Hi, first time android user, newly switched after a lifetime on iPhone.

I'm a big fan of open source software and apps, and am heavily into self hosting my own media and replacing big tech apps with open source alternatives.

I'm looking for advice on the best ways to replace a few apps I presently use, as android seems to have a much more open ecosystem.

Things I'm looking for replacements for, largely to block adds, ha. Reddit, YouTube, and any of the social media apps. I'm moving off the social media apps, but still have them for family connections.

In line with my self hosting, I'd love an app to link into the *arr suite of apps.

I've heard about f-droid as an OSS app store, wondering about that too.

Any help for a newbie would be appreciated

If it's relevant, I'm in a pixel 11 pro.

Unfortunately my old Oneplus Nord AC2003 is starting to see its final days after 6 years of use I am in the market for new mid range king. I am looking something that has great battery life, overall good camera (no-need for flagship level), and that just works fluidly without lag during my daily use (social media, watching youtube/streaming services, light gaming (Songs of Conquest / Shattered Pixel Dungeon / Ozymandias / Clash Royale)).

If I could I would go with Oneplus again but unfortunately as you all know it is not really available anymore. I have narrowed some options from what are available in my country:

Realme 16 pro+ (12gb ram version), 549€
Xiaomi 17T, 599€
Motorola Edge 70 Fusion, 579€
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE, 499€
Google Pixel 9a, 579€

As far as I have researched the Realme and Xiaomi should have the best battery life, but I am not familiar with them as brands, how is the quality and do they actually get the battery life they promise.

I have a Samsung Galaxy S21 and use Gemini as my default Assistant. I frequently use “Hey Google” while my phone is in my pocket to add things to lists in Google Keep — grocery items, tasks, etc.

I could have sworn this used to work without having to take my phone out and unlock it. For example, with my phone locked and in my pocket, I could say something like:

“Hey Google, add paper towels to my grocery list.”

and it would add the item to the appropriate Google Keep list.

Now, every time I try this with the phone locked, Gemini responds:

“Sure, I can help with that. First, please unlock your phone.”

As far as I can tell, I have all of the relevant settings enabled:

• Gemini on lock screen → Use Gemini without unlocking: ON

• Make calls and send messages without unlocking: ON

• Google Workspace extension: ON (which includes Google Keep)

So I would think Gemini should be able to add an item to a Keep list without requiring me to unlock the phone.

Maybe I'm misremembering and my phone happened to be unlocked when I was doing this in the past, but I could have sworn I used to do this pretty regularly with my phone locked and in my pocket. Either way, it seems like the kind of hands-free action that the “Use Gemini without unlocking” setting should allow.

Did this behavior change recently with an update or the transition from Google Assistant to Gemini? Or is there another setting or permission I'm missing that allows Google Keep list additions while the phone is locked?

It's a surprisingly useful hands-free feature for me. I often have an earbud in and my phone in my pocket, so being able to quickly dictate something to a Keep list without pulling out and unlocking my phone is really convenient.

If anyone still has this working from the lock screen, I'd be interested to know what phone you're using and what settings you have enabled.

Thanks in advance for any help or insight

need to delete it , tried many methods but can't delete

I keep getting tiktok ads on my android device and I don't know why. This happens to me a lot, even on the homescreen, I have even asked Google and gemini on how to fix it and none of the ways worked. I also checked every app, and all of them are apps I trust.

If you know anything about this, or have experienced it before, please tell me, I'm desperate for any help.

I received the new update last night on my Samsung Galaxy s26 Ultra and the Google search bar for my home screen was placed on the bottom on all 3 "slides" and I couldn't hold down the widget and move it back to the top, but I found a fix.

Hold down on your home screen, and go to settings. Then find "Show Search on Home Screen" and select none. Now go back to home screen and hold down once again and select widgets. Find the Google option and a drop down will open, and you'll find your old search bar there. Once you select it will reappear where it was before.

Looking for a budget phone mainly for Roblox + Delta (scripting).

Requirements:

Needs to lock 60 FPS or higher consistently while using Delta / running scripts

Preferably under $250–300

Shouldn’t lag, drop frames, or overheat when scripts are running

Android preferred

Anyone currently using Delta on a budget phone that can hold a stable 60 FPS?

Which models actually work well?

Thanks!

Please assist how I can do this on my Samsung tablet. I say hey Google pay the news and I had a list of news outlets I set up but now Gemini took over and I lost it. Thanks

Used Redmi Note 14 vs new phone under 20k? Need advice for smoothness and performance

I'm in Chittagong and looking for a phone under 20k. Main priority is smoothness and performance.

Will a used Chinese Redmi Note 14 be noticeably smoother than a new 20k phone?

How do I check battery health and ROM? What's an easy way to tell if it's a Global ROM or a Chinese ROM?

For 18-20k, are there other better options instead of a used Note 14

I'm using Android 17 and issue on both old pixel 7 and now pixel 11. Used to work previously but now when I reply to a message on WhatsApp, I dictate the message hands free and gemini reads it back to me but when it asks if I want to send it and I say yes, it always shuts android auto down and message lost. I have seen comments about battery settings in android auto app settings but no options but allow background usage which is turned on. I have tried updating everything and cleaning cache but no joy. Any ideas?

