Database Users

Notification Problem

Hey guys,
I don't know another place to ask for this.
I have my phone since Nov...
Before I had two iPhones for five years, so I wasn't informed about Android and that there are problems with some manufacturers because they don't want to unlock the bootloader and anything else. My first smartphone was a Galaxy S and at this time it was no problem to get root and install Cyanogen. So I thought it would be the same thing this time. But this is another problem. Just a little introduction about my bad knowledge about Android. Maybe it helps to solve my problems...
I want my phone to notificate me, if it is necessary. For example when I receive a Message(WhatsApp, Telegram, you know these). But most of the time Whatsapp doesn't want to check for new messages for itself. Sometimes I receive the notification instantly. Telegram doesn't inform me most of the time. So I have to open the App to see if there are new messages, but this cannot be the way it's meant.
When I open Telegram, the LED lights up und I get the notification in my notification bar.
In another forum a possible solution was to change the energy saving settings.
So I deactived most of them for Telegram. ->mustn't automatic start is off | planned activation in background is off | deep-sleep-mode is off
Only thing that I allowed is closing the app when I lock my phone. (I hope you understand the translation of the settings.. I can only read the german name for them)
Tapatalk, Wunderlist, FB Messenger(not important, I want to delete it some day), sometimes Youtube a list of the apps where I want to receive notifications but I don't.
Another strange problem has the standard clock widget. I installed Nova Launcher and put the clock widget on the first homescreen. But it updates the time only a few times a day. I didn't find a setting to "activate" the widget, like the energy savings or something similar. Now I have a weather widget at that place and this works. I can see the correct time and weather.
I don't know why this doesn't work properly. I hope that you guys can solve my problem with your big knowledge of Android.
Thanks for reading.

Few quick questions on MIUI 11

Can anyone help answer a few quick questions on MIUI 11 on the Redmi 7A ( or any other Xiaomi device) please?
1. Does MIUI 11 have the cursor magnifier bubble that pops up when editing text or moving the cursor? This is native in Android Pie but some Android 9.0 builds (I'm looking at you Samsung) didn't have it in. Do a lot of texting so this is really useful.
2. Is MIUI 11 still stuffed with ads like the previous versions? Have Xiaomi finally provided a one click option to remove / stop all ads?
3. Can you remove factory apps in MIUI 11, either through Settings or using adb? (I've no use for Facebook, Twitter and a bunch of other bloat in any ROM).
Thanks in advance, looking at getting a Redmi 7A (or Android Pie based Redmi device) as a cheap second phone which will e used for email, chat and text but find editing text is very fiddly on Android without the cursor magnifier thing that iOS has.

I can only answer questions 2 and 3. 2) Miui contains ads that can be disabled in each app from an option called recommendations. After this, the ads are not usually noticed in apps. 3) It is possible to debloat the device without root, there is even a tool that lets you see which apps you can disable: https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/development/miui-xiaomi-global-debloater-the4anoni-t3879739
My opinion: If you unlock the device, flash mokee, you can use it with up to android 10 (It has less lags than miui, and you can restrict usage in the background) and with/without gapps, and you will get a lot of battery. Or reach the end of the day with 60-70% (no games, occasional uses,we are in quarantine, I have not tried it in a day outside.).

So I ended up buying a brand new Redmi 7A running Global firmware Android Pie and can answer the questions:
1. MIUI 11 does not have the cursor magnifier thing like stock Android it uses the same teardrop bubble cursor that Samsung phones use (this might be fixed in MIUI 12).
2. Yes, it's still stuffed with ads and you have to go into individual apps to try and get rid of them. Even this doesn't work fully though, the whole UI is riddled with ads.
3. Not possible to remove the apps and in fact, it's the worst phone I've ever seen that doesn't even let you disable apps either. All the Google crap like Music, Movies, Books, Games, etc. you can't even disable let alone uninstall them like you can on other phones.
I had the phone for approximately 1 day, hated MIUI and promptly sent it back for a full refund. Never again Xiaomi

[GUIDE/HOWTO][G920/G925-F-FD-I-S-K-L-T-W8] Which ROM to use for best stability and functionality

