text:
I have 29GB free on the sd card and only 101mb on storage,before I had 800mb and installed batman arkam,the download stopped at 91%
Because I hadn't sufficient memory,but the files remains on mine phone but i can't find them and delete theM. On google play it says that the game isn't installed and in the phone either.How to free my phone? And other question how to use the space on sd card..? I have samsung galaxy s4 with 4.4.2 android NO ROOT

You can use an utility such as Disk Usage & Storage or ES File Explorer which will show you graphical information of your storage usage. Once analyzed, you can sort folders by size and try to locate the particular folder. Using a file manager, I would definitely check /Android/data and /Android/obb folders. The orphaned files and folders are highly likely to be located in one of those. The external SD card storage can be used in any way you please. You can use it as the default storage for photos/videos, you can copy files on it etc.


text:
LG G2 (VS980) stuck in boot loop after flashing cm-11
Following http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_VS980 to install cm on my Verizon VS980, I completed the steps and got a successful install but on reboot, my phone entered a boot loop, stopping at the LG logo. I can't seem to access TWRP recovery either, I tried multiple combinations including the instructions on the cyanogenmod wiki but still no luck.

I've got the ls980, and while they have their distinct differences, I have had the opportunity to flash ROMs on the VS for my friends' as well, and I can't say I ran into the same issue. I did manage to brick it with an incompatible kernel though.
Download the lg flash tool (you can also find it at XDA with screenshots and instructions), and follow instructions listed EXACTLY to flash a LG KDZ Rom (stock ROM). It seems way worse than it is.
Also, while I refrain from endorsing products from anyone, I do have to say that on your particular phone I think you'd be WWWAAAAYYY happier flashing the Exodus ROM, as you are given the ability to "morph", without any additional flashing, between cyanogen, aosp, and my favorite, Exodus. To each their own though. Hope the tool helps. Happy Modding

Once it starts, hold the power and volume down keys. It'll go black and once you see the LG logo, release them, and hold them again. It will take you to LG's factory reset screen, hit the power button twice and your phone will get into TWRP.

Doesn't work, just goes black and vibrates while also flashing a red LED.

most likely you didn't actually wipe data/factory reset. You can leave the internal storage /sdcard alone, it's the rest of the stuff. Every time I've flashed CM and had boot loops it was because I forgot to factory reset. They don't do this in the zip because many people hot-flash a newer build on top of old.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How to get rid of "Battery not charging dialog"?
I have a Sony Xperia ZR phone with Kitkat 4.4.2 and when I watch HD movies on non-MHL TV connected to the phone using a HDMI-miniUSB cable with external power source auxiliary cable, I often see a message during the movie.

The connected power source is not sufficient. The battery is draining faster than it is charging. Please connect your phone charger.

I don't mind that the battery is discharging. I tried 1.5A power source and it is still not enough. Someone suggested the phone might be overheating, so I am now cooling it down, still didn't help. I can't get rid of the auxiliary power cable, because the MHL then won't work. My TV is not MHL enabled.
I want to get rid of that dialog at least temporarily. Is it possible?

I disabled similar thing in Xperia Z1 with GravityBox as I remember, it is a module for Xposed Framework, you will need to be rooted to do those things..

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


text:
Why can't I install this downloaded APK?
I downloaded an APK and when I try to install it, the "install" button is completely unresponsive.
I have gone into the settings and enabled "Unknown sources" in the security section.
Is there something else I need to do?
I'm using a Galaxy S5 with Kitkat 4.4.2, unrooted.

Would you mind mentioning that .apk file? Is the 'Install' button greyed out?

No, the install isn't greyed out. Does it make a difference what APK file it is?

No. I want to whether that apk is compatible with the android version you are on.

It could be corrupt, it could be damaged in some way, what way are you clicking it to open it? It could have a script to only install on rooted devices / different version of Android. There's not enough information to go on here tbh.

Disable your screen dimming app. :)
Some screen dimming apps work by overlaying the whole screen with a translucent window, and letting touch events pass through to the activity below, but for security reasons, you can't interact with system dialogs (such as the package installer) through another activity.
It sounds counter-intuitive, but it could be the cause. It's more likely than a corrupt APK file or a version incompatibility, either of which would cause an error message.

Try to install it using adb. Download the Andorid SDK and then connect your phone to the PC via USB, make sure the USB Debugging option is ON under Developer Option in your phone settings.
Once you are done try to use these commands. adb devices to check the connection to your device and then if everything is OK try adb install <filename>.apk. Make sure you input the correct path to the file or simply copy the apk into adb directory.
adb usually resids into adt-bundle-$version/sdk/platform-tools
You can command prompt cmd in Windows or console in *nix based system.

Disable Verify Apps in Security. If that didn't help, you could just copy the apk file to /data/app/ and reboot the phone (as a temporary solution), also try Wiping the Dalvik Cache.

What?  There is no 'verify apps' in security.

if you received a warning,then Google can and does block apps that can be damaging,and or have malicious code in them. Google can even remove apps after installing as well. Find and read their policy on installing apks from other sources.

Not necessarily true.  In my case, I am just trying to test an APK in the emulator.  My own APK that I developed - and getting this error!


text:
After Uninstall, Android Device Manager still shows in Device Administrator List
I enabled Android Device Manager a while ago, and then realized it wasn't useful for me so uninstalled it.
I just now noticed that it still is listed in my Device Administrators list despite not being installed on my phone (and if I log in to their website I can STILL track my phone)
Am running Android 4.2.2 on an HTC One X (unrooted)

The Android Device Manager app doesn't control whether your device is tracked by ADM. It simply allows you to see and manage your other Android devices.
You need to go to the Google Settings app, choose "Android Device Manager", and un-check "Remotely locate this device".


text:
Change MCC and MNC in the APN settings
I'm currently on a vacation with a new phone who worked perfectly on the country I bought it at (SMS, calls, data...) but now, when im abroad, the data wont work although I can make calls alright. But if I try to change the APN's MCC and MNC codes which currently is set to Belgium for some reason (I'm currently in Germany) to something other than the default ones, it just removes the APN entry from the APNs list.
What can I do to change the APN's MCC and MNC codes? Are there any reason that they would be locked or something similar?
I have a Nexus 5 Android KitKat 4.4.4

MCC (country code) and MNC (network carrier) are bound to that APN (and maybe to your SIM as well), so changing wouldn't help you much as there wouldn't be a match. What you need is the APN definition of the carrier you're currently using in Germany. Beware roaming costs.


text:
I uninstalled updates for Google play services
I uninstalled updates for Google play service and now I can't even use my Google play store, help me please
I'm using a Samsung galaxy grand quattro

Have you tried the usual remedies for an app that is misbehaving?

I faced the same problem on my LG G2(purchased a few months ago) with the google play store. Earlier I used Playstore to download as many free apps as needed. But then to save the battery backup time, I disabled all the apps that used to restart automatically, each time I closed them. But after disabling them from task manager, play store stopped working and even after re-enabling it, it did not start. Even the apps downloaded through play store did not function and used to give info that for running this app I need to update play store and after opening play store to update, it used to straightway say no connection. I called google support, and did a bit of troubleshooting on it remotely, but it did not help, they asked me to take the device to the service centre. But as I barely find any time in any week, I decided to do it myself and used the factory mode reset option and now it is functioning again wonderfully.

Try this link - Google Play Apk. Try upgrading it later if an update is available.
Edit:
Open any browser and go to PlayStore and try to install any application so that website may prompt to install Play Store before continuing.
(or)
1 - There is a chance that you've unknowingly disabled Play Store permanently in App Manager. To re-enable it again just follow Menu>Settings>Apps/App Manager>Disabled apps and enable it.
2 - You can also use apps like CleanMaster to perform above job.

https://mega.co.nz/#!Z9IWmRaR!HQ-5istE6Vsw5-pWMg8rPE6iOONfYirxaMgfxfMqxhQ  _isn't a link to the playstore

@HasH_BrowN - Oh I know it man! You don't find Google Play app in Google Play so I gave that link to give it a try. You've downvoted my answer and discovered a great truth that it's not a link to Play Store.

Then you need to include details that are relevant to the question. Anybody reading that unedited answer you had originally wrote would think that was a link to an actual apk. Now the updated answer addresses the question,  thank you for clarifying. Down vote removed!!


text:
My storage doesn't exist
I have a samsung S3 mini GT-18190.It shows that the internal storage is 16GB available space and phone storage is 17MB. But when I plug my GT-18190 to my computer only 17MB partition displays. A 16GB partion doesn't display.Please can u help me for this problem.

There is only that partition accessible on a non-rooted device. If you want access to the 'root' folders, you need root access basically. The rest is the cache, the Android OS, system apps and data etc. If I plug in an S4 I get "Phone Storage" and "External SD Card" options only as I would expect.

It will show external memory also by default. You must have changed something.

Make sure you have right drivers intalled on PC for your phone.
Try rebooting after that.
Regards.


text:
Intel xolo x900 mobile getting shutdown
I have trouble with my intel xolo x900 mobile, whenever I have enabled internet unable to use any app , suddenly my mobile getting switched off. It will take nearly 5 min to get back to normal. Not only facing while enabled data but if I'm making calls more times in short duration again same issue.
Interestingly issue not happening mobile while in charging, help me to get this fixed
Thanks,
Asai

It sounds like your phone is defective. You should return it to the shop for repair or replacement.

thanks, I have taken my mobile to three different service centres and I got different response from all three service centres... one said mobile board issue, one said mobile software issue and one said battery issue, useless answers from xolo care.


text:
Cannot access google after SIM card change
I am currently on a vacation in Portugal and bought a local sim card for a Samsung Galaxy S4 with stock ROM. Now I cannot access any google services anymore. The rest of the internet works fine but any site using google's cdn fails to load. Android of course is almost impossible to use. Interestingly enough it only affects google.com, other google domains work fine.
I did originally receive an email from google claiming a suspicious login. I verified that it was me on their security page on another phone. I tried resetting the dns cache, change the dns servers, the google unlock captcha, ... nothing works. It works fine when I log in via Wi-Fi. If I share the connection with a tablet that tablet can access anything just fine. Deleting and recreating the google account on the phone also does nothing.
I am at a loss of what to try next. Any ideas? Thanks!

