Develop Bugs

[Q] Lost My Phone

My Desire Z was stolen today.
It was brand new. It had phone finder activated, but somehow it is not working on the site. Somebody please advise me how can i trace the phone
Really really please. Is there anyway, through gps, cell signal, or anything to track my phone. I put in my entire savings on this phone. I will be deeply thankful to even any little advice.

navkaranchadha said:
My Desire Z was stolen today.
It was brand new. It had phone finder activated, but somehow it is not working on the site. Somebody please advise me how can i trace the phone
Really really please. Is there anyway, through gps, cell signal, or anything to track my phone. I put in my entire savings on this phone. I will be deeply thankful to even any little advice.
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If he/she turn ur phone off any gps tracker from market app doesn't work, if he knows something about phones he can just factory reset your phone so anything doesn't help at all.
Fly like a G2

If you had a Sense ROM and signed up for HTC Sense, there is a phone finder there. That's about my only other suggestion. Like the guy above said though, if whoever has it knows anything about phones, they could easily get past any GPS apps.

I know this is too little too late, but next time try "theft aware" it embeds itself within the firmware to where you are unable to factory reset it. I got mine back that way, though I think I left it at the bar.
sorry to hear that

I don't wanna pass judgement but maybe you shouldnt spend your entire savings on a phone? I wouldnt put all my savings into a device that is easily targeted for theft.
And if you did spend all your savings on a phone, why not just get handset insurance? As stated above most ways of recovering ur phone as far as apps are concerned can be bypassed by a mildly smart thief.

martonikaj said:
I don't wanna pass judgement but maybe you shouldnt spend your entire savings on a phone? I wouldnt put all my savings into a device that is easily targeted for theft.
And if you did spend all your savings on a phone, why not just get handset insurance? As stated above most ways of recovering ur phone as far as apps are concerned can be bypassed by a mildly smart thief.
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i just tried the theft aware app that the guy recommend above damn this app is good brah, even without data connection it forces the stolen phone to call the phone your using so you can hear him, even the gps whenever available it will send it to you and so much more can lock, wipe and alarm

Pin Unlock without losing data for a good cause

Hello guys.
A friend/colleague of my wife had his son die in a motorcycle accident a couple of months ago. His phone was not damaged but has a pin lock on it. The family wants to retrieve any photos or videos in the phone with their son. Searched around a bit but cannot find any way of unlocking without data erase. They just want any reminders of him and don't really care about the phone itself. It is a Note 10+ N975W. If you can help in any way it would be appreciated.
Thank you.

dondedios said:
Hello guys.
A friend/colleague of my wife had his son die in a motorcycle accident a couple of months ago. His phone was not damaged but has a pin lock on it. The family wants to retrieve any photos or videos in the phone with their son. Searched around a bit but cannot find any way of unlocking without data erase. They just want any reminders of him and don't really care about the phone itself. It is a Note 10+ N975W. If you can help in any way it would be appreciated.
Thank you.
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If anyone on the family has access to the accounts linked to the phone, they could easily unlock it that way.
They can also try and explain the situation on to a Samsung service center, I think they might just be able to do so with the proper proof of purchase for the device.
Doing this by themselves will most likely result in a total loss of the data which they're supposed to be avoiding.
I don't think anyone on the forum would help, mainly because of the lack of credibility on the story itself.
Good luck

joyousfrank said:
If anyone on the family has access to the accounts linked to the phone, they could easily unlock it that way.
They can also try and explain the situation on to a Samsung service center, I think they might just be able to do so with the proper proof of purchase for the device.
Doing this by themselves will most likely result in a total loss of the data which they're supposed to be avoiding.
I don't think anyone on the forum would help, mainly because of the lack of credibility on the story itself.
Good luck
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Unfortunately they don't have access to any of the accounts . I will ask them if they can find any paperwork. I know my story is strange and I really don't know how to convince people about this. As some sort of proof if I just have a stolen phone or something I wouldn't care about any data and just hard reset it and bypass the google account. Anyway thanks for the idea with Samsung service center.

the problem is giving ways to access devices can open the phone to a load of fraud due to stuff like cards saved on the device either through services like the pay apps or other login information saved in the device.
so really it doesn't come down to plausibility of the story it comes from a security stand point and for sites like this they will not allow things like this to be discussed as it could be used illegally.
best option if you can prove you're a relative and the death of the user is to contact either Samsung or Google and see if they will let you recover the accounts and just hope the original user backed up their photos and such to cloud accounts or if you got access to the Samsung account likely remotely unlock the device.

