Database Users

Loads of Questions Regarding my Nexus 4

Hello guys,
Firstly, I have to thank all members of this forum for helping newbies like me to do wonders with our phones.
On topic, I have recently purchased the much coveted Nexus 4. The first thing I did after unboxing it was to unlock and root it.
And up until now I have been quite content using the stock ROM. But, now I want to mix it up a little bit.
Through XDA I have become aware of quite a few ways of modding my phone and generally I do not like to do anything without knowing what I am doing. So, therefore there a number of unanswered questions in my mind, which I hope that you guys can help me out with.
Adsaway
1. I have been using Adsaway ever since I rooted my phone and got to say, its amazing. But, I have been wondering if there is any way by which I could replace "Webpage not found" with something like a plain white color or plain black color. The "webpage not found" notification in place of the ads is quite ugly.
2. Talking about ads, I understand that adsaway only prevents you from receiving the ad instead of blocking the request for the ad. I found this thread on XDA where someone said that you could considerably increase battery life by using Lucky Patcher (no, I do not use this tool for cracking). I want to know how safe this is especially considering that you can mess up your phone using Lucky Patcher. Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=28929442
Improving Battery Life
Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2107163
This thread talks about how you can improve your battery life by flashing factory images. I definitely want to try it out. But, if I flash factory images wouldn't I be flashing the custom recovery too? And, does this mean that I have to stay on stock ROMs to improve battery life? I kind of find it a little bit confusing.
Further, he talks about 'kernel'. Being an engineer, I know what a kernel is. But, in the context of android, when flashing ROMs, is the kernel included with the custom ROM? or do you have to install the kernel separately? And, what are the advantages of flashing a custom kernel?
Titanium Backup
1. I know that this tool backs up your phone by basically creating a image file but I have no idea on how to use it to flash custom ROMs. An explanation or a link would be really helpful. If this question has been asked and answered before, sorry for asking it again.
2. Since the Nexus does not come with any desktop software, how do you do a normal backup of your phone? Again, this is a very basic question and I could probably find the answer online so feel free to ignore this question.
Finally, thank you all for being so patient and answering my queries. I hope that this will help other newbies as well.

Hi, I may be able to help with some of your questions.
I'm not sure but the "Webpage not found" error may be a result of the browser you use, or not . Anyway I use the app 'Adaway' with the Chrome beta browser and do not get that error in either the browser or other apps that have ads in them.
The first time I've heard of Lucky Patcher so I cant comment. But I personally wouldn't install it unless it is open source and proven not to be stealing your info. these kind of things are sketchy in my opinion. The thing is with adaway it is changing your Hosts file so any ad request is pointing back to the phone. So its not like you are using data to block the ads. So I can't imagine there is a huge battery savings.
From reading the thread about flashing the stock Image, it seems very hit or miss on getting any results. If you are planning to run a custom rom I wouldn't bother. When installing a rom you will usually be wiping all of that anyway.
Roms come with a kernel built in. The advantages of changing kernels depend on what kernel you install but they usually include options to be able to under or overclock the cpu and gpu. Adjust the voltages of the cpu. Change the cpu and gpu governors and i/o scheduler as well as the readahead value for eMMC. You can adjust color and gamma values for the screen. Adjust the vibration level of the phone. And some kernel developers will add their own tweeks to the governors for improved performance.
Titanium backup actually backs up each app and its associated data on your phone allowing you to restore them after flashing a new rom. You can restore apps themselves after a new rom install from the play store without using something like titanium backup but you will lose any data that is associated with that app. Restoring app data can cause issues though. So it is not recommended to restore any system apps after a rom install although I usually will restore Phone/Messaging storage data and have never had an issue but the possibility is there.
In the process of installing custom roms you will need to install a custom bootloader. Either CWM or TWRP usually. These bootloaders give you the option to do a full system image called a Nandroid. This is what most people use as a backup.
Hope this is some help. I am no expert, this is just what I have learned from experiance here at XDA.