I'll try and find an answer but I would contact Google in the meantime, their customer service can be slow at the best of times so it would be no harm to get the ball rolling.


text:
Why does my tab 4 lose apps
After downloading some apps on my Galaxy Tab 4 they have disappeared. I downloaded them again but the same thing keeps happening, any idea why and how to stop this.
FPR


text:
How to have a custom table of contents in Google Play Books?
I uploaded a big PDF book to my Google Play and I was wondering if there was a way to make my own table of contents for it ? Right now, the only item in the table is the beginning of the book...
Thanks !

You could edit the pdf changing the table of contents, either using adobe acrobat or some other, free, software.

Forgot to mention, the table of contents in the pdf file on my laptop is fine, there's one entry for each big part of the book, but the version uploaded on my google play has no entry


text:
remove or undo rating google playstore review
due to privacy reasons - How do I remove a rating I put from the Android app in the Google play store?  I just realized people can see more of info and do not want that.  I can't find where to undo my rating.  I just clicked on the stars, did not write a review.

You can delete your review/rating from both the Play store app page and also via the Play store on your device.
Web Play Store
Simply visit the page for the app for which you want to remove your review. Scroll down and you should see your review and also two buttons, 'delete' and 'edit'. Clicking the delete will remove your review.

Play Store app
Visit the app for which you want to remove your review. Just beneath the app screenshots you should see your star 'review'. On the right there is an 'edit' button. Click this and you will then see a 'delete' button. Click this to delete your review.


text:
phone whilstles or bell rings: sounds on Samsung Galaxy S3
I have two very basic questions about my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone. In its
default configuration:

Every now and then the phone whistles. (a) What does this mean?
(b) How do I change this or turn it off permanently?
A few months ago the operating system did an OTA (over-the-air) update.
Now every now and then, besides this whistling, I also hear a bicycle bell
ringing. (a) What does this mean and how does this differ from the whistling,
that is, how is the information conveyed by the whistling different by the
information conveyed by the bicycle bell ringing? (b) How do I change this
sound or turn it off altogether permanently?

Thanks.

These are both notifications. To change them or even just find out what they are notifying you about go to Settings > My Device > Sound
You can change the "Default Notification Sound" (even choosing silent, but then you won't get any notification sounds) and a little bit lower on the menu you can set distinct defaults for specific samsung apps. There are many apps that allow you to choose different notifications sounds (other than the default that you chose above), but those have to be changed in the apps themselves.
Do you notice any new information in the notification area (by swiping down from the top of the screen) when you hear these alerts?

Thanks. I can see the Whistle sound under Settings -> My Device -> Default Notification Sound but cannot find the bicycle bell sound there. If I set this to silent will the bicycle bell sound go away as well? Thanks.

@JohnSonderson Every app can control its own notifications. When the bell rings what exactly happens on the device when this rings? It was emails for me, but it does depend on the app.

I think the bicycle sound is called "Postman" on an sgs3. Did you look in all of the apps listed under "samsung applications" (Call, Message, Email, Splanner)?

Thank you for your comment. I found the sound under Settings -> My device -> Sound -> Default notification sound (open with Media Storage) -> Postman (the default here is set to Whistle). That is exactly the sound I was looking for (the reason I was not finding it is that I was probably looking under Ringtones). However I cannot find an application called "samsung applications", although I have an application called "GALAXY Apps". Is this the one I should be looking at? Some app keeps on making that "Postmap" notification sound ring, and I'm not sure where to look. Thanks.

I think the "Samsung Applications" section of the Sounds menu  is found in android version 4.4, you probably have version 4.3. Galaxy Apps is not what you want, that is another app store like Google Play.


text:
Installing GCC For Free?
I have a rooted android device I want to use as a toy server. I need to install GCC, so I can ssh in and compile other software.
How do I install GCC and whatever libs/headers I need to compile command-line binaries, without buying one of the commercial solutions like C4droid?

What GCC has to do with a rooted device? Plus, GCC is freeware. There is also a Debian chroot for Android, Lil Debi.

Can you deploy GCC binaries on an unrooted device? Wouldn't they then be restricted to executing in the context of the app that installed them? I don't really know.
The GCC install instructions require a number of things (for example, a working C++ compiler) that preclude me building it on my device. And I'm not sure what cross-compiling options I would pass to the GCC build system to induce it to create an Android ARM build--hence my asking the question.
I'd like to install just GCC, without an entire Debian system. The Debian chroot would get GCC, though.


text:
Sony Xperia L won't turn on but it works well when I removed the SD card
Help! My phone was recently repaired for water damage. It works fine but when I put my SD card in, it won't turn on (on the pick-up day). I went back to the shop and told them; they tried to put in their own SD card and it worked and they said that I needed to format my SD card. I formatted the SD card and still my phone won't turn on. The SD card works with other devices,e.g. Samsung Galaxy fit s5670, samsung slide phone, laptop. So, it's just my phone that doesn't work. Any idea why?

Try this formatter https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/
The standard formatter integrated in windows isn't that great. Give it a shot. You can also try to set your phone back to factory settings after you did the format.


text:
Samsung S5 screen turning on and off when plugged in to charge
I have a Samsung S5 & when I plug the phone in to charge every few seconds my screen lights up then turns off.  If I have my sound on it play a notification every-time the screen turns on and off.
Any advice on how I can stop this - it's makn me loco :-)!!!
ASM

This could be due to a bad USB cable, have you tried another cable to see if it is doing the same thing?

Well I feel like an idiot :-)!  That totally worked Sjharrison - thank you so much!

We've all been there! had so many issues myself with my old S3 and data cables, I've recently got a S5 and only using official cables now just to avoid any issues

@Sjharrison, you should turn your comment into an answer so that ASM can accept it and give you reputation.

I was having the same problem - plugged the Samsung cable into a dual charger with higher current capability (my wife left her charger at the cabin) and the phone quit complaining.
An intelligent design decision - have the phone use more power to complain about not enough power during charging...

I had the same issue, but none of the above solutions worked .
What did the trick is using a pointed wooden toothpick. See if the charging port is in the center and not bent. If you find the port is bent, then straighten it using the wooden toothpick carefully.Furthermore, verify that the charging contacts are clean.

Try an alternative cable, some non official (cheaper) leads can break for easier than others and cause the phone not to charge properly, hence why your phone is making a sound and switching the screen on and off


text:
TLS version support
I am trying to backtrack the versions of TLS support on Android.
More in detail:
From which version of Android started TLS 1.0 support
From which version of Android started TLS 1.1 support
From which version of Android started TLS 1.2 support
If you could also supply me with some affordable info source I'd be grateful - I know this was quite a newbie question, I'm sorry for that.
Thanks.

If you weren't successfull just using google, have a look in the android open source project aosp. You will find openssl and the answer to your question.
There is a nice page which allows for very fast searches inside aosp:
http://androidxref.com/source/


text:
Unable to enable Wifi/Bluetooth
I have a HTC One X , Android 4.2.2, everything worked as a charm, but suddenly my WIFI/Bluetooth functionality stopped working. I cant see any WIFI network and cant turn WIFI on/off.
It just shows me the message: 'Error' on the Settings > Wifi dashboard. also I cant enable bluetooth.
At Settings > Info > Hardware info it states:
Wifi: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Wifi MAC Adres: Unavailable.
Bluetooth: 4.0
Bluetooth adres: Unavailable.
I tried a wifi diagnostic app (Wifi fixer) it states: WIFI_STATE_UNKNOWN
I tried the following:

give it a static IP-adres, but I can't reach the advanced settings tab. (Settings > Wifi > Advanced)
Soft and Factory Reset.

Because it cant tell me the MAC adres of the wificard/Bluetooth is unavailable. I am afraid that the radio unit is broken.
Do you have some suggestions for a fix or how to trace the cause of this problem?

Do you have any custom ROMs on the device, is it rooted at all?

No customizations whatsoever. It is the original OS

Like you said - it may be a problem with the H/W itself because if its a S/W problem it should've been rectified after hard reset (in most of the cases). If the device is on warranty I'd suggest taking it to a service centre ASAP :)

Hard reset or new rom installation does not change values in /persist/ partition, so if the problem is there as seems to be, hard reset will have no impact at all.

This is not a hardware problem, was caused on many devices since Android Lolipop updates, was worst with Marshmallow updates (Mine Nexux 6 was broken at that point) and now Android N beta doesn't fix anything, seems to be related to the new way system validates and provide macaddress informations, seems that in some cases it simply broke, there are reports on many forums like
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/help/wifi-mac-address-200000000000-t3257465/page4
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/nexus/-yq035tmhB8
Sadly Google simply is denying the fact that they are broking devices.
When my wifi/bluetooth stops to respond I've was on unrooted, stock rom google/motorola denied support, now I've rooted it and triying to fix it, but this is happening with many, many devices.


text:
Deleted hosts file (can't connect to internet)
i have a rooted device (Lenovo A3000-h) , and i had this issue of having my hosts file filled every now and then with additional lines (that sometimes blocked me from logging into my google play account) , and i used to manually edit the file and just erase these extra lines (keeping the 127.0.0.1 line intact)
so yea everything was fine till this morning , i tried to access my google play and i couldn't so i tried to edit the hosts file one more time (as usual) but i noticed that the file size became 2.5mb although it has always been less than 0.5mb (170kb-250kb). anyways when i tried to edit it , the file wouldnt open giving me the message (not enough memory)
long story short i deleted the file and i noticed i had a hosts.bak file so i copied it and tried to connect but its taking forever and it's not connecting to the internet anymore.
hint : i took a copy of the file from my friend's "Samsung galaxy mega" phone and still it wouldn't connect

IMHO the only line required in the hosts file is 127.0.0.1 localhost. And of course the file must be world-readable. Try this: echo "127.0.0.1" > hosts && chmod 0644 hosts while in the directory the file should be in (/system/etc if I remember correctly – I cannot check at the moment).

and i had this issue of having my hosts file filled every now and then with additional lines (that sometimes blocked me from logging into my google play account) you had a malware in your system that's adding these lines. Resolve that than you wouldn't have to fiddle with your hosts file.

