Can the data in an iphone can be erased like android mobile by going to recovery mode by pressing 2/3 buttons of mobiles . If not then what happens ?
What? If you want to know about resetting an iPhone, ask in an iPhone forum?
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
I don't want to reset an iPhone, I''m just asking a security case. Let's imagine our android being stolen, then the thief can certainly press the power and volume key and can easily wipe data and factory reset the mobile phone by just simply going to recovery. So it'll be impossible for us to find the phone.
But I'm asking in case of an iPhone is this same case possible? Can a thief just simply wipe the data and reset the mobile by pressing some keys and without unlocking the mobile ?
Gotcha. I haven't used an iPhone in years, so don't know.
I still think it's weird to ask an iPhone reset question in an Android forum though. You would probably get your answer in a minute if you just ask in an apple forum...
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
Isn't the whole point of factory reset protection on android that it renders the device useless to someone who does this? Sure, it won't stop them actually resetting it, so you won't be able to track it afterwards, but the idea is that the thieves will learn that it's a waste of time.
Apple have something to prevent you just wiping a phone and making it yours, but I can't remember the details (i.e. whether it prevents the reset or, like the Google version, prevents you from using it afterwards).
Sent from my Pixel 2 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
I concur with @Large Hadron
On an iPhone, someone could enter the password incorrectly several times and the device would be wiped. It would not be usable, but it would be wiped. They could also connect the iPhone to a computer / mac with itunes and flash a factory image from there. Again, the device would be useless to them, but you wouldn't be able to recover your device from the thief.
Comparing an iPhone to a Pixel 1 or 2, both device could easily have the data wiped from the device. To that effect, the data is secure on both devices, which is by far the most important part. Recovering your lost / stolen device is an entirely different conversation. The benefit of an iPhone when lost / stolen is the device is a brick without the previous user's icloud email and password. Once it boots up, it asks for this before you can setup the phone. There is no way around this (without Apple's intervention). On a Pixel 1 or 2, the device could be wiped, but I believe the thief could then use the phone as their own. There is nothing that would "brick" the phone after a full data wipe.
If you are worried about your data, either phone is good (don't unlock bootloader and don't oem unlock). If you are worried about the hardware, you are responsible for that.
dbrohrer said:
I concur with @Large Hadron
On an iPhone, someone could enter the password incorrectly several times and the device would be wiped. It would not be usable, but it would be wiped. They could also connect the iPhone to a computer / mac with itunes and flash a factory image from there. Again, the device would be useless to them, but you wouldn't be able to recover your device from the thief.
Comparing an iPhone to a Pixel 1 or 2, both device could easily have the data wiped from the device. To that effect, the data is secure on both devices, which is by far the most important part. Recovering your lost / stolen device is an entirely different conversation. The benefit of an iPhone when lost / stolen is the device is a brick without the previous user's icloud email and password. Once it boots up, it asks for this before you can setup the phone. There is no way around this (without Apple's intervention). On a Pixel 1 or 2, the device could be wiped, but I believe the thief could then use the phone as their own. There is nothing that would "brick" the phone after a full data wipe.
If you are worried about your data, either phone is good (don't unlock bootloader and don't oem unlock). If you are worried about the hardware, you are responsible for that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
An Android phone works exactly the same way. If you wipe it from recovery, FRP (factory reset protection) kicks in, Once that happens, you are required to log on to the last account that the phone was used on (just like Apple). If you don't know the previous account and or password, there's no way you can use the phone.
You can factory reset from settings without triggering FRP though. Doing so removes all accounts from the phone and anybody can then use it. It's assumed since you are in settings, you've already logged on when you last booted the phone. A thief wouldn't be able to get into settings to reset it as he or she wouldn't know the password to unlock the phone.
robocuff said:
An Android phone works exactly the same way. If you wipe it from recovery, FRP (factory reset protection) kicks in, Once that happens, you are required to log on to the last account that the phone was used on (just like Apple). If you don't know the previous account and or password, there's no way you can use the phone.
You can factory reset from settings without triggering FRP though. Doing so removes all accounts from the phone and anybody can then use it. It's assumed since you are in settings, you've already logged on when you last booted the phone. A thief wouldn't be able to get into settings to reset it as he or she wouldn't know the password to unlock the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool. I didn't know that. Thanks for that info
dbrohrer said:
Cool. I didn't know that. Thanks for that info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And if you really want to perfectly protect all your encrypted files, never open the bootloader. Because there's no way to flash something in the phone if the bootloader is closed. And there's no way to Open the bootloader without wiping all your personal data in the process.