linelock said:
Hi, I may be able to help with some of your questions.
I'm not sure but the "Webpage not found" error may be a result of the browser you use, or not . Anyway I use the app 'Adaway' with the Chrome beta browser and do not get that error in either the browser or other apps that have ads in them.
The first time I've heard of Lucky Patcher so I cant comment. But I personally wouldn't install it unless it is open source and proven not to be stealing your info. these kind of things are sketchy in my opinion. The thing is with adaway it is changing your Hosts file so any ad request is pointing back to the phone. So its not like you are using data to block the ads. So I can't imagine there is a huge battery savings.
From reading the thread about flashing the stock Image, it seems very hit or miss on getting any results. If you are planning to run a custom rom I wouldn't bother. When installing a rom you will usually be wiping all of that anyway.
Roms come with a kernel built in. The advantages of changing kernels depend on what kernel you install but they usually include options to be able to under or overclock the cpu and gpu. Adjust the voltages of the cpu. Change the cpu and gpu governors and i/o scheduler as well as the readahead value for eMMC. You can adjust color and gamma values for the screen. Adjust the vibration level of the phone. And some kernel developers will add their own tweeks to the governors for improved performance.
Titanium backup actually backs up each app and its associated data on your phone allowing you to restore them after flashing a new rom. You can restore apps themselves after a new rom install from the play store without using something like titanium backup but you will lose any data that is associated with that app. Restoring app data can cause issues though. So it is not recommended to restore any system apps after a rom install although I usually will restore Phone/Messaging storage data and have never had an issue but the possibility is there.
In the process of installing custom roms you will need to install a custom bootloader. Either CWM or TWRP usually. These bootloaders give you the option to do a full system image called a Nandroid. This is what most people use as a backup.
Hope this is some help. I am no expert, this is just what I have learned from experiance here at XDA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, thanks for the comprehensive reply. It answers many of my questions. Firstly, I am going to do away with Lucky Patcher and at this time I do not think I need a custom kernel.
However, after reading your reply I have a fresh set of questions:
1. If restoring apps can cause issues, then what is the alternative if you do not want to lose your app data? Are you saying that once I install the custom ROM, I could restore most apps using Titanium Backup but for system apps (meaning root access apps right?) I should just do a fresh install from the Play Store?
2. I have already flashed CWM during root so 1 plus point for me . From your description, it is my understanding that people will create a Nandroid right before flashing a custom ROM/kernel so that in case anything goes wrong they can just restore back to previous state using the Nandroid image. Again, correct me if I am wrong.
Well and another problem that I forgot to mention in my opening post is with my WiFi:
Many a times, even after connecting to my home wifi network, I cannot access the internet. Then, if I reboot my phone and reconnect to wifi it starts working. Weird, I know. And, no its not a problem with my WiFi network, I verified that.

w1ndhawk said:
Adsaway
1. I have been using Adsaway ever since I rooted my phone and got to say, its amazing. But, I have been wondering if there is any way by which I could replace "Webpage not found" with something like a plain white color or plain black color. The "webpage not found" notification in place of the ads is quite ugly.
2. Talking about ads, I understand that adsaway only prevents you from receiving the ad instead of blocking the request for the ad. I found this thread on XDA where someone said that you could considerably increase battery life by using Lucky Patcher (no, I do not use this tool for cracking). I want to know how safe this is especially considering that you can mess up your phone using Lucky Patcher. Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=28929442
Improving Battery Life
Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2107163
This thread talks about how you can improve your battery life by flashing factory images. I definitely want to try it out. But, if I flash factory images wouldn't I be flashing the custom recovery too? And, does this mean that I have to stay on stock ROMs to improve battery life? I kind of find it a little bit confusing.
Further, he talks about 'kernel'. Being an engineer, I know what a kernel is. But, in the context of android, when flashing ROMs, is the kernel included with the custom ROM? or do you have to install the kernel separately? And, what are the advantages of flashing a custom kernel?
Titanium Backup
1. I know that this tool backs up your phone by basically creating a image file but I have no idea on how to use it to flash custom ROMs. An explanation or a link would be really helpful. If this question has been asked and answered before, sorry for asking it again.
2. Since the Nexus does not come with any desktop software, how do you do a normal backup of your phone? Again, this is a very basic question and I could probably find the answer online so feel free to ignore this question.
Finally, thank you all for being so patient and answering my queries. I hope that this will help other newbies as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2. Adsaway blocks ads in apps so they aren't downloaded AFAIK(don't see the Download arrow in status bar) which saves power
3. You don't have to stay on stock after flashing the images. The images touch different partitions that were probably flashed improperly at the factory.
4.Kernels are already inside custom Roms. Custom kernels that are available separate have their own perks though and are from different Devs.
6. For Titanium after you backup you just connect your phone to your pc and it'll be detected. No desktop software is needed, just drap and drop.