You shouldn't need a hosts file to connect to the internet. It's used to map custom (private) IPs to a hostname. Deleting it shouldn't prevent your device from connecting to the internet, but I can think of one instance where it could. I have to explain some background info first to help you understand.
DNS is the protocol used to map a FQDN (fully quantified domain name) like play.google.com to an IP address. Android is Linux based, which uses a config file called resolv.conf to send DNS lookup requests to. If your cell carrier is populating that file with a FQDN instead of an IP address, the IP address of that FQDN would need to be listed in the hosts file so your phone will know how to look it up.
Look at the contents of /system/etc/resolv.conf. You should see one or two lines that begin with the word nameserver. If the data that comes after that word looks like a FQDN, then a corresponding entry needs to be in the hosts file too. If it's an IP address, then the cause of your connectivity issues is something else entirely. The first step is making sure your device can reach the internet. I usually do something like ping 8.8.8.8 to do this as 8.8.8.8 is one of Google's public DNS servers. If you can hit that server, then your issue is DNS related. If you can't, then there's something else unrelated to the hosts file preventing you from reaching the internet.

Copy the hosts file to etc folder and then install Adfree app, open it and click on Revert, and you are good to go.

I very much doubt that. Adfree can only revert to the backup it made. I don't see mentioned by the OP that Adfree was installed at all, so it could not have made such a backup. So what should it revert to then?

Just delete your host file . Restart your phone and it will automatically connect to google .worked for me... dont try to edit it.

You might have been lucky then. AFAIK, the hosts file must at least contain the entry for 127.0.0.1 localhost – as I already pointed out in my comment on the question itself more than 2 years ago.


text:
color os to cyannongenmod on one plus phone
I just bought the one plus phone.
It comes with Color OS which is mostly in chinese and I want to convert it to Cyanongenmod.
There are several guides on the web:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H60fcm0ujqA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDKOEtN9pbo
for example.
BUT, each time I try to install the file from sd I get "installation failure" message without any further explanation.
Can anyone help me with installing this OS?

I don't have a OnePlus One, so take this answer with a grain of salt.
Make sure you are installing the .zip and NOT the .img factory image file from Color OS's recovery mode.
If that doesn't work, you might want to try one of the nightly builds to see if it works instead.
If you STILL do not have success, you may want to try installing with fastboot instead of the .zip-- note that this will require the .img factory image file, not the .zip file.  The steps for fastboot mode on the OnePlus One are:  1. Turn the phone off. 2. Hold volume up + power until the "fastboot" screen appears.
You can read more about using fastboot at the cyanogenmod wiki: wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Fastboot
To ensure a smooth boot after you flash the new system, don't forget to do a "factory reset" to erase all the previous personal data when switching OSes...  that is an option that should be available somewhere in the recovery mode.  Good luck!

As far as I know you can't use the default recovery, you need to flash twrp or cwm. When you did that you should be able to flash Cyanogenmod the normal way. Be sure to install the .zip and not the .img as @fattire already said. Always delete the data and cache in the recovery before flashing.

owner of a OPO here. I had the same problem. What I did to solve this was to flash an older version of the CM build then updating to the newest from there. I think they changed some stuff between two of their releases which makes it impossible to flash the brand new CM over ColorOS. I flashed 25R then 33R to convert mine.


text:
Safestrap app won't run after installing recovery -- "Unfortunately, Safestrap has stopped"
I can install Safestrap 3.72 (Safestrap-JFLTE-3.72-kk-B01.apk) and then install and use the custom recovery without a hitch. However, once the custom recovery has been installed and the phone is rebooted, the Safestrap GUI app no longer runs (I want to run it in order to uninstall the custom recovery, and the manual instructions for uninstalling from a shell prompt that I found here didn't work). Every time I try to start it, I get the error message

Unforunately, Safestrap has stopped

I've tried reinstalling the APK, both with and without uninstalling the app first. It always installs successfully, and SuperSU requests root permissions the first time I run it after reinstalling, but it always crashes immediately. I've also tried uninstalling and reinstalling BusyBox.
This also happens if I start from scratch, by re-flashing the stock NC5 ROM and doing a factory wipe/reset from the stock recovery (yes, I've also tried wiping from the Safestrap recovery). Starting from the out-of-the-box config, I follow this process:

Root the phone using Towelroot
Install BusyBox
Launch the BusyBox app and click INSTALL to install the tools
Install Terminal Emulator
Launch Terminal Emulator and invoke su and then setenforce 0
Install the Safestrap APK.

At this point, the Safestrap app runs just fine, and I can install the custom recovery. However, after that, Safestrap won't run anymore (crashing immediately with the error message above).
Phone info:

Model: SCH-I545
OS Version: KitKat 4.4.2
Build: NC5 (same issue if I upgrade to NG6)

Okay, it turned out to be something silly. The problem is that SE status reverts to Enforcing when you reboot. So, you have to set it to Permissive with setenforce 0 again before the first time you use Safestrap after a reboot.


text:
How to lock device and turn on display using tap/slide
My phone's power button is messed up. So am looking for something which will help me lock my phone and turn it on using either tapping or sliding. The knock lock app is great for locking but doesn't wake the phone. Is there an app/something that I can install that will help me lock/unlock without using my phones power button ?
Details :
Android version : 4.4.4
Phone : Nexus 4
Although I dont know the pros and cons yet but I don't want to root my phone

I had a similar problem with my n4's power button, but after searching for everything, ended up repairing the phone. It won't cost more than 10$.

Yeah, you need to repair the power button. If the phone gets turned off or the battery runs out, only the physical power button can turn it back on.


text:
How to block some SMS, but only allow phone calls?
Hi I have a Samsung Galaxy 2S. How do I block SMS texts of my choice and only allow the phone calls? How do I block certain numbers from texting and not all of them, in other words, but allow the ones I'm blocking from sending me texts to call me instead if they so choose?

You can't prevent your phone from receiving texts except at the network level.  But you should be able to have them auto-deleted/ignored pretty easily at the user software level.  What have you tried?  "SMS Filter" is one of the top results for me and looks promising.

I use QKSMS for SMS. I integrate QKSMS with Should I answer?. If I block number in Should I answer?, I not will receive SMS from this number too. Thanks.

Blocking Contacts entirely is easily enough done. There is also SMS and call filtering applications that are free on the market- ESET AV is also a paid alternative. SMS filter and clean inbox are two alternatives for SMS blocking which both work quite well.
To combine both, there is a aFirewall SMS and call filter.  With many of these apps you're able to create set filers for calls, SMS or contacts to prevent them from bothering you.

There is no blocking system built into the default messaging app. However, you can also block unwanted SMS or messages on your phone with other apps. There are already a few other apps here you've found. There is also the Google Messages app that you can find on the Google Play Store. By using this app, you can report any message as spam and it will be sent directly to the spam folder.

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


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How to export bookmarks from Chrome in Android?
I need to import bookmarks from my Chrome Android mobile. Is there any direct way to do it? Please do not suggest to sync Chrome account in desktop and do import from there, my Sync rights has been disabled by admin in Chrome desktop.

Nowadays (2023), for this question, one can try my Xposed module ChromeXt, which is an active open source project.
From its README:
Bookmarks can be exported in HTML format through the Developer options menu.
There is also a dicussion about this function, which might be helpful for you.

Google offers downloading your data from the Google products you use. If Chrome's data was synced on Android side, you could download from here.

This gave me an archive with a bunch of files, all of them containing between one and 600 repetitions of the string "Encrypted": "Your data is encrypted and cannot be exported.".

@DanielSaner This is strange and do not reflect my previous experience with this.
Maybe the archive (a zip archive I suppose) is now encrypted globally with some password you only can have? Maybe are you enrolled in their Advanced Protection Program that requires physical token?
Beside of this, apart from any security settings changed on Google or, things they may have changed lately, or a bug in the late time, I dunno, you could try to reach them asking directly to Google support.

Worked. Imported bookmarks into duckduckgo

OP specifically said NO sync stuff.

@Frotz anyway, yes it requires to have Chrome Android synced with Google, but does not require to have the Desktop synced with Google also, that was the OP problem.
Sadly there's no way AFAIK to handle and save the data only locally, both on Android or Pc. I have also tried some applications in the past, promising to do this, but they were outdated and not working at all.

can't comment "Google Bookmark Import tool" response (no reputation) @Igor_K
I want to point out Store App description info:

"will download bookmarks from https://www.google.com/bookmarks (...) add them on (...) browser." - App will try to do REVERSE transfer respect OP request, and, will read from Chrome Synced data online. Google address obsolete also.
"Chrome ... will not import/export folder structure"
App will garble bookmarks by removing folder structure
App latest update 19 nov 2015: totally obsolete , and totally unsupported on creator's site http://www.it-dan.com/

@Frotz OP said exactly that:
<<Please do not suggest to sync Chrome account IN DESKTOP and do import from there, my Sync rights has been disabled by admin in Chrome DESKTOP.>>
It is really different form what you say. It says to not suggest to use sync IN DESKTOP, not in Android. Please don't complain about a thing without taking time to understanding it well.

@Frotz My solutions is:

currently only viable solution, because all previous extension made to work with Chrome bookmark are obsolete and made not working by the subsequent Chromium code modifications
not requires using Sync ON DESKTOP, as required by Original Poster
let you free to transition to any browser and bring your bookmarks (simply let the new browser read the Google Export uncompressed file).
yes, it requires to have a Google account to be able to sync the data ON ANDROID (as NOT expressly excluded by original poster, this should then be deemed as PERMITTED by him).

Moderator's warning: don't use comment thread for debate. Once is enough to state your opinion, no need to push it. Just vote (or don't) and move on.