Now if you decide to open the bootloader, files are still encrypted, so it's not a big deal.
Regarding the annulment of an Android device, when it is stealed: That happens with any modern Android phone. Basically, Google bans the phone from their cloud servers. A phone without google account is like an iPhone without Apple/iCloud accounts, almost useless.
P.S.: an open bootloader in Android is like a Jailbreak in iOS, but totally OFFICIAL and supported by Google/Android. You don't lose any functionality like with Jailbreak (if that thing still exist today...).
From my point of view, Google should ask PIN before accessing Fastboot mode and Recovery mode. but this is just to prevent a bad joke from a friend or something like that. (Not when your phone is lost forever, you just want to ban that device from Google servers so can't be used again).
robocuff said:
An Android phone works exactly the same way. If you wipe it from recovery, FRP (factory reset protection) kicks in, Once that happens, you are required to log on to the last account that the phone was used on (just like Apple). If you don't know the previous account and or password, there's no way you can use the phone.
You can factory reset from settings without triggering FRP though. Doing so removes all accounts from the phone and anybody can then use it. It's assumed since you are in settings, you've already logged on when you last booted the phone. A thief wouldn't be able to get into settings to reset it as he or she wouldn't know the password to unlock the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure about that? I believe that factory reset still triggers FRP thus the black market trade in bypassing that check on lost and stolen devices.
Related
Hey guys
I flashed the factory images last night effectively wiping my Nexus 5 and starting from scratch. I did not restore apps and settings either. After I manually installed a bunch of my apps back and changed around a few settings, I decided to enable encryption. However, I don't think it enabled properly.
First, I had not set a PIN lock on my phone yet at the time.
When I decided to enable encryption and go through the process, it didn't ask me to enter a PIN.
It seemingly completed encrypting the phone. When I go back to the security menu, it says "Encrypted".
However, I am not prompted to enter a PIN upon booting the phone (not talking about the lock screen PIN).
So, it seems like it didn't work but I'm not sure. Has anyone else enabled encryption yet?
and yes, I saw the performance degradation that comes with enabling encryption but I'd rather have the security.
definitely sounds like there's an issue there. Do you have a custom recovery? If so, you could boot into that, pull some data and see if it opens. If it does, yeah its not encrypted.
Not worth mentioning degradation. All encryption always has and always will have performance degradation. It's par for the course
That sounds like a good idea. If it's not encrypted, then I guess the only method is to wipe and reinstall again.
mattkroeder said:
That sounds like a good idea. If it's not encrypted, then I guess the only method is to wipe and reinstall again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think so. You can't reverse the encryption flag without a wipe I dont think
mattkroeder said:
Hey guys
I flashed the factory images last night effectively wiping my Nexus 5 and starting from scratch. I did not restore apps and settings either. After I manually installed a bunch of my apps back and changed around a few settings, I decided to enable encryption. However, I don't think it enabled properly.
First, I had not set a PIN lock on my phone yet at the time.
When I decided to enable encryption and go through the process, it didn't ask me to enter a PIN.
It seemingly completed encrypting the phone. When I go back to the security menu, it says "Encrypted".
However, I am not prompted to enter a PIN upon booting the phone (not talking about the lock screen PIN).
So, it seems like it didn't work but I'm not sure. Has anyone else enabled encryption yet?
and yes, I saw the performance degradation that comes with enabling encryption but I'd rather have the security.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure, but i think it's designed to works just like that, the encryption key is not the PIN anymore but something (random?) that is stored somewhere on the phone.
that would protect the data in case someone tries to read it directly from the phone's memory, but useless if you don;t have a PIN/PASSWORD.
I avoided encryption before for exactly that reason (requiring a password to boot). If I lose the phone I want the person that found/stole it to be able to at least boot it. if the person is not a thief there's a contact number so they can call me to give it back. if he/she's a thief well, as long as it's on I can call it, track it, wipe it. even brick it.
by not being able to boot it, the chances of getting it back are 0 if the battery dies or is dead!
http://readwrite.com/2014/10/28/google-android-lollipop-encryption-issues
there isn't much info out there about it.
kenshin33 said:
Not sure, but i think it's designed to works just like that, the encryption key is not the PIN anymore but something (random?) that is stored somewhere on the phone.
that would protect the data in case someone tries to read it directly from the phone's memory, but useless if you don;t have a PIN/PASSWORD.
