All Questions

There are several reasons to be looking for a ROM: Upgrading or downgrading your stock ROM Looking for firmware from a different region/language Flashing a custom ROM for different features, removing ...

This is a common question asked by those who want to root their phones. How exactly do I root my Android device? Are there risks involved?

I know I'm asking for the close-to-impossible -- as a real full-backup certainly requires root permissions. But still there are many folks around not wanting to root their devices -- afraid of voiding ...

I have an Android device which is running Android 4.0.3 (or something like that). My little brother decided to try and guess my lock screen pattern the other day, and ended up locking me out. I ...

This Community Wiki question is designed to be the "canonical question" for questions asking how to upgrade one's device to a new Android version. I want to get a newer version of the OS for my ...

When it comes to troubleshooting, I often read recommendations like "Use adb logcat to find some more details". Looking for a good way to backup all my apps including their data, Full Backup of non-...

I won a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, signed into it with my Google account, played around with it, wiped it, and sold it. Now the person can't get past setup because it's saying he must login with an ...

I have critical low storage level and can't understand what takes much of it and how that's possible that the installed applications can use 7 GB? I only use a few social media clients without any ...

Many people want to try/use Android without buying a new Android phone. How can I install Android on my current phone or device running Nokia Symbian, Maemo, or MeeGo; Microsoft Windows Mobile or ...

Could you list all possible directories where Android apps may store data, providing description what kind of data are stored in each directory?

I'm using a Samsung I9000 and I have some annoying apps that came pre installed by the phone vendor, like a music store, a custom web browser and other memory leaking apps. Those crappy apps can't be ...

What can I do to get better battery life on my Droid? Battery life seems awful. Less than 15 hours or so on normal usage.

I have recently installed a custom ROM and cannot find the Play Store. It seems like all apps that belong to Google are missing. How can I install the Google Apps Package (Play Store, ...) on my ...

When my phone starts up there are several application/services running in the background that I would rather not. And when I press the Home button while using an app, that app usually goes into the ...

I factory reset my rooted Android M phone but now I realize that there was a file in the /data directory which I need. Is it possible to create an image (.img or something similar) of the /data ...

If you're not used to seeing the 'low on internal storage' notification, what is it that you're doing to keep your phone's internal memory from filling up so quickly? The 'SD Card and Phone Storage' ...

There is a lot of interesting stuff in the Android system log, that is helpful in many ways find root causes of problems identify misbehaving apps How can I view and examine the Android log?

Recently, I've figured out that if I delete files from /sdcard/Download it deletes files from /storage/emulated/0/Download. And if I add the files into /sdcard/Download it duplicates them in /storage/...

I just broke the screen of my (unrooted) Galaxy S. How do I get back my SMS and contacts? PS: I tried Kies but it won't detect my phone for some reason. (Kies works fine with another Galaxy I ...

I am using Android 4.0.3 and I can no longer find package name for some app. If I recall, I used to go to Applications and has been able to see it there. So, how can I see full package name of some ...

The screen of my phone is physically broken, so it doesn't display anything, but the touch aspect does seem to be working, as I can unlock my phone, and get haptic feedback. Before I go to get it ...

Android 2.2 (FroYo, short for "Frozen Yogurt") was released over the Summer 2010, however not all of the devices that will get this update have received it yet. Each manufacturer and carrier needs to ...

My HTC G2 phone is rooted and running Cyanogenmod 7 I don't have a data plan. Sometimes I want to connect the phone to the Internet when there isn't Wi-Fi, to update Market apps, backup SMS messages ...

Since the latest versions (ICS+?) no longer have mass storage, is there any viable alternative to MTP? The protocol seems inherently broken and the decision to regress to this format seems like a ...

I have a major problem that I hope someone can help with. On my Google Maps feature under my Location History it shows a location that I was never at at any point, but when my wife happened to see ...

I own a MicroMax A100. I want to install the latest version of a different ROM (Samsung or Nexus). Is it possible? If so, can you tell me how? If not, can I install a ROM made for a different device,...

This is a common question by those who have just rooted their phones. What apps, ROMs, benefits, etc. do I get from rooting? What should I be doing now?

I heard this phrase or the variants (rooted phone, rooting, etc.) in android forums but I don't know what it means. Can you explain it in simple terms?

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) was officially announced on October 19, 2011. (You can review the high level SDK changes in Android 4.0 or the official changelog at the official Android Developer's ...

I will have a few Android phones that I will have to let go. I would like to make a proper clean wipe of the data, without no one being able to retrieve them, and do a factory reset. I have read ...

I usually disconnect my cellphone from the charger some time after it's fully charged because I'm afraid the battery could lose capacity over time if I don't. However, I believe modern electronics ...

Is there a way to take a screenshot of an Android device and save it as an image file?

Everything was working fine for a long time. But suddenly the device is getting slower than usual (e.g. apps react slowly when starting an action -- like the RSS reader takes "ages" to open an article)...

Every time I go to install a new app, I get the message "Insufficient storage", and an unable to install anything! I am using Samsung GT19060 my internal memory is 8GB. I have not downloaded anything ...

I'm concerned about an app on my child's phone. I saw an app icon in the notification area that looked strange (Andy Android head, slightly tilted as its icon). How can I find out what app it is from ...

I see lots of tutorials telling me how to root my phone (Motorola Droid), but none of them mention any potential "side effects." Aside from a few relatively minor issues that seem to require rooting ...

I just deleted a file on my Nexus S that I really need back. (It was actually part of an app using a sqlite database that did a drop table when upgrading to a new version.) Presumably I need to root ...

Android 5.0 (Lollipop) was officially announced on October 15th, 2014. You can review the high-level changes at the Android website and the announcement on the official Android blog. Of course, not ...

I am trying to use an LTE modem connected to an Android 7 device over an OTG cable. The kernel recognizes the device and registers it with cdc_ether, but I am unable to use the connection from the ...

How many competing Android markets (other than the Play Store itself) are there and are they any good? Which ones do you use and why?

On Android's root (/), what is the purpose of each folder? I want to learn the folder hierarchy structure. I would like to know the differences between Android 2.3 and 4.x, if they have different ...

I'm travelling to country X. I want to install an application which isn't available in my country, but is available in country X; but I prefer to download and install it in advance, while the data ...

What is the difference between: Unlocking the bootloader (prerequisite for doing many, though not all, other things below) Rooting Jailbreaking ROM NAND and Nandroid Operating System Mod (e.g. ...

Using the SD card as Adopted Storage encrypts it. How can it be decrypted?

Can anyone recommend a good way to backup Android devices? Ideally I would like to do this wirelessly and, not only backup my data, but also my user settings. Is it possible to backup an image of an ...

After one of the latest updates (not sure if it was the last one or a previous one) of the Google Play app, I am having an error trying to update a large app (42MB). It says: Error Downloading . ...

I have an executable build from a ndk-build program. I want to run it on a rooted Android device. How much is the possibility that Android will kill my executable? Using adb shell, I am able to ...

I have been backing up my Nexus 7 with adb backup to back up all files into an encrypted backup. I see that you can restore from a backup with adb restore, but that would wipe all my existing data on ...

Magisk is known as a “systemless” root method. It’s essentially a way to modify the system without actually modifying it. Modifications are stored safely in the boot partition instead of modifying the ...

I downloaded the APK file for an app to my PC. How can I install it on my phone?