‘Android’ articles from Ctrl blog

Be wary of file sync conflicts with KeePass apps on Android

An investigation and comparison into how KeePass-compatible password manager apps for Android handle external changes to an unlocked password vault database.

Review of Firefox “Daylight” for Android

The new Firefox version for Android comes with big changes under the hood, but also drops support for thousands of extensions, and is less configurable.

Everything you need to know about Night mode in Samsung Internet

Night mode in Samsung browser explained. How it breaks page contrast and accessibility, pastelify SVG colors, and why web developers can’t do anything about it.

What is Samsung Secure Wi-Fi?

Secure Wi-Fi is a VPN service from Samsung and McAfee. Here is what it does and how to stop its adverts and remove it from your phone.

Unobtrusive sleep tracking app for Android

Sleep Debt Tracker is a simple Google Fit-compatible Android app that assumes you’re sleeping in the hours when you don’t use your phone at night.

Android apps time out connections after setting up a PAC proxy

An over-aggressive power-savings system causes Android devices configured with a PAC proxy configuration file to lose networking.

Use Xiaomi Mi Band as a continuous heart rate monitor with Google Fit

How to sync your continuous heart rate monitoring data collected by the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 or 3 fitness tracker to the Google Fit app.

Why I prefer using Instapaper on the web over their Android app

The Instapaper app for Android has several issues, but its mobile web app is mostly okay.

Contour Diabetes app, Bluetooth, and why we can’t have nice things

The Contour Next glucose monitor and its companion app communicate with each other over Bluetooth. Well, they try to anyway.

Work-around extension popout-tab refusing to close on Firefox Android

window.close() closes a Firefox WebExtension pop-out window on desktop. That doesn’t work on Firefox for Android, causing many extensions to misbehave.

Don’t trust YouTube’s break-reminders

The YouTube app is supposed to remind you to take periodic breaks, but fails to prompt users across devices.

The tiny NFC area on the Nokia 7 Plus

The Nokia 7 Plus has an unusually small NFC contact area and it’s located in an unusual place.

Google Chrome finally includes a Reader Mode but only on Android

Chrome goes against Google’s ad-business-interests and introduces a distraction/ad-free reading mode experience in Chrome for Android.

How to change to the European English locale on Android

How to use European English date-formats and locale settings while still using Android in American English. Customize your Android device’s locale settings.

LastPass quietly deprecates Firefox for Android extension

The LastPass password manager has discontinued support for one of Firefox for Android’s most popular extensions.

Replaced the default Google Now Launcher app to save my Nexus 5X

My Android device struggled with high-memory usage from the Google Now Launcher app. Moving to a different launcher app gave my phone a new lease on life.

Does casting videos to the big screen come at the creators’ expense?

YouTube can show fewer ads when using Chromecast compared to desktop and mobile. Are YouTube creators losing out when you watch on the big screen?

How to debug a WebExtension background script on Firefox for Android

Firefox for Android supports WebExtensions. However, debugging them can be a little tricky.

Mozilla celebrates 1M new non-Gecko users

Firefox Focus browser, built on WebKit, for Android has been downloaded 1 million times in a month. Whatever happen to Mozilla’s commitment to GeckoView?