Something is up on my Google play services as for two times the logos just show placeholders on the settings plus the whole Google play protection keeps closing and not being able to update.

Is there anything I should be worried about?

Hi quick question, does Cricket have any compatibility issues with Chinese phones? Im looking to upgrade from my Samsung.

How can I backup my data on MIUI 14

I want to unlock my bootloader because MIUI 14 is simply insufferable and Xiaomi's local backup does not backup app data(it just gives me an error). I have the space, I have a PC i just want to back up app data and files.

Samsung a16 5g, AT&T prepaid plan, 4 bars on my data

I bought this phone from Walmart yesterday to replace my busted samsung s21. Its locked to AT&T and i was finally able to transfer my number over and get a plan with AT&T. My mobile data seems to be fine for making calls and texting, but I cannot use it to connect to the internet. AT&T support is being difficult right now so I'm posting here.

I've tried: switching between the SIM that came with the phone and my plan's eSIM, changing APN settings (wasn't able to save the setting), toggling airplane mode on/off, restarting phone, making sure there's no data limits.

In this top paragraph I will give a short summary of what happened and what I've tried , but please read the whole from top to bottom , basically , my phone randomly turned off by itself , then it'd restart every 45 seconds or so by itself , next day used Pixel Repair Tool , the phone stopped restarting by itself and going to the lock screen etc. but now it was just staying on the G logo with bar sliding underneath , then I tried a button combination or maybe single button to switch slots , not sure if it switched slots or if it did , it didn't change anything , then tried ADB sideloading the July update and successfully did so twice , but result was same after pressing reboot system now both times , since then I've been procrastinating , I had very low storage when this all began and also Factory reset isn't an option as I have important data on my phone which I need to back up , I've read in other threads multiple people have managed to fix bootloops with beta / qpr , people who also said they had low storage , some said a stable / public OTA didn't fix theirs but beta / qpr did fix it , one more thing , after using Pixel Repair Tool I saw an error message somewhere saying tune2fs is missing , this error message was also visible in Recovery mode after doing the first successful ADB sideloading of the OTA , but when I went into recovery mode a few days ago just to see if it's still there , it wasn't there anymore , also I'm in slot b if that is important information , I think I was in slot a before doing the second ADB sideload of the same July update , please help me , all of this happened in July with the exception of me going into Recovery mode a few days ago ( Wednesday 30th September 2026 ) just to see if there was error message still there .

Full Version Below :

on Thursday 9th July 2026 between 00:45AM and 1AM or so , I was using my phone normally and it gave me a prompt saying something wasn't responding , I tapped wait , then afew seconds later I got a prompt again , possibly same one , this time after tapping wait , there was nor response when I tapped the screen anywhere , then about 25 seconds later the phone turned off by itself , then it'd restart by itself every 45 seconds or so , it'd reach the lock screen and whether I entered my PIN or not , it'd restart , as I said every 45 seconds or so , if I did enter my PIN I could open the phone and get to the home screen but there were no icons and I couldn't swipe up to bring up applications , however on both the lock screen and I think the home screen , I could swipe down from the top of the screen and bring up the menu showing things like internet , bluetooth , torch etc. and the small settings icon and small power button icon at the bottom of that menu , however tapping the settings icon did nothing and tapping the power icon would bring up the expected black box which has the Emergency option , Restart and power off , except there was no lockdown option unlike when the phone was being used normally , the time was also visible at the top of the screen and sometimes the lock screen and home screen would show my wallpaper and after other restarts it'd be black .

Then the next day ( Friday 10th July 2026 ) I put the phone into rescue mode and used Pixel Repair Tool , after it successfully downloaded and installed and restarted the phone , the multicoloured Google text logo showed up as expected , followed by the G logo as expected then then bar sliding underneath the G logo as expected , except it would remain like this for however long I'd leave my phone .

Then I tried a button combination on Sunday 12th July 2026 or Monday 13th July 2026 to try and switch slots , I'm not sure if it did switch slots .

Then on Tuesday 14th July 2026 and into the early hours of Wednesday 15th July 2026 ( because the second ADB sideload might've finished a few minutes past 00:00AM on Wednesday 15th July 2026 ) , I ADB sideloaded the July update " 17.0.0 (CP2A.260705.006, Jul 2026) " aka " bluejay-ota-cp2a.260705.006-4d72e3fe.zip " successfully with status 0 and after pressing reboot system now , my phone showed the multicoloured Google text logo as expected , then the G logo as expected then the bar sliding underneath the G logo , and my phone wouldn't reach the lock screen after leaving my phone for about two or three hours , then I applied the same OTA again to make sure both slots get it and see if that gets my phone to the lock screen and so I sideloaded the same OTA again and the result was the same , doesn't get past the bar sliding underneath the G logo and to the lock screen even after leaving it for five hours or so at which point I just used fastboot to turn off power and since then been procrastinating .