I avoided encryption before for exactly that reason (requiring a password to boot). If I lose the phone I want the person that found/stole it to be able to at least boot it. if the person is not a thief there's a contact number so they can call me to give it back. if he/she's a thief well, as long as it's on I can call it, track it, wipe it. even brick it.
by not being able to boot it, the chances of getting it back are 0 if the battery dies or is dead!
http://readwrite.com/2014/10/28/google-android-lollipop-encryption-issues
there isn't much info out there about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went ahead and wiped the phone again. I reinstalled lollipop and made sure to enable a lockscreen PIN before I enabled encryption. It seems to have encrypted properly. It prompts me for my PIN at boot up now.
You make a good point about encryption making it more difficult for someone to get a hold of me if I lose the phone though.
Same problem here, with Nexus 5 and Android v5
My work Exchange server enforces a security policy to the phone which forces you to enable encryption. So I went ahead and did that, and the email app is still saying that encryption needs to be enabled. When I reboot the phone I never get prompted for a PIN to decrypt the device, yet in the settings screen it says it is encrypted.
I'm going to have to re-flash. Is it possible the issue is caused by leaving the bootloader unlocked? or is this is a bug?
EDIT: Update. Reflashed, but first thing I did was relock the bootloader and enable a security screenlock PIN, *then* encrypted the phone. Now it's prompting me for a PIN on boot and looks like it's worked. Hope the Exchange email policy stays happy this time, as it worked before for about a day before it complained about the lack of encryption
this worked for me also
I did what was stated below and it worked....
1. reflashed,
2. locked bootloader
3. created lock pin
4. encrypted, THEN
5. added MDM control (MAAS360) and exchange email.
It seems to work OK now.
Thanks!
JoyrexJ9 said:
Same problem here, with Nexus 5 and Android v5
My work Exchange server enforces a security policy to the phone which forces you to enable encryption. So I went ahead and did that, and the email app is still saying that encryption needs to be enabled. When I reboot the phone I never get prompted for a PIN to decrypt the device, yet in the settings screen it says it is encrypted.
I'm going to have to re-flash. Is it possible the issue is caused by leaving the bootloader unlocked? or is this is a bug?
EDIT: Update. Reflashed, but first thing I did was relock the bootloader and enable a security screenlock PIN, *then* encrypted the phone. Now it's prompting me for a PIN on boot and looks like it's worked. Hope the Exchange email policy stays happy this time, as it worked before for about a day before it complained about the lack of encryption
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mattkroeder said:
Hey guys
I flashed the factory images last night effectively wiping my Nexus 5 and starting from scratch. I did not restore apps and settings either. After I manually installed a bunch of my apps back and changed around a few settings, I decided to enable encryption. However, I don't think it enabled properly.
First, I had not set a PIN lock on my phone yet at the time.
When I decided to enable encryption and go through the process, it didn't ask me to enter a PIN.
It seemingly completed encrypting the phone. When I go back to the security menu, it says "Encrypted".
However, I am not prompted to enter a PIN upon booting the phone (not talking about the lock screen PIN).
So, it seems like it didn't work but I'm not sure. Has anyone else enabled encryption yet?
and yes, I saw the performance degradation that comes with enabling encryption but I'd rather have the security.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you set up a screen lock pin the phone will ask you then if you would like the PIN to be enabled or not at boot.
kenshin33 said:
Not sure, but i think it's designed to works just like that, the encryption key is not the PIN anymore but something (random?) that is stored somewhere on the phone.
that would protect the data in case someone tries to read it directly from the phone's memory, but useless if you don;t have a PIN/PASSWORD.
I avoided encryption before for exactly that reason (requiring a password to boot). If I lose the phone I want the person that found/stole it to be able to at least boot it. if the person is not a thief there's a contact number so they can call me to give it back. if he/she's a thief well, as long as it's on I can call it, track it, wipe it. even brick it.
by not being able to boot it, the chances of getting it back are 0 if the battery dies or is dead!
http://readwrite.com/2014/10/28/google-android-lollipop-encryption-issues
there isn't much info out there about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for OT, but how can you remotely brick your phone? Just curious in case I ever need to. Don't live in the best of neighborhoods. I can remote wipe, track, take pics. The normal lost/stolen stuff, but I haven't heard of remotely bricking a phone ever.
