HOW TO FIX 'APP NOT INSTALLED' ERROR ON ANDROID DEVICES

‘App not installed’ or ‘Application not installed’ or ‘Error parsing file’ are very common error messages most Android users normally encounter while trying to install a new application on their Android smartphone.
This might appear as a big problem for the non-techie users with lesser knowledge of how Android works, but for others, it is not a problem until it happens to be the only thing between you and your newly downloaded Android app.
The good news is that there are easy ways to fix this Error message that doesn’t require you to be a tech savvy to be able to carry them out, just check out how to fix the errors below

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
One thing common with the ‘App not installed’ error message is that they always occur when you are trying to install an application from an unknown source. Maybe you downloaded the app from net or it was shared to you by a friend, as long as it is not from Google Playstore, the source is unknown to your Android device. For security measures, Android phones are set to disallow apps from unknown sources by default but you can turn it off from your phone settings. To do this, head over to you device settings then navigate to ‘Security’ and tick or toggle-on the ‘Unknown sources’ box as you can see below.

But before you install any application that is not coming from Playstore, make sure it is from a trusted and verified publisher to avoid installing malicious and harmful apps.

CAUSES OF *APP NOT INSTALLED* ERROR
√√√Bad Apk File: Bad or corrupted apk file is one of the major causes of ‘App not installed’ error message on Android phones, the file might have been corrupted during the downloading process or it didn’t download completely.
√√√Low Android Version: Some apps are specifically made to work on later versions of Android OS, so the version on your device might not be supported by the app, ‘Error parsing file’ is usually the error message you will encounter in this case.
√√√Conflicting app signature: This occurs when you want to install a newer version of an already installed app, but the newer version has a different certificate from the old one. Also, trying to install apps with no signature (unsigned apps) can land you to ‘App not installed’ error message.
√√√Not enough storage space: When the app you want to install requires more than what is left of your storage space, you can’t escape the ‘Application not installed’ error message.
√√√Wrong installation path: While some apps can be installed on both phone memory and SD card, others require to be installed only on the phone memory. Trying to install them on SD card will only show you the error message.
√√√Corrupt installation path: If the storage location you are trying to install your app on is bad or corrupted, app installation may fail.
√√√Improperly mounted SD cards: The SD card on the device may have not been mounted properly or it is not accessible because it has already been mounted on another device.

FIXING APP NOT INSTALLED ERROR ON YOUR ANDROID
Reboot your phone: As simple as it may sound, rebooting your Android device may be the solution to the App not installed problem you are facing. Doing this will free up the phone’s random access memory (RAM) which will the device to work more efficiently.
Free up some storage space: Simply delete files and uninstall apps that are no more in use to give room for your new app. If you are not convenient with this, you can option to buying SD cards with bigger storage capacity.
Uninstall the old version: If the app you are trying to install is already installed on your phone, first uninstall the app before trying to install the new one, the app’s signature maybe in conflict.
Double check your Apk file: Make sure the Apk file you are trying to install was completely downloaded or fully copied to your device.
Change installation path: Check your app’s installation location or path and preferably change it to ‘Choose automatically’ or ‘Let system decide’.
Reset App preferences: Resetting apps preferences might do the trick, you can do this by going to your phone settings -> Apps -> All and then click the menu key and select ‘Reset app permissions’ or ‘Reset app preferences’ from the drop down menu.
Check Android version: The app you are trying to install may not be compatible with the Android version on your phone, you can check this by looking up the app’s detail/information page on Playstore or on the net.
Properly mount your SD card: Check and make sure the SD card is properly mounted and accessible from your device, also make sure it is not mounted or connected else where.

If after completing the above listed steps and you are still getting the ‘App not installed’ error message, then proceed with the steps below;
Backup and format your SD card: Backup important files on your SD card to somewhere else and format the SD card.
Reset your phone to factory settings: This means to entirely wipe your smartphone so be sure to think it through before proceeding with this step. You can do this from recovery mode or through ‘Settings’ -> ‘Backup and reset’ and then click on ‘Factory data reset’.
Try to install the app again to see if the ‘app not installed’ error has been fixed.
Hope this was helpful? Don't forget to share with your friends!

