How to Install ReVanced (YouTube, YouTube Music, Spotify)

Step 1 – Download the latest Vanced MicroG & ReVanced Manager

Create a folder on your device, upload or download all files to this folder, this is just so you can reference it later if needed.

  • Vanced MicroG
    Releases · TeamVanced/VancedMicroG
    https://github.com/TeamVanced/VancedMicroG/releases
  • ReVanced Manager
    Releases · revanced/revanced-manager
    https://github.com/revanced/revanced-manager/releases

Step 2 – Install Vanced MicroG on device

Go to the directory where you’ve downloaded Vanced MicroG with your preferred file manager. Run the APK file and install Vanced MicroG first.

Step 3 – Install & run ReVanced Manager

After Vanced MicroG is installed, ReVanaged Manager should be next, run it and give it the permissions it needs. Then select Patcher tab (at the very bottom), select YouTube and you should see current and suggested versions. It’s important to download the suggested version, to avoid bugging the patching process, you could try it, if not you’ll need to continue to Step 4.

Step 4 – Download recommended or latest YouTube APK file

You can find it via the link Download YouTube APKs for Android – APKMirror. Download nodpi versions if you’re unsure. Upload to your device / select the file from storage and allow it to patch the installer. You may find you need to uninstall the newer version of YouTube for it to install, follow the next step in that case.

Download Spotify APK – Latest Version 2024
https://apkcombo.com/spotify/com.spotify.music/download/apk

In all honesty I tend to just start from the below Step 5 and then Step 4 then continue the whole process.

Step 5 – Optional Alternative – Uninstall using ADB shell or build using ReVanced CLI

If you get an error such as “App not installed as package conflicts with an existing package.” then you’ll need to make sure everything is completely uninstalled and trying again. As this will get pretty long I’ve created a different post, click the links below.

Using ADB Shell to uninstall

Build ReVanced with ReVanced CLI

YouTube links

Go to the YouTube app and under “set as default” – turn it off. Under YouTube ReVanced, make sure “Open supported links” is enabled and make sure within ‘supported web addresses” you’ve toggled all on.

Let’s fix YouTube links! – Hokora Yinphine
https://hokorayinphinempp.github.io/obsidian-git-sync/Revanced/5%20Extras/Fix%20Links/

Links & References

> I installed Vanced MicroG! – Hokora Yinphine
https://hokorayinphinempp.github.io/obsidian-git-sync/Revanced/2B%20Unrooted/MicroG%20Installed/

Guide For Installing YT Music ReVanced : r/revancedapp
https://www.reddit.com/r/revancedapp/comments/131beri/guide_for_installing_yt_music_revanced/

18650, 20700 & Other Batteries, Conversions, Configurations

Conversions

Convert mAh to Watt Hours

The formula is (mAh)*(V)/1000 = (Wh).

Example: 2200 (mAh) * 3.7 (V) = 8140 / 1000 = 8.14Wh

Convert Watt Hours to mAh

The formula is (Wh)*1000/(V) = (mAh).

Example: 7.92 (Wh) * 1000 = 7920 / 3.6 (V) = 2200

Series and Parallel Battery Configurations

Series

  • Voltage combines.
  • The Positive side of the battery is connected to the negative of the next battery and so on.
  • The battery voltage is checked basically from touching the positive terminal on the first battery and the negative on the very last battery.

Parallel

  • Voltage stays the same.
  • The positive side of the battery is connected to the positive side of the next battery and so on.
  • The battery voltage is checked essentially be checking all negative and positive terminals at the same time as they are connected together on each end.

Links & References

Series & Parallel Examples

Example, acronyms

S stands for series which indicates the amount of cells connected in series and P is for parallel, and indicates the amount of cells connected in parallel.

6S3P example

6S indicates we have 6 cells connected in series, meaning battery #1 positive is connected to the negative end of battery #2 and so on till all 6 cells are connected and we have a positive unconnected end and an unconnected negative end.