Nexus 5 still looking to be encrypted
Only a temp fix---Both my Nexus 7, and Nexus 5 just started asked to be encrypted again....
This is still a problem with Lollipop
thegasmaster said:
I did what was stated below and it worked....
1. reflashed,
2. locked bootloader
3. created lock pin
4. encrypted, THEN
5. added MDM control (MAAS360) and exchange email.
It seems to work OK now.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wipe efs partition (I do have a backup on my computer) and the phone is no longer a phone.
Just to be clear, you can enable encryption on Android 5.0, and it will not force you to lock the phone. (Like the PIN screen and boot lock). When you buy a Nexus 6/9 the data partition is encrypted but there's no lock set. The following is from this article;
First, the encryption doesn't help much if you haven't set a passcode. Ludwig said studies have shown that roughly have of users don't set passcodes on their devices, largely because they find it inconvenient to keep entering them dozens of times a day. Lollipop will still encrypt your data, but it will also automatically decrypt it in normal use. So if you don't have a passcode, much of your information will be available to anyone who picks up your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if you've enabled encryption, and gone through the process, you're phone data partition is encrypted. It's just not locked down until you use some kind of phone lock too. BTW, the article goes on to describe the limited usefulness of having an encrypted data partition and no phone lock;
Lollipop's encryption still offers some limited protection even under those circumstances—for instance, by protecting stored data against anyone who tries to read it directly from the phone's memory. That could shield user passwords and other sensitive data from attackers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As to why Exchange policies don't see the phone as encrypted is probably due to another issue.
Setting PIN to be required at startup after encryption possible fix
I now have my Nexus 5 & 7 working with exchange on Lollipop using this-
1. Reflashed Lollipop
2. Let phone reinstall all my apps
3. Locked bootloader.
4. Set a screen lock PIN
5. Encrypt phone
6. Set screen lock PIN to be required on start up (this was missing before!)
7. Installed MDM control via Mass360-all policies look to be met, including encryption
8. Installed my exchange account via Gmail
//code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=79342
Updated thread with solution
---
* It used to be that when I did a reboot or shutdown and restart, I would have to enter a password before the system fully started.
* But now the phone boots into the phone without putting in my password. I can reboot the phone and it will boot all the way to the Lock screen, and I can unlock the lock screen with my fingerprint or my backup password.
* I am concerned that somehow my device is either no longer encrypted or that there is some setting which has stored the boot password.
--
Solution :
For those of you who find they have this problem and have not solved it, I found a solution that works, related to a bug (feature?) in Accessibility.
Apologies if this was suggested further in the thread, and that I'm replying to an old post. But I recently had this problem and figured out a solution.
- Accessibility was enabled and for some reason this cached the boot password. So- when I removed the app (rights) and turned off accessibility, and changed (reset/reentered) the password in security settings... On next boot the phone correctly asked me for password.
YMMV.
subs said:
I posted this elsewhere... But I'm having the same problem. Any thoughts? I can post more details, but don't want to repost this everywhere that I see people having the same unresolved problem.
---
* It used to be that when I did a reboot or shutdown and restart, I would have to enter a password before the system fully started.
* But now the phone boots into the phone without putting in my password. I can reboot the phone and it will boot all the way to the Lock screen, and I can unlock the lock screen with my fingerprint or my backup password.
* I am concerned that somehow my device is either no longer encrypted or that there is some setting which has stored the boot password.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, please try not to bump threads almost a year old. I realise that it might have taken you a while to actually reach this thread, but hear me out.
Opening a new thread is always better, since software versions, features and devices are most likely different, along with different device usage habits/users.
You say you're having "the same problem"... as.. who exactly? There's a bunch of different specific "issues" that relate to encryption. Be specific.