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WHATSAPP IS TESTING AN UNSEND OR RECALL MESSAGES FEATURE

There's this WhatsApp feature that would save you some embarrassments. You know, when you send a chat message to the wrong person or mistakenly typed a message to someone. Unsend or recall messages feature have been there in many social apps like Telegram, WeChat and Viber, and now
Facebook-owned WhatsApp is also getting close to rolling out its own version of the feature, ‘Delete for everyone.’
‘Delete for everyone’ works as it is supposed to. It lets you wipe out messages you sent by mistake before your contact has had a chance to read them. The company has begun testing the functionality for both Android and iOS platforms, serial WhatsApp leaker WABetaInfo reports.

One thing that stands out from other social app about this feature is that the recalled texts will also disappear from the Notification Center – both on Android and iOS gadgets – as the screenshots reveal.

The Unsend function is expected to work on all types of messages, including text, images, videos, GIFs and documents. However, you won’t be able to unsend messages that have already been read or messages that were sent more than five minutes ago.
Rumors about the WhatsApp’s unsend feature first began circulating when some crafty users started noticing signs of this functionality in WhatsApp’s code. Now the company is finally testing the feature, but, still, most users won’t have access to it and will have to wait until the app enables it remotely for everyone.

Isn't it interesting? Let's keep our fingers crossed as we anticipate the update. Share with your friends!

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HOW TO TURN ON AND OFF YOUR ANDROID PHONE WITHOUT THE POWER BUTTON

Android phones has been perfectly known for there best huge amount of apps and customization that enables you take full control of your device thereby tweaking it the way you desire. This feature is certainty what made Android phones stand out in the mobile market today.
So In this article I am going to show you how to Turn on your android phone without using the power button. Its certainly time to "Forget the power button and make use of gravity screen to turn on your device". Mostly at times, I do prefer using this method since its easy, efficient and professional thereby sustaining more life to my power button. If your power button has faded out or is no longer working properly due to one reason or the other, then follow this guide and forget the damned power button. We are going to use an android app called Gravity Screen as mentioned earlier. The app enables you to turn ON and OFF your Android using motion.

KEY FEATURES OF GRAVITY SCREEN
• Pocket Sensor: Turns the screen off if your phone is in your pocket.
• Table Sensor: Detects your phone is lying on a table and turn it off if not in use.
• Turn Screen On by Motion: If the screen is off and it's facing up the device can be woken up by moving it.
• Keep Screen On by Motion: It keeps the screen on while you are watching the screen. It relies on the small movements of your hand while holding the device.
• Smart Lock support: It's a workaround to make the Smart lock feature work fine on devices with Lollipop.
• Locale plug-in for: Tasker, Llama and others

HOW IT WORKS...
Gravity screen turns automatically the screen off when you put your phone into your pocket or onto a table. And turns the screen on when you take it out or up. No need to touch any button and you are ready to go. It's especially helpful if your lock key is hard to reach or the power button is broken.

HOW TO USE GRAVITY SCREEN FOR ANDROID
1. Download the Gravity screen app for Android here
2. Install the app and open it then activate the Gravity screen (Screenshot above).
3. Once taken to the next page, tap on OFF to turn the app ON then setup up the app in your desirable way.

HOW TO UNINSTALL GRAVITY SCREEN
Please, use the Uninstall button in the app. Due to Android restriction the app cannot be uninstalled.
In conclusion the gravity box app those not drain battery and also its more efficient and works great on both rooted and non-rooted Android device.

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WAYS TO REDUCE YOUR MOBILE DATA USAGE ON ANDROID PHONES

If you are an Android user and you don’t take cellular data usage for granted, here are the tips you can follow to reduce the data consumption of your mobile device.

