r/Android • u/onesixoneeight Pxl9Pro • Dec 30 '13
Question Moronic Monday (Dec 30th 2013) - Your weekly questions thread! Also, VOTE for your Android App of the Year for 2013! Also, the /r/Android Phone of the Year 2013 is....
FIRST: GO HERE AND VOTE FOR YOUR ANDROID APP OF THE YEAR OF 2013! I didn't have time to check if these were all from this year, but in any case they either received significant updates/changes or enjoyed surging popularity this year- enough to make them noteworthy as candidates. I hope you'll understand that ain't nobody got time to corroborate and substantiate all dat. I omitted some obvious self-promotion apps, and also included some other notable ones that weren't in the nomination list, based on their meteoric popularity in the general appmosphere.
Results will be announced this Saturday.
MOVING ON
Ladies and gentlemen, the Android phone of year 2013 is:
- 1st place: Nexus 5 - 39%
- 2nd place: Moto X - 14%
- 3rd place: HTC One - 12%
- 4th place: LG G2 - 10%
- 5th place: Moto G - 6%
- -th place: Note 3 - 5%
- 7th place: No clear winner too many impressed this year - 5%
- 8th place: Galaxy S4 - 4%
- 9th place: Xperia Z1 - 3%
- 10th place: Galaxy S4 GE - 1%
Total votes = 797
(Percentages rounded up to nearest whole number.)
Note 1. If you're looking for more knowledge then join us at /r/MoronicMondayAndroid, a subreddit serving as a read-only repository for retired MM threads and guest posts such as FLASH Friday the Saturday APPreciation threads. Much knowledge lies therein. Just pick any thread and Ctrl-F your way to wisdom!
Note 2. Posting direct links to APKs via Dropbox or other file-hosting sites will get you banned. Don't do it!
DON'T FORGET TO SORT BY NEW WITHOUT CHANGING THE DEFAULT SORTING METHOD, TOP QUESTIONS ALREADY HAVE ANSWERS.
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Dec 30 '13
This seems easy, but for the life of me I can't figure this out.
I currently have a my phone connected via bluetooth to a wireless speaker to listen to music around the house. When I receive a phonecall however, I want the phone to disable bluetooth so that I receive the call on my phone, not the speaker. Any suggestions?
(not rooted at this point, so tasker isn't an option.)
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u/redinyourhead Dec 30 '13
You should be able to select which options you want the blue tooth device to use, in the options for that device.
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u/summervacationtoHoth Dec 30 '13
I don't believe that Tasker requires root to turn off or disconnect BT connections. Much of what Tasker is capable of does not require root.
There are several apps for automatically managing BT connections, however they are basically the opposite of what you're trying to do. None of them require root to manage BT state, so you could probably do what you want with Tasker without being rooted.
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Dec 30 '13
Thanks for the tasker tip. I'll give that a try!
As you mentioned, all these apps do the opposite. I was actually suprised its not a more common issue, with the rise in use of bluetooth enabled speakers.
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u/WalterMelons Dec 30 '13
Not sure if it's the same but my galaxy nexus brings this up when I hit the menu button next to my Bluetooth earpiece and speakers.
So you would just uncheck phone audio to get what you're looking for. My gnex is rooted with a custom ROM though so it may be different for you.
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u/blackpebble Jan 01 '14
I think Soundabout can solve your problem.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.woodslink.android.wiredheadphoneroutingfix
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u/phaseL Dec 30 '13
Really only way I know how without Tasker would be to switch the source when you receive the call. The button placement may vary depending on your dialer, but with me it's the second button from the left. The same button that allows you to switch the speaker on.
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Dec 30 '13
Thanks for your help. I'm a bit confused by your description of the button to change the source. Wouldn't happen to have a screen shot available?
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u/phaseL Dec 30 '13
It's not connected to BT at the moment so I can't you you exactly, but when you hit that button it should present options for BT, Speaker, and Phone (when you are connected to BT, otherwise it just toggles speaker/phone).