Introduction
I have spent too many hours trying to find the perfect ROM to install on my Samsung Galaxy S6 phone. My goal was to find an ultra debloated ROM without any Samsung or Google stuff with the bare minimum. Turns out, it's impossible. I also wanted to use something new that went out of the normal boring stuff we are used to see. The ROM and Kernel selection is just enormous. I also needed to address a very specific issue which is to maintain the cell phone up to date with the latest ROM it can take to be stable and usable while being able to install the latest version of apps from Google Play. I have a SIM card but I never recieve any phone calls on it and it's an international card that I cannot use without high fees. It's basically used when my wife, from another country, needs to contact me via SMS. So phone calls using the default call app is just useless for me.
Apps that I excessively use
So here is the list of apps that I use, or shall I say, OVER-use:
Facebook Messenger (video calls)
Grandstream Wave - GS Wave (All my phone calls using SIP service)
Camera app (My wife is in another country for now so pictures and videos is our way of communicating)
Microsoft Launcher (the only free launcher having a good balance between customization and those notification dots)
Banking apps (2 major ones, 1 credit card app, PayPal and Xoom)
Games (2 to 4 mostly from AI Factory and 1 from Facebook app)
Facebook, Reddit and Discord
GMail
Total Commander + LAN plugin
Magisk (latest available version on GitHub)
AdAway (latest available version for ROM version installed, removes pretty much all the ads in my games and apps)
Google Play (Obviously)
Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge browser (depended on my mood as long as I was NOT using the infamous Google Chrome or Samsung Browser)
Open Camera (Only on AOSP roms or Stock roms higher than v7.0)
Problems / Issues / Bugs / Missing configs
After all of my tests, here is the list of all problems I have encountered under which ROM versions:
No floating video call window when call is unfocused. When unfocused, other person sees black screen until I get back the video call in full screen focus - Facebook Messenger (Stock rom v7.0) this issue does not happen on roms higher than v7.x, floating video call is possible with v8.x and higher roms.
Dark mode unavailable or requires heavy tweaks to fake or achieve a similar effect in OS, example, dark mode in the system settings menus - System configuration menus (Stock rom v7.x)
Camera's picture taking is not syncing with flash, therefor, picture is taken WITHOUT the flash leading to dark pictures - Default camera app (Stock roms higher than v7.0 and all AOSP roms)
Lower than usual voice recording audio - Facebook Messenger (sending a voice recording), Default camera app (all AOSP roms)
Unable to see the internal storage of my device in Windows Explorer - LineageOS roms (some custom roms do work that are not pure LineageOS)
Bluetooth connecting but no audio is directed to the device - Facebook Messenger and all other system sounds and music (AOSP roms higher than v7.x)
Bluetooth causes Facebook Messenger to drop connection when in use with BT device. Once disconnected, call ceases to drop - Facebook Messenger (AOSP roms)
Apps and system a tiny bit less responsive - Facebook game Words with Friends, Home screen and configs (Stock rom v7.0)
Contacts not syncing - GS Wave (AOSP roms with Open GApps Pico and Nano)
Username and passwords not automatically filled from stored passwords in Google account - Facebook, Reddit (All roms)
GMail dark mode and dark mode option unavailable - GMail (Stock rom v7.x)
Some games do not install or simply unavailable from Google Play - Super Mario Run (Highly debloated Stock rom v7.0)
Initial setup crashes after configuring the first time wifi connection, Google's update checking fails (AOSP roms with Open GApps)
When resizing the DP from 360 to 480 in the developper options, keyboard does not stretch to the entire screen width - System (Stock rom v7.x)
Lack of keyboard customization such as enabeling the numbers row instead of integrating them in the letter keys with long touch - System (all AOSP roms)
Random reboots or total system freeze. Very minimal and rare, not enough to remember too much about it, but still happened - System (Stock rom v7.0 other than SamStock)
Tests
My phone: Canadian Flat SM-G920W8
As of today, I have tested Ultimate Nougate, Oreo, Unofficial Lineage OS 14.1-17.1, FlynOS, NexusOS, S8 ports Note 8 ports, ViperOS, Marduck, SamStock, DotOS plus many other derivatives of LineageOS 16 and 17.1. If a rom was not mentioning compatibility with W8 version, I'd try using a compatible Kernel which seems to make the roms work and boot properly but most of these tests were performed with roms that stated supporting the T or W8 variants.
First test was to actually go through the Install process which Ultimate Oreo and 1 or 2 others failed. The amount of failed installs is very neglectible. Next was to actually boot into the OS. I got a few boot loops due to Kernel incompatibilities, again, just 1 or 2 failed REALLY and a few others were my fault for installing a wrong Kernel. So nothing to mention here too. Next was to actually be able to use the Camera app without doing anything else. All AOSP roms failed this. I simply opened the app, enabled flash and took a picture in a dark place. Picture has never been taken properly. Camera flashes correctly but picture is taken AFTER the flash turns out. Open Camera with the Camera API 2 enabled solved this issue.
Is was now left with rooting my phone. Note that most Stock roms and some AOSP roms have their own pre-built root which I utterly hate. Magisk is available and easily installable and works super fine so I do not need an old outdated version of Super SU or Magisk pre-installed. If the rom had Magisk pre-installed, I'd simply flash the Magisk app over it before booting to be at the latest version. I also needed to install Open GApps on AOSP roms and configure it. This was much easier to do when having a first time NO OPEN GAPPS intial boot. Basically, boot the first time without Open GApps, then reboot and install Open GApps and reboot to system, this resolves the wifi issue.
After all of this, it's time to let Google Play update everything it has to before starting to use Google Play and installing our apps. Turns out that I hate pretty much all of the launchers out there. They all have weird lacks. Lack of options, lack of configuration or no support for notification dots or a payment is needed to unlock this feature, lack of icon and folder lables. I tried the major ones and I even installed the hacked version available as torrents and I was not impressed by any one of them. Microsoft Launcher is the best one I know that offers enough options to configure what I want AND enables notification dots freely. The only last thing they could make available is the possibility to configure folder background colors and transparency and icon styles. To my opinion, that's all that's missing. I DO NOT use gestures so no comment on this.
Verdict
I absolutely NEED my bluetooth to work and I need this camera app to work flawlessly. This means that I am left with one single option. That is:
Stable Stock (Touchwiz based) rom version 7.0 (Nougat)
I tested some nice ones but again, I run into some issues, therefor:
MY RECOMMENDATION: SamStock ROM
ALTERNATIVELY, My Re-Pack of the above ROM: SamStock ROM (Lightly Debloated)
The only Problem I fell upon is the download which required me to use a separate download manager to download this rom from Android File Host. I also am displeased that SamStock DOES include his own version of Magisk integrated inside the rom so after rom installation, I have to flash MY version of Magisk immediately before booting. This rom is also completely Stock which means NO debloating, Everything is there, from Samsung apps to Google apps. Knox is the only thing that got removed. So this is also a very big file to download, almost 2gb when some roms go far below the 1gb size. So it's probably the most space greedy rom out there, but it's also the one I have the least problems with.
Why not the other roms such as Marduk? Because they are not 100% stock, they are moded stock roms with the author's personal touches and possible kernels. The customized roms brought some awkward issues at moments and made the phone unstable with some rare but random reboots and total freeze requiring me to hard reboot the phone using "Volume Down + Home + Power". Some others just had a weird issue where some apps and games were not available to download on Google Play while as with a same v7.0 rom like SamStock, these were available for download.
As for AOSP roms, the camera and bluetooth issues are just too major to make the roms usable on a daily basis. Open Camera DOES resolve the camera image issue but does not resolve the low volume issue.
I hope this will help any of you out there to clarify your decision on what to install. I did my job in trying pretty much all I could download from XDA for my version of the phone. I recon that some exceptions may happen and that you may have not run into any of the issues I listed. Please feel free to comment.
Reference and downloads
If you want a good list and explanations and valuable links for downloads, please checkout the website I dedicated for the Canadian model but also valid for other variants: http://dr.mywebcommunity.org/g920w8/
Website last update: 2021-09-01
Website update notes
2021-09-01
• Added my own "SamStock ROM (Lightly Debloated)" in the list
• Added "Recommended" tags in the "Downloads and links" section
• Added my recommended android launcher "Microsoft Launcher" in the apps list