(can't comment other response for: reputation) The new 2023 solution by @jingmatrix seems to be able to let users to export bookmarks from Chrome on Android directly, only it seems little difficult to implement on a standard user's phone. If someone could test it, we should check if it is able to export the full tree structure of the bookmarks, or only the links as other old Chrome extensions were doing. At the moment I can't test it (no phone)

Google Bookmark Import Tool helps in cases when you need to backup Chrome Android bookmarks.
It is simple to use and generated file can be transferred from phone/tablet easily.


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How can I add the user of an application to the group of another application?
I'd like to add the user of one application to the group of another so that I can read the other applications private content without doing a su every time.
I can't find the adduser or the useradd command on my device running Cyanogenmod. It doesn't seem to be a part of the busybox that came bundled with Cyanogenmod.
Since the Android follows a very different permission system from Linux, I'm wondering it is in possible to do this and if so how can I get the useradd or the adduser commands.


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Gmail(google) password
I'm logged in on my android tablet, but I don't know my password.
I'm already logged in on my android tablet, but I want to see my emails and other google services on PC...
Is there possible way to find my pass on tablet?
I have already tried with "Password forget?", but I don't have alternative email or mobile nummber (on my account, at all), so I can't pass 2nd step of verification.

You can reset the password using Google password recovery. Go here - Account recovery.
Follow on-screen instructions:

Select I don't know my password. Type your email address.
It asks for any previous password you remember (if there is one). Type password & continue.
Next screen will be like this - Confirm password reset on my Android XXYYZZ phone. Select Send Notification.
Follow on-screen instructions afterwards.

Edit 1:

If you don't have access to your mobile device and do not have an alternate email ID, you can still recover/reset password by answering some questions on recovery page. You need to follow on-screen instructions carefully to reach that page.

My phone doesn't prompt for a new password after accepting the password reset. There's just a brief pop-up saying that the request was accepted.


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Find unused contacts
As I've moved from phone to phone over the years I've built up a fairly unmanageable contact list.
I'm trying to delete old contacts that I no longer need, but I hate having text messages with no name associated with them so that's why I haven't bulk-deleted contacts so far.
Is there any way to find out which contacts are unused - as in contacts for which I have not received any text messages from?

Is "having no text messages from" the only criterium to be considered? Is your device rooted?

Maybe this app would help: Contacts Optimizer

Yeah, that's the only criteria, and my phone is not rooted sadly @Izzy

Thanks for confirming. The app Sheharyar mentioned in his comment looks promising; maybe you could check it and let us know if it's a solution for you, so @Sheharyar might make it an answer?


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Alarm is working even when the phone is powered off
I just discovered that if I set the alarm clock and then power off the phone (by holding the power button and then selecting "Power Off") the alarm will still go off when the time comes.
Is this expected behavior? It makes me feel like "power off" doesn't actually power off the phone.
I have a Huawei Y530-U051 running android 4.3.

Ugh? That would indeed be something new with Android devices. Old "dumbphones" had such a feature alright; but for Android (and other smartphones) it was always said "off is off". It would be technically possible, but I've never heard it was implemented. When the alarm sounds: had the phone restarted then? Or how can you control the alarm (e.g. snooze it, or put it off) if not?

@Eric you have one feature, what most of other android phones are lacking..this is totally unexpected behaviour in android..but hey i think its only in huawei phones so just enjoy with tht feature..

Related: Does the alarm work when my phone is turned off?

That is expected behavior. It allows you to turn the phone off if you need to ensure the battery doesn't drain (or whatever other use-case you can think up) and still have a usable alarm clock. It's not new, many Android devices do something similar, and every iPhone since the first-generation models also had that feature. I can also recall an old Nokia 3310 I had back in the early 2000's which did the exact same thing.
Turning the phone off does shut down the OS, so don't worry about that. Android supports the setting of "hardware alarms", which let the phone boot automatically at a predetermined time. Not every manufacturer included support for them, but yours obviously did.
Edit: The hardware alarm feature has been deprecated by Apple and isn't useable any longer.

most of us expect manufacturers or Android OS to set this option for making the device ring alarm even if its is turned off..this is badly missing in most smartphones unlike the good old Nokia phones..

:( seems the Oneplus Two phone doesn't come with this feature. My old Nexus 4 phone did, it saved me once when the battery died and it came back to life just long enough to sound the alarm.

@lucky it isn't up to Android alone; Android supports hardware alarms, but they must be included in the HW design and implemented.

On my Redmi 7, my Clock app Settings -> Additional alarm settings, has a feature Shutdown alarm, which I can disable so that the alarm does not go off after the device is powered off. It's a very useful feature, but I wish I had discovered it before my alarm woke me unnecessarily at 5:25AM, and not after. :-)

When the phone is turned off, it doesn’t mean that it is completely off. It is like in a sleep mode and the processor is still running a lower level system which does tasks like running the clock to keep the time correct, continuously monitoring the power button to know when to turn the phone on. As the clock is running and it is the alarm time , so the processor sends a signal to turn the phone on. Then the phone is turned on and the alarm rings.

I dropped my Android Galaxy S22 plus, and the screen broke. It's just a black screen, and unusable now. However, even though I never charged it again, the alarm still goes off 3 times every morning. I have to hit the off button to turn it off or it will go on forever. I have tried to get into my AT&T account from another phone to disable this phone, but even after I verify who I am via my email, it again asks me to verify who I am via a code sent to my phone, and guess what? I can't see the code on the broken, black screen of that phone. I can't wait until my new phone arrives from the refurbishing company and I can send the broken one to them. Unfortunately,the neverending alarm will be the mail carrier's dilemma, then.so although I don't have a solution, I can confirm that even after the battery should be long dead, the alarm will go on. Apparently forever.

I wonder how this is possible.  I'm guessing the battery still has some charge, but not enough to boot the device.

Remember when you turned on your old mobile phone and you didn't have to set up the time every day again because the phone remembered what time it is?
It's not something of new, it's just that the phone starts a minute before the timer hits the alarm and it's build in because the phone requires at least 4 hours of recharge to last 10 hours of sleep in order to wake you up and not all customers have the possibility of having the wall charger or having the phone charged in their own room with a laptop in their own room.
However you can turn it off by clicking the small check button on the bottom of the screen when you turn the mobile off, so to say it, all phones hibernate on some level in case you don't happen to pull the battery off every time you want the phone closed completely.


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WiFi Drops When SIM Inserted
When I insert SIM card in my ZenFone 5, it WiFi is disconnected and stucks on "Serching for WiFi..." and don't show any WiFi. I think its because of WiFi regional code. I live in Iran. How can I fix this problem?
Thanks.

It seems to be WiFi region code problem or something.
I also had the same problem. My parents live in Iran and when I brought the phone to Malaysia, it's fixed. But when I sent it back, same thing happened after they inserted the SIM card.
I found a link that might be useful, it might help: http://repo.xposed.info/module/com.majidse.xwifix. I still haven't tested it yet though.


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How much control can I have over my device while not voiding the warranty?
I'm a developer and a Linux user, so naturally, I want to install a Bash prompt on my device. There are several Bash "apps" available in the Google Play store (haven't tested any of them, just searched), so it doesn't seem to be forbidden to do so.
What I'm worrying about is accidentally doing anything that will void my warranty. Will I get a big, clear notification warning me "Note, running the command su will immediately void your warranty! Are you sure you wish to continue?"

In this case, the device I'm using is a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 with Android 4.4.2, but I'm hoping for an answer that isn't specific to my device.

That pretty much depends on two things:

the area you're living in
the manufacturer's fairness/good will

For 1., inside the EU there's a ruling that, put simple, "software changes" such as root won't void your hardware warranty. You might lose "support" concerning software things, but if some hardware component shows problems (e.g. your battery starts acting weird, or your headphone connector fails to work) that will still be under warranty.
For 2., many manufacturers tend to "ignore" the fact your device is rooted – either generally, or because they simply "didn't notice". I just got my rooted device returned with a new image flashed, so root was gone – but no bill, the paper stated something like "repair done under warranty". You can't rely on this, but it often is handled that way.
If, however, a defect is obviously (or likely) caused by your tempering, things may look different. Say you "burned" your CPU by overclocking, a repair under warranty might be refused – for good reasons ;)


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Samsung GT-I5510 custom recovery
I was looking around for installing a custom recovery and then a custom firmware on my old phone, but I couldn't any links that were still available and not adware ridden, can anyone give me some advice on where to search?

See: Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?

Here is custom cwm touch recovery for your Samsung GT-I5510 phone and Here is list of custom firmware for your phone
Please refer all the instruction/steps in provided link carefully before flashing anything

Just going to add my usual: Make a [tag:nandroid] backup before flashing anything!

I already found this, but for flashing you need Odin Multidownloader 4.34 for it, I can't find it anywhere

Google it man http://www.androidgyan.com/2011/12/download-odin-multi-downloader-samsung.html

all these links are to megaupload which is dead

http://uploaded.net/file/63ckebud


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Unable to adb push on Samsung S4
I absolutely can't push to /system/app/ using adb
on a rooted S4 with rw remounted filesystem.
adb says:
Read-only file system
Mounts:
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system /system ext4 rw,seclabel,relatime,data=ordered 0 0

/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata /data ext4 rw,seclabel,relatime,discard,journal_checksum,journal_async_commit,noauto_da_alloc,data=ordered 0 0

Nothing helps! What is wrong? I can't use adb root, because it gives me:
adbd cannot run as root in production builds

I have following permissions:
drwxrwxrwx root     root              1971-01-17 12:49 /system
drwxrwxrwx root     root              1971-01-17 12:49 /system/app
drwxrwxrwx root     system            2014-10-28 14:15 /data
drwxrwxrwx shell    system            2014-10-28 15:02 /data/app

Now I just installed Cyanogenmod, but it doesn
t work either.