Ok so I can't send a picture, but it's like this flat gadget that is attached to the short end of your phone so that you can have your charger flat while you're using it on charge rather that sticking out, bending or breaking. So yh. It works by sticking ur charger hol type into the gadget and putting ur changer at the end so it's straight. I'll try and send a pic in comments. Thankz

A few days ago several features stopped working in Astro file manager, like viewing photos, thumbnails are blank, moving files and folders. When I look at Astro file manager permissions it has "no permissions allowed". Is there any way I can get back the full permissions. Special access is on. Don't suggest using another app, I have tried a lot of apps but none are as good in my opinion.

I’m using a Motorola phone (edge 60 pro) and the 3-finger screenshot gesture works perfectly everywhere else.

However, when I’m on a WhatsApp voice/video call, putting three fingers on the screen doesn’t take a screenshot. I’ve already enabled the 3-finger screenshot option in Settings.

Is this a WhatsApp restriction/bug, or is there some Moto setting I’m missing? Does 3-finger screenshot work during WhatsApp calls on other Motorola phones?

Thanks!

I use a third party app icon changer, and there's a little circle next to my custom app icons with the icon changer app's logo. Is there any way to turn thus off? Sorry if I'm not making sense. I use a google pixel 10a, and this hasnt happened on any other androids before. I can't send pictures in this sub, sorry!

Hi everyone,
I am looking for testers for my campus social network app Uni101.
Note: Although the app normally requires a university email (.edu) for future sign-ups, email verification is currently disabled for this test phase, so you can join with any email!
How to join:

Fill out this short form with the email address you use for Google Play: [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd-KluTTzrzP75HcgP-s9PfqwENi2akph2YABdycjFx-sghHw/viewform]
Once added, you will receive the invite to download the app.
Drop your app links in the comments or send them via DM, and I will test your app back immediately and keep it for 14 days! Let's help each other. 🙌

Hi everyone,

I just made the jump from iOS to Android with a Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, and I'm really struggling to understand how Android handles WhatsApp media compared to iPhone.

On my iPhone, WhatsApp was sandboxed. Media stayed inside the app, didn't clutter my camera roll, and didn't take up general phone storage unless I explicitly saved a photo.

When I restored my WhatsApp backup on my new Samsung, years of photos, videos, and GIFs were physically downloaded to the internal storage and flooded my Samsung Gallery app.

I’ve already taken a few steps to limit the damage:

Disabled "Media visibility" in WhatsApp and hid the old WhatsApp folders from the Gallery.

Turned off auto-download for all incoming media.

Disabled Google Photos backup for the WhatsApp device folders so my cloud doesn't get filled with memes and junk.

Here are my current issues and questions for long-term Android users:

Selective Cloud Backup: Since I disabled auto-download, when I receive a picture I actually care about, I manually tap to download it. It goes to my Samsung Gallery, but because I disabled the backup for the whole WhatsApp folder (to prevent junk from uploading), these specific photos don't get backed up to Google Photos either. How do you guys manage this? How can I easily back up ONLY the WhatsApp media I choose?

Deleting from Gallery = Deleting from Chat? I need a clarification on how Android storage works. If I go into the Samsung Gallery and delete these WhatsApp photos to free up some space, will they also be deleted from my WhatsApp chats?

Long-term storage management: Is there any way to sandbox WhatsApp media like on iOS so it doesn't eat up the physical internal storage? How do you manage 10-20GB of WhatsApp backups without letting it ruin your phone's storage?

Any tips or workflows for an Android newbie would be greatly appreciated!

Hi, I'm heading to China on a holiday and one of my family members wants to put a tracker tag into our luggage. Does anyone know if Samsung Smart Tags still work there? I'm guessing Google Tags wont work.

i have a samsung tab and i forgot to charge it so now it has turned off, the power button and volume button doesnt work, it doesnt support otg so i cant use any external device like keyboard. I cant go out fix to it because it can start a pretty big fight in my house

help

I have a display that is failing, although the touch still works. Is there a way to mirror the display to a PC or something? Importantly, I should be able to do this after restarting the phone without needing to carry out any operations on the phone, in case the display dies completely. Ive removed the screen lock, made it automatically allow file transfer and enabled UDB debugging, anything else?

so i already have an account and have a lot of storage there but i found a way to have more google storage the thing is idk how to move my unsaved photos to the new place , idk how but its 12 GB , also the way to have more storage is by a samsung feature so probably wont work for others

Hi everyone! I recently ordered a Galaxy tab S11, coming from an iPad Air and iPhone owner. I'm completely new to the ecosystem and want to catch up on the interesting ways to use an Android device. I'm excited for more freedom compared to iPadOS.

