Back Up Your Android Apps (& Their Data) Without Root

One of the few areas where Android lags behind iOS is a comprehensive backup solution for apps. Root tools, such as the popular Titanium Backup, are capable of backing up all of your apps and their data, but not everyone wants to root their device and potentially run into issues with voided warranties.

But Koushik Dutta (or simply, Koush), one of the more prolific Android and ex-CyanogenMod developers, has recently updated his Helium Backup service to include support for the Chrome web browser. This means that non-rooted Android users can now have an all-encompassing backup solution—regardless of what operating system their computer runs.

Step 1: Install Helium on Your Device

Helium works by pairing your phone with your computer to send a few commands that enable proper backups on Android. As such, you'll need to install the app on both your computer and your Android device.

Helium can be installed from the Google Play Store at this link, or you can simply search it by name from your Play Store app.

Step 2: Set up Helium on Your Device

When you first launch Helium, the app will ask if you'd like to attach your Google account for use in cross-device backup sync. Tap "OK" on this message, then select your Google account and provide your login credentials.

From here, press "OK" one more time, then Helium will prompt you to connect your phone to your computer with a USB data cable.

Step 3: Install Helium for Chrome

Google's Chrome browser is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, so make sure you have it installed on your system before you proceed.

The Helium Chrome app can be found at this link. Once you arrive at the install page, hit the "+ Free" button, then click "Add" on the popup.

As with any Chrome app, Helium can be accessed by opening the Chrome Apps menu in your computer's task bar or Chrome's own bookmarks bar.

Step 4: Sync Your Device with Your Computer

With your Android device connected to your computer, open the Helium app on both devices.

After a few seconds, Helium will pair the two devices and enable comprehensive backup for Android. You can disconnect your phone or tablet from your computer at this point.

Note that, as Android resets the changes Helium has made each time it starts up, you will need to repeat this pairing process any time you reboot your phone or tablet.

Step 5: Back Up your Apps

Over on your Android device again, use the Helium app to select which apps you'd like to have backed up. When you tap the "Backup" button, Helium will ask where you'd like to save your backup files. If you want to sync backups between your Android devices, make sure to select the "Google Drive" option.

Restoring apps on this or other Android devices can be done through the Helium app as well. Simply tap the "Restore and Sync" tab, then select your storage location.

Source: Drippler

15 Tips & Tricks for Android Lollipop Users

So you have Android 5.0 Lollipop on your Nexus. You might be feeling a little overwhelmed by all the changes and new features. We don’t blame you; the Lollipop changelog is longer than some short stories. If you’re a new Lollipop user we’ve got a few tips and tricks to help you get started with Google’s sweetest release.

Screen Pinning

A smartphone is full of personal information and sensitive content. This can make it difficult to let people use your phone without your supervision. “Screen Pinning” is a new feature that lets you lock your phone to one app.

The obvious example for this is when someone asks to use your phone to make a call. You can “pin” the Phone app so the user can’t do anything else. To enable this feature go to Settings > Security > Screen pinning. Then open the app you would like to pin, press the Overview (formerly multitasking) button, scroll up and tap the blue thumb tack icon in the bottom right corner of the most recent app. To unpin an app simply long-press the back and Overview buttons simultaneously.

Customize Notifications

Lollipop gives users control over notifications like never before. Every app installed on your device can be configured to send notifications only when you want to see them. There are three options for each app: block, priority, and sensitive.

Block – Never show notifications from the app.
Priority – Show notifications at the top of the list and let them through when in Priority Mode.
Sensitive – Content is not displayed in the lock screen notification

There are two ways to adjust these settings. You can long-press on any notification and select the (i) icon to go straight to the settings for that app. If you don’t want to wait around for a notification you can go to Settings > Sound & notification > App notifications.

Hide Sensitive Content

Like we mentioned above, you can hide sensitive notification content. With notifications now on the lock screen prying eyes can read them even if you have a password or pattern lock. You can mark apps individually as sensitive, like we talked about above, or you can let Android do it for you.

