Question and Answer about Android from Stack Exchange network.

A user on our site wanted to backup a game. For an unrooted device, the usual route to backup is either with Google Cloud Sync, or with adb. Both depends on the attribute allowBackup in the app manifest. If it is false, it won't be backup. That was my understanding, until now.

When reading the manifest of the game, I came across two entries for allowBackup. First one set to false (line 6), and the last one to true (line 70). I am trying to understand which one should I, an end-user, be concerned with to ascertain if the game/app can indeed be backup by adb or Google? An explanation, however brief, would be nice as to why there are two allowBackup attributes, and can there be more than those two in an app/game?

Another confusing thing is that for regular apps (non-gaming apps), the attribute was always written as android:allowBackup=<FLAG>, but for the game here, it is game_display_name:allowBackup=<FLAG>. Is this convention game-specific? This part of the question is optional for you to answer.

On my Motorola One and under Android 10, whenever I exit Call app during an active call, a picture-in-picture mode for this app is enabled:

This is super-annoying. How can I disable or turn-off this behavior?

I tried the usual way, i.e. by disabling this feature in Picture-in-picture section of Settings. But there is no sign of Call app there.

Is there any other way to achieve this?

I am trying to write a custom recovery (TWRP) using SP_Flash_Tool but I get a Status_preloader_invalid error. The device is "OPPO F1S" with chipset MT6755.

Here is a screenshot of the error and the scatter file I am using. https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1nyQQKPbYot_YxWwHN5lScNAEq84h-o3A

I tried to create the scatter file using Mtk_Droid_Tool but the creation button was greyed out (MT67xx is not supported) so I found a scatter file online

There is assisted GPS, which as I got it figures out your location only by distance from antennas. But some phones doesn't have even AGPS in their specifications. Can I see my location on maps (Google map) using such a phone?

Android 11, Pixel 4a

I did something obviously stupid (and worse, don't remember what) and ended up in a situation that Magisk manager wouldn't respond, in the sense it wouldn't show any modules. I tried changing update channels to download another manager but no luck (this was canary manager)

Edit: uninstall option isn't available

My thought at this point of time is to side load the OTA and start afresh with rooting.

Are there any simpler alternatives?

I can't get my contacts to sync. In the contacts app (both google and default phone app) it shows "1 account" (won't tell me what, presumably the 'on device' since it still shows that if I remove my Gmail). If I try to add my Gmail account it tells me the account is "already on the device". If I go to settings>accounts>my Gmail>sync there's a few switches, but contacts is not one of them. I can click my account instead of the sync menu and scroll over to People and Sharing and it tells me I have 480 contacts, and will open contacts.google.com and show them, but I can't get them on my phone.

I've tried deleting and re-adding my Gmail, clearing contacts app data, looked for a google contacts sync app (didn't have one). Contacts apps have all permissions granted.

After my phone is rooted (confirmed by Advanced Root Checker*) using this tutorial, I can't remove bloatware. Normally this can be done by System app remover pro, but now the removal keeps failing. Do you know why is that?

_{*It says that I don't have "Read/Write Path". I don't know what this mean and am not sure if it's relevant here.}

I've sideloaded an app on my Xiaomi Mi Box adb install myapk.apk. It worked and I can start it. My problem is, that it got installed as system app, which is only accesible over the settings and prevents me from adding it to the home screen, which makes it really anoying.

Can I sideload an app directly as user app or can I convert a existing system app to a user app?

EDIT: The app I sideloaded is a tv app of a provider which is supposed to only run on mobile devices, as the distribute apple tv.

Not a duplicate of this Are security patches only applied to the latest Android version?

I have a Pixel 4a, Android 11, running November security update. For various reasons, I do not wish to apply monthly updates, maybe do it once in a quarter or maybe even more (I know & accept the risk, let's not get into that).

• I know I can update, whenever by full OTA or factory image. I prefer the OTA route because

This (OTA) has the same effect as flashing the corresponding factory image, but without the need to wipe the device or unlock the bootloader.

• Accepted answer here, indicates that I can update, for example in June 21,without flashing all (7 months) of images, which is good What is the difference between Factory Images and Full OTA Images on the Android download site?

My question now is that will the June 21 full OTA incorporate all the intermediate security patches (seven months) ?

I searched a lot (fairly good at that) but couldn't get a conclusive answer.

I am looking for an answer with credible backing (it may change my update plan).

Is in Android there is an available database set for limits display frame rate? If they’re available, is using ADB/Root (Terminal), or how, or even it can't?

I've been searching this for years, and not get an answer yet. Actually, this is for tweaking to trigger any benefits. This like my other phone embedded feature is Xperia STAMINA mode which is it can set the display frame rate (to 2x lower from 30 fps) for battery saving. But... I mean is not only for that. Many others too that can benefit. So, is this can available on a pure Android system? Or this only self-made for manufacture's hardware so that not possible available on others except Xperia devices?

If there are other threads that I don't know. Please let me know. I'll understand it, and try if it makes sense.

thank you! :D

In the phone call log, what does the green network icon mean after I upgraded to Android 11?

Does that mean that the phone call went through the Wi-FI network instead of 4G/5G ?

I've got the tablet listed above, and discovered that the built-in keyboard (called the Halo Keyboard) now barely functions.

A few keys on the left side of the keyboard work, but not consistently. None on the right half of the keyboard respond at all.

It all worked fine a few months ago.

The tablet has an attached keyboard and operates almost like a laptop, but the keys are pressure-sensitive buttons rather than physical keys. The keyboard lights up when it's in a configuration to be used.

I use it mostly in tablet-only mode, and the keyboard is on the other side of the device in that mode, not active.

