Ask Android

In light of what's happened to Durov and possibly seeing Telegram compromised, I'm doubling my efforts to find a new main messenger. Before you start, not Signal as it's a bad fit for the needs of me, my family and friends.

So what do I need?

• The ability to run on multiple devices. Me, my family and friends all have multiple Android devices.
• The ability to run on desktop. Linux and Windows.
• Built in sticker repository. What can I say, I like to lazy flirt.
• Animated Emoji. I like my messenger experience vibrant.
• Material You. Again with the vibrancy, but also, it's a sign of modernity.
• Phone number linking. My family and friends are lazy as hell.
• Synchronized chats. I don't mind self hosting a bridge, but the ability to see messages on multiple devices is a must.
• Voice Messages
• Video Calls
• Group Video Calls
• Stories integrated into as first class citizens
• Private. If you suggest WhatsApp, I'm assuming you're either stupid or a troll.

Can anyone recommend anything?

So i have really been contemplating rooting my Pixel to gain more control over the android OS. I know this comes with risks and if your not carefully one can brick their phone.

I have already been able to decentralize myself from googles stock Android OS with out root by side loading Graphene OS on to my device which has worked out great.

Just wanted to get some input on whether it's worth the hassle to reflash a factory android is by google just to root the phone, then proceed with installing another non Google android os once again.

Input from anyone with more knowledge than mW regarding this matter would be greatly appreciated.

I know the title may sound a bit misleading, but this is my situation: I'm interested in using a custom launcher on my device, but the problem is that there's this option to "Pause app" that I want to use to prevent some apps from using my battery or getting my location or something, but I can't do that on custom launchers (for obvious reasons). Does this thing actually works or there isn't any actual difference?

Recently, I came across an article talking about hardware security features in android. It was talking about radio HAL versions.

I wanted to see which version is present on my android 14 device.

The article in question: https://security.googleblog.com/2024/08/keeping-your-android-device-safe-from.html

I've used LineageOS with microG on my Oneplus 6 for years — so happily, in fact, that I haven't bothered with major updates since version 17 (Android 10). Oops!

Now I've been flashing updates to an older phone, and I might as well continue getting my daily driver up to date. I'm going to dirty flash my way up to the current version (21). But I'm rusty as all heck, and the upgrade instructions seem to have changed since last:

1. Back in '21 I recall being recommended to disable screenlock (fingerprint/PIN/pattern, etc) before upgrading. Is that still a thing?
2. With a/b slot devices it used to be necessary to flash ROMs twice or use a copy-partitions or simiilar zip file. The instructions make no mention of it, is that rolled into the upgrade package now?
3. Finally, is it safe to just upgrade directly from LOS/mG v18 to v21? Because neither LOS main or the mG branch seem to archive older versions but I'd hate to miss some system update or other.

All help is appreciated!

Edited for clarity: Please don't offer suggestions on "better" phones or OSes — my question regards the above only. Thanks in advance 👍

First time buying a tablet, seeking feedback.

https://m.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_tab_s6_lite_(2024)-12897.php

https://m.gsmarena.com/lenovo_tab_k11_plus-13186.php

Lenovo has awful update cycle but the display is bigger.

Recently formatted my phone. Reinstalled whatsapp n the imported the backup.
It seems very slow and buggy. After 1-3 mins of usage, the app starts acting up and after a minute or so autocloses.

Has anyone experienced the same?

I'm planning on reinstalling to check whether that fixes the issue. Asking here to see if anyone has experienced something similar and/or has resolved it.

I rarely "app", but when I do, I usually get them from F-Droid. Unfortunately, I had to actually go into the Play store today to install my work's new authenticator app. Play Store is practically unusable with ads and "suggestions" strewn all over the place and the app info scattered around those almost like an afterthought. My device's ad-blockers are DNS-based, so there's no blocking those.

I vaguely recall there was at least one alternate frontend for Play Store, but it's been forever and a day since I last went down that route. I don't recall the name of it, and definitely have no clue if it still works or not.

Are there (still?) any recommended alternate frontends for Play Store?

Edit: Aurora Store was the one I was trying to remember. Thanks to @Xirup@yiffit.net and @pfaca@lemm.ee for that. If you know of any others, please share; always nice to have more than one alternative.

So I noticed that when you close an app, most apps, they never actually quit. Is this a new behavior? Or am I missing a setting to terminate, completely, an app when I actually close it without using Force Stop on everything.

I seem to be suffering from the above bug

https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/issues/11139

but it only seems to pervade if I'm using Tailscale to VPN ~~home~~ to my exit node at a family members house?

Is Google / YT blocking the use of VPN's here / anyone else experiencing this?

I'm thinking about resetting my phone to see if it fixes a mobile data download issue.

I want to avoid losing important data and also avoid cloud services for backup, as much as possible.
So, how should one ideally go about it?

