scrcpy just keeps getting better and better. Version 2.2 was just released with support for camera mirroring. This lets you mirror the device camera instead of the device screen.
I tried it out, and it worked pretty well at 1080p even when connected wirelessly.
I tried it out, and it worked pretty well at 1080p even when connected wirelessly.
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Google has announced that the new Telecom Jetpack library is now in alpha. This library is aimed at voice and/or video calling apps and provides a variety of features, including:
* Platform synchronization: Makes the platform "aware" of your VoIP call so that other surfaces (like watches) can show information like who the caller is as well as actions to answer, decline, hang up, or mute your call. Also, if other calls such as a PTSN/SIM-based call comes through, you can give the user a chance to hold the call they're currently on.
* Dedicated foreground support. Android 14 requires apps to specify foreground service types. The Jetpack Telecom library takes care of that requirement for you.
* Audio routing: The Telecom library can list all available endpoints to your app for streaming audio to/from, so you don't have to use the audio manager API to track state, focus, and obtain a list of audio devices yourself.
* Backwards compatibility: This library works on devices that support Android's Telecom stack (PackageManager.FEATURE_TELECOM) running Android 8.0 Oreo or later.
Coming soon:
* Expanded support for VoIP Call actions: Being able to locally mute the VoIP app for the specific call and display the name of the speaker on another surface like Android Auto.
* Transfer VoIP calls: Users will be able to transfer ongoing VoIP calls between their phones and tablets.
Version 1.0.0-alpha01 was released on May 10 at Google I/O 2023, but alpha02 was released on October 4.
* Platform synchronization: Makes the platform "aware" of your VoIP call so that other surfaces (like watches) can show information like who the caller is as well as actions to answer, decline, hang up, or mute your call. Also, if other calls such as a PTSN/SIM-based call comes through, you can give the user a chance to hold the call they're currently on.
* Dedicated foreground support. Android 14 requires apps to specify foreground service types. The Jetpack Telecom library takes care of that requirement for you.
* Audio routing: The Telecom library can list all available endpoints to your app for streaming audio to/from, so you don't have to use the audio manager API to track state, focus, and obtain a list of audio devices yourself.
* Backwards compatibility: This library works on devices that support Android's Telecom stack (PackageManager.FEATURE_TELECOM) running Android 8.0 Oreo or later.
Coming soon:
* Expanded support for VoIP Call actions: Being able to locally mute the VoIP app for the specific call and display the name of the speaker on another surface like Android Auto.
* Transfer VoIP calls: Users will be able to transfer ongoing VoIP calls between their phones and tablets.
Version 1.0.0-alpha01 was released on May 10 at Google I/O 2023, but alpha02 was released on October 4.
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Here are the most important Google System updates that rolled out in October 2023.
* "[Phone] Support to connect your watch to multiple phones seamlessly" (available with Google Play Services v23.39+). It's not exactly clear what this means.
* "[Phone] Content received over Nearby Share is stored in a new location" (available with Google Play Services v23.40+). Files you receive via Nearby Share are now saved in the "Nearby Share" folder under "Download" rather than the "Download" folder itself.
* "[Phone] Nearby Share is disabled in work profiles" (available with Google Play Services 23.41+). Some have speculated that this was done to mitigate theft (intentional or not) of corporate data, but I heard this was disabled simply because it just didn't work properly and there isn't enough bandwidth to fix the issues.
* "[Phone] You can now decide if Google Play can update an app that was installed by a different app store" (available with Google Play Store v38.2+). This may be Google Play implementing support for Android 14's update ownership API, or it might not be. Either way, this is a welcome change for users who sideload and/or install apps from alternative sources.
* "[Wear] Users can now install and set watch faces directly from the Play store listing and opt in to always automatically set watchfaces upon install" (available with Google Play Store v38.2+). This hasn't rolled out on my Pixel Watch 2 yet, so I don't have a screenshot to share.
* "[Phone] Support adding Wallet passes from images containing barcodes or QR codes" (available with Google Play Services v23.42+). Google Wallet now lets you create a pass using a photo or screenshot of a barcode or QR code. This was announced as part of the September 2023 Android Feature Drop.