By system apps I mean things like android settings. I use TB for stuff like games so I don't have to stay over from the start. when you install TB you will see what is labeled as a system app and what is labeled as a user app.
Exactly, a nandroid is a like a disk image that you can restore.
Sorry I can't help with your wifi issue, I'm not having that problem.

@Ace42
Ok so I guess it should do no harm if I first flash stock images and then over that flash the custom . NM/kernel of my choice. In fact there is a chance it may improve my battery life.
Thanks for clarifying the titanium backup part, it sounds simple enough.
OT:
I managed to solve the webpage not found problem on ad away. All you have to do is enable web server in preferences.
Again, thank you guys.

linelock said:
From reading the thread about flashing the stock Image, it seems very hit or miss on getting any results. If you are planning to run a custom rom I wouldn't bother. When installing a rom you will usually be wiping all of that anyway.
In the process of installing custom roms you will need to install a custom bootloader. Either CWM or TWRP usually. These bootloaders give you the option to do a full system image called a Nandroid. This is what most people use as a backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These paragraphs are incorrect.
The top one was covered already.
There are no custom bootloaders for the Nexus 4. There are custom recoveries, but a bootloader is by no means a recovery. Do not confuse the two.

w1ndhawk said:
@Ace42
Ok so I guess it should do no harm if I first flash stock images and then over that flash the custom . NM/kernel of my choice. In fact there is a chance it may improve my battery life.
Thanks for clarifying the titanium backup part, it sounds simple enough.
OT:
I managed to solve the webpage not found problem on ad away. All you have to do is enable web server in preferences.
Again, thank you guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No harm at all. After you do the images you can go to whatever custom setup you wanted. It personally increased my battery life and many other users here by varying degrees.

lucky patcher is for using "stolen" apps, patching their licence checks etc. it is frowned upon and can carry many bad things in it.

simms22 said:
lucky patcher is for using "stolen" apps, patching their licence checks etc. it is frowned upon and can carry many bad things in it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, but apparently it does have its uses or so I've heard.
However, what do you mean it can carry many bad things?

I thought I’d give my 2 cents on Titanium Backup…
It doesn’t create an image file of the current state of your phone. That would be a Nandroid backup done via CWM Recovery.
Titanium Backup allows you to backup apps. That means apps installed by the user (user apps) and apps that came baked into the ROM (system apps). As mentioned, it’s not recommended to restore system apps because this often causes weird issues.
When you restore, you can also choose whether to restore the app only or the app plus data. In rare cases, restoring app data causes weird issues.
One of my favorite feature of Titanium Backup is how it allows you to create a zip file of your backup that can be flashed from recovery.
Everybody uses Titanium Backup differently. But here’s how I tend to use it when moving between ROMs.
1. Backup all user apps.
2. Create a zip of the backed up user apps (no app data).
3. Wipe data (factory reset), wipe dalvik cache, flash new ROM.
4. Boot into the newly flashed ROM and go through the initial setup process.
5. Reboot into recovery.
6. Flash the zip created by Titanium Backup.
Sure, I lose all app data, but that just means I guarantee myself a clean slate to start.