I've not rooted my phone so I don't know if it wipes it or not.
But if not you can always root the phone and then use adb commands to remove the lock.

Question Need help with frp lock

So I'm relatively new to this sort of thing. I've bypassed a few frp locks manually without a PC but I've been unsuccessful so far trying to bypass the frp for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Maybe to a legit online frp removal service or the latest manual bypass. Thanks in advance for your help.

Why would you need to bypass the FRP lock? Just doing some background reading into it, it's there for a very good reason to protect user data.
If the phone is yours and you simply can't remember the Google account credentials, then I would suggest contacting them.

Factory rest, then find someone with a one's 9pro (only one I did this with so cannot attest to other models working). On the one plus turn on mobile Hotspot with open security, in set up screen on galaxy connect to the one us Hotspot, log in to your Google account like normal. Has worked on all the galaxy phones I've tried since I accidentally discovered this last month. Have no explanation as to why this works but it blew my mind

m_w_clarke said:
Why would you need to bypass the FRP lock? Just doing some background reading into it, it's there for a very good reason to protect user data.
If the phone is yours and you simply can't remember the Google account credentials, then I would suggest contacting them.
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The phone was not originally mine. It belonged to a guy that I work with. He bought 2. One for him and one for his girlfriend. When they split up, just a few days after....She gave the phone back but was apparently reluctant to sign out of her Google account.

aarontmartin1994 said:
Factory rest, then find someone with a one's 9pro (only one I did this with so cannot attest to other models working). On the one plus turn on mobile Hotspot with open security, in set up screen on galaxy connect to the one us Hotspot, log in to your Google account like normal. Has worked on all the galaxy phones I've tried since I accidentally discovered this last month. Have no explanation as to why this works but it blew my mind
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Ok. Thank you. I appreciate it. I'll give it a shot if I can find someone with a one 9pro. I've got the One Nord n200 but that doesn't help me much.

Don't take wooden nickels

I'm not accusing the OP or anything nefarious, but imagine this. You use FRP on your device and feel somewhat secure that it at least your phone is stolen, it's useless to the thief. Then all they do is come to XDA and they figure out how to bypass it. I realize there's alway legitimate reasons for needing to bypassing an FRP, but the FRP is there for a very good reason, and defeating it should not be discussed here. Just my two cents.

Mr. Orange 645 said:
I'm not accusing the OP or anything nefarious, but imagine this. You use FRP on your device and feel somewhat secure that it at least your phone is stolen, it's useless to the thief. Then all they do is come to XDA and they figure out how to bypass it. I realize there's alway legitimate reasons for needing to bypassing an FRP, but the FRP is there for a very good reason, and defeating it should not be discussed here. Just my two cents.
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Exactly my point above.

aarontmartin1994 said:
Factory rest, then find someone with a one's 9pro (only one I did this with so cannot attest to other models working). On the one plus turn on mobile Hotspot with open security, in set up screen on galaxy connect to the one us Hotspot, log in to your Google account like normal. Has worked on all the galaxy phones I've tried since I accidentally discovered this last month. Have no explanation as to why this works but it blew my mind
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That would still need the Google account holder to log in. Which I think is the question being asked; how can I remove this lock without using the Google account linked to the phone.

Sorry. I think you can't do it unless you get the original Google account holder to login (and do a factory reset) . Unless some hackers found a backdoor, otherwise no other way.