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* "[Phone] Support to connect your watch to multiple phones seamlessly" (available with Google Play Services v23.39+). It's not exactly clear what this means.
* "[Phone] Content received over Nearby Share is stored in a new location" (available with Google Play Services v23.40+). Files you receive via Nearby Share are now saved in the "Nearby Share" folder under "Download" rather than the "Download" folder itself.
* "[Phone] Nearby Share is disabled in work profiles" (available with Google Play Services 23.41+). Some have speculated that this was done to mitigate theft (intentional or not) of corporate data, but I heard this was disabled simply because it just didn't work properly and there isn't enough bandwidth to fix the issues.
* "[Phone] You can now decide if Google Play can update an app that was installed by a different app store" (available with Google Play Store v38.2+). This may be Google Play implementing support for Android 14's update ownership API, or it might not be. Either way, this is a welcome change for users who sideload and/or install apps from alternative sources.
* "[Wear] Users can now install and set watch faces directly from the Play store listing and opt in to always automatically set watchfaces upon install" (available with Google Play Store v38.2+). This hasn't rolled out on my Pixel Watch 2 yet, so I don't have a screenshot to share.
* "[Phone] Support adding Wallet passes from images containing barcodes or QR codes" (available with Google Play Services v23.42+). Google Wallet now lets you create a pass using a photo or screenshot of a barcode or QR code. This was announced as part of the September 2023 Android Feature Drop.
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Mishaal's Android News Feed
Here are the most important Google System updates that rolled out in October 2023. * "[Phone] Support to connect your watch to multiple phones seamlessly" (available with Google Play Services v23.39+). It's not exactly clear what this means. * "[Phone] Content…
There are a couple of other minor changes, such as:
* "[Phone] New design on the app details page to help you discover and learn about apps for your non-phone devices" (available with Google Play Store v37.8+). On the Play Store listing for apps that are available on multiple form factors, you might see a chip beneath the "install" button that lets you change which form factor's screenshots are shown.
* "[Wear] Warning messages are now visible on detail pages for apps that are prone to crashes" (available with Google Play Store v38.2+). This brings a feature that is already available in the Play Store for phones over to watches.
As a reminder, the Google System Updates changelog is comprised of Google Play System Updates (ie. Project Mainline updates) plus updates to a variety of Google system apps like the Google Play Store, Google Play Services, and more recently Android WebView and Android System Intelligence.
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* "[Phone] New design on the app details page to help you discover and learn about apps for your non-phone devices" (available with Google Play Store v37.8+). On the Play Store listing for apps that are available on multiple form factors, you might see a chip beneath the "install" button that lets you change which form factor's screenshots are shown.
* "[Wear] Warning messages are now visible on detail pages for apps that are prone to crashes" (available with Google Play Store v38.2+). This brings a feature that is already available in the Play Store for phones over to watches.
As a reminder, the Google System Updates changelog is comprised of Google Play System Updates (ie. Project Mainline updates) plus updates to a variety of Google system apps like the Google Play Store, Google Play Services, and more recently Android WebView and Android System Intelligence.
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Mishaal's Android News Feed
After updating to Android 14, some users with a Pixel 6 and later who have multiple users or profiles set up have been unable to access any of their media storage on the primary user. Google now says they "have already pushed out a Google Play system update"…
Important: Google has followed up on this issue!
Google says that, starting in the next two weeks, they'll roll out an OTA update for impacted users that will return their devices to a working state. However, this update may not enable data to be recovered for devices that are repeatedly rebooting.
If you'd rather not wait for this update to roll out, you can sign up to test the update ahead of its release. This update may help remedy the issue without clearing your device's data. All you have to do is fill out this Google Form to receive the test update.
Several users who received the OTA update already commented on the Issue Tracker that full functionality (including secondary users) was restored after updating.