1. Turn on data compression on Chrome!

Most of you are probably Android supporters. And hence, you are also likely Chrome users. Did you know Google’s popular browser has a feature that can reduce data consumption significantly? Google states this option should save you about 50% in data. All without you even feeling a difference. In fact, you may feel some changes – browsing will get faster!

What Chrome’s data compression option does is route all your web browsing through Google’s servers. The Search Giant then takes the website’s data, compresses it, optimizes it for the smaller screen and sends it back to your device.

All you have to do is open Chrome, tap on the 3-dot menu button and select Settings. Click onData Saver and then toggle the option in the top-right corner. You are done!

2. Restrict background data

Some apps just spend too much data, even when the smartphone is not in use. It’s actually one of the greatest features on Android, as background data allows you to keep everything updated and monitored while you are off doing other things. The deal here is that not every app needs to stay active at all times.

Go into Settings > Data Usage and select the app you want to restrict data for. In the stats you will see two types of data: foreground and background. If you find background data is too high and you don’t need the app to stay active, simple toggle the switch that is labeled as “Restrict app background data”.

3. Update apps only via WiFi

This one is a bit of an obvious one for many of us, but plenty of users out there continue updating their applications over cellular connections. This is OK if you choose to do it, but how many times have you noticed all your apps were auto-updated without your consent, spending all them precious GBs? Hopefully not too often, but if this is an issue, we can show you how to stop it from happening again.
Just open the Google Play Store and tap on the hamburger menu button (three horizontal lines parallel to each other). Hit the Settings option and then select the “Auto-update apps” button. Hit “Auto-update apps over WiFi only”. 

4. Keep an eye on your account syncing settings

We love our active syncing and push notifications, but having these also means the phone has to keep checking servers for any new content. You must also realize many apps and services are set to keep sync by default, and often we don’t even use them!

This is why you should keep an eye on your account syncing options. Just go to Settings > Accounts. For the sake of showcasing useless services, let’s just jump into your Google accounts and select your most used one. In my case, all toggles are turned on, so I am syncing app data, Calendar, Chrome, Contacts, Docs, Drive, Gmail, Google Fit, Opinion Rewards, Photos, Play Music, Google+, Keep, Slides and many others. Now, I know for a fact I don’t use about 20% of these, so I can turn them off and save myself some precious data! Do the same for other accounts, as well.

6. Avoid streaming content

As much as we hate it, it is the awesome stuff that uses up the most data. This includes streaming videos and music, as well as looking through high quality images or GIF files. Try to avoid these at all costs if you really want to take care of your internet usage.

Now, we know a smartphone is worthless without your media, but there are ways to stay entertained responsibly. Users can opt for storing music and videos locally. If you absolutely must stream, make sure you jump into the settings and set quality at lower rates. Likewise, you can decrease resolution in YouTube and other video streaming apps.

7. Cache everything, Whenever you can!

Certain apps allow for storing data locally. These include popular ones like Google Maps and Google Play Music. Make sure you cache as much content as you can while you are on a WiFi network. Then you can go out and enjoy your content without spending any of your precious data.

Don't forget to share with your friends and keep coming back for regular updates

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ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF ROOTING YOUR ANDROID DEVICE

I know many of you never thought of the disadvantage of rooting rooting your Android phone, i know the advantage is good and seems to cover some of this disadvantage, it will be Good you know the disadvantage and addup of some of the advantage of rooting that Android powered smartphone. After reading this you may or may not want to root that android phone. Because i will be comprehensively explaining the advantage and disadvantage of rooting your android phones. Oops, forgive my bad, do you know what rooting is? If not, before we go into the advantage and disadvantage of it let's take a quick glance for newbies sake the meaning of rooting.

According to Wikipedia.

