
Any help or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

https://android.stackexchange.com/q/20021

I thought I was going crazy. I shut my phone off while the charger is plugged in. And an hour later the phone turns on automatically! Waking me up out of a dead sleep because I'm hearing "Hello Moto!" I was able to charge my phone overnight without it having to be turned on before. I don't like this feature. If I understand this correctly, I need to shut the phone off completely and then I can plug in my charger. To allow the phone to stay off while charging.

I WAS WRONG!
I NEVER would have thought this was the cause, but I was wrong and I thought you deserved an update. I cannot explain why so many people were confirming that their phones would refuse to stay off... but I guess that was all just one giant red herring.
I was having trouble getting my USB-C cable to charge my phone, I would have to keep it at an odd angle in order for it to charge. I got tired of this, so I decided to clean out the USB port. I shut off my phone, grabbed a sewing needle, and then removed all the pocket lint that had collected in the USB-C port on my phone. After that, I plugged it in to charge and... it didn't turn on. Before today, it would power on the instant I plugged it in. Now, it stays off! I cannot tell you how much I HATE being wrong, but I also didn't want to leave you with an incorrect answer.
In fact... now that I think of it, all of the Android phones that people are "confirming" will automatically turn back on, they all have USB-C. At the risk of being wrong again, I wonder if it's a combination of some people just having dirty USB ports and some phones genuinely having that feature.
I apologize for misleading you. All of the data I painstakingly collected is now suspect. I am 100% certain that at least some modern phones have this "feature" but it is clear to me that I was completely wrong in my assertion that this was a new feature being pushed by Google... IT seemed obvious based on everything I was reading...
At least this explains why I couldn't find any official documentation on it...
PS:
I doubt your charging port is dirty since it is a new phone, but it is worth trying a different cable, a different charger, and if all else fails, cleaning the port anyway. Please downvote my previous answer so I do not accidentally mislead anyone. I will post a comment under that answer saying I was wrong, that way I don't confuse future readers

LOL.  Thank you very much for the update.  This is extra funny because the first computer bugs were literally bugs (usually moths) that were attracted to the light and heat of the tubes.  Here we are, many decades later, and now it's pocket lint!  What's next, belly button lint? :)

You can not do this any more. All modern phones running the latest version of Android will automatically turn on if they detect power input, this is a safety feature that (as far as I am aware) you can not disable. If you would like to have your phone stay powered off while charging, you must downgrade to an earlier version of Android.
I wasn't happy when I discovered it as well, and I searched for days to find a straight answer, which is surprisingly difficult to find. This answer is based on dozens of posts on multiple sites and hours of scrolling through community responses to similar questions. My phone is a Pixel 3 XL, but it doesn't seem to matter what model, it seems to be the same across all of the latest makes and models of phones that run the latest Android. This "feature" seems to have been implemented in 2018 for Nexus and Pixel phones, although it is difficult to pinpoint when exactly. From then on, it began to pop up in other manufacturer's devices as well, so I'm guessing this is an industry standard now. I also found that most Apple devices do this as well, from seemingly the iPhone 5 onward, though I'm not as sure about that since I wasn't specifically looking up Apple phones.
I hope this helps, and secretly I hope I'm wrong and there is some secret hidden menu somewhere that will disable this function.
Cheers.
EDIT
New undisputable evidence has proven me 100% wrong. 3 days of research only to come to the wrong conclusion. Any future readers, please disregard this answer, as it is wrong. Some of the things I said are still probably true, some phones definitely have this "feature" if you can call it that, but it is NOT a new industry standard being pushed by Google. In my case, it ended up being a dirty charging port.

That's kind of you to provide our community with the results of your research.  Thanks!  Upvoted.  Why is this considered a "safety feature"?

I THINK it has something to do with being on so you can dial 911 at a moment's notice if you have to, instead of waiting for your phone to boot. Charging your phone while it is powered on is only slightly slower than with it off so I guess they consider it a fair trade off? It's extremely difficult to get a straight answer... When I was looking, almost all of the stuff I could find was more "extrapolated from" rather than "directly stated" so please take my answer with a big grain of salt. always staying on for easy access to emergency services -seems- to be the most common excuse

Thanks so much for the update. That's a stupid reason, so it's probably correct. ;)  Personally, I think it should be up to the user to decide which is more important: access to emergency services now, or later.  I once took a phone on an expedition, and needed to charge it at a brief stopover.  It turned on when I tried to charge it, which caused all sorts of issues, and also resulted in less battery power when I really needed it.  But I'm sure I'm "preaching to the choir" here... :)

New undisputable evidence has proven me 100% wrong.