For those devices that are repeatedly rebooting, the only workaround that is currently known to recover them is to do a Factory Data Reset (FDR). This will obviously clear all your phone's data, so only do this if you've backed your data up. You can perform a FDR using your phone's buttons by following these steps.
Google says that, starting in the next two weeks, they'll roll out an OTA update for impacted users that will return their devices to a working state. However, this update may not enable data to be recovered for devices that are repeatedly rebooting.
If you'd rather not wait for this update to roll out, you can sign up to test the update ahead of its release. This update may help remedy the issue without clearing your device's data. All you have to do is fill out this Google Form to receive the test update.
Several users who received the OTA update already commented on the Issue Tracker that full functionality (including secondary users) was restored after updating.
For those devices that are repeatedly rebooting, the only workaround that is currently known to recover them is to do a Factory Data Reset (FDR). This will obviously clear all your phone's data, so only do this if you've backed your data up. You can perform a FDR using your phone's buttons by following these steps.
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You may have seen articles about how the Flipper Zero can be used to easily spam iOS, Windows, and Android devices with bogus Bluetooth device connection requests, which in the case of iOS 17, can crash them. Here's how to protect your Android device from these spam attacks.
Many outlets are telling users to disable Nearby Share on Android to block these spam attacks, but that's the wrong setting to disable. Instead, you need to go to Settings --> Google --> Devices & sharing --> Devices and turn off "Scan for nearby devices". Above is a graphic that shows these steps.
This is the setting that controls the Google Fast Pair Service (GFPS), or Fast Pair for short, which is Google's Bluetooth device pairing request feature these DoS attacks are spamming.
Fortunately, Fast Pair seems to have some built-in protection against this kind of attack. According to mobile-hacker, Fast Pair seems to ignore excessive pairing requests. Thus, it may not be necessary to disable this feature, so only do this if you really want to be safe.
Note: Some OEMs have their own Fast Pair-like implementations that need to be disabled separately to mitigate this kind of attack. It may not be possible to disable these without turning off Bluetooth entirely, though.
Many outlets are telling users to disable Nearby Share on Android to block these spam attacks, but that's the wrong setting to disable. Instead, you need to go to Settings --> Google --> Devices & sharing --> Devices and turn off "Scan for nearby devices". Above is a graphic that shows these steps.
This is the setting that controls the Google Fast Pair Service (GFPS), or Fast Pair for short, which is Google's Bluetooth device pairing request feature these DoS attacks are spamming.
Fortunately, Fast Pair seems to have some built-in protection against this kind of attack. According to mobile-hacker, Fast Pair seems to ignore excessive pairing requests. Thus, it may not be necessary to disable this feature, so only do this if you really want to be safe.
Note: Some OEMs have their own Fast Pair-like implementations that need to be disabled separately to mitigate this kind of attack. It may not be possible to disable these without turning off Bluetooth entirely, though.
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Google has published the Android Security Bulletin (ASB) for November 2023, detailing the vulnerabilities addressed in the
Builds declaring the
There are also two vulnerabilities in Project Mainline components (
The November 2023 ASB is the first ASB that references patches for the newly released AOSP Android 14 release. Android 14, as released on AOSP, has a default security patch level of
With this ASB, Google has also listed the minor kernel version that devices launching with certain Android OS versions and major kernel versions have to update to.
This is part of Google's requirement that Android devices perform bi-yearly LTS (minor) updates for the first 2 years after the release of an Android OS. Afterwards, OEMs have to perform a yearly LTS update while the OS version is still in Google's support window.
2023-11-0X security patch level (SPL).Builds declaring the
2023-11-01 SPL address all issues in the Android OS listed in the November 2023 ASB, while builds declaring the 2023-11-05 SPL address all issues in the Android OS plus Linux kernel and vendor components listed in the November 2023 ASB.There are also two vulnerabilities in Project Mainline components (
DNS Resolver and Statsd) that will be patched with the 2023-11-01 Google Play System Update release.The November 2023 ASB is the first ASB that references patches for the newly released AOSP Android 14 release. Android 14, as released on AOSP, has a default security patch level of
2023-10-01.With this ASB, Google has also listed the minor kernel version that devices launching with certain Android OS versions and major kernel versions have to update to.