“Rooting is the process of allowing users of smartphones, tablets and other devices running the Android mobile operating system to attain privileged control (known as root access) over various Android subsystems. As Android uses the Linux kernel, rooting an Android device gives similar access to administrative ( superuser) permissions as on Linux or any other Unix-like operating system such as FreeBSDor OSX. Rooting is often performed with the goal of overcoming limitations that carriers and hardware manufacturers put on some devices. Thus, rooting gives the ability (or permission) to alter or replace system applications and settings, run specialized applications(“apps”) that require administrator-level permissions, or perform other operations that are otherwise inaccessible to a normal Android user. On Android, rooting can also facilitate the complete removal and replacement of the device’s operating system, usually with a more recent release of its current operating system.”

With this small knowledge about rooting, let's take a quick look at the Disadvantage and Advantage.

Disadvantage of Rooting Your Android Phone

Hard brick: 
This is a popular android problem. Yeah at the Process of rooting android phone it's very risky and has to be done with very caution. As, one wrong step in rooting your android phone might cause hard brick. That’s why newbies are not recommended to root their android phone.
Data loss: 
In the process of rooting android phone some steps like hard resetting the whole phone is included sometime, i'll recommend you to take backup atleast so that if you lost your data in process of rooting your android phone, you can get it back anytime.
Warranty killed 
When you root your android phone, you'll lost your warranty. Though, you can unroot your android mobile anytime to get your warranty back.

Random reboots: 
This happends to by my personal experience, When I was installing a custom ROM in my android phone I was facing random rebots and apps crashes as well.

Privacy 
lost as well, as third party ROMS and apps can misuse of root permissions. As, process of rooting your android phone includes adding of third party apps which is a bit risky.

Advantages Of Rooting Your Android Phone

Rooting your android mobile has several advantages, but here we are listing some of the best advantages, you will get after rooting your android phone. So, if you're ready to root your android phone, then you must be aware of disadvantages and advantages of rooting android phone.​ So, before rooting your android phone make sure that you have read both advantages and disadvantages.

​Access all files of your Phone: 
Whether they are present in the root directory of your storage or enywhere else, by giving root permissions, you can Edit or Delete any system file. Increase your phone performance by over clockocking it, by changing the frequency of CPU of your android mobile, by which you can easily speed up your android phone without any problem.

Increase battery life

Bet you've never heared of this right? Yes rooting you android phones increases the battery life,

How do i do this?

Just by under clocking CPU of your android phone, which will let your phone battery for long time.

Change Custom rom 
Can install the several custom rom to change feel of your android version like CyanogenModor AOSP or Eye Candy ROM MIUI which can change the feel off whole android device usage.

Upgrade 
By rooting your phone you create a way so you can upgrade android version of your mobile using custom roms like CM11 or CM12 or any other rom.

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WAYS TO MAKE YOUR SMARTPHONE BATTERY LAST LONGER

If your phone battery is not lasting long, then you need to read this piece to educate yourself on how to manage your phone judiciously.

All batteries have an expiry date. Same is true for smartphones’ batteries. However, the way you use your smartphone also goes a long way in deciding the longevity of your device’s battery.

As such, there are few phone charging habits you can implement in your daily life that can increase the lifespan of your battery. According to Jumia Travel, here are seven tips on how to charge your smartphone and make its battery last longer.

(1) Fast chargers are not always the best option

Using a fast charger might not be the best thing for your battery’s health. This process involves a higher voltage to be sent to the phone’s battery which results in a rapid rise in temperature. Your phone may even explode as a result of this.

(2) Charge your phone with its own charger

Always charge your phone with its own charger. Unlike laptops, smartphones use a universal charging interface. However, if the charger you use does not match the original, it will affect battery performance.

(3) Remove protective case while charging

You might have noticed while your phone is charging, it becomes slightly warm. So, make sure to remove the phone’s protective case while charging. This can act as a barrier and slow down the heat.