I tried checking for system updates but haven't found anything.

A lot of searching doesn't turn up my problems, and often gather in responses from a Windows version of this same machine. They usually refer to reinstalling drivers but I can't determine if that's applicable from the posts.

One error that I've noticed is after many attempts at hitting keys on the physical board, and then going to use the android keyboard, many of these random presses will show up later. When I start typing in a search bar, I will get hit with a long string of 'aaaaaa' or 'zzzzzz' etc.

I've rebooted the machine twice; I'm also going to try a factory reset, though there is data on the machine I want to get off first.

I'd love to see if I can determine if this is a software problem or if the keyboard itself has become faulty. I'm familiar with Linux but I'm not an expert with Android! Is there any kind of diagnostic that I can do?

The following app: media volume only allows you to only change the media volume on Android phones(and phone when using).

Have briefly experimented with phones in stores it appears this feature is integrated now into Android. Is this correct?

I have 3 pairs of Bluetooth headphones:

1. Sony WH-1000xm4
2. Jabra Elite Active 65t
3. Cardo PacTack bold (motorcycle communicator, works as Bluetooth headset)

On my Pixel 5 I have 2 sound players installed:

1. YouTube Music (for music)
2. Smart AudioBook Player (for audiobooks)

Whenever I am listening to music using YouTube music and press the pause and then resume button on any of my Bluetooth devices, it switches to playing audiobooks in Smart Player! This is very annoying, especially on a motorcycle where I need to stop to be able to unlock my screen to switch back to YouTube!

If there is a way to set up which player is activated when a play button on Bluetooth headphones is pressed? Or at least disable some players from being ever activated by a button?

Using Samsung Internet 11.1.2.2 on Android 8.1.0.

Whenever I type an URL in the top bar, it performs a Google search with that parameter. The worst thing is that in some cases, the target URL is not in the list of the search results. Thus, I cannot go to the intended URL.

Is there any solution for this, so I can visit the target URL in Samsung Internet Browser?

I'm trying to cast my Android device to a PC with adbcontrol (tutorial here). The phone has a broken (black) screen and when I input the command java -jar adbcontrol.jar I get this error:

java.io.IOException:Cannot run program..error=13, Permission denied.

I have Java version: OpenJDK version "11.0.9.1" 2020-11-04

I tried getting permissions with chmod +rwx of the folder where adbcontrol.jar is located but the error persists.

Any ideas?

I'm just tinkering with my Android tablet and was wondering if I can get Docker running on it.

I've tried dkg install docker and also apt install docker both gave me unable to locate package Docker

I probably need to add Docker's repo into list of repositories. Have you ever done it ?

This is a self answered question to address the subject of title.

With a recovery in place, rooting with Magisk is straightforward,it gets a tad difficult when you don't have a recovery.This was vaguely addressed in Stock image dump for running Magisk necessary?.

So, I thought of making a self answered question to

• Help those who don't know and
• Add to canonical questions. It's important for our site to have such questions as easy reference (not-so-subtle request to others to post more self answered questions!).

Notes:

1. I have tried both Linux and Android versions of the answer and they work fine (tested on Pixel 4a, Android 11). The process may look daunting but it isn't (I know nothing about Linux, yet managed to root without issues).

2. Moderators are free to make this a community wiki, if more answers are posted depending on the device variants :)

I have recently installed WhatsApp on a new phone with Android 11. For some reason, WhatsApp keeps bothering me with tons and tons of notifications. 'Backing up' or 'Checking new messages' or 'WhatsApp Web is active' and whatever.

I've never seen this behaviour before on my previous installment (which was on Android 8 or 9) but it's quite annoying.

I can of course disable WhatsApp notifications entirely. However I do want to receive notifications in case of actual messages. I just want to disable to other ones.

I've been looking in WhatsApp Settings > Notifications but I can't seem to find any way to do so.

Is this possible, and how?

I'm using Android Studio. I was trying to set up dev environment and it requires to modify hosts file. So,

1. I created new devices in ADM (Nexus 4, Android 10 x86_64 without Google API and without Google Play).
2. I lunched the emulator
3. Then I tried following instructions from stackoverflow. I'm using Linux Mint so:

$ ~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/.adb root

output: 
restarting adbd as root

Okay, I got root:

$ ~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/.adb shell whoami

output: 
root

Then I suppose to remount and this is where I stuck:

 ~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/.adb remount

output: 
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
avb_ops_user.cpp:217: ERROR: Error writing data.
avb_user_verity.c:205: ERROR: Error writing to partition 'vbmeta'
E Skipping /system
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
W DM_DEV_STATUS failed for scratch: No such device or address
E [liblp]No device named scratch
[liblp]Partition scratch will resize from 0 bytes to 814587904 bytes
E [liblp]bool android::fs_mgr::WritePrimaryMetadata(int, const android::fs_mgr::LpMetadata &, uint32_t, const std::string &, const std::function<bool (int, const std::string &)> &) write 540 bytes failed: Operation not permitted
E [libfs_mgr]add partition scratch
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
W DM_DEV_STATUS failed for scratch: No such device or address
E Can not mount overlayfs for partitions: No such file or directory
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
E failed to remount partition dev:/dev/block/dm-1 mnt:/vendor: Read-only file system
E Consider providing all the dependencies to enable overlayfs
/system/bin/remount exited with status 10
remount failed

I don't know if remount is the critical issue, but i guess so. At the moment I don't have permission to modify /etc/. For example:

$ ~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools./adb shell "cp /etc/hosts /etc/hosts.bak"

output: 
cp: /etc/hosts.bak: Read-only file system