LOL.  No problem.  And no roasting. ;)  Thank you so much for the update!


text:
How to recover data from Android 10?
My Samsung Galaxy A80 had an issue and could not start up. I had to flash it. I tried to recover its data but could not. I have used Windows and different apps, but nothing worked.
My friend rooted the phone, so my phone is rooted. The rooting is verified. I used more programs and apps, but nothing worked:

Dr.Fone
DiskDigger

All say it's rooted, but no data was recovered.
This is what I did. What should I do?

If encryption was disabled, you can use NAND flash chip programmer to recover data.

or in other words, no data is recoverable because your phone was encrypted

how can i make sure that my phone was not encrypted ?

i flashed it and now i just rooted it trying to recover data, so no way to recover any thing cuz its encrypted?

Does this answer your question? How to recover a deleted file from /data partition?

New versions of Android force disk encryption. Since your device is not so old and it was unrooted before the wipe happened, the encryption was definitely enabled.
I do not want to disappoint you, but the fact is that no data can be recovered anymore from the device. The encryption uses a security key that is stored on-device. A new encryption key is generated when you reset the device to encrypt the storage again. So, in the absence of the old encryption key, you will not be able to decrypt the data even if your recovery software manages to recover some bytes.
I'd recommend to avoid wasting time and other valuable resources to recover the data now. It is permanently gone.

Agreed with the first response. It’s problematic when the device is wiped, especially with the newer versions of Android. The encryption key is essentially tied to the state of the device before the reset, and once that’s gone, it’s nearly impossible to decrypt the data.
That being said, I’d recommend double checking if you had any cloud backups enabled, like Samsung Cloud or Google Drive, as those often back up photos, contacts, and some app data without you realizing it.
For future scenarios, rooting does open up more recovery options, but it’s always a gamble if the device was encrypted. That's why Regular backups are necessary.

HI Alan, please tour the help.  This does not answer the question.  This is not a discussion forum.


text:
Addon.d script on Android 11
Google introduced system_ext partition in Android 11 which can use system resources and can include system modules that:

Extend AOSP system modules in the system partition. We recommend upstreaming such modules to AOSP so they can be installed to the system partition later.
Bundle OEM or SoC-specific modules. We recommend unbundling such modules so they can be installed to the product or vendor partition.

I want to remove 2 folders named Snap and Gallery2 from /system_ext/priv-app partition. So, I created addon.d survival script to remove automatically every time I dirty flash a ROM.
The scripts commands are-
#!/sbin/sh
rm -rf "system_ext/priv-app/Gallery2"
rm -rf "system_ext/priv-app/Snap"

But the script is not working. Every time I dirty flash a ROM, I have to remove those folders manually.

echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d.%H:%M:%S'): $0 started" >> /cache/addon.log

create some log via your script to confirm your script is executed at all. beware partition has to be mounted

also you should use absolute paths (leading / )


text:
How do I open about:config in Firefox on Android?
A lot of settings on Firefox for Android need about:config, but I cannot open it by typing in the address bar.
Here are the screenshots.

Waiting 15 seconds after I typed about:config in the address bar and pressed Enter
The version of Firefox app (v88.1.3)

What am I doing wrong?

You can go to
chrome://geckoview/content/config.xhtml

To get to what you'd normally see with about:config. There, you can also turn on general.aboutConfig.enable, but that is reset after closing the app for some reason.

about:config is disabled in builds other than Nightly
From this answer:

You can access about:config in the Nightly build of Firefox for Android, available from the Google Play store .

about:config also works in Firefox Beta.


text:
Where is the location of Google Drive folder in Android phone?
I'm looking for the location of the Google Drive folder in an Android phone, Realme V3 5G.
I expect the location to be something like \android\data\com.google.android.apps.books.
Where is it?


text:
Why doesn't my Evo bring up the Hacker's Keyboard?
I have an HTC Evo, which is still on Froyo. I've installed Swype and Graffiti, and while I mostly use Graffiti (I used to rock a Palm III), I switch as I need.
I heard of the Hacker's Keyboard on the Android Market and I jumped at it. I have ConnectBot on my phone and I sometimes use it to get a command line on both my home and work machine, and it seems like the right thing. But it isn't showing up as one of my choices. Just Swype, Touch Input and Graffiti.
I see "Gingerbread" in the description. Sprint hasn't pushed out Gingerbread yet. Is that the problem?