(4) Don’t use cheap chargers from unknown manufacturers

Avoid cheap chargers from unknown manufacturers. They do not include any safety advice to protect against overcharging. Know that adapter failure could permanently damage both your battery and phone.

(5) Never leave your phone to charge overnight

There are many people who leave their phone plugged in overnight for charging. You just need to stop this habit. Charging overnight affects battery longevity, and it also makes your smartphone overheat.

(6) Always charge up to 80 per cent

Eighty per cent charge is enough for a day, and it is good for your overall battery lifespan. Crossing the 80 per cent mark can make your battery to overheat, thereby affecting the battery’s life.

(7) Avoid charging the phone repeatedly

Smartphones should not be charged repeatedly. The rule of thumb should be not to charge until the phone’s battery is up to 20 per cent.

#Takeaway

Six smartphone battery myths you should stop believing

Batteries are one of the most integral parts of any smartphone. A clumsy battery can break down a smartphone like nothing else. But alas, the world of batteries is overflowing with myths, according to www.guidingtech.com.

I can leave the charger on forever

Well, practically yes, you can. If you don’t love your cell phone at all or you change your devices too often. But if you care for a longer life of your battery, then the best way to charge is not going over 80 or below 10.

Every battery comes with a fixed amount of cycles and these cycles tend to wear off the more you charge your phone.

In fact, charging your battery to 80 per cent on a regular basis is shown to increase its life by 200 per cent So, do make sure that you maintain the sweet spot of the battery — 10 per cent and 80 per cent, with an occasional zero per cent discharge to calibrate the battery life.

Closing apps will save battery

If you are one who swears by the mantra that closing apps will improve battery (and performance), then you are in for some news.

The fact is closing apps does more harm than good. Chances are that you might actually end up draining more battery juice in the process.

Closing an app suddenly might result in losing data. Also if the phone needs to restart the app again, that will require more CPU resources and hence, more battery.

Letting the battery drain to zero per cent every day

This again is a tale from the ancient days of Nickel Cadmium batteries of the 80-90s. Nickel cadmium batteries had the memory effect, which essentially gave rise to this myth.

After these batteries were recharged for a couple of times, they would forget their full capacity and eventually weren’t able to hold the charge. The discharging was done to reset the ‘memory’.

The Lithium-ion batteries used nowadays have a smarter way of power management. It counts a cycle when you have used 100 per cent of the battery in multiple uses. For instance, if you used 40 per cent today, and 20 per cent on two consecutive days, then only it would call for one cycle.

4G drains the battery faster

It’s true that radio signal consumes lesser resource than cellular data. However, that should never be the cause of your battery life going for a dive. If you have a good quality SIM from a reliable operator, then it shouldn’t be the cause of a meltdown.

A 5000 mAh power bank will yield two full charges

Often, it’s assumed that a 5000 mAh power bank will be able to yield two full charges for your 2500 mAh battery. How did we arrive at the conclusion? Simple, just dividing the capacity by the full power.

But that’s not how simple as it seems. The catch is the voltage at which it charges. The power rating of a power bank is calculated at 3.7 volts whereas the phone charges at 5 volts.

Only when a step-down in the voltage is made that the right number of charge cycles can be determined. So, the next time you are on a lookout for a power bank, do make sure to do the math.

Charging through a laptop may damage the battery

Again a misconception, charging a phone through a laptop will only yield a slower charge and nothing more. This won’t harm the battery in any way.

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HOW TO USE DROPBOX WITH AN ANDROID PHONE

Dropbox is an awesome application for sharing your files with all your computers and devices. Today we take a look at using Dropbox on your Android phone.

If having access to your most important files is critical to you, even when you are on the go, Dropbox is your answer. Not only can it sync documents between all your computers whether they be Windows, Mac, or Linux, it also allows you acces using your iPhone, iPod Touch, or Android phone.

Download and Setup

Download Dropbox from Play store or install it here.

When you open the Dropbox App the first time you’ll be prompted to log into your account, or create an account if your’re a new user.

