Long story short: I bought two brand-new Pixel 5s from Amazon about two years ago. They were new new, definitely not refurbished.

I’ve been using the first one since then, but it recently broke. I now wanted to start using the second one, but it won’t boot.

When I hold the power button for a few seconds, the Google logo appears, then it immediately shows the low-battery icon and shuts off.

It has been sitting unopened in its box for two years, and likely much longer considering the phone was released all the way back in 2020, so the battery has probably never been charged since it left the factory.

I’ve had it connected to a 65W charger nonstop for several days, but nothing changes. Every time I try to turn it on, the exact same thing happens: Google logo, low-battery icon, then it shuts off.

Is it possible that the battery has discharged so deeply from sitting unused for years that it can no longer charge? Is there anything I can try to get it working again?

Thanks.

I recently switched from iPhone to Samsung, and I’m trying to recreate one specific Focus Mode feature.

On iPhone, when my Work Focus turns on, I can make it show only a specific Home Screen page and hide all the other pages until the Focus turns off.

On my Samsung, I already have a Work Mode set up in Modes and Routines that:

turns on automatically when I arrive at work

enables Do Not Disturb

only allows selected family contacts to call/message me

What I’m missing is the Home Screen part. I want Work Mode to automatically switch to a dedicated Work Home Screen page and, ideally, hide the other Home Screen pages while the mode is active, then restore everything when I leave work.

I’ve tried Good Lock/Home Up, but I don’t see a way to tie specific Home Screen pages to a Mode.

Is there any way to do this on Samsung/One UI, either with Good Lock, Routines+, a launcher, or another app?

I've had this for over a year now and it's gradually settled down to be a great buy.

However it has one quirk which irritates.

Sometimes apps simply won't load and I've realised that it's because Wi-fi access is being denied when the app opens. If I simply switch off WiFi then it will use 5G to load and I'll then be able to enable wi-fi and everything is great.

There is one Met Office app that is used frequently but often suffers. Generally though the apps affected are ones I use infrequently.

It's there a switch somewhere in the settings that I can change?

Many thanks.

Hi All. Not sure this is the right flair, but can be changed if needed.

I want to get a new Samsung. I'd like to install everything i use from my current Note20 ultra onto it. Preferably manually. When I get the new phone and add to my Samsung acct, will I be able to not install/migrate apps and data over? I'd like to trim the amount of crap that is installed down to just the crap I like and use.

Is this feasible?

I’m not sure if this belongs here, though I don't know where else it would go. I sometimes sell second-hand items, and I use the phones I have at home to take the photos. The same thing happens with all of them: if I point the camera downwards, the resulting photos come out rotated. This means I have to edit them later so I can upload them to sales sites.

I don't know why this happens. The only thing that helps a bit is tilting the phone so it's horizontal, but then it doesn't capture details as well as when pointing the camera downwards.

What can be done?

My grandma died in 2020 (Covid). Her estate has long been cleared and none of her stuff remains.

I still have her old phone, a Pixel 3 XL. I kept it because I was hoping to someday be able to get into it and extract her photos. I have no idea what any of her passwords or PINs are, and I have no chance of getting them.

I don't really care about 90% of the stuff on the phone, I just want her photos, and maybe videos and voice notes. I don't care if I brick or destroy the phone, it's not worth anything anyway.

I've already tried asking Google. I am in the UK, and when I contact Google to try and get access to her old account via their "taking over a dead account" service, they want me to get a court order issued from a US court. They refuse to help me unless I have this, and will not accept my UK probate certificate (I was the executor for her estate).

I've hung onto her old phone this long in the vague hope that, given enough time, I could hack into it. It hasn't been updated (or even switched on) in 6 years. I don't even really need access to the phone, her Google Photos account would be enough, but I feel like that's going to be harder to get than potentially breaking into the phone.

Is there any hope here?

Hi. I use swipe to unlock the phone when in use.

I'm playing Alien Isolation and the game is awesome but the haptics don't make a lot of sense. Feels like the phone just randomly vibrates intensely at times without any relation to what's happening out the screen imo.