ohyeahar said:
I thought I’d give my 2 cents on Titanium Backup…
It doesn’t create an image file of the current state of your phone. That would be a Nandroid backup done via CWM Recovery.
Titanium Backup allows you to backup apps. That means apps installed by the user (user apps) and apps that came baked into the ROM (system apps). As mentioned, it’s not recommended to restore system apps because this often causes weird issues.
When you restore, you can also choose whether to restore the app only or the app plus data. In rare cases, restoring app data causes weird issues.
One of my favorite feature of Titanium Backup is how it allows you to create a zip file of your backup that can be flashed from recovery.
Everybody uses Titanium Backup differently. But here’s how I tend to use it when moving between ROMs.
1. Backup all user apps.
2. Create a zip of the backed up user apps (no app data).
3. Wipe data (factory reset), wipe dalvik cache, flash new ROM.
4. Boot into the newly flashed ROM and go through the initial setup process.
5. Reboot into recovery.
6. Flash the zip created by Titanium Backup.
Sure, I lose all app data, but that just means I guarantee myself a clean slate to start.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey thanks ohyeahar. Going to follow this when flashing my custom ROM.
So ideally, aside from user apps you shouldn't restore anything. However, I would like to save backup and restore my contacts and also app data for the game Subway Surf. How safe is this? And, let us suppose do I face some problems after restoring app data, will just uninstalling and resintalling the application suffice in alleviating the problems?
OT:
Now, that I will be flashing factory image (to try and improve my battery life), I assume I am going to lose my unlock+root. Should I be making a nandroid before doing this in the case of some problem?

Reflashing the system image will remove root yes, but your bootloader will still be unlocked. All you need to do after flashing the new system image is install http://download.chainfire.eu/306/SuperSU/UPDATE-SuperSU-v1.00.zip from CWM (or TWRP).
--You should always have at least one nandroid backup on your phone in case anything goes wrong.

w1ndhawk said:
Hey thanks ohyeahar. Going to follow this when flashing my custom ROM.
So ideally, aside from user apps you shouldn't restore anything. However, I would like to save backup and restore my contacts and also app data for the game Subway Surf. How safe is this? And, let us suppose do I face some problems after restoring app data, will just uninstalling and resintalling the application suffice in alleviating the problems?
OT:
Now, that I will be flashing factory image (to try and improve my battery life), I assume I am going to lose my unlock+root. Should I be making a nandroid before doing this in the case of some problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your contacts shouldn’t require backing up because they should be backed up to your Google account.
If you want to restore app data for certain apps, I would do it one at a time. That way, if problems occur, you at least know which app is the culprit.
If you uninstall and reinstall the problematic app, that would work. Or you can simply just go into the app settings and clear data for that app. That should be sufficient.

Going back to stock: restoring apps without root

Hello there!
I rooted my Nexus 6P, as I've done with every Android I've owned since my Nexus One, as soon as it arrived.
However, I really like NFC payments (we don't have Google Pay in Spain, but there are several banks that offer that option) and when the January security update came out, I un-rooted flashing everything.
After that, two of the bank apps worked, but one of them still refuses to do so.
In addition, I've been suffering from very, very, disappointing battery life: no more than 2 hours SOT and having to recharge twice a day.
So, I've decided to start from scratch, using the latest image that came out today.
But I have several questions and I'd be very grateful if somebody could answer them:
- First, and most important. I've been using Titanium Backup since the dawn of times in order to preserve my settings. I've a couple hundreds apps installed and making each of them behave as I like is a nightmare. Is there any rootless backup solution? I know Google backs up everything, but I don't know if every setting will be restored as I want.
- Second... actually there are no more questions, I can look for how-tos on how to flash the image, go back to default recovery...
Thanks in advance.

reycat said:
Hello there!
I rooted my Nexus 6P, as I've done with every Android I've owned since my Nexus One, as soon as it arrived.
However, I really like NFC payments (we don't have Google Pay in Spain, but there are several banks that offer that option) and when the January security update came out, I un-rooted flashing everything.
After that, two of the bank apps worked, but one of them still refuses to do so.
In addition, I've been suffering from very, very, disappointing battery life: no more than 2 hours SOT and having to recharge twice a day.
So, I've decided to start from scratch, using the latest image that came out today.
But I have several questions and I'd be very grateful if somebody could answer them:
- First, and most important. I've been using Titanium Backup since the dawn of times in order to preserve my settings. I've a couple hundreds apps installed and making each of them behave as I like is a nightmare. Is there any rootless backup solution? I know Google backs up everything, but I don't know if every setting will be restored as I want.
- Second... actually there are no more questions, I can look for how-tos on how to flash the image, go back to default recovery...
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In titanium backup you can have it export your backup to an update.zip that you can install via twrp. Having twrp as your recovery does not break Android Pay, as does root, xposed, etc..
edit: yes this applies to now, after google made changes to the server side that broke the root work-around