Zerobim08 said:
Sorry. I think you can't do it unless you get the original Google account holder to login (and do a factory reset) . Unless some hackers found a backdoor, otherwise no other way.
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There does exist a backdoor but I don't want to be responsible for someone losing their phone which they payed too much for in the first place

If you have a local Samsung Authorized Service Provider location near you, (ex. UBreakIFix or a Samsung Certified Best Buy) they will be able to bypass FRP with a valid Proof of Purchase.
Source: I am a Samsung Authorized Service Provider (SASP) Technician

General Google Pixel mail-in repairs have allegedly twice resulted in leaked pics and a privacy nightmare

https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/4/22817758/broken-google-pixel-phone-privacy-leak
Google says it’s investigating the latest report
By Emma Roth Dec 4, 2021, 7:43pm EST
After game designer and author Jane McGonigal sent her Pixel 5a to Google for repair, someone allegedly took and hacked her device. This is at least the second report in as many weeks from someone claiming they sent a Google phone in for repair, only to have it used to leak their private data and photographs. McGonigal posted a detailed account of the situation on Twitter on Saturday and advised other users not to send their phones in for repair with the company.
In October, McGonigal sent her broken phone to an official Pixel repair center in Texas. She tweeted later that Google said it never received the phone, and during the ensuing weeks, she was charged for a replacement device.
“THE PHOTOS THEY OPENED WERE OF ME IN BATHING SUITS, SPORTS BRAS, FORM-FITTING DRESSES, AND OF STITCHES AFTER SURGERY”
But according to McGonigal, FedEx tracking information shows the device arrived at the facility weeks ago. Late Friday night — a few hours after she says she finally received a refund for the device — someone seems to have used the “missing” phone to clear two-factor authentication checks and log in to several of her accounts, including her Dropbox, Gmail, and Google Drive.
The activity triggered several email security alerts to McGonigal’s backup accounts. However, she speculates that whoever has the phone may have used it to access her backup email addresses and then dumped any security alerts into her spam folder.
“The photos they opened were of me in bathing suits, sports bras, form-fitting dresses, and of stitches after surgery,” McGonigal writes. “They deleted Google security notifications in my backup email accounts.”
In a statement emailed to The Verge, Google spokesperson Alex Moriconi says, “We are investigating this claim.” It’s still unclear whether the device might have been intercepted within the repair facility or while it was in transit, or who has it now. Google’s official repair instructions recommend backing up and then erasing a device before sending it in. Still, as Jane McGonigal points out, that’s either hard or impossible, depending on the damage.
The whole situation reminds us of the security concerns whenever we hand over our devices for repair, and unfortunately, such activity has precedent. In June, Apple paid millions to a woman after repair technicians posted her nude photos to Facebook. Apple recently said it would start selling DIY repair kits, giving users the chance to fix their own phones, or at least have the task done by someone that a user trusts, as opposed to sending it in or dropping it off at an Apple Store.
For Pixel phones, your options for official service are either via mail-in or, in some countries, local service through an authorized provider. In the US, Google partners with uBreakiFix franchises. Whatever phone you have, the options for repairs are still somewhat limited, and you end up having to trust that no one with bad intentions will get their hands on your phone while it’s out of your possession.
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It also happened to a woman with an iPhone. Nothing new.

These people obviously don't have a reasonable screen lock.
Also, google should provide instructions to wipe with USB that can be followed by a normal person.

96carboard said:
These people obviously don't have a reasonable screen lock.
Also, google should provide instructions to wipe with USB that can be followed by a normal person.
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for the most part, these people have no lock or biometrics on. and their screen is dead (so they think the phone is dead). but I agree, they should develop a tool but it wouldn't be easy. Have you tried running commands or whatever with a blank screen? its very difficult. but you're right, a tool that either locks or wipes the device would be awesome, no commands or messy fastboot menus for the user would help a ton.

Lesson learned don't take nudes lol

Alekos said:
for the most part, these people have no lock or biometrics on. and their screen is dead (so they think the phone is dead). but I agree, they should develop a tool but it wouldn't be easy. Have you tried running commands or whatever with a blank screen? its very difficult. but you're right, a tool that either locks or wipes the device would be awesome, no commands or messy fastboot menus for the user would help a ton.
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The lady that sent it in said she did have a screen lock and took every precaution she was instructed to take since she couldn't power on her device.

pcriz said:
The lady that sent it in said she did have a screen lock and took every precaution she was instructed to take since she couldn't power on her device.
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yup. I just read the article. the guy on reddit who posted a few days ago admitted there was no lock on the screen. so who knows. they could have had an easy unlock code (1234, 1111) which is the same as having no unlock code pretty much. but yeah it'll be interesting to find out the truth.