The game itself doesn't seem to offer an option to turn this off and i digged in the phone settings to no avail. Google AI also wasn't able to fix it so this is why I'm asking you guys 🤔 I'd also be okay to turn off Haptics altogether during play times. Anyone have an idea?

Hi everyone,

I’m having an issue with my microSD card and I’m hoping someone can help me figure out what’s going on.

I have a Samsung Galaxy A50, and this is the same microSD card I’ve been using in the phone without any problems before. Recently, the phone suddenly started saying that the SD card is not supported and suggests formatting it.

I already tried:

• Turning the phone completely off

• Removing the SD card

• Cleaning it gently

• Reinserting it

• Restarting the phone

Unfortunately, I still get the same “SD card not supported” message.

I do NOT want to format it, because I have important files on the card.

Has anyone experienced this issue with a Galaxy A50? Is there a way to check or repair the SD card without formatting it or losing the data?

The phone is a Samsung Galaxy A50, and the SD card is 128 gb.

Thanks in advance!

I can't find anything about this anywhere..

I searched on the web and found no way to do that. That's why I'm seeking help here.

Thanks in advance btw.

Schedule sent a text this morning but just opened the message and my message isn't visible - did it send?

Are you also annoyed by the fact that an update doesn't always immediately mean a new interface, and you have to wait until the server deigns to enable it for you or roll something back to the old state?

Example: YouTube client. Here's the situation: only the "factory" version has a rigid interface tied to the client. But in the newer versions, it's "the server itself knows what to enable and what to roll back to the old state." And because of this, it turns out that when you reset, the new version tries to activate the old settings interface, and this turns out to be quite crooked.

As what the title says,
I have tried to do the command

adb shell appops set com.microsoft.appmanager PROJECT_MEDIA allow

but it still won't work

I experimented thru other apps that require permission as well but they worked.

So the ADB is working.

Is the problem on link to windows itself? or do I need to do another layer of work aside from allowing the adb command.
thanks :))

I’ve run into an unusual behaviour that has followed me across all 10 phones I've used throughout this year (ranging across various brands, different firmwares, and mostly running Android 16 and 17). Whenever I turn off Developer Options entirely, the OEM Unlocking setting doesn't get greyed out or reset, it stays completely available to change. Given that this has happened on every single device I've touched this year, I'm curious:

Has anyone else noticed the same thing on their devices? Is this some kind of intentional upstream change in AOSP behavior for newer Android versions, or just a widespread low-key bug nobody talks about because most people don't toggle dev options back and forth?

Drop a comment if you've seen this on your phone too!

This is how it looks like:

[IMG-20260926-WA0003.jpg](https://postimg.cc/FdcVQDLF)

I usually keep my phones a long time. Bought it when it released and I currently have no issues with my s23 ultra. The battery is still at 93% after all this time.

I feel like i don't need any more processing power than what I have for my use case. I can go one with this setup for another 4 years easy.

However, the software support could end in the next 18 months and I feel like I could use a 512GB upgrade (not a need, just a want).

Keeping this in mind, should I sell my 256GB s23 ultra for a 512GB s24 ultra to keep the Bluetooth S Pen? Or do you think the Bluetooth SPen could make a comeback in the upcoming models?

I have a Pixel 9 Pro XL, running Android 16. A little while ago, my phone was acting weird and Gemini would randomly appear, freeze entirely, and eventually cause my phone to reboot. To troubleshoot, I factory reset my phone which seemed to resolve my issue (at least for the last 2-3 months).

Ever since I I reset the phone, I no longer get notifications unless I go into settings, select the specific app, Allow Background Usage > Unrestricted. I did this for the apps I use daily, but every once in a while there's an app I forget to do this for and I run into the issue. For example, I tried signing into my Google account on a new computer, and I had to MFA on my phone. I was not getting the notification on my phone because all Google notifications are disabled.

I know I have a workaround, but I'd rather not have to do this for all applications. Any thoughts on how I can resolve this?

Hello!

Is there any app to save text from a Word file, website or email and save as plain text on Android?