Go to Settings > Sound & notification > When device is locked. You’ll see three options that boil down to “show all, hide sensitive content, and show none.” Select the second option to hide sensitive content. Now when an app that you’ve marked as “Sensitive” displays a notification on the lock screen you’ll only see the app name and “contents hidden.”

Search for Settings

Android has a lot of settings. That’s a good thing for power users who love to tinker and customize everything. It can be a nightmare for average consumers to navigate. Google has done a lot to make the Settings experience easier, but the best thing they did was add the ability to search.

When you go to the Settings app you’ll see a new magnifying glass search icon in the top right. It appears on most pages within the Settings app. You can use it to find settings without digging in each page. The search results aren’t as robust as we’d like to see, but it does a fair job.

Battery Saver

One of the best new features in Lollipop is battery saver mode. Battery saver can help you squeeze out extra time when you really need it. When enabled it reduces your device’s performance, turns off vibrations, and blocks most background data. Battery saver can be turned on manually or set to automatically kick in when your battery is at 15% or 5%. You’ll know it’s working when the status and nav bars turn orange-red. To set up battery saver go to Settings > Battery > tap the menu button.

Smart Lock

It’s a good idea to have a layer of security on your device. The only problem with using a password or pattern lock is that it ends up slowing you down way more than anyone else. A new feature called “Smart Lock” lets you tell your phone when it’s safe. Right now there are three ways to make your phone trust you.

Trusted devices – Any Bluetooth or NFC device can be added here. When those devices are connected your lock screen security is disabled.

Trusted face – This is Google’s much better implementation of “Face Unlock.” After you scan your face it will look for you every time you unlock your device. If it recognizes you the lock screen security will be disabled.
Trusted places – In this option you’ll see any locations you’ve added to your Google account. You can toggle those on or add a new place manually. When you are in those locations the lock screen security will be disabled.

With these three options you can make it so you don’t have to constantly enter passwords or patterns, but if your device is stolen or left behind it will know to lock others out. These options can be accessed in Settings > Security > Smart Lock.

Choose Who Gets Priority

Earlier we talked about marking apps as “priority.” This puts notifications for those apps at the top of the list, but it also allows those apps to get through when you’re in Priority Mode. You can also choose certain people to get through Priority Mode.

Go to Settings > Sound & notification > Interruptions. Under the section titled “Priority Interruptions” you can choose who gets through Priority Mode. You can choose calls/messages from anyone, starred contacts, or only people in your contacts. This is perfect for those times you don’t want to be bothered, but still want to be reachable.

For those who are unfamiliar, Priority Mode is a way to allow only alarms and specific notifications to bother you. It can be enabled by pressing the volume buttons and choosing PRIORITY.

Do Not Disturb

We’ve already talked about Priority mode notifications, but Lollipop also added a “Do Not Disturb” mode. This is something that the iPhone has had for a long time (even a dedicated physical button), but Android has lacked. Do Not Disturb is like silent mode on steroids.

When you press the volume buttons you’ll see an option for NONE. That’s what we’re calling “Do Not Disturb.” When you’re in this mode you will not be disturbed by anything. Even alarms can’t get through this mode. Like Priority mode you can set it indefinitely or for a few hours at a time.

Quick Flashlight

Finally! The days of having to install 3rd-party flashlight apps are over. Google has added a Flashlight toggle to the Quick Settings. To access the Flashlight toggle you can swipe down from the top of the display with two fingers (or pull down on the notification shade) and tap “Flashlight.” Your LED flash should immediately turn on.

Restore to Previous Android Device

Android’s Setup Wizard has never been an elegant process. You sign into your Google account, opt in or out for a few things and you’re on your way. Sometimes all your previously downloaded apps would begin downloading from Google Play Store, but sometimes they wouldn’t. It’s always been hit or miss, and there was no real way to actually manage what was being restored.

