Thursday, December 20, 2018

This account already exists on your device - Fix / Solution - Android Pie 9.0

When I was setting up my replacement Google Pixel 3 XL I kept getting this error when setting up Google Home app and Google Pay app. I am sure other Google apps were affected but this is where I started to troubleshoot and research. 

Here is the error image:
photo_2018-05-04_16-57-38
GOOGLE ACCOUNT ERROR

I had a chat with Google Pixel support and they wanted me to remove my Google account and re-add it. I did not want to do this since I had just went through the trouble of copying / restoring my data on this phone. I suspect that was the problem to begin with. It was a brand new Pixel 3 XL to replace one that had a dead pixel. 
COPYING DATA
I saw a few reports of users disabling Google Play Services but Google has since removed the ability to disable the service. I suspect disabling the service caused it to "refresh" or "reset". So for me, the fix was to clear out the Storage of Google Play Services. Once I did that, and rebooted, everything started to work perfectly.  That is the fix for This account already exists on your device on Android Pie 9.0 Pixel 3 XL. 

Edit: For Android 11, it's changed a bit. Go to your phone settings, then click on Apps & Notifications, then click on See all apps. Look for Google Play Services. Click it, then click on Storage & Cache. Click Clear Storage and Clear Cache. 

CLEAR ALL DATA TO FIX




Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Nexus 6P External Mic fix for Android 8

UPDATE:
Found another fix using an app called Lesser AudioSwitch. That video is below as well. With Lesser Audio Switch you have to go into Settings and turn on Force Headset Mic. Now you have to decide if you want to turn no Auto mode or not on the main screen of the app. With automode it will detect whether a headset is connected or not. Automode will also put a notification on your status bar. If you don't turn on Automode you have to manually open the app and hit the Speaker or Headphones button. That can get annoying so I put it on automode.

This also has a little trick to it. I noticed that when I start recording, it is not working right. You'll see some noise being recorded. I found that unplugging and plugging back in makes it work. See video.


Original Post-
VIDEO BELOW:
If you are on this page then you have had issues using external mics with your Nexus 6P. I have been trying to use a 3.5mm Lavalier Microphone all week and it hasn't worked. Some people used to use an app called SoundAbout to fix but with the latest version of Android it doesn't work.

Here is a little trick I discovered today by pure accident. I was using wired headphones and Google Assistant kept opening. That reminded me of the older Android days so I suspected that it was detecting the microphone.  I opened up Android Headset Tester, and it said mic detected!

The trick is to open up the Headset Tester app, and then plug in the mic. Upon plugging in the mic, start rotating the jack. It will then say Mic detected.



Sadly, it is not as easy as that. See those numbers? They mean something and I don't know what yet. They are important because at times, the mic isn't really working! But when you get it to work, it works good. Here is a video so you can see it in action. 



There has to be a better way. Sometimes killing the app after mic is detected worked, sometimes waiting for the numbers worked, sometimes tapping the mic worked. Let me know how it works for you all!

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

No Notches For You says Google to phone manufacturers

As the battle of more screen rages on, more and more phone manufacturers are trying to use all the screen real estate that they can get from a phone. We all know any phone worth its merit will have a camera, speakers, and mics on the front. That's all great unless you want an all screen front phone! So manufacturers have decided to notch around these things that are in the way.

Google is mandating a few requirements which include:
First, devices must ensure that their cutouts do not negatively affect apps.
Second, devices may only have up to one cutout on each short edge of the device. 
I for one am in favor of such mandates. I would rather not see a notch on my phone's screen. We wouldn't stand for that on a Television, why should we have it on device we look at more and even more closely then a Television.