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u/TheRealFlatStanley Dec 30 '13
If I install and use a new launcher, do I need to remove all the widgets from the old one to prevent them from using RAM and processor time?
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u/ProtoKun7 Dec 30 '13
No; the launcher won't be in memory and will stay inactive until you load it up.
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u/TheRealFlatStanley Dec 30 '13
If some of the old widgets have background functions (like checking for weather), do I need to explicitly disable those features?
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u/ProtoKun7 Dec 30 '13
I don't think it would cause a problem, but if you like, try comparing your experience before disabling them with afterwards. Good question though; I'm not actually certain.
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u/wub_wub Dec 30 '13
No, they might stick in memory some time after you switch launchers and don't reboot but eventually they'll be killed and won't be restarted.
I have a bunch of widgets on different launcher and none of them running right now...
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u/TreyTrey23 Dec 30 '13
Is there any app that allows me to wirelessly stream videos from my phone to my PS3?
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u/JustRollWithIt Dec 30 '13
Link me: bubbleupnp
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u/PlayStoreLinks_Bot Dec 30 '13
BubbleUPnP UPnP/DLNA - Search for "Bubbleupnp" on the Play Store
**VERSION 2 IS OUT! See what's ^new!** Feedback/bug report? Send a message to my author: cris9696.
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u/sqlpro Jan 01 '14
link me:skifta.
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u/PlayStoreLinks_Bot Jan 01 '14
Skifta - Search for "Skifta" on the Play Store
**About the ^bot.** Feedback/bug report? Send a message to cris9696.
6
Dec 30 '13
Last night my SD card "unmounted" on my S4. I took it out and put it back in.
I wake up to "SD card unexpectedly removed" and now it won't read it.
I have half my apps and ALL my music on this thing. I put it into a micro SD card reader and put that into a regular SD card reader but my computer can't seem to read it, either.
What do I do? :(
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u/Yoddel_Hickory Dec 30 '13
Same thing happened to me and only one of the computers in the house could read it... Any other sd card slot or usb adapter you could try?
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Dec 30 '13
I tried three computers, two SD card slots, 7 USB slots... It just doesn't detect it, not even to format it :(
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u/Yoddel_Hickory Dec 30 '13
Oh that's too bad... Mine never worked again but at least I could recover the pictures... If it is of any help the only computer that detected it was running Linux mint...
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Dec 30 '13
So it sounds like it's totally dead, then. Do you have any brand recommendations? I really hate to have to buy another one, but I need it for music.
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u/gsim89 Dec 30 '13
There's hope! I had an SD card full of pictures that got corrupted (no longer recognized) but I was able to find recovery software for free that got them all (and even some I had deleted before) back. I don't remember the name but some Googling should get you what you need.
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Dec 30 '13
I tried Recuva but it only works on loadable drives. This drive is downright not detected by anything.
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u/Fluffywings Dec 31 '13
You can try a recovery program on you computer such as Recuva. Chances are there is nothing you can really do though. I use BitTorrent Sync to keep my card in sync with a folder on my desktop to prevent this issue.
Linkme: BitTorrent Sync.
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u/vowel_sounds Dec 31 '13
I've had the same thing happen a few times with my boyfriend's Samsung. (I've stopped putting them in his phone. They're too expensive.) I can't recall the source, but when I was searching for a solution online, I read that there was a problem with Samsung devices corrupting micro SDs... I don't know if there's any truth to it, but maybe try to set up some sort of backup system (dropbox maybe?) so you don't lose anything... Sorry I couldn't be any more help :/
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Jan 01 '14
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Jan 01 '14
Im not sure why so many people are missing "computer can't read it".
It isn't detected. It cannot be checked if the ocmputer doesn't think it exists.
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Dec 30 '13
I recently purchased and LGG2 and had no problems with it until recently. At first the phone lasted for like 30 hours on batter life and now I am losing around 40% when I go to sleep. Half of my Battery is being drained by the Android OS and the Android System and I don't know what else to do. Is there any way to fix this or do i have to go to the Verizon store?
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u/tyderian Dec 30 '13
Use something like Better Battery Stats and see if anything is causing an unusual amount of wakelocks.