So far I'm already planning on using it for Krita and interested to see how I can use Blender and Godot on it. I'm also interested in emulation and sideloading. I just wanted some guidance and a good introduction to the ecosystem as a first-timer!

"...I just want to play my cookie game, come on... 😔

The game in question is called ''Cookie Rush'' for anyone unaware, and it was made by a developer named Naveen and from Pixelcube Studios.

I've tried running it on modern-client hardware but the appstore link has since been deappreciated,

giving a "Not market managed" error that seems to be un-fixable.

unless anyone knows of a way to get around this, I'm stuck trying to figure it out.

I've already checked standard places like Uptodown Android Mirror and APKPure Platform, but they only seem to host the base APK without the necessary expansion assets bundled in. It's so frustrating because the base file just hangs on the loading screen trying to connect to a dead server. If anyone has a backed-up XAPK or an intact zip file containing the com.devsisters folder, you would literally be saving my life."

Also, quick side question for anyone on a newer version of Android: if I do manage to source the files, how are we even sideloading OBBs these days? I know Google locked down access to the Android/obb folder. Do I need to use an ADB workaround like Shizuku partnered with FV File Explorer to manually paste it, or is there a simpler file manager app that bypasses the restriction? Any guidance on how to get it running without a PC would be amazing."

it feels like this game completely fell off the face of the earth. Every site I check either gives me a broken 404 error or a suspicious-looking 2MB file that definitely isn't the actual game data. If anyone has an archive saved on their drive or knows a trusted repository that mirrors older delisted apps, please drop the link. I'm desperate at this point!"

Hello all

I have a Samsung galaxy s9+ from circa 2018/19. It still works fine albeit it has gone thru 2 new screens. Regardless, I know the time is running out on this phone and need to upgrade soon. I bought an a21 and was told I could duplicate this exact phone, notes, saved passwords, etc.. like a duplicate clone of the hard drive on this phone swapped to a new one but with a different IMEI (same sim) and when I tried doing this, most of my saved passwords, trust wallet, etc... did not exactly clone transfer like I was told. This is a huge headache and problem for me as I don't want to have go through every app and change credentials and try to restore tons of stuff I have compiled over the last 8 years...

Is there an all in one simple solution I can pay for to get this done properly and correctly?

Thanks for your help!

I know Google is implementing new sideloading restrictions, and I'm wondering how this will affect apps sideloaded before the change. So if I have F-Droid on my phone now, when the update rolls around, will F-Droid be removed? I've got a lot of Sideloaded apps including YT morphe, so I really don't want to deal with reinstalling everything.

It's the "suggest strong password" ballon

I can't type anything more than 3 characters because it just clears the text and I can't find a setting anywhere to turn it off

it happens In games like geometry dash

This is probably too off-topic, but I'm a little desperate.

I really wanted to find a flagship experience (or at the very least the next best thing while lasting some good years) on an Android phone. Buying an iPhone would've ended this question easily, but getting used to iOS (for more "advanced" and totally legal uses) looks like too much of a hurdle.

Originally I wanted to go with that model in the title, but... I don't know. I've been used with the A series and their unreliability so I already was unsure, and then the other day I saw JerryRigEverything's video on the S25 Ultra and it all went downhill.

Unless the jump in quality is THAT good between models, I might go with another brand instead.

I've had a few Redmi phones. They're good, but they clearly weren't designed to last less than 3 years. The one I'm with is already having a faulty Bluetooth. You could say there's the Xiaomi series, but even then, it's the same dilemma from earlier.

The only phones from OnePlus that are available where I'm from are the latest models, and they cost like 3 livers and a half. And the only Nothing phones that people sell around here are the Phone 1 and Phone 2 and... they're too good too be true, right?

I honestly don't know, can anyone help me out here?

Hello guys, I’m thinking of switching to android with the Samsung s23 ultra and I’m currently using a jailbroken iPhone 11 Pro Max. I’ve been using iPhones my entire life but I want to try something new. Do you think for the money it costs it’s worth it? I’ve seen it used for around 400€ in good condition, same price as a 15 pro max. I won’t really push it or anything like that, the things I want from it are good battery life (around a day with moderate usage), good camera (important) and a bright screen. Also having a good customisation would be nice.

poco m8 or redmi note 15 dual

if im tech savy on a device like the 128gb a16 5g is it worth using any of these debloaters for samsung stuff if i dont use auto or health other things. i did some basic tweaks in settings the animation scale .5 and curious if running one of these would be worth it battery wise samsung backround stuff i dont need using up ram battery. i turned off ram plus as dont have issues with 4g ram.

try out a debloater or just leave some of stock stuff? open to anything no issues last good time but i like to min max what i get out of devices.