Usage Notes¶

General-purpose usage notes and tips

Enabling root access¶

To allow root access, open the Developer options in the settings. There, press Root access. In the pop-up menu, select either Apps only, ADB only or Apps and ADB, depending on how you want to restrict root access. See ADB for more information about root access with ADB.

Device Encryption¶

Tips for encrypting the device

Setting a device encryption password separate from the lockscreen password¶

By default on Android, the encryption password is the same as the lockscreen password. As users tend to use a simple PIN, password or pattern for the lockscreen, the encryption can be easily circumvented with a brute-force attack.

1. Encrypt your device (In the settings: Security -> Encrypt phone)
2. After the phone has rebooted and the encryption is set up, select Change encryption password in the Security menu of the settings
3. Choose a strong passphrase. You will only have to enter this passphrase once when the device boots
4. Reboot the device and verify that the encryption works properly by entering the previously chosen passphrase

If a separate encryption password is in place and a PIN or password is set for the lockscreen, another security measure is active: After five unsuccessful attempts to unlock the screen, the device is rebooted and the attacker is faced with the much stronger encryption passphrase. This makes brute-force attacks on the lockscreen much harder.

Other tips¶

• Do not set the default keyboard (LatinIME) as a non-system app if you use encryption: it will prevent you from entering the password to open the encrypted storage.

Camera app¶

• If the front camera on your device requires a non-free firmware, selecting the front camera will crash the app and you will not be able to use the app unless you delete the data of the app:
  1. In the settings under Personal, select Apps
  2. There will be two apps named Camera. Select the second one that has a camera as icon.
  3. Press Storage
  4. Select Clear Data and confirm the dialog

  You should now be able to use the camera again.

• If the camera app freezes when you take a picture, press the shutter button a second time. This should restart the camera in the background and take the picture.

Barcode scanning¶

The mostly used barcode scanner app ZXing has a slow preview. The privacy-friendly QR Scanner has a faster preview.

Video playback¶

Viewing videos in the gallery or in the browser is not possible. See #1539 for background information.

Only the VLC app is known to be able to play videos on Replicant. Make sure to disable hardware acceleration in the settings to prevent crashes.

VLC is currently disabled in the F-Droid repository because only outdated versions are available. You need to enable the archive repository in the repository settings to be able to install VLC from F-Droid.