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u/vnarsenal Jan 02 '14
I could never read BBS. Came across Wakelock Detector which is better.
Link me: WakeLock Detector.
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u/PlayStoreLinks_Bot Jan 02 '14
Wakelock Detector-Save Battery - Search for "Wakelock Detector" on the Play Store
**I am now open ^source!** Feedback/bug report? Send a message to cris9696.
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u/fachri_naufal Dec 31 '13
This problem also occurred on my phone. I thought it's CyanogenMod's fault, but I Googled this problem and how to fix it: Uncheck some of your auto sync on Settings>Accounts>Google
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Dec 31 '13
the thing is I don't have any sync or location access on yet I'm losing 1% batter every 2 minutes when browsing the internet
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u/Purpletech Dec 31 '13
Come over to r/lgg2
Also, stop the process "Android system" completely. If your reboot, you'll have to stop it again.
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u/spyder52 Dec 30 '13
Why does the Nova wallpaper scroll not act like the default Nexus 5 Kitkat one? It is too fast!
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u/ken27238 Dec 30 '13
It seems to have to do with the number of home screens one has. I added five to my three and it slowed down.
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u/Yamame Dec 31 '13
You can reduce the amount of wallpaper scrolled for every screen. It's a bit hacky, but it's possible.
Download Preferences Manager from the play store. We're going to tamper Nova's behaviour manually. Of course root is needed.
Turn on "Wallpaper scrolling" at Nova setting.
Set your desired wallpaper.
Open Preferences Manager then search for Nova Launcher. You will be given large amount of variables to play with. We are interested in two of them, wallpaper_scrolling_force_height and wallpaper_scrolling_force_width.
Enter your screen height resolution for the height variable. For example i use a 1280x720 2012 N7 for this, so i enter the value 1280.
Enter your desired value of width variable. I recommend you to set the value to twice of your device width resolution (In this case, 2x720 = 1440). Do note that the image crop from the center.
To better illustrate my point, if you use this technique to this pic with the same value as i use before, the purple box will be completely gone.
The downside of it is that you need to change the value for everytime you change wallpaper.
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Dec 30 '13
Alternatively, you can use the Nova Wallpaper Settings and (with the crop tool) make a static wallpaper that doesn't move.
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u/LostEnd Dec 30 '13
Is there a way to direct streaming videos (such as from movieDroid or TV portal) to a DLNA client (such as Xbox)? On my galaxy note 10.1, the Samsung video player can redirect the video that's playing to another dlna client but it cannot open all the videos which I believe is due to a codec issue. So, is there another video player who can do that or is it possible to install codecs to Samsung video player? I am aware of some UPnP apps but afaik they don't redirect currently playing video but only the videos from your library.
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u/Schlick7 Dec 31 '13
Somebody mentioned bubbleupnp somewhere. It claims to be able to control the streams to other devices so this might be what youre looking for. Good luck.
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u/LostEnd Dec 31 '13
Thanks for the answer but afaik bubbleupnp does not redirect the current playing video but a video from a library. So that means you need to have the video file downloaded somewhere.
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u/PrObLy Jan 01 '14
I'm not positive if this will do everything you're looking for, but might be worth a try:
Link me: vGet
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u/PlayStoreLinks_Bot Jan 01 '14
vGet Stream, Download, DLNA - Search for "Vget" on the Play Store
**About the ^bot.** Feedback/bug report? Send a message to cris9696.
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u/Gokusan Dec 30 '13
Can someone tell me why my girlfriend's email account is synced with mine?
It's really bothering because everytime I try to connect her to her Chrome account, it syncs all my history + bookmarks etc..
Is there any way to unlink her account from mine?
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u/phaseL Dec 30 '13
Do you guys share any apps with Google sign-in? For example, I have my All Access account on my device and a friend's, but because of that, they can access all my contacts/emails/etc.
On her device, go into Settings>Accounts>Google and see if you are syncing there.
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u/Gokusan Dec 30 '13
I see. So if she syncs my gmail on her phone, EVERYTHING gets synced?