For instance, you mentioning fingerprint sensor leads me to presume that you are not using a Nexus 5.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk
Okay so here is a little back story. I work in an IT department and my company loves anything VMWare produces so they use Airwatch for work emails on mobile devices. Airwatch has it's on MDM and provides security for the device in case it ever gets stolen which is awesome, but I had a specific case where the customer had the awesome idea to turn off his wifi internally (can't use airwatch console to remote wipe), and forgot his encryption password and I was like great... So I tried factory resetting it and lo and behold I get the infamous message "MDM does not allow factoryReset"... This is obviously a part of Airwatch's MDM control so someone can't just factory reset a device and claim it as theirs. I know a lot of people recommend Odin and just flash it with another ROM version, but that isn't "company standard" so it's not very advised to do that. So I put my superior IT knowledge to the test and imlemented a grand strategy to fix this.
Alright so for everyone who has this problem you are going to want to follow these steps...
1. Set a password for the device
2. Make sure the device has 80% charge or more
3. Settings -> Security -> Encrypt Device
Now once you have encrypted your device and it has went all the way through. Reboot the device and now on bootup it should ask you for a password to get into your device to see encrypted data. Get this password wrong 15 times (can vary from device) and it will wipe the device clean of any data and it will reboot, then come up as if you're registering a new device from factory reset. I know this solution is a bit caveman status, but it works. Hope this helps!
xzeroun said:
Okay so here is a little back story. I work in an IT department and my company loves anything VMWare produces so they use Airwatch for work emails on mobile devices. Airwatch has it's on MDM and provides security for the device in case it ever gets stolen which is awesome, but I had a specific case where the customer had the awesome idea to turn off his wifi internally (can't use airwatch console to remote wipe), and forgot his encryption password and I was like great... So I tried factory resetting it and lo and behold I get the infamous message "MDM does not allow factoryReset"... This is obviously a part of Airwatch's MDM control so someone can't just factory reset a device and claim it as theirs. I know a lot of people recommend Odin and just flash it with another ROM version, but that isn't "company standard" so it's not very advised to do that. So I put my superior IT knowledge to the test and imlemented a grand strategy to fix this.
Alright so for everyone who has this problem you are going to want to follow these steps...
1. Set a password for the device
2. Make sure the device has 80% charge or more
3. Settings -> Security -> Encrypt Device
Now once you have encrypted your device and it has went all the way through. Reboot the device and now on bootup it should ask you for a password to get into your device to see encrypted data. Get this password wrong 15 times (can vary from device) and it will wipe the device clean of any data and it will reboot, then come up as if you're registering a new device from factory reset. I know this solution is a bit caveman status, but it works. Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not the place for this post.
Thread closed.
Please post in your device forums.
My note 5 sm n920c got stolen, it was protected with fingerprint security and back up pin. I changed my google password, unable to locate or wipe it through my google account, it says can't reach the device, and it doesn't show up in samsung account. What really bothering me is gallery(photos and videos)and other docs(unfortunately no back up either). Is there any way thief might get into my stuff??
Kindly share your expert opinion, I'm really worried about it
Thank you
Somewhat good news from this situation is that thefts are usually for the device and not for the data, so your private information might be intact. Unless you had an SD card where all of your photos and data were kept, the chance of that lessens significantly. Another method is to connect your phone via USB. If it connects thief can access your files that way. Sorry to bring bad news, there are ways. Nothing good about getting a phone stolen, obviously, unfortunate that it happened.
Now as for the main course of action for theft, is to take a phone while its active and do a factory reset, so he can have and use the device. Otherwise, take the phone, try unlocking it, if unsuccessful use external access to factory reset the phone and sell it. I am not an expert, but usually, these type of thieves are not the smartest individuals around when it comes to tech. They want money or other personal gains in the usual scenarios.
Lesson: Keep all of your files backed up, tie your phone near you if possible. I am paranoid, I do that Other than that, stay safe, hopefully, other people can provide a more assure insight.
Means there is a chance thief can get in?
DrMarshal said:
Means there is a chance thief can get in?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What software & ver is it running? (have you been applying updates)
Have you rooted it or left developer options on ie adb over usb? Is it encrypted?
There is at least one potential exploit ie "knoxout" if running older OS, it seems. Also possible to spoof the finger print to gain access. But very unlikely your average opportunistic thief will bother with these as will require some knowledge, skills & time. At least the Note 5 doesn't have an SD card so you don't have to worry about the easy access to a portable SD.
Re fingerprints
https://www.theverge.com/2016/5/2/11540962/iphone-samsung-fingerprint-duplicate-hack-security
You should send the remote wipe command so that it'll be wiped if it comes back online (assuming it was enabled before) & report it stolen to your provider to get imei blacklisted, (despite limitations of reporting).