Alekos said:
yup. I just read the article. the guy on reddit who posted a few days ago admitted there was no lock on the screen. so who knows. they could have had an easy unlock code (1234, 1111) which is the same as having no unlock code pretty much. but yeah it'll be interesting to find out the truth.
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Still though. If it's true, the service provider is in the wrong either way. Locked or unlocked. Easy or hard.

pcriz said:
Still though. If it's true, the service provider is in the wrong either way. Locked or unlocked. Easy or hard.
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yes. 100%. my comment makes it seem like it was the user's fault. this is 100% the blame of the repair agents/shipping/ whoever accessed the phone. this should never happen. but all we can do is minimize the likelihood

A.Priori said:
Lesson learned don't take nudes lol
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Most people don't want to hear this, but it's still an universal truth - if you don't want nudes to leaks, don't take any (at least not with a smart device/cloud capable phone). If you really need to have nudes of yourself, take a polaroid and share them with your partner manually. That way, it's at least physically restricted to your immediate surroundings.
Every device can be hacked, every cloud can be broken. All those ICloud leaks could have been avoided, plus a lot of drama. It doesn't mean you can't make any nudes, just use tech that is too ancient to become a problem.
As a golden rule of thumb: Any and each information you spread to the internet, is permanently stored. And - in doubt - is accessible by at least one more person other than yourself. Keeping that in mind is paramount to understand the world wide web.
So DO NOT share any information you do not want to get accidentally leaked.
Of course this is still a terrible crime (OP linked story) and Google + the repair shop have to be held responsible. Still, you should always expect other people to behave like an a** - to deceive, cheat, fraud, lie or fool - that's the way of life for many.
Ergo life is, most often or not, about making sure that you do not share any vulnerable sides unnecessarily. At least if you want to avoid trouble.

What I don't get is when I sent my phones back it SPECIFICALLY states to factory reset the phone? Do people not read? Also, if you don't want your nudes to be seen don't take any? Like...EXPECTATIONS<REALITY

Gytole said:
What I don't get is when I sent my phones back it SPECIFICALLY states to factory reset the phone? Do people not read? Also, if you don't want your nudes to be seen don't take any? Like...EXPECTATIONS<REALITY
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How do you propose to do that if the phone is not able to turn on or connect to an external source? If this story is actually true, and I have my doubts, this would be the time you eat the cost of the device and put it in a drawer or smash it to smithereens.

Gytole said:
What I don't get is when I sent my phones back it SPECIFICALLY states to factory reset the phone? Do people not read? Also, if you don't want your nudes to be seen don't take any? Like...EXPECTATIONS<REALITY
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I agree with ya here. To me, this stuff seems like common sense (which the world's population seems to be losing). My thoughts are:
If you don't want your nudes stolen, don't take nudes in the first place. Even if you're not shipping your phone somewhere for repair, your pictures are still getting uploaded to Google Photos and can be snatched in other ways. But still, if you really want to take nude photos anyway, then you should put them into a locked folder within Google Photos just after taking them so that they're not immediately visible within the Photos app. Granted, I'm not sure if the jpg files of locked folder pictures would still be present in the normal "DCIM" folder... But I imagine they'd be hidden somewhere at the system level (which normally can't be accessed without root)...?
I should probably test this on my phone - but I'd have to take some nudes first, haha. (Jk, of course)

Alekos said:
for the most part, these people have no lock or biometrics on. and their screen is dead (so they think the phone is dead). but I agree, they should develop a tool but it wouldn't be easy. Have you tried running commands or whatever with a blank screen? its very difficult. but you're right, a tool that either locks or wipes the device would be awesome, no commands or messy fastboot menus for the user would help a ton.
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It wouldn't be hard. Just running "fastboot format userdata" would clear it, so you don't need to mess with menus -- just power it on with the right volume button pressed. So really all the tool needs to do is monitor for fastboot on a USB and issue the format command.