reycat said:
- First, and most important. I've been using Titanium Backup since the dawn of times in order to preserve my settings. I've a couple hundreds apps installed and making each of them behave as I like is a nightmare. Is there any rootless backup solution? I know Google backs up everything, but I don't know if every setting will be restored as I want.
- Second... actually there are no more questions, I can look for how-tos on how to flash the image, go back to default recovery...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been restoring what I can from my Google account for three phones now and, while it's best it's been on a Nexus, you still won't get app settings and full data restored, so Titanium is needed for that. I've never tested the zip export the first reply suggested, but that's an interesting idea. As for getting back to a stock install, there's a very handy guide at http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/general/guides-how-to-guides-beginners-t3206928 and it covers all scenarios thoroughly. The command line is really the fastest and easiest, as the guide includes code you can just copy and paste. I don't think it's been updated regarding root, because systemless as a way to preserve AP was just stopped by Google.

Barsky said:
In titanium backup you can have it export your backup to an update.zip that you can install via twrp. Having twrp as your recovery does not break Android Pay, as does root, xposed, etc..
edit: yes this applies to now, after google made changes to the server side that broke the root work-around
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have once tested the update option but what I got is only apps and not data. I'm pretty sure I chose app+data while doing the update zip.. Beware of such things happening.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Thanks a lot for your answers.
I've been reading and it seems that, without root, TiBa's update.zip file won't restore app data.
There seems to be another app, Helium, that does a neat trick. You have to connect your phone to your PC, and Helium talks to the PC so that it uses adb to create or restore the backup. No root needed. I think I'm going to take my chances with that.
ultyrunner, that's the guide I was planning on using in order to go back to stock... thanks again, you saved me the search

Nandroid backup bootloop

Hi guys, little issue here with nandroid backups. I've been using the 6p since it's release and have tried about 5 different Roms. I like switching between them monthly or weekly, but every time I attempt a nandroid restore, I get a boot loop. Every time. I'm using twrp recovery, and when I go into backup, I just leave the default ones chosen, but I've even tried choosing all of them. The boot loop goes on for over 10 minutes before I power it down. I've tried wiping the phone, minus storage, I've tried restoring without wiping and both fail.
Can anyone here tell me what I might be doing wrong? I've looked around for guides but they all seem to work without issue for everyone.
Edit: maybe if someone can write me a simple guide on how to do a nandroid or link me to one in case I missed a step, although it seems pretty straight forward, I'd appreciate it

Robertdudeman said:
Hi guys, little issue here with nandroid backups. I've been using the 6p since it's release and have tried about 5 different Roms. I like switching between them monthly or weekly, but every time I attempt a nandroid restore, I get a boot loop. Every time. I'm using twrp recovery, and when I go into backup, I just leave the default ones chosen, but I've even tried choosing all of them. The boot loop goes on for over 10 minutes before I power it down. I've tried wiping the phone, minus storage, I've tried restoring without wiping and both fail.
Can anyone here tell me what I might be doing wrong? I've looked around for guides but they all seem to work without issue for everyone.
Edit: maybe if someone can write me a simple guide on how to do a nandroid or link me to one in case I missed a step, although it seems pretty straight forward, I'd appreciate it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All you need for a backup is system, data, and boot if that's what you're doing it might be you need to flash the vendor

I'm having this issue as well. Maybe we can work together to narrow it down. This happens every time and the only reason can currently think of is that I may need to remove the fingerprint and pin security before the backup. My question to you is, have you tried disabling lockscreen security before backing up?

Robertdudeman said:
Hi guys, little issue here with nandroid backups. I've been using the 6p since it's release and have tried about 5 different Roms. I like switching between them monthly or weekly, but every time I attempt a nandroid restore, I get a boot loop. Every time. I'm using twrp recovery, and when I go into backup, I just leave the default ones chosen, but I've even tried choosing all of them. The boot loop goes on for over 10 minutes before I power it down. I've tried wiping the phone, minus storage, I've tried restoring without wiping and both fail.
Can anyone here tell me what I might be doing wrong? I've looked around for guides but they all seem to work without issue for everyone.
Edit: maybe if someone can write me a simple guide on how to do a nandroid or link me to one in case I missed a step, although it seems pretty straight forward, I'd appreciate it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
stryver said:
I'm having this issue as well. Maybe we can work together to narrow it down. This happens every time and the only reason can currently think of is that I may need to remove the fingerprint and pin security before the backup. My question to you is, have you tried disabling lockscreen security before backing up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're most likely selecting the wrong options when creating the backup. There's a section dedicated to nandroid backups in my guide here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/general/guides-how-to-guides-beginners-t3206928