IronRoo said:
What software & ver is it running? (have you been applying updates)
Have you rooted it or left developer options on ie adb over usb? Is it encrypted?
There is at least one potential exploit ie "knoxout" if running older OS, it seems. Also possible to spoof the finger print to gain access. But very unlikely your average opportunistic thief will bother with these as will require some knowledge, skills & time. At least the Note 5 doesn't have an SD card so you don't have to worry about the easy access to a portable SD.
Re fingerprints
https://www.theverge.com/2016/5/2/11540962/iphone-samsung-fingerprint-duplicate-hack-security
You should send the remote wipe command so that it'll be wiped if it comes back online (assuming it was enabled before) & report it stolen to your provider to get imei blacklisted, (despite limitations of reporting).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android 7.0 , and yes i updated it eavh time there was an update. And didn't root it, never opened the developer options menu on it.
I sent the remote wipe command multiple times too
DrMarshal said:
Android 7.0 , and yes i updated it eavh time there was an update. And didn't root it, never opened the developer options menu on it.
I sent the remote wipe command multiple times too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If they removed the Sim card that won't work. Which makes all remote wipes really kinda useless.
As stated. Most of the time within a few min if it being found/stolen the Sim is removed and the device reset.
Use your Samsung Account to remotely Find, Lock, Back up, Wipe Your Device at https://findmymobile.samsung.com/
The odds are they factory resetted the phone and discarded the Sim card. Report is lost/stolen on your carrier. If it's an unlocked n5 then you're **** out of luck
---------- Post added at 02:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:59 AM ----------
Also I recommend everybody to set password on boot. Even if they try to reset it they will need a password to get into recovery. Tho they can still use a PC to reset the phone, just make it harder for them to factory reset your phone
Won't work if the Sim is removed and the device is reset.
---------- Post added at 10:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:11 PM ----------
supergear said:
Also I recommend everybody to set password on boot. Even if they try to reset it they will need a password to get into recovery. Tho they can still use a PC to reset the phone, just make it harder for them to factory reset your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And at that point they just sell it at a local shop and the shop flashes it from the bootloader. Or brute forces the password.
There are many sites selling Mix 3's some Chinese, some Global, some with locked bootloaders, and some with unlocked bootloaders, this thread is to help people "protect" the devices they have bought (or will buy).
It's through my understanding that the most "secure" way of protecting your phone & data from thief's is to have your bootloader locked, with no custom recovery, encryption on & usb debugging disabled right?
This is because with a unlocked bootloader, the thief has the ability to boot into TWRP (for example) & simply wipe your pin/password/lock off the phone completely, then just boot it up, factory reset it & sell it.
I know there is methods such as putting the phone in cold temperatures so you can retrieve the encryption keys from the RAM, but assuming the thief is just basic & what's to make some quick money off your phone...So...
What's the best way & most recommended thing to do with Xiaomi devices specifically, locked/unlocked, encrypted/not-encrypted, does it matter?, If not, why not?
Any help is appreciated! The more in-depth the better.
Even with a locked bootloader a thief can hold VolUp while booting, wipe phone and sell it. Wiping is possible in any case and thats not even the issue a stolen Phone is gone.
The issue are your data which can be stolen too when you have a unlocked bootloader. Simply boot to twrp connect usb and copy everything. But you can prevent that with encryption and enable "requires pattern to start". That way if your phone gets stolen the thief can still Install/use Twrp but he needs to enter a pattern to decrypt the storage. If he doesnt, twrp wont be able to read the partition and your data is safe. He can still wipe the Phone and sell it but you cant prevent that. I don't know if the pattern generates the encryption keys or retrieves them from somewhere but i'd assume it generates them, probably together with some device specific values, else that would be a flaw in my book. If someone could enlighten me here that'd be nice.
If your bootloader is locked he also can't access your data. Since stock recovers doesn't allow/support Usb-filetransfer. So a lockpattern is all you need there. Encryption shouldnt really matter against the normal thief.
I am going this way: Unlocked bootloader to get rid of Miui, Twrp to have a proper recovery menu, and encryption+pattern to save my data. Disable USB-Developer Options to prevent adb shenanigans.