If the ADB daemon is not running in root mode, you cannot push to /system/app even with /system mounted read-write, due to not be given the permission. As you correctly pointed out, adb root is no option on non-development-devices ("adbd cannot run as root in production builds").
To fix this up, take a look at chainfire's adb Insecure. This app requires root (a condition your device obviously meets), and (temporarily) patches the ADB daemon to run in root mode. So with "insecure mode" enabled, you should be able to push to /system/app.
Alternatively, push to e.g. /data/local, then login to the device with adb shell, execute su to switch to root-mode, and move the files (mv /data/local/whatever.apk /system/app) while /system is mounted read-write.

See the following instructions:

Push the .apk to SD card using:
adb push (filename) /sdcard/

Install Terminal Emulator for Android or Connectbot from Play Store. (You may write your own too.)
Launch the terminal and type su;
If superuser permission is granted then mount /system for read/write by the command:
mount -o remount,rw /system

Copy your .apk to /system/app using:
cp /sdcard/(filename) /system/app/

Make /system read only:
mount -o remount,ro /system

And you are done!


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How do you leave a review on the Google Play Store without a Google+ account?
I would like to leave reviews for some of the Android apps I really appreciate.  But leaving reviews on the Google Play Store requires signing up for Google+.  Like many others, I refuse to add Google+ (or any social network) to my Google account.
So I thought I would just sign up for another empty Google account, and add Google+ to that.  Problem solved.  Or so I thought.  When I tried to leave the first review, Google Play Store refused to let me leave the review, saying that I hadn't installed the app yet.  Furthermore, it said that the account wasn't associated with any devices.  Ugh.
Most of the apps are free apps and a few are ones I have purchased.
I've noticed that many people have simply chosen to never leave reviews ever since Google made the poor decision to require a Google+ account in order to leave a review on the Play Store.
Is there a way to easily do what I am trying to accomplish?
BTW, before anyone asks, no, I'm not trying to leave more than one review for any app.  I just want to leave a positive review for the apps I enjoy using.

I don't think it is possible.

I totally share your concern – and I'm one of those who stopped leaving comments/ratings the day Google enforced G+ for that. Unfortunately, unless Google takes back that step, there won't be a work-around (at least no legal one).

Sadly at present, you cannot. Since around November 2012 Google require Google Plus to review on the play store. All reviews are in your name, have your G+ picture and are publicly shared.
There is a popup that states:

From now on, reviews you write will be posted publicly using your Google+ name and picture.
Your name on previous reviews will appear as "A Google User".

Old answer. As of August 2016, a G+ Profile is no longer required to leave comments in Play Store.

If your device supports multiple Google account you may try to add the new account and then  leaving a review from the new account.

If even then, Google+ is still required for the account from which you want to add review. Doesn't it?

Yes, but the idea is that the review would be made from the Google+ account that is connected to the secondary Google acount rather than the primary account.

Does this technique require installing the app from the other account?


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why wont my nexus 10 hold a charge?
I've had my Nexus 10 for a while and it's been great until recently and the battery now won't hold a charge. Whenever I unplug the charger it just turns off right away and when I plug in the charger that goes from 0 percent to a hundred percent in like 5 seconds

It could be that your battery or some other piece of hardware has died, unfortunately. Have you tried different chargers or cables just to rule that out? It sounds like it would likely not help, but may be worth doing if you can.

It may be because it came out on an earlier android version, requiring less power and battery to run. If you have a newer android version, e.g KitKat or Lollipop, it may be more intensive both visually and in terms of the power required to run it. Battery Doctor is a good application, (available on the play store), which might solve you issue.

There were issues with newer Android versions wobbling down a charge faster. But five seconds is a bit real fast (and a charger which charges a device in 5 secs is neither out for sale), so that part of your answer doesn't make much sense. Neither is the second part, as that app won't work when the device shuts down immediately.


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Samsung Galaxy S3 (GT I9300) does not restart. It does not go into download mode as well. Please Help
My Samsung Galaxy S3 (GT I9300) does not restart. It does not go into download mode as well. Please Help.
Today morning I was checking the weather wizard of my samsung galaxy S3 home screen. Then suddenly the screen got horizontal white, black and pink stripes. I tried back button, home screen button but it kept flashing. Then I even started power off button. Nothing happened for 10-12 seconds. Then suddenly it turned off and at the same time I removed the battery. When I tried to restart it does not boot. I can see the blue LED indicator flashing when I switch on but the screen remains black. It even shows red LED when I tried to charge it. I tried removing battery and replacing, removing sim and even holding start button, home and volume down button to get into download mode. But nothing happens. I can connect to laptop but the folder shows no content. Please help. Thanks!

There are two possibilities:

Broken screen
Hard bricked

To find out what you can try doing the fastboot combination for a couple of seconds and then connecting it to your computer and see if it shows up in fastboot devicescommand (with correct drivers installed.


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Blocking all external traffic and allowing only internal traffic through
we are trying to use Android tablets in a production environment however we only want the users to be able to connect to internal ip addresses and block all external to lock them out of doing things they should not, we cant achieve this via the network or routers it needs to be be on the tablet that's blocking the external traffic, how can we achieve this ?

Anything you do on the tablet itself could be removed by the users. You really need to do this in the network infrastructure.

What Dan Hulme said is possibly the best advise for a solution IMO. Anyhow, if you can afford to root the device, then go ahead and do it, and install SuperSU, Busybox and AFwall+. AFwall+ is a firewall which requires some binaries available via former app.

Launch SuperSU and create a PIN/password in the Settings. This might require Pro version. -- this is a superuser application. It must be protected from any unauthorized access because it grants root access to apps.
Launch Busybox and follow the instructions there to install the binaries.
Launch AFwall+, and:

Tap three vertical dots next to lens icon and choose Enable Firewall.
In the same section go to Set password and select a password for your firewall.
In the same section go to Preferences and check Device Admin to make AFwall+ your device's administrator -- this will prevent a user from disabling or force-stopping the app. Fiddle with other settings which would meet your disabling external network access requirement.
Install Applock and disable Install/Uninstall, Settings, Play Store, etc. that you think users shouldn't access.
Use a launcher like Smart Launcher which allows hiding app icon.
You can use Helium to make and restore app backups along all other devices.

The instructions should be enough to keep normal users at bay. There are workaround for every step here if the user is bit clever so I suggest to install a tracking program to keep an eye on suspects. :)

authors: สมัย อรุณศิริ


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WIFI Receive Data in Sleep Mode?
How can wifi receive data when it is in sleep mode? Will it wake up regularly, or do something else?
I tried to make a ping test to a full power management (sleep just after transmission) phone, and it wouldn't miss any packets. So I'm curious about the receipt progress.

It does not turn off by default, but you can change that option in Settings>WiFi>Advanced


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Difference between /mnt/local and /mnt/internal?
I have a WonderMedia 8650 based tablet running Android 4.0.3.  The File Manager app shows the internal flash file system as "/mnt/local", I can also see a "/mnt/internal" filesystem that's identical.  Running adb shell and using the mount and df commands I can see this:-
1|root@android:/ # mount
…
/dev/fuse on /mnt/local type fuse (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other)
/dev/block/vold/31:13 on /mnt/internal type yaffs2 (rw,relatime)

root@android:/ # df -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
…
/dev/fuse                 5.9G    119.0M      5.8G   2% /mnt/local
/dev/block/vold/31:13
                          5.9G    119.0M      5.8G   2% /mnt/internal

To me it looks like /mnt/local is a "fuse" loopback filesystem sitting on top of /mnt/internal, but I have no idea what the fuse layer give me.  Does it add something like the virtual directories we see in the Microsoft Windows "Libraries" view?
My main concern at the moment is that I've had reports that files written to /mnt/internal have disappeared.  Is this something that might happen, and if so should I make sure we only ever use /mnt/local and leave /mnt/internal well alone?
Thanks for any advice.


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Play/Pause button on headphones works for a time, then stops
I have a Galaxy Note 3, and the play/pause button on the wired headset only works for a short time.  Once I start playing music or whatever, with Ginko/Music/Play Music, the button works fine.  After listening to a song or two however, pushing the button has no effect and I have to pull my phone out to play or pause.  Has anyone else had this problem, or is it something I should be submitting for repair?
Thanks.


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Settings shortcut in Android 4.4
I am using Android 4.4. I would like to have shortcut to multiple Settings features (wifi, display, lock screen,...) on the desktop.
If I long click on a desktop, I do not find a way to place a shortcut. And I remember it was possible in earlier versions of Android.
How can I do this?

You can do this in other launchers easier, but if you go to Widgets in the app drawer there should be one called SETTINGS, once you add this it will give a menu of sub settings options like Battery, WiFi etc.
Finding the 'Widgets' option depends on your device though, Google Now launcher has it when you press the menu button, Samsung Launcher has it in the app drawer, Nova Launcher has the long press function... etc.
Alternatively I strongly recommend Power Toggles from the play store. You can add nearly any shortcut to this, though the odd one (e.g. Locations) requires root. It's a fantastic, flexible option. (I have no involvement with this app by the way, but I've used it for ages on all my devices)
Edit: From your comment you are using a Samsung Galaxy S5, which as you say, does not have this option. The only options I can think of are downloading widget(s) for the shortcuts you use, or downloading a new launcher like Nova Launcher that has the functionality you need. Alternatively you could just use the quick shortcuts in the notification settings, though the range of them is quite limited.

I am using Galaxy S5 and oddly there is no Settings widget :S

That... doesn't surprise me much, I'm looking at you Samsung. I don't have the S5 in the office, but I'll have a look when I get home for you.

I tried it there on my lunch, that's very odd. I've updated the answer but it's not ideal for your situation.

Marc Plante reports (lacking rep to comment): "I can unfortunately add that Nova Launcher does not help Samsung Galaxy S5 owners. I use the Wifi toggle often as part of my work, and miss having it available. I have opted to leave a settings shortcut in my Nova tool drawer."