That has all been changed in Lollipop. There is a new option that will allow you to restore to any previous Android device found in your Google account. It will restore all of your settings, wallpaper, and even launcher icon arrangement. Of course it also restores apps, but only the ones you choose. These features are honest-to-goodness game changers. Setting up a new phone will never be the same.

Play Flappy Lollipop

All Android releases come with a special Easter egg in the settings. Usually it’s a simple splash screen with some interactive elements, but this year they included a full Android-themed Flappy Bird clone. Here’s how to get to the game:

1. Go to Settings > About phone/tablet > tap “Android version” 5 times quickly
2. Tap the lollipop a couple of times > long-press > tap once more

Have fun!

Check Data Usage from Quick Settings

The Quick Settings in Lollipop received a much-needed redesign and new toggles. One bit of info that has always been included in Quick Settings is the data connection, but in Lollipop it does more than just show bars.

If you simply tap on the data connection from Quick Settings you can see how much data you’ve used in the last month. You can also see if you have any warnings or limits set up, and tap “More settings” to go to the full Data Usage page in the Android Settings.

Jump to Specific Settings from Quick Settings

We’ll stay in the Quick Settings for this next tip. The new and  improved Quick Settings are full of shortcuts to more settings. If you have an alarm turned on you can tap it to go to the Alarms app. The battery takes you to the full battery setting page. Tapping your little profile photo will show the user accounts you can switch to. Tapping your WiFi network name or “Bluetooth” will take you to their respective settings pages. Last, of course, is the Settings icon.

Create a Guest Mode

If Screen Pinning isn’t enough security for you there is now a built-in “Guest Mode.” It’s enabled by default, and can be accessed through Settings > Users, or the shortcut we mentioned in the previous tip. When you tap “Guest” it will take you to a fresh instance of Android with only stock apps installed.

In Guest Mode a user can’t access your apps or information. It’s as if you handed them a brand new phone with no personal information entered. If you don’t want guests to be making phone calls you can restrict that by tapping the gear icon from the Users page. On tablets you can even create “restricted” account so other users can do even less.

See How Long Until Charged

Our last tip is super simple. Have you ever wondered how long it will take for your phone to be fully charged? Well, now Android can tell you. When your device is charging the hours and minutes until fully charged are displayed at the bottom of the lock screen.

Source: Phandroid & Drippler

Back Up All Your Android's Files to Google Drive Automatically

Google makes backing up your contacts, messages, and Wi-Fi passwords extremely easy, but leaves you out in the cold when it comes the data on your internal storage. With most Android devices now lacking SD card support, when you unlock your bootloader or do a factory reset, you're stuck having to back up everything to your computer beforehand.

While that isn't particularly difficult, it can definitely take up a bunch of time, especially if you have gigs of data to back up. GDriveSync will help to expedite the process by syncing preset folders on your internal storage to Google Drive. So as long as you have a Google Drive account with enough space to fit those folders, you'll never need to worry about backing up specific data again.

Step 1: Install GDriveSync

GDriveSync from developer Evan He, can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store. 

Step 2: Set Up Sync Folders

The sync process is one-way, meaning that files will be uploaded from your phone to Google Drive, but not the other way around. This is the ideal situation for backups since you won't lose any files if you delete them off the Google Drive folder on your computer.

To add a folder to sync, tap the + icon on the bottom left and select the Sourceand Destination folder. The source is the folder you want to sync, and the destination is the folder you want to sync to on your Google Drive account.

Step 3: Enable Auto Sync

If you're like me and forget to back up folders on a regular basis, then you should definitely enable Auto Sync. The sync interval can be set to times, and if you are looking to save data, be sure to enable the Wifi Only option.

Apps, One Android user must have

With more than 20 million apps on Google Play Store available for the Android users to download but the question is which one to download because which one is best in category is hard to find. Most of you will find large number of apps related to a single category. For example, if you want to download anti-virus for your android, then you will see a large number of apps in the result. Same goes if you want to download File Explorer in Play Store then there will be many apps that can provide you this facility.