• I can directly backup all files in /storage/emulated/0
• I can backup contacts as vcf
• I can backup apk's using apk extractor
• I can write down saved passwords in Chrome and Firefox
• Create backups from apps like Pipepipe and Mihon. And also get the database file from whsap

Is there a way to save preferences for apps without root?
Are there foss or offline apps that simplify this?
~~Also is there a way to locally backup google calendar?~~
(Fossify calendar seems to have an export local calendar option. The backup file seems to be supported by google calendar too.)

Are there other things that I'm overlooking?
Would like to get suggestions/advice on this.
Thanks in advance.

Hey! I looked around a bit and the last thread like this I found was several months ago, so I thought I'd make a new one. As per the title, what game do you play on your phone? I'm both looking for new ones myself by also hope others might find some of interest to them.

For my own part of this I mostly like puzzle games, especially these:

Hook, Klocki, NABOKI etc. from Rainbow Trains games

Monument Valley games from ustwo games

The Room series from Fireproof games

I Love Hue duology from Zut!

And all the games from Legenbeary games (very addicted to Wordathlon, currently at level 3253)

(all playstore links)

Would love recommendations of any lesser-known similar ones! But post anything you like of course. :)

Hope anyone finds something they like from my list above or recommend by others in comments (if there are any, heh).

Cheers!

I'm considering getting a Xiaomi 14 Ultra and I can get it pretty cheap with Chinese rom. I heard it's not that hard to flash it and put in a Swedish/global rom. anyone with real experience? or do I keep the china rom and live with it?

Can anyone recommend one? I thought I found one, but the pages were just pictures of the PDF pages 😮‍💨

I feel like I'm encountering weird little tics and problems with my android devices, and those of family and friends. Just simple things where settings don't seem to be consistently applied, or the os switches something back repeatedly. For example, my apps are set to auto update, to use data as well as WiFi, etc, but every month or so I go into Play and see that some random app hasn't been updated in weeks.

Or my friend only gets Signal notifications when they open the app, despite giving full background data use, turning off adaptive battery, etc. My mother uses an alarm app that needs to display over the screen for a feature, but despite me setting that permission repeatedly Android keeps turning it off.

Is this just anecdotal bad luck? Or is all the work to preserve battery life, control background usage, etc led to an OS where the user can't control things reliably? It starting to feel a lot like MS Windows!

Hey all!

I have been playing around with Universal Android Debloater a bit after getting my new S24+ but was wondering to see if there is a noticeable change when getting rid of things like Bixby, AR apps, and mobile carrier bloat (I hate you, Verizon).

Has anyone noticed an increase to battery life or snappiness or is it simply placebo? I never use the apps such as Samsung Smart Call because I use Google's alternative so having it there would cause SOME sort of power/battery usage, no? I am only touching the "recommended" apps but scared to remove too many things to not completely wreak my install. I don't wanna select something to have it crash and make things completely unusable.

https://github.com/Universal-Debloater-Alliance/universal-android-debloater-next-generation

I'm basically looking for an app that takes my contacts information (all my friend's phone numbers, etc) and puts it into a text file. I like to have my contacts on a piece of paper just in case I need numbers and my phone isn't available. Any suggestions?

I have never used esim, but I'm considering trying it out on my Samsung galaxy s23.

The thing is - I will probably unlock my device when the warranty period is over. So If I unlock the device while esim is enabled, what will happen to the esim(s) ?

Will I have to register for a new esim or use my physical SIM card again to get back my esim ?

c

I know there are a lot on Ali Express and I'm curious if any are compatible with a FOSS app. I have tried using Tile products in the past but the app and the way they implemented a membership was a bit annoying.

So I bought a moto G52 because it was listed as compatible with T-Mobile. It turns out it technicly works with T-Mobile but its limited to 2G and doesn't have service most of the time.

I am looking at alternatives but I don't know how to check compatibility. I'm looking to run lineage os and I need a headphone jack. I want to stay under $300 USD and I love Motorola's gestures so I would like to stay with Motorola if possible.

Any suggestions? I have been mostly brousing this website https://lineageosdevices.com/

I want to avoid Amazon. Are amazon and the phones manufacture the only option? I don't want to have to create an account

I am planning on flashing Lineage os but I wanted to make sure everything works before losing my warranty

Is There No Way to Automatically Record Phone Calls Anymore?

I'm still using an old phone (LG G7 ThinQ), and their Phone app has a built-in recording.

If I wanted to use another phone app (or when I upgrade phones), I would lose this feature. And I have looked (albeit not too much) and found that there's no way to record phone calls unless you root or it has to be built-in on the phone like some Samsung or Xiaomi phones.

So I have a device running lineage os and I am a little concerned about the potential data breach if my device is stolen.

My first precaution was to setup SMS findmydevice so that I could remotely control my device in case it got lost or stolen. I'm not sure how secure this is but I wanted to have a way to remotely get its location and to wipe it remotely.

The second thing I setup was locker. F-droid says that the upstream code is no longer available which is concerning but I am using it none the less. This should prevent basic attacks on the lock screen.

Is there anything else I need to do?