This helped a lot, thank you.

learning experience

I did a stupid thing. I got away with it. Pure Nexus running normally now. Questions remain that boil down to this: why wasn't this a much bigger ordeal than it turns out to have been? I'd like to at least learn something when I do a bone headed thing. Here's the sequence of events.
1) 6p, pure nexus 7.1.2, latest vendor etc with twrp 2.8, rooted and running like a champ.
2) fooling around with different apps and so forth, took a look at a couple of dialers that I didn't much like, took them back off. After one of these the stock pure nexus phone app (I think this is just google dialer) started crashing constantly. Restoring titanium backups didn't stop it. Restoring a month old nandroid backup didn't stop it.
3) getting super annoyed (a poor time to start ripping stuff out), I wiped every partition on the phone in twrp except the SD card where all my recovery images and things like SuperSU.zip and some ROMs are stored. Wiped system, data, cache, boot, & dalvik cache.
4) restored a backup image and rebooted. Twrp gave me the no OS warning but I was on automatic pilot, swiped to reboot, and then I was like "what?! No OS! Wtf?" But I had already done the deed. Nothing to do now but wait to see what would happen. I was expecting moderately bad news - like I would end up monkeying with fastboot or adb if I couldn't boot back to twrp and flash the pure nexus image I was pretty sure I still had in storage.
5) result: pretty quickly I was watching the Pure Nexus boot animation so I knew that I was booting Pure Nexus. And this was the case. It took an extra long time like it does on the first boot but then there is was. Welcome. Let's get started. I set the phone back up and replaced most apps from backups and no harm, no foul. Also, the phone app stopped crashing. Bonus.
Now, I have no idea why I got the no OS warning from twrp. I'm sure that if I'd read it before I swiped to reboot and not after, like a bonehead, I would have done something like trying to flash the backup again or even the ROM I have on the SD card. Anything but reboot with the no OS warning on the screen. But the result was the same as if I'd flashed the ROM without, as I think of it now, flashing gapps or SuperSU. I had to go back and flash SuperSU but I put the apps back with titanium backup.
If anyone would like to take a shot at telling me how I got this result I think it might light up a dark area in my just-enough-experience-to-be-dangerous brain. Thanks in advance.

Truechunks said:
I did a stupid thing. I got away with it. Pure Nexus running normally now. Questions remain that boil down to this: why wasn't this a much bigger ordeal than it turns out to have been? I'd like to at least learn something when I do a bone headed thing. Here's the sequence of events.
1) 6p, pure nexus 7.1.2, latest vendor etc with twrp 2.8, rooted and running like a champ.
2) fooling around with different apps and so forth, took a look at a couple of dialers that I didn't much like, took them back off. After one of these the stock pure nexus phone app (I think this is just google dialer) started crashing constantly. Restoring titanium backups didn't stop it. Restoring a month old nandroid backup didn't stop it.
3) getting super annoyed (a poor time to start ripping stuff out), I wiped every partition on the phone in twrp except the SD card where all my recovery images and things like SuperSU.zip and some ROMs are stored. Wiped system, data, cache, boot, & dalvik cache.
4) restored a backup image and rebooted. Twrp gave me the no OS warning but I was on automatic pilot, swiped to reboot, and then I was like "what?! No OS! Wtf?" But I had already done the deed. Nothing to do now but wait to see what would happen. I was expecting moderately bad news - like I would end up monkeying with fastboot or adb if I couldn't boot back to twrp and flash the pure nexus image I was pretty sure I still had in storage.
5) result: pretty quickly I was watching the Pure Nexus boot animation so I knew that I was booting Pure Nexus. And this was the case. It took an extra long time like it does on the first boot but then there is was. Welcome. Let's get started. I set the phone back up and replaced most apps from backups and no harm, no foul. Also, the phone app stopped crashing. Bonus.
Now, I have no idea why I got the no OS warning from twrp. I'm sure that if I'd read it before I swiped to reboot and not after, like a bonehead, I would have done something like trying to flash the backup again or even the ROM I have on the SD card. Anything but reboot with the no OS warning on the screen. But the result was the same as if I'd flashed the ROM without, as I think of it now, flashing gapps or SuperSU. I had to go back and flash SuperSU but I put the apps back with titanium backup.
If anyone would like to take a shot at telling me how I got this result I think it might light up a dark area in my just-enough-experience-to-be-dangerous brain. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why are you still using TWRP 2.8? 3.11 is the latest version now. Not sure if it's related or not though.