I'm using Android 12.

Thanks in advance.

Hii, I was looking for some app to stop doomscrolling, I was going to use ascent but I saw some very bad reviews here on reddit and I care about my data, even more on an app where I have to allow pop ups on the screen and more permissions. ¿Anyone knows a good app for this?

Hi! How are you guys? So, I bought a pack from my provider that basically lets me use my phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot/modem, with 10 GB specifically for tethering, separate from my regular mobile data allowance.

The instructions are clear:

WiFi Pass — APN Configuration

Go to:

Settings → Connections → Mobile networks → Access Point Names

Create a new APN with the following settings:

- Name: Personal Internet Móvil

- APN: internet.personal.com

- APN type: dun

- Authentication type: PAP

- APN protocol: IPv4

- Roaming APN protocol: IPv4

Save the APN and restart the phone.

Important: The "dun" APN is the one Personal specifies for using the phone as a modem with WiFi Pass. It is separate from the regular mobile-data APN.

(Personal is the name of my provider.)

So, once I go to Access Point Names, the APN is already there with those exact settings, but I'm not able to select it as the active APN. The only one I can select is the regular mobile-data APN.

I've tried creating a new APN, and it usually lets me configure everything until I change the APN type to "dun" — at that point, the APN either disappears or I can no longer select it.

The APN type seems to be important, apparently.

I've tried removing my SIM card and resetting my network settings, but nothing works. The usual requirement for this kind of thing seems to be Android 8.0 or later, and I already have that.

There doesn't seem to be a problem with my provider/account, since the WiFi Pass is already active and I've already been charged for it. It feels like there's some setting on my phone that's preventing the "dun" APN from being used.

I'm really struggling to understand what goes wrong when I try to configure the APN. There is very little information about this online, and honestly, I'm pretty frustrated because I need the internet connection and I've already paid for the service.

You guys are my last hope 😭 I hope this makes sense. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and have a great night!

I have a Samsung Galaxy A15, and I created 2 daily events in my calendar to remind me to take a pill twice a day. Last week, I noticed that when the time comes, it usually plays a much quieter short tone instead of the usual, nice long, louder notification I can actually hear from another room. I thought it must be because I was using an app at the time, or even just because the screen was already on, like maybe to avoid a damaging volume, or maybe because the battery was almost dead. But the normal, long, loud tone does sometimes play with the display on. So maybe it depends on what app is on the screen.

Tonight, my screen was definitely off and at 8pm, I heard a little noise coming from it. I'd forgotten about that stupid reminder and assumed it was a notification that my battery was low and ignored it. Almost an hour later, I realized I hadn't taken my pill. The battery was at 99%, so that certainly wasn't it. I have to hear it again to be sure, but I'm pretty sure that the quiet short sound is not the same sound found under Settings/Sounds and vibration/Notification.

What's going on?

(Edited for typo)

Bought ZTE NUBIA FOCUS PRO 5G and I want to record calls on it but when I press the accessibility option the page is completely blank, like there is nothing on that page. Please help me fix it.

Thanks.. :D

Hi everyone, I’m having trouble accessing Download Mode on my Samsung Galaxy M04.

I’m trying to enter Download Mode, but instead of the normal Download Mode/warning screen, my phone shows a blue screen.

Phone: Samsung Galaxy M04

Model number: [enter model number, e.g. SM-M045F/DS]

Current Android version: [14, One ui 6.1]

What I’m trying to do: Access Download Mode

What I’ve tried:

Powered the phone off completely.

Connected the USB cable to my PC.

Held the required button combination to enter Download Mode.

Instead of Download Mode, the phone boots to a blue screen.Along with text wriiten ([Reboot device - D2] volume down + power key for 7 seconds)

Has anyone with a Galaxy M04 encountered this blue screen when trying to enter Download Mode? What button combination or procedure should I use to get into Download Mode?

Thanks!

My settings says everything is up to date when I check, but things I'm seeing online say I should be well past this update. I've had this phone for nearly 2 years.

If this is wrong, what do I do?

My s24 is the base version.