3P then means we have 3 sets of the 6S above, which are then connected in parallel. Meaning now the positive ends are all connected and so are all the negative ends connected together.

Batteries in series have their voltage combined, batteries connected in parallel have their capacity combined. So if each battery cell is rated at 4.2v then that’s 4.2v * 6 = 25.2v and if each battery capacity is 2000mAh then that’s 2000mAh * 3 = 6000 mAh total capacity of the pack.

In this pack most of the cells are going towards increasing the voltage, from 4.2v to 25.2v. To get the most capacity out of all the cells you would do 1S18P and every cell has its capacity multiplied, which would be 2000mAh * 18 = 36,000mAh, but the voltage stays the same at 4.2v even though we have 18 cells in total.

28S3P example

28S indicates we have 28 cells in series, meaning battery #1 positive is connected to the negative end of battery #2 and so on till all 28 cells are connected. If the voltage of the individual cells are 4.2 then we’ve got 117.6v now as voltage combines in series connections. 3P means we have 3 of the 28S, which are connected in parallel. Meaning now the positive ends of the 3 sets of 28S are all connected and so are all the negative ends connected together.

Examples

Scenario 1

We would like to create a 12v 18650 battery back. We have 84 spare cells. First we’ll need to find out how many cells required to reach 12 volts. You could do 12/4.2 to get 2.857… we obviously can’t split cells so we round up to the nearest number so that would give us 3 cells. 4.2*3=12.6 which is fine.

So now we know we need 3 in Series that’s S3, now to increase the capacities. We’ve got 84 cells and we need to divide them equally. We should also keep the series consistent so we can’t have 1 with an extra battery.

84/3=28, so now we’ve concluded our pack is 3S28P. That’s 28 cells in 3 groups, connected together to then give us 1 positive and 1 negative connections.

Scenario 2

How to know what kind of capacity we’ll have?

Each cell, for instance has a capacity mAh of 2000.

Links & References

RTSP/IP Camera Viewers (for Wyze/Neos/ONVIF)

RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) IP Cameras are basically cameras using the RTSP/IP protocals to stream the output of the camera, meaning you can use your preferred viewer to watch, for playback. This is beneficial if you prefer to not use proprietary software.

Cams

Links:

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.vladpen.cams/
https://github.com/vladpen/cams

Pros:

Open source

Cons:

tinyCam Monitor

Links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alexvas.dvr

https://tinycammonitor.com/

Pros:

Cons:

Not free, £2.99 (as of writing this) to buy Pro version.

Limited features with free version.

Android DIY Security Camera Apps

Cawice: Security Camera

Nice and simple camera if you’re not interested in paying any subscription and just need a simple, but private one camera to work properly setup. No HD quality with the free version, but can do the job.

Links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cawice.android
https://cawice.com/
https://alternativeto.net/software/cawice/about/

Pros:

  • Very simple and easy to setup.
  • App designed well, Viewer app looks nice and easy to use, simple and not convoluted. Camera app nice and clean.
  • Siren feature
  • Ability to play back viewer microphone to camera speakers.
  • Other standard features like toggling flash, screen orientation.
  • Motion detection (untested)
  • Quick record function.

Cons:

  • Camera app has no ability to toggle display on/off while recording, when screen is switched off, sometimes activates.
  • Expensive subscription based.
  • No HD camera quality if not upgraded to subscription.

Security Camera CZ

Loads of features and most importantly all features included in the free version, and if you want to support or commit to it, just subscribe to remove the ads, it also seems to be the cheapest of them all.

Links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cz.scamera.securitycamera
https://securitycamera.cz/en/
https://alternativeto.net/software/security-camera-cz/

Pros:

  • Siren feature
  • Other standard features like toggling flash, screen orientation.
  • Motion detection (untested)
  • Quick record function.

Cons:

  • Viewer app slightly convoluted, clicking on a camera thumbnail seems to open a still image of the camera and not the live view, if clicking on what looks like a camera icon below the thumbnail activates the live view.
  • Subscription based, not as expensive as the others.