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Insufficient Storage on changing default install location
After downloading an APK file from Play Store. It always prompts "Insufficient Storage" dialog.
I changed the default install location into external memory(SD card) using adb command
adb shell pm set-install-location 2

There is a room for both Internal (400mb free) and External memory(8GB free).
I am running on an Android Kitkat 4.4;
I am not rooted anyway. I don't want to void my warranty

By default I think apps are only installable to phone storage. The developer has to specifically allow the app to be installed to external storage (SD card or emulated SD card storage).
The ADB shell command you have used is only designed for use during development (see http://developer.android.com/tools/help/adb.html). It may be that despite issuing this command the system is still trying to install to internal memory.

The command you are using sets the external memory as the default install location not the default download location. The possibility of external memory as default download location is entirely up to the developer of your mobile firmware.

Install Terminal Emulator app and run the "pm" part of the command directly in your phone. works just the same, without the trouble to install SDK and all.


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Oneplus One import from G Drive
I had an HTC one M8, used to backup everything to G Drive. I will receive my new Oneplus One tomorrow, and was wondering if I will be able to download my stuff back.
Thanks for all the help!

What kind of "stuff" are you backing up?

It shouldn't be any problem. You can simply download the G Drive app on the Oneplus One and download whatever you backed up.
The G-Drive is accessible on many different platforms so it shouldn't be any problem.

No. It comes with G Drive already installed and is the default


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Mail app and exchange server
I am using Moto G and accessing my office mail on native Mail app synced with MS Exchange Server. Whenever I am forwarding a mail, the app downloads the entire attachments and the mail is only sent after that. My earlier HTC phone with similar setup used to do this without downloading the attachment, but the receiver would gett the mail with attachments. Am I missing some particular setting here? How can I make my Moto G to send the forwards without downloading entire attachments?


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Edit the field of a contact
is it possible to edit the field of a contact ("home", "work", "mobile", etc.)? I don't mean the content of the field, but the name OF THE FIELD ITSELF. I know it's not possible with the default app, so the question is: is there an app that allows you to do it?
Thanks,
Luke

You can add custom fields.  Is that not what you want?

A custom field would solve this in the easiest way, I'd agree with @rrirower on that. Otherwise I guess you could install some 3rd party contacts applications and see if they allow flexibility. I've never seen the option to change the labels, just add my own ones. I'd hazard a guess that "home, mobile, work" are kept generic so that a contact is standardised to some degree across devices / databases.

I have Android 4.4.2 and I can't add custom fields.


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not able to see recovery mode on my Redmi1s after I installed cyanogemod 11
After I installed cyanogenmod 11 on my new redmi 1s using clockworkmod recovery. I found that I am not able to see the recovery screen as the mi boot time logo is hiding the recovery screen.Can any one help me???
I have followed this tutorial.Please help me.

Boot time logo cannot hide the recovery. Try to reinstall recovery from fastboot:
fasboot flash recovery clockworkmod_recovery.img


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How to play MIDI with Android device?
So I have an Android Galaxy S5 and I'm wondering - is there a MIDI player that I can use for my MIDI files?
Thanks!

Yes there is try using Fun Fun MIDI player available over the Google PlayStore

The basic music player app should play a MIDI file, mine does. It will play back using the on-board GM voices and you can make a playlist just as you would with MP3 files.


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Wifi Networks Always in Range
I'm using a samsung galaxy s4 on T-Mobile and I have been experiencing a problem where two wifi networks always appear in range. These networks are not my own, and do not appear to be my hotspot name. They appear even when I travel from one city to another. They always appear with the same name. I am beginning to think it is something malicious because the networks disappear after I perform a factory reset of my phone, and reappear within a few days.
I am pretty selective of which apps I allow to run on my phone. With very few exceptions most of my apps are from trusted developers like google, microsoft, facebook, dropbox etc.
Has anyone experienced a situation like mine?

Well, that's weird anyway, is it possible for you to share a screen shot when it all started appearing ??

This might be an ad-hoc network that you have accidently connected to. Ad-hoc netowrks is like a network where every device is a router (Very brief there). You can check this just by clicking on the network. You can also just click "forget" on the network after clicking on it in wifi menu.


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WiFi proxy config not working
PREAMBLE:
I had a weird proxy server config issue that I have now resolved but the answer to which does not seem to be covered anywhere as far as I can tell - so I'm describing the issue then will answer my own question. If you have a similar problem it's just another thing to check off.
MY PROBLEM:
I've configured my WiFi to use a proxy server via Settings, WiFi, then long press on Network Name. I have a local Squid proxy server running on 192.168.0.60:3128 (Internet gateway is on 192.168.0.1), so that is the setting I use. However when I run Chrome, it is not connecting to the Internet via the proxy server.
MY DIAGNOSTIC AID:
The WiFi server I'm connecting to (192.168.1.1, I'm 192.168.1.xx) is also running an internal VPN so by using an IP Geo-locator (http://www.iplocation.net), I know if I'm connecting to my local proxy server or getting tunnelled thru the VPN to a remote geo-location. (The VPN server does not tunnel local IP addresses and the proxy server is local.) This aspect is not relevant to the actual issue of not connecting to the proxy server. It's a diagnostic aid.

In Chrome Settings there is an Advanced option Reduce Data Usage. It causes Chrome to connect to Google servers to deliver compressed pages.
When this option is ON my proxy settings are ignored.
When this option is OFF my proxy settings work.

authors: Сергей Учанов


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On Motorola G2 when on speaker call and power button ends call feature turned on. Cannot go to screen without ending the call
On Motorola G version 2. When:
1. On call using speaker, and
2. Power button ends call feature on.
I am unable to go back to screen in any condition. I have tried:
1.Using  volume keys.
2.Moving phone in every angle, i.e. proximity doesn't seem to work.


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How do I get a notification when a Whatsapp friend comes online?
I want to know how I can get notifications whenever a certain contact comes online in Whatsapp? Is there any settings or hack I can do?

You can use Whatsapp+. It doesn't require root. Besides giving the option of showing a toast notification when someone comes online, it has loads of other features, too. For example, it will show a contact's last seen time on the main screen right next to their name.


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Sounds for Charging the Samsung galaxy s 3
Can someone tell me how to turn( on) the sound for when my Samsung galaxy s 3 is charged.        Please,
                       than you!

We don't find this option actually in almost all Android phones. It is a nice idea if there is an option like that. Let us wait for any nice answers...

I think you can use Tasker to do this. I haven't checked it by myself. But from the tutorial, it is possible to change profile(ring/vibrate/silent) at a particular battery level (using %BATT variable) or a battery full event(if there is one).


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Can I recover Android for Galaxy S4 after installing other operation system?
I want to try to use ubuntu on my Galaxy S4 Active. Is there possible to recover Android from Samsung for Galaxy S4 after my using Ubuntu?

You must make a nandroid backup of your android before making any changes to it. If you made a nandroid backup, then yes.. You can recover android later anytime you want.

Can you give me the offical link?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2649691

Follow the guide.. . Install cwm provided for your device. Then make a complete backup using CWM. Take care that you have at least 2-3 gb free on your sdcard as the complete backup of your device would be large.


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Remove word from autocorrect - Six Android versions and three phones later
Okay, so I've seen this question asked before, but literally none of the solutions has ever worked for me, and I've now gone through three phones and six iterations of Android, multiply versions of the Google keyboard, and multiple keyboards and the issue just will not fix. I've seen this common question asked before:

At some point, I mistyped the word "don't" as "Dont" and saved it as an autocorrect. Now everytime I type "don't" it autocorrects to "Dont", with a capital and no apostrophe.

The difference between that question and mine is that I've been trying to fix this for YEARS now. It started on the first version of the Motorola Droid back in 2010 or 2011. Using the stock keyboard, I mispelled "don't" and that mistake would haunt me forever. In 2012 I switched to the Galaxy Nexus. With the stock keyboard, the mistake stuck. I searched for a solution, and only found things like "uninstall keyboard" or "uninstall updates" or "clear cache and data" or "try a new keyboard." The only thing that worked was using a new keyboard, so I used Swype and SwiftKey for most of the Nexus's life. Upon release, I was eligible for an upgrade and rushed to the HTC One M8. The phone was superb... I loved everything about it. Except it's big-keyed keyboard... so I switched to the default Google Keyboard. And guess what was back? My awful "Dont" type. I considered moving to SwiftKey or Swype or any of the other available market keyboards, but the truth is I really like the stock keyboard. I tried reclearing caches, data, clearing out the Search history (like another thread suggested), long-pressing on the word, turning off voice input and long pressing, checked my personal dictionary. The issue persisted. I even side-loaded the beta Android L Google Keyboard, and it immediately reappeared. I totally uninstalled Google Keyboard, Google Voice Input, Google Text to Speech, and used CCleaner and The Cleaner to clear all of my caches and data, and when I reinstalled Google Keyboard, it persisted. I tried the same thing again and re-sideloaded the Android L Google Keyboard... same issue. Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jellybean, and now KitKat and the issue has still persisted. Three different phones, three different manufacturers, three different UIs. The issue still persists.
Please, someone, help. :(
(Why, you may wonder, is it such a big deal? First, it's not fun to answer professional emails from my phone and constantly spell "don't" as "Dont." I'm a teacher, and this looks extremely stupid to parents who expect their kids are learning from the best.)

I had a similar problem, and followed these instructions to solve https://trendblog.net/delete-learned-words-android-keyboard/

When you type in "don't" try holding your finger on "Dont". You should get something along the lines of:
Never predict "Dont" again?
Press yes, and you should be sorted!

Several people didn't read the original post.  The original poster had tried long-pressing the word to get it to delete, but that didn't work.  I know this is an old thread, but I just found it because I had the same problem.  I just fixed it by using an idea I got from one of the previous answers.
I could delete some words, but not others.  I think that you can't delete a word if it's exactly the same as what you typed and it's the first word on the predictive list.  I'll use my case as an example.
The word I just wanted to remove was "Theyre."  It would bring up "They're" as an option, but the first option was "Theyre."  Long-pressing "Theyre" did nothing.  However, when I selected "They're" to place it in the text and then tapped that word, "Theyre" showed up as an option.  At that point, I could delete it!  It was no longer the exact same word in the text, so I assume that made it more vulnerable.  I deleted it by long-pressing, which now gave me the option to "Remove."
In any case, this worked and is worth a try if you have a similar issue...