It says it only requires 2.2 so it seems like it should work. Did you remember to enable it in your settings?

I did not. And now I feel dumb. Nevermind.

Turn that into an answer so I can mark it solved.

Added. And I would say it's a common thing to overlook since you don't get prompted or anything, so I wouldn't feel dumb about it. Now someone else with a similar problem might land here and find a solution instead of tearing their hair out trying to debug it :)

Newly installed third-party keyboards need to be enabled in your settings before they become selectable. Make sure you have it checked under Settings->Language & Keyboard after installing.


text:
How to search for files and folders?
I'm looking for the Dropbox folder on my Phone and I can't find it with my file manager. If I only had access to the find command it would be easier.

what file manager are you currently using?

which phone? does it have external SD- my DropBox app is downloading stuff to /external_sd/dropbox - I cannot remember if I set that as a option anywhere?

For what it's worth, mine is located at /sdcard/dropbox

@Daniel OI File Manager

@Al I couldn't find only because Dropbox don't create the folder on login. It creates after you download a file.

Seems to have moved recently from 'sdcard/dropbox' to '/sdcard/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files/scratch'. Much easier to find...

It should be noted that the Dropbox app doesn't actually sync the files to your phone, it just presents you with a list. Whenever you select a file in the Dropbox app, then it downloads it to your phone. On my Incredible, the dropbox folder is just in the root of the SD card.

Astro File Manager also has a good search function, and has a lot of handy functions connected to file management.

Root Explorer has an excellent search function.

On Ice Cream Sandwich the folder is at
/sdcard/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files/scratch

I have an idea. Go to your box on your droid. Hit the menu tab. Then you will see "upload here" which is the way to upload a file from the sd card to the dropbox! Which works great for me not having internet to send from my laptop to droid as well as attaching files to inbox messages.

Could you please [edit] your answer to explain how it will help the OP? It seems like he wanted to find the location where files are saved to his device.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/


text:
How do I load android 2.3.4 onto my dev phone?
So, I have an original Droid (rooted), that is also my working cell phone. Can I load 2.3.4 onto it to develop accessory apps?
If so how do I load the new OS?

One option (probably the easiest) would be to install CyanogenMod on your phone. I don't recall offhand if the latest stable release (7.0.3) is based on 2.3.4 or 2.3.3, but you could certainly use a nightly build instead which would be 2.3.4. The forums for the Droid can be found here, and they have a section for stable builds and a section for nightly builds that you can take a look at.
For detailed instructions on how to prepare and install CyanogenMod, the best resource is their wiki page.

I know this is an old question now, but I cannot get CyanogenMod to load any rom. It's already rooted and loaded CM just fine, but it won't load the downloadable roms or from the sdcard.

@Eric: Do you mean ClockworkMod? Are you getting any failure messages? Are you trying to flash the ROM via the recovery menu or via the ROM Manager app?

In ROM Manager v4.2.1.0 Under ROM Management I've tried either Install ROM from SD Card or Download ROM and no matter what I pick it reboots too the triangle next to a phone

@Eric: Sounds like the custom recovery (ClockworkMod) is not installed. This thread suggests either reflashing ClockworkMod from ROM manager or following the SPRecovery instructions from the wiki page (linked above in my answer).

Turns out after a factory reset with wiping data/partition/etc. it loaded. Without paying for it I get 2.3.3...


text:
All calendar events disappeared
Saturday at 10pm I checked the calendar and my events were there. When later, at 1am I checked again, all the events in the android calendar disappeared, while in the web calendar are still there.
How I can restore them?
I disabled autosync and did a manual sync, let some day to pass, did not resold the problem.

Open up main SETTINGS > APPLICATIONS > MANAGE APPLICATIONS
Press MENU > FILTER > ALL
Search for Calendar and Calendar Storage. Clear Data for both and then return to the Calendar App. Choose the Calendar(s) you want from the options within the calendar app (if you have more than the default calendar you wish to sync) and then sync.