That's quite a burden, but I guess I can live with that.
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u/phaseL Dec 30 '13
When you go into the Google account in Settings, you should get all the various services that are syncing, and be able to uncheck them.
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Dec 30 '13
You can selectively sync only gmail in settings > Accounts > Google and tap on your gf's account.
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u/Fluffywings Dec 31 '13
Settings, accounts, uncheck everything you don't want synced. If you don't want the account on your phone at all, remove it.
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u/Gokusan Jan 01 '14
I should have mentioned that I meant Chrome on Desktop. Is it the same issue?
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u/Fluffywings Jan 01 '14
I am confused by what you want. You are posting in an Android forum so is this issue related to Android?
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Dec 30 '13
Are google play and the amazon app store encrypted? Moreso, can someone get my info just by opening one of those apps on an open network but not entering any info?
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u/UltraLisp Dec 30 '13
Not sure about the encryption, but Play Store uses https...
Moreso, can someone get my info just by opening one of those apps on an open network but not entering any info?
I think so, if the app is built that way. Essentially, upon startup, an app that has the permissions (you have to check these in the popup that appears when you install it), could just send out whatever data it can find. It's a treacherous world for app lovers.
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u/TheGreenTurtle Dec 30 '13
Do the "data usage" stats on my moto g include WiFi data as well as 3g data? Or just 3g?
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u/summervacationtoHoth Dec 30 '13
In the top right corner there should be a three-dot button. If "Show Wi-Fi Usage" is checked, you'll have two tabs for data usage -- one for data and one for wi-fi.
Otherwise, the main "data usage" graph is just for mobile data.
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u/ProtoKun7 Dec 30 '13
Mobile data, but if you tick WiFi usage in the overflow menu you can have another tab added to show either.
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u/AGrainOfDust Dec 30 '13
Drastic isn't an option for best app of 2013?
Also an actual question, is there a consensus best File Explorer app out there? I've been using Astro and it's pretty good but I'm guessing there might be a better one out there.
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u/JustRollWithIt Dec 30 '13
I've been using solid explorer since the beta, and I love it. $2 well spent. The dual pane view is especially nice. I always have my internal storage on one pane and dropbox on the other. Makes it easy to transfer stuff.
Link me: solid explorer
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u/PlayStoreLinks_Bot Dec 30 '13
Solid Explorer Unlocker - Search for "Solid Explorer" on the Play Store
**VERSION 2 IS OUT! See what's ^new!** Feedback/bug report? Send a message to my author: cris9696.
3
u/Nafoni Dec 31 '13
+1 for Solid Explorer.
ES File Explorer is another very common (probably the most common) file explorer on Android, but unless you want a file explorer that looks like garbage and comes stuffed with 50 gimmicky-like features (imo) you will most likely never find yourself using, I'd steer away from ES File Explorer.
Solid Explorer strikes the perfect balance between design, UI and functionality, overall feel and polish. Definitely money well spent.
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u/QGDZHJ Dec 30 '13
Nexus 10 missing Google now gesture.
When swiping up all I get is a magnifying glass rather than the Google logo. This takes me to the most recently open app or does nothing.
There are two users on the tablet; one has no issues and the other seems to develop the issue. Factory rest and creating new users ended up with the same user loosing Google now when swiping up.
How do I get Google now working? What is causing this?
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u/JustRollWithIt Dec 30 '13
Do you have the Google search app installed for the second user?
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u/QGDZHJ Dec 31 '13
Can it even be uninstalled? pretty sure it's there and I have " uninstalled" it and then reinstalled it (updated).
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u/JustRollWithIt Dec 31 '13 edited Dec 31 '13
I had that issue once when the Gapps package I flashed didn't have Google Search, it worked fine when I installed it from the Play Store. That doesn't seem to be your issue though.
I just tried making a second user on my Nexus 10, and I don't have any problem with the Google Now. Even when I removed my Google account, the search app still opened up. For some reason your tablet isn't recognizing the Google Search app.