My bad. That's the SuperSU version. TWRP is the latest. 3.1.1

Moderator Information,
Thread closed at OP's request.

TWRP for Essential?

Probably too soon to be asking but has anyone heard if Team Win is planning to support an Essential phone TWRP version?

Yes I know it's an old post, but I'm replying to this, rather then starting a new one...
Everyone knows TWRP sucks for this phone. Funny the OP asks about this. I was chatting the other day in the TWRP IRC channel on Freenode, and it seems, if they could get a phone, maybe this would be possible.
But in the meantime, is there anyone working on TWRP? It's really sad, that as long as this phone has been out, there's not better support for TWRP.
Hmm

I've only used twrp to boot to root on the PH1, but it does that perfectly every time (both IMG and zip).
What exactly doesn't it do?

kboya said:
I've only used twrp to boot to root on the PH1, but it does that perfectly every time (both IMG and zip).
What exactly doesn't it do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Doesn't fit screen properly
2. Touch & Typing doesn't work properly
3. Backups & Restore don't seem to work properly - I'm still playing with it, maybe because of A/B I'm going about it wrong.
If this would fit the screen properly, and the touch and typing worked better, then it wouldn't be half bad.

I haven't noticed the first 2 (but touch in twrp has been janky on various phones since it began... A quick search will show this.)
Not tried backup/restore as Ive not used alpha/beta indy ROMs for several years (pre-6p I'd guess). Good luck with your mod attempt.

kboya said:
I haven't noticed the first 2 (but touch in twrp has been janky on various phones since it began... A quick search will show this.)
Not tried backup/restore as Ive not used alpha/beta indy ROMs for several years (pre-6p I'd guess). Good luck with your mod attempt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it fits the screen properly, can you take a picture? I'd like to see this.
For me, twrp leaves a space on the entire right side, it doesn't fill the screen properly...
I went back playing, and I did get a backup to work ok, now I'll need to see about restoring it and see if that goes ok.

I don't remember anything like the missing part you describe and I think if notice that! Sure, but it'll be next week before I can.

kboya said:
I don't remember anything like the missing part you describe and I think if notice that! Sure, but it'll be next week before I can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on the forum this week, but can't boot into TWRP till next week... LOL
What you loose your phone?
I've attached two screen shots, notice all the red dots, showing the gap on the right, compared to the left, and how the top right doesn't wrap around too...

Hahaha, no, I'm on holiday abroad without a laptop and I only boot into twrp via fastboot.
I've not noticed the gap that you show, but I'm not sure it would bother me enough to really consider it
I'll have a look when I get back.

DoR3M3 said:
I've attached two screen shots, notice all the red dots, showing the gap on the right, compared to the left, and how the top right doesn't wrap around too...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kboya said:
Hahaha, no, I'm on holiday abroad without a laptop and I only boot into twrp via fastboot.
I've not noticed the gap that you show, but I'm not sure it would bother me enough to really consider it
I'll have a look when I get back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DoR3M3 said:
If it fits the screen properly, can you take a picture? I'd like to see this.
For me, twrp leaves a space on the entire right side, it doesn't fill the screen properly...
I went back playing, and I did get a backup to work ok, now I'll need to see about restoring it and see if that goes ok.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DoR3M3, he'll notice if he takes a close look at it. This is a documented issue that plagues EVERY PH1. It happens on my PH1 as well. Touch typing is indeed bad. The keyboard seems to be shifted left of what you actually are typing on.
Please keep us updated on your restoring experiences. I just rooted my 2nd PH1 and I'm also looking for ways to make a NANROID backup. Really want to hear your experience with the restoring part.
Thanks!