My problem was with the word "too", i had spelled it "t p o" with a "p" in the middle.  And i couldn't hold my finger on it till it gave the option to remove it.  I kept typing it incorrectly a few times till it showed up in my recently used words, the words that show up on the list above the keyboard when i haven't started typing yet and the cursor is just blinking.  It was the 4th or 5th word on the list.  At that point i was able to hold my finger on it until it gave me the option to remove and delete it. Done!

Try the free User Dictionary Manager.  It lets you clear out your predictive user dictionary.

I have an HTC (Android), when you have your keyboard up look at the comma to the left of you spacebar. Above the comma is what looks like a gear (the symbol for settings) hold the key down until the gear is present. That should take you to your input settings and the personal (or user) dictionary is in the list. Click on it, to delete words go to the 3 vertical dots in the top right corner. Click on delete and you will have boxes appear by all the words. Check the ones you want to get rid of.

Hold the word down that you want gone (Don't) and it will say ""Don't" will be removed from learned words". What it will say will probably vary with different phones. Hit "okay" and you'll be all set. They only words you can't delete are words that have spaces. So if you wanted to get rid of the word "Do n't", it wont delete. It's annoying as all hell and wish they'd figure that out and let us know. Soon. I hope this helps.

Open your keyboard. Hold down the microphone key just to the left of the spacebar, and when an icon with sliders shows up, let go. You will get a pop-up that says 'Input options' and it will give you two options. Select 'Android keyboard settings'. After that, scroll down until you see a tab that says 'Personal dictionary' and select that. Select the language you use to text, and then find the word you want to change/delete from your autocorrect settings. Select it and then hit the trash can icon at the top right corner of the screen. Hope this helps!

if you have the auto fill or predict next word options enabled, then you will see the current word which you are typing just above the keyboard.
Long press on the word which is displayed and select the required option such as delete from dictionary or edit.

For OPPO :-
Settings/ Language & Input/ Swype for OPPO/ My Words/ Edit my Dictionary
Then highlight word and into the Red Bin with it


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'No pictures are available on the phone' after selecting contact picture
After upgrading my Nexus 5 to vanilla Lollipop a few days ago, I'm no longer able to assign pictures to my contacts. I can tap "Choose photo" and select a picture, but when I confirm I get the error "No pictures are available on the phone". How can this happen? It doesn't make any sense. I already tried wiping cache from recovery because some people say that it can fix some upgrade problems, but that didn't solve anything for me.

I've got the same problem. It seems a proper bug. I've opened an issue on android.

Here's the link for future readers: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=80352

You need to have a gallery app installed like the default "Gallery" or "QuickPic" app.
I had the same issue since "Gallery" doesn't come with Android 5.0 Lollipop, only "Photos" (which I disabled since I don't use Google+)

I was able to browse through my photos but after selecting the photo the error popped up. I was able to resolve it by installing a third-party photo editor.


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How to transfer pictures from hangouts onto my computer
How can I transfer the pictures that are on my android hangouts (sent and received messages), so that I can preserve them before I clear my android for space?

I think those are saved at Google and synced across all your devices. Try and log in from a PC, go to gmail.com, then look your hangouts to the left. If you can see your pictures there, it's safe to wipe your phone. You can also save the pictures from there to your PC if you want - but they're safe where they are.


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Force Close loop.. need help
I have a force close loop on my galaxy s2.
I want to retrieve my data which isnt stored on an sd card.
But I cannot get into my phone.
I tried plugging into my laptop but it doesnt pick up the phone.
I tried booting in safe mode to disable the apps. But the phone just turns off again even in safe mode.
I dont care about the phone, only the data, which I stupidly havnt backed up anywhere.
Would appreciate any help.

Well, if you care about data, its a good practice to backup always.
In your case, anyway, you don't have backup available with you. So, the only option available for you to avoid 'force close loop' is to goto recovery and flash it with the appropriate rom. Please note that you will lose all the data present on your sdcard, however, the data present in memory card would remain intact.

If you have flashed a custom recovery, you can access the files on the internal /data partition from the recovery through ADB.
I have found this site; there are recovery images which can be flashed via ODIN if you didn't already install a recovery; as far as I know it doesn't wipe internal data.
When you're in the recovery, connect your phone to your PC. Install ADB on your PC, then you can use adb shell to log in to your phone and look around in the file system; then you can adb pull the interesting files.

authors: محمد عبدالقادر


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How to root Moto G 1st Gen on Republic Wireless
I would like to find out how to root moto g on republic wireless. I looked everywhere and no one explains or describes how to do it. I am wondering if there is any way to root it.

Not an answer, but this post makes it seems like Republic is now ok with users rooting their phones. https://community.republicwireless.com/docs/DOC-2027

Looks like some people on reddit have had some success. http://www.reddit.com/r/republicwireless/comments/2m14cm/has_anyone_succeeded_in_rooting_their_moto_g/ . This is the TowelPieRoot they mention in the thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x/themes-apps/root-towelpieroot-motorola-devices-t2825059

Related: Root a Moto G running 4.4.4 KitKat / Root moto g with single click in pc


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Image a phone and browse on computer emulator?
I have a galaxy nexus (stock OS). During its use I have used WeChat and WhatsApp, and would like to save my chat and voice histories within these programs.
Does a way exist to image my current phone as it is, so I can load it onto some PC emulator and browse these apps on my PC? This would allow me to save everything as it is, but also start fresh on my phone with a format. I do not want to format my phone then load back on WeChat for instance, yet I still want to be able to browse my old WeChat chats and voice clips (using a PC).
Thanks

Restoring the complete phone on a different device won't work (hardware specifics). But as for user apps+data plus system data, see matega's answer and my comment on it.

Related: Is there a way to back up a device so it can be executed in a virtual Machine (without rooting)?

You can make an adb backup of only the desired apps, then adb restore it to an emulator. As far as I know, this should preserve all the apps' data. Also, backups of user apps should be compatible between different versions and architectures of Android - but there's a chance of failure, so try it before you wipe anything!

Confirmed: ADB backups of user apps should be restore-able across devices. To ease a "transfer" was one of the reasons I'm working on Adebar currently (had to send one of my devices to repair, so I transferred everything needed to another). Should also do for emulator.

Thanks for the answer and comment. I have been trying to get this working. Using the adb backup -apk -shared -all -system -f myBackup.ab command. Restoring it to the emulator works, but my msms messages do not transfer. Also my icons for WhatsApp and WeChat are there, but when I click them I get an App not installed notification. So not sure why this is...

@SteveHatcher some apps can "opt-out" of ADB backups. You can verify that easily when trying to back them up separately (adb backup -f <appname>.ab -apk <package_name>); if that results in a 41 byte file (just the backup header) you've encountered such. No way around that without rooting the device then. Not sure whether your sms/mms fall into the same category; do you even have an SMS/MMS app available in the emulator?


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Why will google+ auto backup not work on my wireless network?
It appears that my pictures will not back up to google+ unless I allow the sync service to use my mobile data and disable wireless.  However, when back on my wireless, syncing just locks up, saying "Backing up...1 left" forever.  I've tried the "sync now" option and it does not help.
I've got an HTC M8 and COX as my ISP.  Is there a port they might be blocking or something?  This is so obnoxious.


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Geotagging not working when off the road
i have LG G2 mini phone with anroid 4.4.2. I have a problem with photo geotagging, it works perfectly when a photo is taken in a place which is marked on the map (for example a road) but when you take a photo in park or a mountains geotagging is not working (gps coordinates are not stored in photo metadata). GPS is always enabled. Is there a way to fix it?

Are you using the stock camera app?

Yes (comment to short...)


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people can't call my s3 after I have already unblocked them
I enabled blocking mode & blocked 1 contact. After that the person can't still contact me eventhrough I have unblocked that contact already. How to fix this problem?

Have you tried restarting your phone?

Yes I have tried restarting my phones 2 times.

"Blocking mode" has nothing to do with blocking individual contacts. It stops all calls and other notifications disturbing you, like a "do not disturb" mode. If you want people to call you, turn off blocking mode.


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Samsung Galaxy Tab WiFi Connection
I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab SM-T530NU running Android 4.2.2.
The Wifi connects fine at home, hotels, etc. I have one place that I frequent that it will not connect to the router. Almost everyone in the building has a tablet of some sort or use their cell phones and they all connect fine. When I select the proper Wifi connection and enter the password, which I confirmed, I get "connecting", "obtaining IP address" then "connection failed". This is the only place where I do not connect.
Any ideas as to what the problem might be?

That question is best asked to that networks admin, who can investigate the router logs.

Try this and let me know if it solves it.  Go to "Settings" and turn off the wifi.  Wait 30 seconds. Turn it back on and most devices will quickly connect.

Some routers require you to login on a web portal with a password. For example I have a router at home that dose the same as you explain but you can not login until you open a browser and enter the password.


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How to resize partitions when /system isn't mounted in recovery
I have a Runbo X5-King phone which is manufactured by a small Chinese company. I need to shrink /system and expand /data. All tutorials I can find online say to run fdisk in recovery, but the problem is that /system doesn't seem to mount, and "adb shell" results in an error message saying that it cannot find /system/bin/sh. However after booting into Android everything works perfectly, and /system is mounted successfully as well. I'm able to enter fastboot and let my computer interact with the phone, but fastboot doesn't have the ability to resize partitions or enter the shell. Since the phone is not famous, no custom recoveries could be found for it. So how can I resize partitions under this situation?

I would highly recommend against re-partitioning your phone! Most bootloaders are hard-coded to recognize specific partitions based on their start and end blocks. If you modify these via partitioning, you may end up bricking your device. You should only re-partition if this has been confirmed to work on your particular device.