So here in this article, i will try to cover few applications that one Android user must have in his/her smartphone. It is a short compilation of the apps and it is totally my personal opinion. I will try to list down all the apps to the best of my knowledge excluding Social Network apps.

Adobe Reader 

Adobe products are one of best known products in the whole world and they have developed their application for the android users too. Adobe Reader is the free, trusted leader for reliably viewing and interacting with PDF documents across platforms and devices. Easily access, manage, and share a wide variety of PDF types. 
Download Here

AirDroid 

At times, you don't have access to your data cable, or you're out somewhere at friend's home but you need to transfer few files from computer and you don't have cable to connect to the PC then you came to know the advantage of handy application AirDroid. It lets you communicate from your PC/Laptop wirelessly. You just need to connect to the same network of the PC and then you can transfer large files even like movies, pictures or any stuff you want to. With AirDroid, you can remotely access your phone or tablet‘s files, notifications, messages, camera, location and many other things on a computer, from anywhere.
Download Here


Yahoo Aviate Launcher

The intelligent home screen that simplifies your phone. Yahoo Aviate is a launcher for your Android that will simplify how you use your phone. It removes clutter, automatically organises your apps and knows when to show you the information you need, at the time it’s useful for you. Intelligent calendar features at work, music apps and widgets when you plug in your headphones - plus your most-used apps on your center screen so you never have to hunt for them again.

Download Here

CamScanner 

The world’s No. 1 mobile document scanning and sharing app. CamScanner helps you scan, store, sync and collaborate on various contents across smartphones, tablets and computers. It uses your mobile camera to scan the document and then you can further add brightness ratio to shine your document like a real scanned doc.

Download Here

Clean Master Phone Boost 

Simple, fast and accurate, Clean Master is the world’s most downloaded Android cleaner, speed boost and antivirus app, designed to help you reclaim storage, boost memory, enhance speed, and secure your device against malicious apps and vulnerabilities. It has several features like Device Cooler, Junk File Clean, Memory Boost, CPU Boost, Antivirus, App Manager. It is like All in One app.
Download Here



Android Device Manager 

Android Device Manager locates lost devices and helps you keep your device, and the data inside it safe and secure. You need to setup your account after installing it and after then your device is secured. You also need to enable GPS and Internet on your mobile in order to find the device. You can locate your device wherever it would be. It has multiple features like Reset your device PIN lock, Erase all data on Mobile & Ring your mobile so that you can find it.

Download Here

Elevate - Brain Training

Elevate is a brain training program designed to improve focus, speaking skills, processing speed, memory, math skills, and more. Each person is provided with his or her own personalized training program that adjusts over time to maximize results. The more you train with Elevate, the more you’ll improve critical cognitive skills that are proven to boost productivity, earning power, and self-confidence. Users who train at least 4 times per week have reported dramatic gains and increased confidence. Elevate's games are designed in collaboration with experts in neuroscience and cognitive learning and are based on extensive scientific research. Elevate’s brain training algorithms further focus the learning experience by drawing from research in memory studies to develop a personalized training program for each user. By far the best Brain Training app I've found on Play Store. 
Download Here

English Dictionary Offline

The free offline English dictionary application explains the meaning of English words. Definitions are based on English Wiktionary. Ready to go, it works offline without any further file to download. You can even listen the pronunciation of any word with no internet connection required. 

Download Here

ES File Explorer

ES File Explorer is a free, full-featured file and application manager.  It functions as all of these apps in one: file manager, application manager, task killer, download manager, cloud storage client (compatible with Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, Box.net, Sugarsync, Yandex, Amazon S3, and Ubuntu One...), FTP client, and LAN Samba client. It provides access to pictures, music, video, documents, and other files on both your Android devices and your computers. ES File Explorer allows Android users, no matter where they are, to manage their resources freely. You can access all of your files from your mobile device and share them with others. This app makes it easy to stay connected over 3G, 4G, EDGE, or Wi-Fi to share with friends, upload photos, and watch videos. 