Alfred Camera

Quite expensive and app is very limited without subscribing. I would say if the other apps don’t work for you, only then would I suggest giving this a go.

Links:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ivuu
https://alfred.camera/
https://alternativeto.net/software/alfred-camera/about/

Pros:

  • Siren feature
  • Other standard features like toggling flash, screen orientation.
  • Motion detection (untested)
  • Quick record function.

Cons:

Expensive, subscription based.

Motion detection (untested)

X

Links:

Pros:

Cons:

10 bit, Full Color range, Dolby Vision playback issues

If like me you experienced a green tint when playing DV (Dolby Vision) HEVC video files, it’s most likely because the player you’re using is missing the Dolby Vision codec.

Choices…

You have a few choices. Firstly you can try and change your media player to something that works. A quick and less ideal solution is to use Microsoft’s Films & TV media player app, which you can get from Microsoft’s play store, combined with Dolby Vision Extensions, some have suggested you may need HEVC Video Extensions for it to work, but I was able to play my video correctly with just the first two.

Secondly, avoid video files that use the DV (Dolby Vision) and stick to HDR10+, why would you when the latter is free and open source anyway, but of course the first time you can call it a learning experience. And – as far as I am aware, it’s not possible to remux a DV video to HDR10+. Re-encoding isn’t out of the picture, although it is time consuming, especially if your file size is quite large. There is quietvoid’s dovi_tool tool that gives a little hope, which I did not fully explore.

The final suggestions I read, but cannot confirm, is your hardware needs to support at least 10-bit and your software needs to have the relevant DV licence(s) aka codecs.

Why..

From my understanding and ultimately troubleshooting steps above I believe it’s a software codec issue. At least on my end. The player you’re using is not correctly mapping the colours and in my case trying to play 10 bit video on 8 bit hardware causing the failures.

Links & References

Sources for finding and learning about new and popular open source projects/applications

avoidthehack!

Nice website that regularly posts about internet privacy and cybersecurity, which equates to open source projects and recommendations.

FOSS, Free and Open Source Software

DNS ad-blocking & tracker-blocking, DNS over HTTPS (Secure DNS)

Blocking ads and trackers on a look up level is probably the most methodical approach as it means the entire network is protected from known malicious websites/IP’s. Setting up a switch to allow a Raspberry Pi to act as a DNS server is I guess the ultimate home setup, however that obviously requires a switch, Raspberry Pi and a little effort.

The next best thing is to manually set your devices to use DNS over HTTPS which adds some privacy and security to your DNS resolutions, but of course not stopping there and using a DNS provider that adds ad-blocking and tracker-blocking to the mix.

It’s still recommended to use a browser plugin like uBlock Origin and others like LocalCDN, Privacy Badger oh and personally I’d add Cookie AutoDelete, but blocking via DNS is for when you can’t use the former.

First port of call

Search what kind of service you prefer. The below link should give you a gist on what’s out there. I haven’t extensively tested to give you the best one.

Avoid The Hack: 7 Best DNS Providers for Privacy (and adblocking) | avoidthehack!
https://avoidthehack.com/best-dns-privacy

Blocking Ads, Trackers, and Malware in Browsers, Devices, and Networks | avoidthehack!
https://avoidthehack.com/how-to-block-ads

Mullvad DNS

To set one up quickly, I’d suggest Mullvad DNS.

DNS over HTTPS and DNS over TLS – Guides | Mullvad VPN
https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-over-https-and-dns-over-tls/

DNS Leak test/connection test

Connection check | Mullvad VPN
https://mullvad.net/en/check

How-to

For Chromium it’s in the settings, and also if you wish to disable the fall-back it’s “chrome://flags/#dns-over-https” (then search for DnsOverHttpsMode) in the address bar to get to the settings.

Controversy

Secure DNS is a good thing, but centralized is not. Worth reading.