But on the hand if you wan't to get really panariod a locked bootloader would be better since you still can read the system image from the phone from twrp, this means, and this is a easy way to do it, you could read it copy it to the pc and simply brutefroce the lockpattern. If you have the partitions you can simply try 3 patterns either it works or the phone locks itself up because you did 3 wrong. If it locks up you simply write the partitions back and try again. If you can do 3 in 30 seconds you are done in 45 days since there are only 390.000 different patterns on a 3x3 grid (which is what most people use since some Roms don't even allow for 4x4 or 5x5) but if you emulate it and can do 3 in 15 seconds you are down to 23 days. If you run it in 20 emulators you are done in 1 day. (That would be an awesome weekend project.) In emulation you could really optimize this since you can cut everything out what isn't needed for the attempt to encrypt the partition. you dont even need the screen to load, simply send the decryption module whatever the last module in the Numbers-from-touches-chain would have sent, everything that is loaded before the attempt to decrypt must be unencrypted therefore can be messed with, probably it's even universal across phones since that's a stock android thing. If it tries to write used attempts, save whatever what gets overwritten beforehand, let it write its thing, kill the process, revert changes and try again with the next set. Maybe you get it down to 3s or 4s for 3 attempts and boom you are at 6 hours to encrypt any android phone, no matter which version, with an unlocked bootloader which uses a 3x3 pattern. But your data would be really valueable to someone if they did this. You can't do that with a locked bootloader since you can't read the partitions or you could just use the 5x5 pattern, which you cant do on MIUI (i just tried and havent found where you could change it). But probably i have a giant oversight in there so this probably woudn't work
________________________________________________
On the other hand if you want to recover your phone you should make it as easy as possible to get the thief into your phone since you dont want them to run it off and wipe it. I DONT RECOMMEND THIS. But you could make a 2nd user who has no lock pattern on it. Concider your Data public at this point but while they are busy looking at your selfies you could use a app like prey to track the phone. But since Data are more important than a phone i'd never do or recommend that.
Or you could just buy a tin foil hat.
~phoeny~ said:
Even with a locked bootloader a thief can hold VolUp while booting, wipe phone and sell it. Wiping is possible in any case and thats not even the issue a stolen Phone is gone.
The issue are your data which can be stolen too when you have a unlocked bootloader. Simply boot to twrp connect usb and copy everything. But you can prevent that with encryption and enable "requires pattern to start". That way if your phone gets stolen the thief can still Install/use Twrp but he needs to enter a pattern to decrypt the storage. If he doesnt, twrp wont be able to read the partition and your data is safe. He can still wipe the Phone and sell it but you cant prevent that. I don't know if the pattern generates the encryption keys or retrieves them from somewhere but i'd assume it generates them, probably together with some device specific values, else that would be a flaw in my book. If someone could enlighten me here that'd be nice.
If your bootloader is locked he also can't access your data. Since stock recovers doesn't allow/support Usb-filetransfer. So a lockpattern is all you need there. Encryption shouldnt really matter against the normal thief.
I am going this way: Unlocked bootloader to get rid of Miui, Twrp to have a proper recovery menu, and encryption+pattern to save my data. Disable USB-Developer Options to prevent adb shenanigans.
But on the hand if you wan't to get really panariod a locked bootloader would be better since you still can read the system image from the phone from twrp, this means, and this is a easy way to do it, you could read it copy it to the pc and simply brutefroce the lockpattern. If you have the partitions you can simply try 3 patterns either it works or the phone locks itself up because you did 3 wrong. If it locks up you simply write the partitions back and try again. If you can do 3 in 30 seconds you are done in 45 days since there are only 390.000 different patterns on a 3x3 grid (which is what most people use since some Roms don't even allow for 4x4 or 5x5) but if you emulate it and can do 3 in 15 seconds you are down to 23 days. If you run it in 20 emulators you are done in 1 day. (That would be an awesome weekend project.) In emulation you could really optimize this since you can cut everything out what isn't needed for the attempt to encrypt the partition. you dont even need the screen to load, simply send the decryption module whatever the last module in the Numbers-from-touches-chain would have sent, everything that is loaded before the attempt to decrypt must be unencrypted therefore can be messed with, probably it's even universal across phones since that's a stock android thing. If it tries to write used attempts, save whatever what gets overwritten beforehand, let it write its thing, kill the process, revert changes and try again with the next set. Maybe you get it down to 3s or 4s for 3 attempts and boom you are at 6 hours to encrypt any android phone, no matter which version, with an unlocked bootloader which uses a 3x3 pattern. But your data would be really valueable to someone if they did this. You can't do that with a locked bootloader since you can't read the partitions or you could just use the 5x5 pattern, which you cant do on MIUI (i just tried and havent found where you could change it). But probably i have a giant oversight in there so this probably woudn't work
________________________________________________
On the other hand if you want to recover your phone you should make it as easy as possible to get the thief into your phone since you dont want them to run it off and wipe it. I DONT RECOMMEND THIS. But you could make a 2nd user who has no lock pattern on it. Concider your Data public at this point but while they are busy looking at your selfies you could use a app like prey to track the phone. But since Data are more important than a phone i'd never do or recommend that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really appreciate the time you took to type out this post, thankyou.
