Device Administrators will not activate or deactivate

A

AC Question

I am in settings>security>device administrators and any app I select and hit "activate" nothing happens. The only app that is selected as administrator is Android Device Manager, and likewise nothing happens when I hit "deactivate". Anyone know what's up?
 

B. Diddy

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Welcome to Android Central! Which phone do you have? When you tap Deactivate, are you saying that the Device Administrator list shows up again with Android Device Manager still checked?

Are you logged in as a Guest User?
 

BossRocket

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Hey, I'm the OP, just made an account. Thanks for helping!

I have a Nexus 5.
Yes, when I tap deactivate for the Android Device Manager nothing happens, I go back and it is still checked and activated.

Update though, I went to Settings>Google>Security just to mess around and deselected both "Remotely lock this device" and "Allow remote lock and erase" and they both deselected. Then I checked my device administrators and NONE of them are selected, so Android Device Manager became deselected that way. It's not what I actually want so I went back to Settings>Google>Security and reselected "Remotely lock this device" which worked, but I tried to reselect "Allow remote lock and erase" and it takes me to the "activate device administrator?" page for Android Device Manager and the activate button won't respond, which is the issue from the beginning. The "Cancel" button won't respond either. Nothing happens. It doesn't glitch or anything. I just have to hit the back button and shrug my shoulders. This happens for any app I want to make device administrator.

I'm not sure what you mean by asking me if I'm logged in as a Guest User.
I am logged into my google account if that's what you mean.

Cheers!
 

B. Diddy

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Try wiping the cache partition. This process won't erase any personal data. Be aware that it may take 5-10 minutes on the Nexus 5. http://forums.androidcentral.com/nexus-5-rooting-roms-hacks/352008-guide-nexus-5-recovery.html

If you swipe down the notification panel, then tap the avatar at the upper right, you can see an option to add a guest profile. See also this help page: https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/6115141?hl=en. I was wondering if you were logged in as a a guest, which might prevent you from being able to change Device Administrator privileges, but it looks like this wasn't the case.
 

BossRocket

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I gave that a shot, no luck, nothing happened. And I hope I didn't do anything weird to my phone? I did not have any trusted credentials under User only System.

Hmmmm, this is weird. Any other avenues I could explore?
 

BossRocket

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Thanks so much for your help! I don't think I will bother doing that, as I'm not really sure what I am doing, and at this point it's not worth it for me haha. I'll just have to live it with it until it magically goes away.Cheers!
 

Kapil Bansal

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1. Apps such as Blue light filter apps constantly appear on the top of your screen thus breaking some of the on screen functionalities. Try disabling display over other apps permission of such apps and you should be fine. If you don't know which apps to disable, first enable show system apps and then disable all apps.

2. If you have custom ROM installed such as Resurrection Remix(which was my case) who provides Smart Pixels feature under Settings ->Configurations -> Interface -> Smart Pixels , try disabling that too and you will be able to toggle device admins as well as accessiblity of apps.

3. Also, sometimes it is because of your custom launcher, so try switching to your stock launcher if above solutions don't work.

4. If Accessibility for some apps are on then try disabling them first then try to enable for the apps you wanted to.

5. Uninstalling the anti-virus helps sometimes.

P.S. : Of all the above possible solutions, try the ones which are more suitable to your condition. For eg. you can't try solution number 2 if your ROM doesn't have Smart Pixels.

Hope it helps.