Google says Pixel repair privacy breach wasn’t from employees, new security instructions coming
Ben Schoon
- Dec. 8th 2021 8:23 am PT
Google has been under scrutiny this week as multiple reports of mail-in Pixel repairs resulted in compromised accounts and leaked photographs. Now, the company is saying that this breach of privacy wasn’t at the hands of Google employees, and the company will apparently update instructions for mail-in Pixel repairs and help customers lock down their data.
Speaking to The Verge, Google has said that an investigation of these privacy issues has confirmed that the account invasion was not from Google employees/Pixel repair techs. The company has not said where the breach came from at this point or where the invaded devices are. Transit seems like the most likely scenario at this point.
After a thorough investigation, we can say with confidence that the issue impacting the user was not related to the device RMA [Return Merchandise Authorization]. We have worked closely with the user to better understand what occurred and how best to secure the account going forward.
Google Spokesperon Alex Moriconi
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To prevent this sort of issue in the future, too, Google will apparently start providing new instructions to help users lock down their accounts and data, presumably in addition to the current instructions that already recommend resetting the device before sending it in.
Specifics aren’t available, but Google apparently told Jane McGonigal that new security instructions for those who cannot factory reset their phone before sending it off for repair will be coming.
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Question gmail and password from previous owner needed - Help

Got an ex review Galaxy fold 4 which had not been wiped before I was given it. I factory resetted it, but it needs the gmail and gmail password from the previous owner... is there any way to byoass this or will it simply be easier to chase up the previous owner?

patdude1234 said:
Got an ex review Galaxy fold 4 which had not been wiped before I was given it. I factory resetted it, but it needs the gmail and gmail password from the previous owner... is there any way to byoass this or will it simply be easier to chase up the previous owner?
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first who knows how you have got the device? You really new owner or what someone trying to hack into hte device. Kindly reach out the old owner. or do your own research.

Let's be reasonable. Telling us you need the account info from the previous owner is a HUGE red flag. That means is was never factory reset when it was...sold/given/stolen to/by...you. So do understand we are not a community that will assist anyone with a stolen device.
That said, methuselah is correct. You should research the issue instead of asking for help via a vague post. You COULD take it to your carrier's store and have them assist you. Honestly, that's the best route. Take the proof of purchase with you to show it's not stolen.
Good luck.

Of course. That is totally reasonable, For background, I am a reviewer and Samsung's local PR firm forgot to reset the phone before couriering it to me (which is incredibly frustrating). I have reached out to their PR team, but it is taking forever to get this resolved Meanwhile I have a shiny galaxy fold 4 sitting there that is unusable

there are ways but FBI would raid me if I tell u...
nice try tho

I'm sending it back to Samsung to be swapped out for a fresh review sample...

patdude1234 said:
Of course. That is totally reasonable, For background, I am a reviewer and Samsung's local PR firm forgot to reset the phone before couriering it to me (which is incredibly frustrating). I have reached out to their PR team, but it is taking forever to get this resolved Meanwhile I have a shiny galaxy fold 4 sitting there that is unusable
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That's FRP (factory reset protection). Background: Let's pretend that your mobile device got stolen. The first thing a thief will do is to reset the phone, because without knowing the correct display pattern the device is pretty useless (and it's very hard to sold in that state ). Since the settings menu is also unreachable with a locked display the thief is forced to reset the phone via recovery mode. This mode must be always accessible by pressing the right key combo in case you are in serious trouble with an unbootable device. Doing it that way, the following setup of the device requires a login to the last active Google account to verify the owner.
This verification step is also required if you do a factory reset in your settings menu. But here the verification is done before you delete everything by entering your display pattern. This will disable FRP for the following reset because you have then verified that this device is yours.
As a reviewer of the phone, you must have contact to a person of Samsung's local PR firm. Talk to her/him and get a new one.

Yes as mentioned above that is exactly what I am doing...

Thanks for the follow up, that all sounds fine. It just helps to give more information.
Yes, if you contacted Sammy and they are replacing it, then you found the best route. Good luck on the review.

Sharing frustration of all ends. Got a refurbished Sammy phone on Amazon, it arrived with someone's pwd on it. I bought it as a backup phone for the office so we discovered it outside the 90 days warranty and could not have sent back. I have the receipt, it is AMAZON selling it, and I have a brick on my desk. Nice, isn't it?

EranNavick said:
Sharing frustration of all ends. Got a refurbished Sammy phone on Amazon, it arrived with someone's pwd on it. I bought it as a backup phone for the office so we discovered it outside the 90 days warranty and could not have sent back. I have the receipt, it is AMAZON selling it, and I have a brick on my desk. Nice, isn't it?
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If the phone arrived like that from Amazon, return to Amazon ASAP