Centralised DoH is bad for privacy, in 2019 and beyond | PowerDNS Blog
https://blog.powerdns.com/2019/09/25/centralised-doh-is-bad-for-privacy-in-2019-and-beyond/

Mozilla Thunderbird

An email client that’s open source and works on Windows. A great alternative to Microsoft Office.

I’ve been using Thunderbird for a few years now and it’s been improving and getting better since I first tried it out. The latest big upgrade has made some drastic visual improvements, making it a lot more visually stylish without making it look too clunky.

The biggest issue I have with it is the lack of an option to choose the column to show the “From” address being the reply-to address or at least some ability to see when you select on the email, the best method would be some checks to make sure it matches, making sure the sender is not spoofed, for example a lot of scam and phishing emails do this. Modern email clients should not have a simple feature like this missing.

On a personal preference, I’d like the client to be able to have the ability to switch profiles more easily or allow profiles to float in tabs.

How to fix emails suddenly displaying in code

You probably will never see this issue occur for you, but if like me you like to achieve quickly, sometimes while it’s indexing and the Windows anti-virus in the background may decide to scan the file and cause an error. Simple solution can be found in the link below.

scrcpy, displays and allows you to control, in addition record your Android device via PC (with USB debugging enabled)

One of the prerequisites to get scrcpy to work is to activate developer mode and enable USB debugging, of course giving authorization for the device – in this case your PC – access to your Android. Without doing this in advance you’ll not be able to get this to work.

Download scrcpy

GitHub – Genymobile/scrcpy: Display and control your Android device
https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy

There’s no installer, just download the latest version, extract it somewhere and that’s it, no need to install adb seperately, as that’s packaged inside the folder. Of course have a look at the steps, as you’ll need to enable USB debugging.

Command-line arguments

Recording needs to be manually turned on, so instead of running the .exe in the folder, you should see a .bat file named “open_a_terminal_here.bat”, run that and the terminal for you to input command-line arguments should appear.

Have a look on the github page for the full list.

Desoldering Braid/Soldering Wick

Looking to buy Desoldering Braid/Soldering Wick and unsure what ones to buy? I was in the same spot and I still kind of am, but after buying my first purchase I kind of have the gist of what I require from my desoldering braid.

Firstly, check out some information on what type of rosins there are. This link helped me, quite quickly:

Choosing the right Desoldering Braid – Equipment, Tools & Supplies / Soldering, Desoldering, Rework Products – Engineering and Component Solution Forum – TechForum │ Digi-Key
https://forum.digikey.com/t/choosing-the-right-desoldering-braid/1723

It depends on what kind of repairs you’ll use it for. If you tend to use it for more general soldering removal then any 3.5-5mm width roll should do, also with that kind of size you probably would like the braid to contain rosin so as to help you remove the solder much quicker, rather than applying it yourself, plus there’s no harm in applying more if you require. The benefits of this is it speeds up the process, saves on your own rosin and as you’ve got the space to fit the larger roll, I’m assuming you can clean it up after.

Then there’s the ‘No clean’ options, which is probably best for small jobs and you can use whatever kind of rosin you want.

Solder Wicks | Desoldering Braid | RS
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/power-tools-soldering-welding/soldering/solder-wicks/

Desoldering Braid / Solder Removal – Mouser United Kingdom
https://www.mouser.co.uk/c/tools-supplies/soldering/desoldering-braid-solder-removal/

Desoldering Braid, Wick, Pumps | Electronic Components Distributor DigiKey
https://www.digikey.co.uk/en/products/filter/desoldering-braid-wick-pumps/265

Desoldering Braid, Wick, Pumps | Electronic Components Distributor DigiKey
https://www.digikey.co.uk/en/products/filter/desoldering-braid-wick-pumps/265

Amazon.co.uk : 5mm
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=5mm&rh=n%3A15086505031&ref=nb_sb_noss

Desoldering Braid 5.3mm for sale | eBay
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw=Desoldering+Braid+5.3mm&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=Desoldering+Braid+4mm&_osacat=0&LH_PrefLoc=2