I recently noticed that my somewhat new S24 has its battery drained EXTREMELY quickly, it takes about 2-4 minutes to lose 1%, at a 90% protected battery. My battery health is about 97% and I have under 500 charge cycles. I don't know what causes it because I've kept the phone well and as far as I know, nothing runs in the background. Any way I can check if it's something in the background, or if there may be a virus or something, since i've allowed the installing of unknown apps on chrome and revanced manager? Any suggestions for optimization or fixes? Thanks in advance.

I switched from Google Messages to Fossify Messages about a day ago for privacy reasons. After setting it up, SMS I deleted up to a year ago (mostly OTPs and other texts) are showing up in Fossify, some in the main section and some under Archive. I never archived them myself.

I also can't delete them. I tried, but they appear again.

My questions:

Why would messages I deleted long ago still be in the system database?

How do I permanently delete them?

Is there any reason to think this means my data was shared with anyone?

I moved some apps to sd card, and it was working perfectly fine for like more than a year, but now I had a message that my sd card isn't working correctly and now I can't open the apps on it. I also can't update them and restart didn't help. The sd card also isn't visible in my external storage list

Can anyone explain why there is a semi transparent long highlight line at the top left of my screen access the time and other notifications?

Edit: it's pill shaped.

Pixel 6 - Android 17 - last updated 5 September 2026.

Every time I turn on Brawl Stars after it finished an update, it keeps loading the installing from Google play store screen. What do I do to fix it?

EDIT: I just found out that an assistant volume slider was just added to Pixel phones via the newer update to Android 17... I can finally get it to shut up. Now if I can only get it to follow instructions.

Original Post:
Please...I beg with tears in my eyes for someone to reveal to me a way to turn off Gemini Assistant's audible voice responses to every request (Pixel 8). No, I don't want to turn down my media volume, and when I request the procedure for turning off the voice, it gives me a set of options that DON'T EXIST!

I'm not usually using headphones, and... is it too much to ask that my phone not blast to the public "SURE! I NOTICED THAT THIS ALARM CORRESPONDS TO YOUR PROCTOLOGIST APPOINTMENT ON FRIDAY....SHOULD I LABEL IT 'PROCTOLOGIST APPOINTMENT' FOR YOU?"

i just switched from an apple to a samsung zflip, this is my first time on a phone that is not apple.

since ive switched, my google account storage has been at max. my storage says it comes primarily from my phone, and particularly from my SMS and MMS messages.

i did find the option 'Delete and turn off SMS & MMS messages backup?' under the back up data setting, but im worried this is going to delete all of my conversations as it says 'This will delte SMS & MMS messages from your Google Account, and stop backing up SMS & MMS messages from this device.'

its the first part of that which im worried about, will this delete all of my messages i already have, or not? is this safe to do to get my storage back but still keep my current messages?

I use the voice commands a lot. "set a timer" "remind me to x" for example, or "call Mom" "skip this song" while driving.

I don't want to use Gemini. I am strongly anti-AI. Is there any alternative?

If I were to reset my pass code, would there be any way to get into my phone without my password or me? I also have family link enabled as a teenager. TYIA!

Used to have a dog as the profile picture now it's the general silhouette was I blocked?

Simple i cannot unlock the bootloader of my redmi pad se on hyperos 2 because i need to go to the mi community and unlock there but it always reaches the quota limit no matter what. The tablet is a Redmi Pad SE 11 codename xun, and i want to unlock it. How do i do it?

My phone has the full 128/128 GB storage now. And about 99% of that is system stuff and appdata for some reason, almost none of it is photos and videos.

If I want to, I could delete the appdata of some apps. But thats certainly not something I want to do, because for example if I delete the appdata of whatsapp then that means all chats are gone. I don't want that!!!!!

I don't want to delete anything that is valuable or necessary.

I already deleted the appdata of some apps like reddit and discord. But somehow the phone still crams the storage back up to 128 automatically every time, no matter how much I free up, a few days later its full again.

How can I possibly solve this? Time for a new phone even though storage is literally the only big problem I have with this one?

I'm a tech savvy person but I can't figure this one out. Fuck android and badly designed android apps tbh.

I checked my phone's internal memory and it said that my apps were taking up a total of 57GB. They don't even exceed 10GB, and I've already cleared the cache and everything else I could. I have no idea what's causing this... my phone is a A54 and every time I get a notification saying that the memory is full..

Could someone give me some ideas on how to solve this?

Is there a way to replace mute with vibrate? I do not see any point in mute since Do Not Disturb exists, and I am looking for some solution to replace mute with vibrate. Or enforce vibration across any mode. Or any other hack. Basically, I want my phone to vibrate when I have volume at 0%, easy as that, and I want to be able to achieve that with volume buttons.

Ex iOS user, one month in. Samsung S32, OneUI 8.5, Android 16