Here's my df result:

app_70@android:/ $ df
Filesystem             Size   Used   Free   Blksize
/dev                   488M    52K   488M   4096
/mnt/asec              488M     0K   488M   4096
/mnt/obb               488M     0K   488M   4096
/system                602M   290M   311M   4096
/data                  502M   399M   103M   4096
/cache                 405M     6M   398M   4096
/mnt/sdcard              7G     5G     1G   32768
/mnt/secure/asec: Permission denied
/mnt/sdcard2             1G     1G     5M   4096
1|app_70@android:/ $

The default partitioning greatly affects my use of the phone.

To use fdisk without recovery, i.e. while Android is running, you need to root your phone, install a terminal emulator, and install BusyBox (the fdisk command won't be available without BusyBox, which provides a bundle of common Linux tools that aren't included in Android). Note that to install BusyBox, it's not sufficient just to install the app. You need to launch the app and click the Install button in order to install the tools.
The process of rooting is device-dependent, and I don't know specifically how to do it on your device, but you could try Towelroot, which works on a wide variety of Android devices and is incredibly simple to use.

I have terminal emulator and busybox installed already. But as fdisk is a "partition manager", I don't think it can be used to modify the partitions that are being used on the phone.


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HOW MUCH android OS TAKE MEMORY IN DEVICES
I need answer that how much memory would take any android os on devices.
can i root device and install kitkat os which device have already gingerbread .

That's a bit broad, as each Android version has different requirements. Additionally, different ROMs include different things, different hardware requires different driver-support, you might wish to integrate Google Apps as well (or not), plus several more things. So no generic answers possible.

There's no one answer to this question: each device has its own build of Android, so Android takes a different amount of storage on different devices. Whether you can install KitKat on your device depends only on whether there is a KitKat ROM for it. See When will my device get the Android 4.4 update (KitKat)? and Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?
Rooting the device is completely unrelated. You don't need to root the device to install a new ROM, but to install an unofficial ROM you will need to unlock the bootloader. Usually you do this with the fastboot utility, but details are different for different phones. See bootloader-lock to learn more about bootloader unlocking.


text:
What makes porting so difficult?
So now when the new Lollipop is on it's way we all have our feeds filled with magazines or sites telling us how awesome LG or Samsung is to release Lollipop so soon.
My question is,
Why is this such a hard thing to do?
How come it's much easier to switch from Windows to Linux on a PC? Or even switch hardware product and download a driver? Why aren't the drivers or hardware products in our phones compatible with every operating system or phone model just like a PC?
Okay, screen sizes may differ, but a vibrator will still work as a vibrator.
YElp!

The hardware is different on each device. In addition there's added value software like more advanced camera functionality from the manufacturer which needs to look good on the new release.
LG has features loke knock-code.
Samsung has skins and special hardware like a wacom digitizer on the note series.

But they have their own version of Android. Why wouldnt they want to 'release' these drivers (or what you call them) for all phones? Why do they care if only their brands model uses it? It's like saying an AMD's graphics card can only be used with 1 specific model of PC. I can install drivers or software to a LG webcam even though I don't have one. It's my decision. How can the company make profit of not releasing the 'drivers'?

@JonasB having a customized version of Android with closed-source features is how they keep a "competitive edge". Your example is exactly what happens in the mobile industry: manufacturers partner with companies to create hardware that is only compatible with specific builds of Android because the drivers are closed-source; they then can build features on top of this. This usually means that only that company can boast that feature, like a 16 MP camera with ultra image stabilization. Some companies still release the source anyway (HTC, for example).

@filoxo I understand. This is in the PC-world as well. Dell, Sony, Packard Bell are all using the same OS but with different hardware parts. There's the'competitive edge'. There is none. Why is this so different? Why don't they add all drivers to Android's massive library, like in Microsoft Windows, and then if you have a Xperia phone which has a specific camera you have all the drivers from the Android Library instead of what comes with the phone and that specific version of Android? It's so sad they ruin the one thing thats awesome with Android - You can do whatever you want. Almost.

The cool thing about phones id that they usually works. After upgrading Windows i lost all the special keys, one noe laptop the processor just stats in a slow powersave møde, camera doesn't work. All the festures On the gfx card doesn't work. I really like getting testes software from the original equipment manufacturer. ;)


text:
Can a locked phone's data be accessed when being repaired?
I had an HTC One S device which suddenly turned off and refused to start. On giving to the service centre, it turns out the device needs replacement of an item 'PCBA-MAIN BOARD WITH SKU ID MS' which alone is costing me Rs 10000. I chose not to repair it with them. So i plan to visit a local phone repair shop and give it to them to repair it.
My query is, that the phone had some important private stuff (phone was locked though) before it went kaput. Now this local repair shop, can it in any way access this data while/after repairing the phone in anyway?
HTC service centre would not do that because they are bound by legal terms.
Please advise.

Anyone with physical access to the device can potentially do that. If the device was completely encrypted, that would be pretty tough to do (and hence really unlikely) – but all unencrypted stuff can be accessed. After all, you expect them to dis- and re-assemble the device – so put in easy terms, they could also "plug" the storage into "some of their readers" and copy all the content – no screen-lock or whatever prevents that. And a little more hardcore: those tech-guys should be expected to be able handling a JTAG device.
So the question is less whether it's possible (it perfectly is), but how easy and how likely it is. If you feel your data being more sensitive than your trust is high, that poses a problem.

Based on this answer it seems that on later phones this is close to impossible.

@cipricus the reason is that with recent devices, encryption is default (it wasn't back when this answer here was written, 7 years ago). So my answer still stays true, as it takes that into consideration: "if the device was completely encrypted…"). Chances are very, very low in such a case – but nothing is perfect, so the gov might have ordered a backdoor (well, just an example; could well be some other bug or security hole). Forensics with full knowledge and physical access – you'd be surprised what they can do. And at what price :D Due to the effort needed, it's unlikely to happen to ø Joe.


text:
Can I perform phone tasks through a Windows 7 PC directly?
As an developer and QA tester, spending hours on my Xperia Z1 Compact isn't too cosy. Therefore, messing around with android emulation software like BlueStacks, I run into compatibility problems, mostly GAPIs (Graphic Application Program Interface).
Therefore, I was wondering if there is a way to connect my phone to my Win7 PC with the USB cable, and have the phone do all the android processing, and all the PC will do, is enable USB keyboard and mouse as input devices for the phone, and an external monitor as the output device which the PC will boost the resolution from the phone into something that's a decent resolution on the monitor.
But I don't know if the USB poll rate on the Z1 Compact is high enough to deliver all that information both ways without too much latencity.
So, is this possible and is is already done?

I'm not sure whether there's an app to "really rule them all", but you might check for yourself. A good starter is my "Remote Droide" collection of apps, for your case especially Remote Droid 2: Control your Droid from your Computer.

What you want to achieve is nearly impossible.
You can get some approximations by using Airdroid app (lets you see your phone on the web browser from your desktop pc) or installing vnc server on your device and vnc client on your desktop pc, or using Pushbullet app. This last is used for notifications rather than absolute control, but you could give it a try


text:
Export phone numbers only?
I'm curious if anybody knows a way to export only contacts that have a phone number added to them?
When I first bought my phone(Galaxy S3) I synced FB, Gmail, Hotmail, ... and now my contacts is full of email adresses etc.
Every app I see is has an export function that just exports everything.
I'd also like to sync stuff like FB/Gmail/Hotmail without the contacts being added, just to receive notifications.
If neccesary maybe I can just edit the CSV file(import to MySQL database and then just write a query to delete when there is no phone number or something)
Any thoughts? I've tried deleteing the synced accounts but the contacts don't go away


text:
Auto-disable Wi-Fi AP if not connected within a few minutes?
Is there any way for me to make my phone automatically disable its Wi-Fi Access Point and re-enable its Wi-Fi client when no client has connected to the access point after (say) 5 minutes?

I cannot say I could see this occurring without Root permissions. I know there are apps like Tasker and AutoMateIt where you can turn WiFi off when not connected, but WiFi hotspot on AND off depending on usage may be extending it's capabilities. Phone Model, Android Version and Rooted or not?

@MichaelNancarrow: It's a OnePlus One, and yes it is rooted. I don't have the exact version number, but it's a 4.4 KitKat.

I think the best possibility here is Tasker, or some similar tasking function. I've never tried the WiFi hotspot function. I am not too aware of other possibilities.

@MichaelNancarrow: I've tried it, but Tasker doesn't let me check the AP status.

To be honest without even looking into this, I would assume that one would need root permission for this process- if it could even be achieved.

@MichaelNancarrow: Yeah, like I said I have root permissions so that is not a problem.


text:
Unusual file under Android on SGH-1337M DO_NOT_DELETE
Under Android Folder I have two files Data and DO_NOT_DELETE, within the DO NOT DELETE file are some sub files opening these in notebook shows text conversations from my text messages. Why would android save these texts to a file that requests do not delete?
Also it only shows up when I plug into my computer. On my phone under files only the Data folder shows up. What is this do not delete file and where did it come from?

Could you clarify the full path of the folder? Is it in internal or external storage?


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How to recover Chrome open tabs
I used to have the Chrome app with more or less 40 open tabs for some months. I opened it pretty often and it always restored all the tabs, until yesterday. I opened Chrome by mistake while I was having connection issues and it was not able to restore all my tabs. The next time I opened it, it only restored 5 tabs and the others seem to be gone. I tried searching for my tabs in Chrome history but I wasn't able to find them, instead I only see all the tabs opened in my other devices (PCs, Tablet, ecc.). I also tried to search for my tabs in the browsing history of my Google account, but I wasn't able to find them there neither: it seems that Chrome didn't load for real most of the tabs.
Is there a way to recover my open tabs? Does Chrome have a local history (opposed to the general history of the Google account which contains browsing history of all the devices used with that account)?

Sounds like you've tried everything that I have done before to resolve this issue.
One more thing to try if you haven't -- just taking a shot in the dark here -- is to close out all of the Chrome instances on all devices and then open Chrome back up on your phone -- maybe even restart the device -- then see if Google's servers sync up and with a little luck maybe the tab history will then display them for you.  Again... shot in the dark but thought it'd be worth a try.