Mod-coversation removed following up a personal conversation. Thank you XDA mods for your concerns about your online community!

I updated the website to include more information and added a few more links in the Downloads section. I also added a small menu to to make the navigation in the Downloads and links section a bit easier.
I also added a small text file listing the apps that can safely be removed in zipped Stock ROMS. Here's the direct link, it's also available in the "Downloads and links" section: http://dr.mywebcommunity.org/g920w8/debloat/debloat_safe.txt

MIUI.eu 12.5.2 keep killing all VPN (& background) apps

Hello,
This is a major headache for me. I know MIUI sucks at memory management and background process control.
But is there anyway to remedy this?
I already tried:
* disabling MIUI optimization
* disabling all per app battey saver settings.
* Change MIUI to performance mode with hidden setting app.
It didn't change anything, still killing all my VPN apps, BBS and greenify agent. Anything with persistent background process get killed seemingly at random intervals.
Please help if you can.
Thanks

Known issue and i think no remedy available while using any MIUI 12.5 version
Problems on MIUI 12.5.2
Good day! I installed different software versions on Android 11 (12.1.2 - 12.5.2). Everywhere recurring problems that were not in versions on Android 10: 1. Freezes the interface 2. Aggressive closing of applications in the background 3. Very long application launch (for example, Chrome starts...
xiaomi.eu
And never fixed by xiaomi for this phone...
Redmi K20 series users suffer with bugs and Xiaomi answers with end of support
Redmi K20 and K20 Pro users are complaining with the myriad of bugs on the Android 11 based build while Xiaomi announces end of support.
www.gizchina.com
Now half year later after the buggy "stable" release it's EOS
Xiaomi announces end-of-support for Redmi K20, Redmi Note 7 series, Mi Pad 4 series and more
https://www.gizmochina.com/2022/06/02/xiaomi-adds-10-devices-end-of-support-list-redmi-k20-mi-pad-4/
Up to the last Android 10 Version i had no problem with forced closure of background apps. I think it worked even for Xiaomi.eu/MIUI 12.1.2 (Not latest 12.5 version). So only way would be to downgrade or try out another non miui custom rom. Both would need a clean flash

How to stop disabled apps from running in the background?

Hi all,
I tried everything I could think of, to stop these apps from running in the background, disabled most of them in Settings, but they keep on popping up running in the background, when I run Optimize or just after I turn on internet (wifi/mobile data).
Please see screenshots
Apps: YouTube(though not used that day), Yellow pages (should not even run on global ROM and blocklist turned off), Blocked number storage (turned off in Settings), Emergency alerts (turned off in Settings), App Vault (turned off in Home Screen settings), Mi Coins (not used in global ROM, so should not even run), and some others.
II tried asking Xiaomi for help, but even though they promise to fix in next update nothing happens. I asked google for help with Emergency alerts, since its their app, they never reply.
Can you help?
Take in mind my phone is not rooted.
Please click on the screenshots to see full picture