Try booting twrp on the opposite boot partition and make a nand backup from there and then try restoring from there. From what i understood it flashes to the opposite boot partition when twrp first came out im not sure if it still does that so its possible it does that to for nand backups and restores.

Ok I have managed to make a Backup and then Restore it!
MAKING THE BACKUP
These are the Steps I have taken, and take note, I do reboot, which some might assume isn't needed, but I have found, that if I didn't, then Magisk wasn't getting flashed in properly. Sometimes you just need to reboot between steps...
When you flash a Custom Rom, that should be on Slot A, then if you root with Magisk, Magisk will be flashed to Slot B. So now your BACKUP & RESTORE will be on Slot B! But some times I have seen people get their Slots flipped around, so however it ended up, the Slot you are making your BACKUP on, is the Slot that Magisk was flashed to, not the ROM!
1. IMPORTANT - TWRP does not backup the Internal Storage so this is a simple way of backing it up! Advanced > File Manager > data - RENAME the media folder > media.bak.
2. Now you are ready to make a BACKUP! All you need checked are Boot > System > Data - Click on (Auto Generate) to rename your BACKUP!
3. When the backup completes, now go back to Advanced > File Manager > data and you will see media, which is the new folder TWRP created with your backup in, and your old one you backed up, media.bak. Now you need to rename them both! Rename the new one to media.new and rename media.bak back to it's original name media. Now here's that reboot part I was talking about before, now Reboot > Bootloader.
4. For this step I'm assuming you're Rooted and using a Custom ROM, if that is the case, when you reboot back into TWRP > Install > lower right Install Image and pick the boot image, and make sure you flash it to Boot.
5. Now go back and Install Magisk.
6. You have now successfully made your TWRP backup, now reboot the system.
7. Once booted up and back in your system, start up your File Manager, I personally use and like FX File Manager with Root Access. Now you'll navigate to data and you should still see your two directories media & media.new. In FX File Manager I have this path, data > media.new > 0 > TWRP > BACKUPS. You want to copy BACKUPS to your Internal Storage TWRP directory. So in your Internal Storage you end up with TWRP > BACKUPS. Once you are done copying it, it's safe to delete the media.new directory, but just make sure you have copied the BACKUPS directory.
8. To test that you have your BACKUPS in the right path, boot into TWRP and click on Restore, if it shows up, you placed it in the correct path!
DOING THE RESTORE
With the A/B partitions, if you are rooted and running Magisk, then you will have noticed, that you installed your ROM into Slot A, then you should of rebooted back to the Bootloader, rebooted back into TWRP and installed the boot.img and Magisk, on Slot B. But as I mentioned above, some times people get their Slots flipped around, so remember, whichever Slot your flashed Magisk to, is the Slot you RESTORE on!
1. Boot into TWRP, which I'm assuming by my above statement, you are on Slot B, click Restore, click your backup, then make sure all partitions are checked, and then swipe.
2. Now reboot to the Bootloader, then reboot back into TWRP and Install your boot.img and Magisk.
3. Next go to Advanced > File Manager > data and you'll now see media & media.bak, confused? LOL Just think about it for a second, and you can delete media.bak.
4. Now reboot into your system and enjoy!

I'd like to add for anyone saying we don't need Twrp - Same reasons virtually every other phone gets a working build of it. If there was no need or demand for it, they'd cease to exist and people will stop using it. But every couple of weeks, there's an announcement of new phones getting TWRP.

DoR3M3 said:
Ok I have managed to make a Backup and then Restore it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol. Thanks for the step by step. It does seem a bit overwhelming for the uninitiated. I'll give it a try once I've had more time to digest the whole process.
Maybe we can get that post pinned. Thanks again for testing.

We do need TWRP, it's a great tool, that does simplify many things all in one...
@Lakino, it's not complicated at all, just a few steps, and once you've done it, then you'll see how easy it is, and come back and tell us then...

The TWRP guys have an Essential phone now so they will work on it but it sounds like not until Pie is figured out.

galakanokis said:
The TWRP guys have an Essential phone now so they will work on it but it sounds like not until Pie is figured out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Woo time to round up the Army and head over to Freenode - #twrp
Get your butts over their people!
I'll be looking for Essential peeps chatting...