Download Here

FlipBoard

Flipboard is your personal magazine. It is the most popular way to catch up on the news, read stories from around the world and browse the articles, videos and photos friends are sharing. To begin, pick a few interests and tap any of the tiles to begin flipping through your personal magazine. Add blogs and publications like The New York Times, PEOPLE magazine, Fast Company and many more by using the search bar or tapping the red ribbon to open the Content Guide. You can also connect your social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and Google+ to see what friends are posting and easily share articles with them. 

Download Here

LapseIt

Lapse It is an award-winning full featured app for capturing amazing time lapse and stop motion videos with your Android camera. It is simple, fast and intuitive. Make time lapses of your favorite events. Lapse It has a unique and powerful native render engine that allows you to creates spectacular videos, it is blazing fast, robust, support audio and has a fully featured range of settings to apply.

Download Here




Last App Switcher

Think about the last channel button on your TV remote, which makes switching between two channels as easy as pie. Now think about a button on your mobile/tablet which switches you to the last used application with a single tap. Imagine, you are browsing internet and a message arrives. Normally, you would minimize your browser, open the chatting application, and reply to the message. Then press the recent apps button, find your browser, tap on it, and then continue browsing, huh! Suddenly, another message arrives. With LAS (Last App Switcher), you will be like "tap", chatting, "tap", browsing. Envision the figure of precious minutes you are going to save in a day. 
Download Here

MX Player

Best Video player available on Play Store. It supports mostly all of the video formats like avi, mpg, mkv, mp4. Now get rid of converting your movies before playing in your smartphone. It has features like Hardware Acceleration, Subtitles, Pinch to Zoom & Pan, MultiCore Decoding etc. It also supports most of the subtitles formats too. 

Download Here

Contacts + 

Contacts+ is your everyday contacts dialer app, powered with text messaging, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and much more - all in one place. With Contacts+ you can send free and regular text messages without switching apps, auto-sync beautiful pics to your contacts from Facebook, and get birthday reminders so you’ll never forget a birthday again.

Download Here



Pocket

Use Pocket to easily save articles, videos, and other web content for later. With Pocket, all your items go to one place, so you can view, organize and share them anytime, on any device, even offline. Save as many articles, videos and links as you want. Pocket will highlight the best and most relevant items in your list, organized by topic, source, and length, so that you can always find something interesting to read or watch. Don’t lose track of the interesting things you find by emailing yourself links, keeping a long list of bookmarks, or simply letting tabs pile up in your browser for later. Just save them to Pocket, and they’ll be ready whenever you are. Download Here

QuickPic

QuickPic is certainly the best gallery app for android. It has unlimited features like lists thousands of pictures in a flash, Group photos by time and location, view and slide view your photos, include or exclude specific folders for efficient scanning, easily hide your private photos and videos from all gallery apps and even protect them with a password, Internal picture editor which allows you to rotate, shrink, crop pictures, set wallpaper with best quality freely.

Download Here


QuizUp

QuizUp is an award winning multiplayer trivia game and fan community. QuizUp has been ranked as the #1 Trivia app on Google Play in 14 countries, including USA, Canada and India. On QuizUp you can compete with friends and/or any of the 25 million QuizUp players from all over the world, in exciting real-time trivia matches. You can find over 400,000 questions in more than 550 topics, and new topics are added every week so you won’t have to worry about ever running out of trivia to test your knowledge on. Discover your specialities and take on opponents who share your interests, while learning new and interesting facts along the way. 
Download Here

Shazam

Shazam is the best way to identify music and TV. In seconds you’ll know the name of any song, or more about what you’re watching - touch to Shazam to start your journey. 
Download Here