Have you tried clearing data, cache, and all that on it? If you have a custom recovery you might want to try fixing permissions. Or use Titanium Backup and uninstall, then reinstall from the Play Store if you're rooted.
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u/QGDZHJ Dec 31 '13
The tablet is stock and not rooted. I can access Google now by touching the search bar on the home screen. It is just the swipe that doesn't work. I have factory reset the tablet before and made new users. The swiped worked for a while but eventually all I got was the magnifying glass.
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u/HumbertHumbertHumber Dec 31 '13
My S2 just switched from am to pm and went one day ahead out of nowhere. An hour later it went back to normal. This is terrifying because I use it as an alarm clock. Anyone else experience this today?
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Dec 30 '13
0
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u/fachri_naufal Dec 31 '13
Try MixZing. I edited some song tags on MixZing, and the changes are read by PlayerPro.
Linkme: MixZing.
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Dec 31 '13
Link me: iTag
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u/PlayStoreLinks_Bot Dec 31 '13
iTag - Music Tag Editor - Search for "Itag" on the Play Store
**About the ^bot.** Feedback/bug report? Send a message to cris9696.
1
u/SquareSkeleton Jan 01 '14
A bit late, but the one that I use is mp3dit. It works pretty well, but the interface is quite gingerbread-y.
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u/Naterdam Jan 01 '14
Is there a way to fix this issue? All of my music have proper id3 tags, but when I'm transferring them to my SD card and using it in an android mp3 player maybe half of them just comes up as [unknown]... which is really weird: I can play the files just fine, but the metadata is seemingly removed.
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u/BilingualBloodFest Jan 02 '14
Poweramp and the paid version of Shuttle are the two big ones, but many others have this. Look for 'tag editing' in the app's list of features.
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u/phaseL Dec 30 '13
There are a few apps that can do this. I use this:
Link me: MP3 Tag Editor
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Dec 30 '13
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u/ccutler69 Dec 31 '13
This worked for someone with the same problem last week.
Pulled from here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5079636?tstart=0
I was having the problem when i switched from my iPhone to my Galaxy s4 where people using iPhones would try to text me and it wouldn't get to me because it would be sent in iMessage. Well i asked one of my friends who knows a lot about Apple products and he seems to have found a fix. What worked for me is to open iTunes, then go to account. Once there find the the section "iTunes in the cloud" and the option in there "Manage my devices". You have to go in there and remove your iPhone from the iCloud and that should work, or at least it did for me.
0
Dec 31 '13
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u/ccutler69 Dec 31 '13
I didn't try it personally. You might ask u/galaxys4helpplease, he said it worked for him.
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u/donkeedong Dec 30 '13
I've never used iMessage but I would recommend calling Apple or going to an Apple store and asking them.
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u/magnetopenguino Dec 31 '13
I've heard that changing your apple id password can fix this, but I haven't tried it myself. I would think calling Apples support would help if nothing else does, they should be able to remove your number from their database
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u/mustache_cashstash Jan 02 '14
i had the same problem. after i did all the things like unregister my iphone, turn imessage off, change password etc. i was still not getting texts. sure enough like 2 days after i did all that, everything was fine. my guess is that it takes a while for everything to get straightened out. also, if you're iphone friends have a red '!' next to the imessage bubble when they send you a text, tell them to restart the phone.
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Dec 30 '13
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u/JustRollWithIt Dec 31 '13
There are apps that simulate the always listening feature of the Moto X, but they will destroy your battery by keeping your phone constantly awake. The Moto X has specialized hardware to counter this.
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Dec 30 '13
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u/JustRollWithIt Dec 30 '13
I have also had this happen to me. I've been using [Changelog Droid] (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cypressworks.changelogviewer) to get notifications. It's quite nice to see all the changelogs in one place too.
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Dec 30 '13
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u/chronichyjinx Dec 31 '13
Load your Google Settings app and click on search. There you will be able to turn it on.
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u/ProtoKun7 Dec 30 '13
No question, but it's bugging me slightly that the percentage signs are before those numbers instead of after it.