Existing users can enter your username and password and select Log in.

After you log in you’ll see all of your Dropbox folders and files.

Tap to open any folder and open your folders, files, photos, videos, etc.

Sharing Files

You can very easily share any of your Dropbox documents by email, Twitter, Facebook, or IM using the installed apps on your phone. To share a file, press and hold on the file. When the options appear, select Share.

Next you’ll choose whether to Share a link or Share this file. Here we will share a link.

Next you’ll be prompted to choose your delivery method.

Your recipient will get a link to open and view the file.

If you select Share this file…

You will have the option to send the file via email using one of the installed mail clients.

Uploading Files

You can upload files to Dropbox directly from your Android phone. Select the Menu button on your phone and choose Upload.

• You’ll be prompted to select the type of file you want to upload. For our example, we’ll select a video we’ve previously shot and stored on the device.
• Selecting picture or video will take you to the gallery to select the media file and you’ll see a notification that your file is uploading.

Now your file is accessible from all your devices that have Dropbox installed.

Create and Save Documents from the the Dropbox App

You can actually create a new document, take a photo, or a video and save it without leaving the app itself. Press the Menu button on your device and select New.

• Next you’ll be prompted to select the type of document you’d like to create.

When you're done creating, Your document will be immediately uploaded to Dropbox

Search

Looking for a specific file by can’t seem to locate it? Try Search. Press the Menu button and select Search.

Type in a search term and get the results.

Settings

The Dropbox settings (Press Menu and select Settings) will display your current username, the amount of space used in your Dropbox account and the current App version number. You can unlink your device from Dropbox if you no longer with to use it, and even watch a short introductory video about Dropbox

Conclusion

The Dropbox App is a fantastic way to access and share your vital documents anytime you need them right from your Android phone. It’s free, and easy to use.

Curled from www.howtogeek.com

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HOW TO DELETE GOOGLE'S COPY OF YOUR ONLINE ACTIVITIES

Privacy is very dear to most people but what they dont know is that their online activities are recorded and stored by Google on their devices. Google monitors and keeps record of your online activities; websites visited including those sites you may think you alone know about. Google has evolved and its not just a search engine. It is absolutely true that Google may have a complete information on most of the things you do with your device, so if you are one that likes privacy, this will be a helpful tip for you.

How To See And Delete Everything Google Knows About Your Online Activities.

• Open any browser on your device and click on this My Activity link to see everything Google have stored about your online activities. You have the option to delete them one by one or leave them for future purposes
  
• You can turn it off by heading to Activity Control here before deselecting Web & App Activity, uncheck “Include Chrome browsing history and activity from websites and apps that use Google services”
• On the same Activity Controls page, users can also disable location tracking, contact and calender storing, Google's activity to  record and store your voice recordings, and YouTube Search and Watch History.

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MOBILE BANKING USSD CODES FOR ALL BANKS IN NIGERIA

  Hey guys! Have you ever been in need to do real quick transaction like transfering money to someone's account, paying bills, purchasing airtime from your bank account and others and you're not near to a bank or don't have the time to wait on a long queue before your request is processed? Halezistechs brings you USSD codes with which you can perform these functions from the comfort of your home and the good thing about it is that you don't need to have a smartphone or mobile data on your device, you can easily access them on all the Nigerian Telecom network.

           MOBILE BANKING USSD CODES

Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB)* (*737#) 

 Fidelity Bank (*770#) 

 First Bank (*894#)

Sterling Bank (*822#)

 Skye Bank (*389#)

United Bank for Africa (UBA) (*389#)

 EcoBank (*326#)

Zenith Bank (*302#) 

Stanbic IBTC Bank (*909#)

 Access Bank (*901#) 

Wema Bank (*322# or *945#)

Diamond Bank (*302#)

For Diamond Yello Account holders (*710#)

Unity Bank (*322#) 

Heritage Bank (*322#)

KeyStone Bank  (*322#)

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