This is part of Google's requirement that Android devices perform bi-yearly LTS (minor) updates for the first 2 years after the release of an Android OS. Afterwards, OEMs have to perform a yearly LTS update while the OS version is still in Google's support window.
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Mishaal's Android News Feed
You may have seen articles about how the Flipper Zero can be used to easily spam iOS, Windows, and Android devices with bogus Bluetooth device connection requests, which in the case of iOS 17, can crash them. Here's how to protect your Android device from…
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VIEW IN TELEGRAM
UPDATE: A user with a Flipper Zero and a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (@superac11 on Twitter) tested the BLE spam attack out.
Here's what they found:
* Google's Fast Pair seems to detect the spam and stops showing device pairing requests (the half-sheet pop-up) after a short time if you keep dismissing/ignoring them. If you do nothing, the half-sheet pop-ups will just sit there waiting for your interaction. The phone did not crash or reboot.
* Samsung's Nearby Device Scanning feature does not seem to detect the spam and keeps showing device pairing requests over and over. However, the phone did not crash or reboot.
So, in summary, most Android users probably don't have to worry about BLE spam attacks like iPhone users do. You also don't need to disable Google's Fast Pair, as the service seems to already have anti-spam mitigations built-in. However, since Samsung's Nearby Device Scanning feature doesn't seem to detect such spam requests, you may want to disable it until you need it.
—-
How to disable Fast Pair on Android (this doesn't seem to be necessary, but just for reference):
How to disable Nearby Device Scanning on Samsung devices:
Yes, Fast Pair and Nearby Device Scanning are two separate things. Nearby Device Scanning is Samsung's version of Fast Pair used to quickly find and connect to nearby Galaxy accessories. It's only available on Samsung phones.
Here's what they found:
* Google's Fast Pair seems to detect the spam and stops showing device pairing requests (the half-sheet pop-up) after a short time if you keep dismissing/ignoring them. If you do nothing, the half-sheet pop-ups will just sit there waiting for your interaction. The phone did not crash or reboot.
* Samsung's Nearby Device Scanning feature does not seem to detect the spam and keeps showing device pairing requests over and over. However, the phone did not crash or reboot.
So, in summary, most Android users probably don't have to worry about BLE spam attacks like iPhone users do. You also don't need to disable Google's Fast Pair, as the service seems to already have anti-spam mitigations built-in. However, since Samsung's Nearby Device Scanning feature doesn't seem to detect such spam requests, you may want to disable it until you need it.
—-
How to disable Fast Pair on Android (this doesn't seem to be necessary, but just for reference):
Settings --> Google --> Devices & sharing --> Devices and turn off "Scan for nearby devices"How to disable Nearby Device Scanning on Samsung devices:
Settings --> Connections --> More connection settings --> Nearby device scanningYes, Fast Pair and Nearby Device Scanning are two separate things. Nearby Device Scanning is Samsung's version of Fast Pair used to quickly find and connect to nearby Galaxy accessories. It's only available on Samsung phones.
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Mishaal's Android News Feed
Important: Google has followed up on this issue! Google says that, starting in the next two weeks, they'll roll out an OTA update for impacted users that will return their devices to a working state. However, this update may not enable data to be recovered…
Google is rolling out an OTA update that fixes this issue on affected Pixel devices (all Tensor-powered Pixels running Android 14).
The update has a build ID of UP1A.231105.00X and brings with it the November 2023 security patches as well as other bug fixes and improvements, including:
Display & Graphics
* Fix for issue occasionally causing a green flash when the display is turning off in certain conditions [1]
NFC
* Fix for issue occasionally causing NFC and related services to have instability in certain conditions
System
* Fix for issue occasionally causing system instability when apps request an app that is no longer installed
* Fix for issue occasionally causing devices with multiple users enabled to show out of space or be in a reboot loop [3]
User Interface
* Fix for issue occasionally causing desktop icons to disappear after unlocking device
* Fix for issue occasionally causing the wallpaper to be misaligned for devices with a notch or hole punch camera
Touch
* Fix for issue occasionally causing screen jerkiness when touch registration becomes imprecise [2]
[1] Pixel 7 Pro
[2] Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 8
[3] Pixel 6, Pixel 6a, 6 Pro, 7, 7 Pro, 7a, Tablet, Fold, Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro
Unfortunately, sideloading the OTA update via the Android Recovery does not fix the issue on devices that are repeatedly rebooting. If your device is affected by this bug and is repeatedly rebooting, it seems your only option at the moment is to do a factory data reset.
