Will formatting my SD card erase everything, and how can I transfer the files safely?
I moved files onto an SD card in my phone, removed it, and inserted it into my computer with an SD card reader. The computer said the card…
Android
Can an old Nexus 7 connect to modern Wi‑Fi?
I bought an ASUS Google Nexus 7 tablet cheaply so I could download webtoons and check email during overnight work shifts. Phones aren't allowed because clients may take…
Why does my headphone music briefly get louder when notifications arrive?
On my B170D running Android 14, music played through wired headphones briefly becomes noticeably louder whenever a notification arrives. The boost lasts a few seconds before returning to…
What’s the best way to transfer lots of photos and videos from a Samsung phone to a Lenovo laptop?
I'm trying to move a large collection of photos and videos from my Samsung phone to my Lenovo laptop, but I'm not sure where to start or which…
How can I stop Gemini from opening when I hold the Home button?
My Android phone has not received a system update in more than a year, and I never installed the Gemini app. However, for roughly the past six months,…
Why Did the Google App Download Nearly 2 GB Over Public Wi‑Fi?
I connected my phone to a free public Wi‑Fi network for the first time in a long while, and the Google app immediately began downloading almost 2 GB…
Why did the Google app suddenly download nearly 2 GB over free Wi-Fi?
After using my phone for about two years without regular access to free Wi-Fi, I connected to a public network and noticed the Google app immediately began downloading…
Snapchat Downloads Fully but Won’t Install on Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
I'm using an Android Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. Snapchat crashed while I was sending a picture, and afterward it would no longer open. I uninstalled it, but now…
Why Haven’t More Mobile Operating Systems Become Mainstream?
There are many desktop operating systems, including several open-source ones built around Linux. On phones, though, it seems like almost everyone uses either iOS or Android. Why haven't…
Can I Recover Videos That Became Zero Bytes After Moving Them to an SD Card?
I tried moving photos and videos from my Android phone's internal storage to a 64GB SanDisk Extreme Pro microSD card using the built-in file manager. The first transfer…
Why are Android and iOS the only dominant mobile operating systems?
There are many operating systems for computers, including open-source options based on Linux. Why hasn't a similarly independent, widely adopted open-source operating system emerged for smartphones? Android is…
Could an ISP cause a layout bug that only appears in Firefox on certain phones?
I built a static website for a client using SvelteKit, Tailwind, and Skeleton UI, hosted on Hetzner. Most of the site works normally, but one page is displayed…
How Can I Legitimately Get More Control Over My Bark-Managed Phone?
I received a Samsung Galaxy A16 with Bark Technologies' restrictions when I was 12. I'm now 15 and will turn 16 soon, but the controls have become increasingly…
What’s the best way to sync company contacts to Android and iPhone devices?
We're trying to manage company contacts across Samsung Android phones and iPhones. Our contact data currently comes from two places: the Microsoft 365 Global Address List and an…
How Could an SMS Repeat Something Someone Was Saying on a WhatsApp Call?
During a WhatsApp video call, my brother's Android phone received an SMS/MMS containing a sentence my dad was saying aloud at that exact moment. My dad was using…
Can Deleted WhatsApp Messages Be Recovered From an Android Phone?
I need to recover WhatsApp messages that were deleted using the "Delete for me" option. The conversation was on a company-owned Android phone that I'm allowed to access,…
What’s the best way to run Linux on an old Android phone?
I have an older Android phone that I'd like to repurpose for a small homelab project. Ideally, I want to control it over SSH, run a simple shell…
Calls and messages fail only between my girlfriend and me—what could be causing it?
My girlfriend and I have been having a strange communication problem for the past six to eight months. Calls between our phones usually never start ringing and eventually…
What’s the best way to run a simple SSH-accessible Linux setup on an old Android phone?
I have an old Android phone that I'd like to repurpose for a small homelab project. It only needs to connect over SSH, fetch or display data from…
How can a mobile app read smart cards and create digital signatures?
I'm developing an app that needs to read certificates from government-issued smart cards and use them to digitally sign documents such as PDFs or emails. On Windows and…