Friend got into a fight with his brother. His brother was able to break into his phone.
Friend changed the password on the device last week, and because of his school, he doesn't take the phone with him.
He opened the phone today, and can't remember the password.
It is a Moto G7 Power, running Android 9
It has GenTech installed on the phone.
I do not know any specifics beyond that, as the settings are hidden behind a lock screen.
When I logged into the Google account, it looks like the account hasn't been backing up photos, contacts, etc since the GenTech was put on. iDrive also hasn't been backing anything up.
Are there any tools that can remove the lock screen? Preferably free, but I wouldn't mind paying a small amount. And NOT wipe the device.
Before coming here, I saw Eelphone, but it looked super shady.
Searching through XDA's forums, I saw Dr.Fone as an application as well.
Are these the best options? I mean, I troubleshoot devices for clients all the time, and thankfully haven't had to recover their devices like this, and I know that it has changed a lot since the beginnings of Android, but I need something in the toolbox for sure.
Any help is appreciated, thank you!
Edit: I thought I might try Dr.Fone on my Motorola device. Uh, not the right application that I need! I want the data preserved, not wiped. If I wanted the phone wiped, I'd have done it from the bootloader.
(Or do they make a copy of the device, wipe the phone, and reload everything minus the lock screen?)
(Or is Dr.Fone a malicious program masquerading as legitimate?)
DaNissNYC said:
Friend got into a fight with his brother. His brother was able to break into his phone.
Friend changed the password on the device last week, and because of his school, he doesn't take the phone with him.
He opened the phone today, and can't remember the password.
It is a Moto G7 Power, running Android 9
It has GenTech installed on the phone.
I do not know any specifics beyond that, as the settings are hidden behind a lock screen.
When I logged into the Google account, it looks like the account hasn't been backing up photos, contacts, etc since the GenTech was put on. iDrive also hasn't been backing anything up.
Are there any tools that can remove the lock screen? Preferably free, but I wouldn't mind paying a small amount. And NOT wipe the device.
Before coming here, I saw Eelphone, but it looked super shady.
Searching through XDA's forums, I saw Dr.Fone as an application as well.
Are these the best options? I mean, I troubleshoot devices for clients all the time, and thankfully haven't had to recover their devices like this, and I know that it has changed a lot since the beginnings of Android, but I need something in the toolbox for sure.
Any help is appreciated, thank you!
Edit: I thought I might try Dr.Fone on my Motorola device. Uh, not the right application that I need! I want the data preserved, not wiped. If I wanted the phone wiped, I'd have done it from the bootloader.
(Or do they make a copy of the device, wipe the phone, and reload everything minus the lock screen?)
(Or is Dr.Fone a malicious program masquerading as legitimate?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is the device rooted?
Does the device have USB debugging enabled in system settings?
If the answers to these questions are no, then all you can do is factory reset. After resetting, it will probably be FRP locked(Factory Reset Protection), which means you still need to remember the google account username and password to get logged into the device, but, the lockscreen pin/password will be removed. You'll lose the user's data in the process. At this point, if it isn't rooted or does not have USB debugging enabled, there aren't really any options to save their user data before resetting the device.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk
The phone is not rooted, unless the GenTech software gained the root access. (I am too new to post a direct link, but it is a monitoring program - I don't know how common it is outside of my community)
If I recall correctly, I did get access to developer options, but that was back in July - I'm not sure if I have developer options enabled at this time.
The paid softwares can't crack it? That really is too bad.