Smart App Lock

Smart App Lock is an App Locker or App Protector that will protect your installed applications using a password or pattern(Facebook, WhatsApp, Line, Twitter, Snapchat, Skype, Gallery, Camera, Gmail and any app you choose). Smart App Lock is the best app locker or app protector that will secure your smartphone and protect your privacy. App Lock also can lock your data such as pictures, SMS messages, and videos. 
Download Here



Smart Voice Recorder

Smart Voice Recorder designed for high quality long-time sound recording with skipping relative silence on-the-fly. For example, you can use it for record night sleep talks or snoring, business meetings, a regular day of your babysitter, how you sing or play the guitar and so on. It's fantastic! And you may use it as regular voice recorder with simple and nice user interface. 
Download Here



Snapseed 

Snapseed is the only photo app you’ll want to use every day. It makes any photograph extraordinary with a fun, high-quality photo experience right at your fingertips. Anyone can enhance, transform, and share their photos with ease using incredibly advanced features from the leader in digital photography software. Built-in Google+ capabilities make it even more powerful to share your images with your friends and family. 
Download Here



SwiftKey Keyboard 

SwiftKey Keyboard is a free, award-winning keyboard app for Android that delivers the best next-word prediction, smarter autocorrect, support for over 800 emoji, emoji prediction and much more! SwiftKey is an alternative keyboard that gives you smart, fast typing on Android - free. It's the best keyboard for Android for fast SMS, chat, text and email, becoming the default across all your apps. It’s packed full of customization features including over 30 colorful themes, layouts for all screen sizes and devices. 
Download Here


Sygic 

Sygic: GPS Navigation & Maps is The World’s Most Installed Offline turn-by-turn GPS navigation App for Android powered by TomTom Maps. Navigation and Maps are installed on the SD card so there is no need for an Internet connection when navigating. Map and app updates are FREE every 3 months. You can enjoy free navigation, gps, offline TomTom maps, POIs, route planning & free map updates. To get the most of the navigation, upgrade to premium and enjoy high-end lifetime features: 3D maps, real-time turn-by-turn voice-guided navigation, lane guidance, speed limit warnings junction view with lane indicator arrows at complex intersections. 

Download Here 

Google Translate

Break through language barriers with Google Translate. Translate between 80 languages. Speak, type, write or take a picture to translate. Translate offline while travelling. No internet connection needed.
Download Here






Zedge

ZEDGE™ offers free wallpapers, ringtones and notification sounds to easily customize your device. In addition it also offers personalized game recommendations. 
Download Here

Fix Google Play Errors

Not sure what to do after getting a non-descriptive error message in Google Play? Check out these errors and their solutions to get everything working again.

Google Play will provide a pop-up error message when there is an issue installing or updating your apps. Unfortunately, the error message text is very brief and doesn't explain how you can fix it. For example, error 921:

"Unknown error code during application install (921)."

Thanks to XDA member mohamedrashad, there's a thread with the error codes and what they mean, along with ways to fix each issue. Here's a sample of that list with some of the most common error codes:

Error 403

Solution: This issue usually comes up on devices with multiple accounts. Make sure you're accessing the Google Play Store from the correct account. Next, uninstall the app you were trying to update, then re-download from the correct account.

Error 491

Solution: Remove your current Google account, re-add the account, and then clear data from the Google Services app (Settings > Application Manager > Google Services).

Error 495

Solution: Delete the data from both the Google Play and Google Services Framework apps (Settings > Application Manager > Google Play and Google Services). Next, remove your Google account, restart the device, and then re-add your Google account.

Error 919

Solution: Your device has run out of storage space. You can clean your cache, remove unused apps, or delete photos and videos.

Error 921

Solution: Delete the cache from the Google Play app (Settings > Application Manager > Google Play). If you are still seeing an error, delete the data from the Google Play app (Settings > Application Manager > Google Services). Finally, if issues persist, delete your Google account and then re-add it.