The update has a build ID of UP1A.231105.00X and brings with it the November 2023 security patches as well as other bug fixes and improvements, including:
Display & Graphics
* Fix for issue occasionally causing a green flash when the display is turning off in certain conditions [1]
NFC
* Fix for issue occasionally causing NFC and related services to have instability in certain conditions
System
* Fix for issue occasionally causing system instability when apps request an app that is no longer installed
* Fix for issue occasionally causing devices with multiple users enabled to show out of space or be in a reboot loop [3]
User Interface
* Fix for issue occasionally causing desktop icons to disappear after unlocking device
* Fix for issue occasionally causing the wallpaper to be misaligned for devices with a notch or hole punch camera
Touch
* Fix for issue occasionally causing screen jerkiness when touch registration becomes imprecise [2]
[1] Pixel 7 Pro
[2] Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 8
[3] Pixel 6, Pixel 6a, 6 Pro, 7, 7 Pro, 7a, Tablet, Fold, Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro
Unfortunately, sideloading the OTA update via the Android Recovery does not fix the issue on devices that are repeatedly rebooting. If your device is affected by this bug and is repeatedly rebooting, it seems your only option at the moment is to do a factory data reset.
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Sony is starting to roll out its Android 14 update, starting with the Xperia 1 V in Europe. The 1.3GB update has a build number of 67.1.A.2.112 and the October 2023 security patches. The kernel version is 5.15.74-android13 (the chipset is under GRF).
Here's what's new:
* Improved Bokeh mode from the Xperia 5 V. This improved mode adds the ability to decrease focus in the background to emphasize objects at the foreground. Available on 24mm lens and 48mm focal length.
* Video Creator app from the Xperia 5 V is now preinstalled. This app enables the quick and easy creation of short videos with advanced editing features. You can compile a range of short clips with the ability to add music and effects with Auto Edit.
* Lock screen shortcut customization. Android 13 on Xperia already had lock screen shortcuts, but the Android 14 release implements AOSP's lock screen shortcut customization feature. This is available through the ThemePicker. The lock screen clock styles as seen on Pixel phones running Android 14 are not available, as those are Pixel-exclusive. However, Sony's existing slate of lock screen clocks are still there.
* Other Android 14 features. See my past posts for more info😃
Thanks to Redka for the screenshots!
(As you can notice, Android on Xperia allows you to have two shortcuts on each side. AOSP's lock screen shortcut feature actually allows for this, but it has to be configured by the OEM)
Here's what's new:
* Improved Bokeh mode from the Xperia 5 V. This improved mode adds the ability to decrease focus in the background to emphasize objects at the foreground. Available on 24mm lens and 48mm focal length.
* Video Creator app from the Xperia 5 V is now preinstalled. This app enables the quick and easy creation of short videos with advanced editing features. You can compile a range of short clips with the ability to add music and effects with Auto Edit.
* Lock screen shortcut customization. Android 13 on Xperia already had lock screen shortcuts, but the Android 14 release implements AOSP's lock screen shortcut customization feature. This is available through the ThemePicker. The lock screen clock styles as seen on Pixel phones running Android 14 are not available, as those are Pixel-exclusive. However, Sony's existing slate of lock screen clocks are still there.
* Other Android 14 features. See my past posts for more info😃
Thanks to Redka for the screenshots!
(As you can notice, Android on Xperia allows you to have two shortcuts on each side. AOSP's lock screen shortcut feature actually allows for this, but it has to be configured by the OEM)
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