Samsung S20 5G: way to recover sms after a factory reset - Samsung Galaxy S20 / S20+ / S20 Ultra Questions &

Hello, straight to the point so I don't waste your time:
Samsung S20 5G original setup, no developer mode, no rooted. Cousin had it broken at the operative system level, many functions got hidden or not working at all, and so on, so I applied a factory reset using settings, but previously I backed up the files he had on it.
All went good, BUT he, after the reset, asked for the SMS because he had important information and I backed up only contacts, files, and images, no SMS. My bad on that one.
Questions now:
1) Is it possible to use a computer with Windows 10 and software, like a recovery data one, to get back SMS, as long as those has not been overwritten after the reset, of course?, in case that IS possible, which software, free or paid, can someone recommend me to try out?, I understand there can be a small chance to get all SMS, but some can and is worth trying, just don't know what software to use, it seems there are a lot of scams out there in the wild of the internet.
2) If there is a chance, I'm thinking i would need to root the device in order to give the software in Windows connected to the Samsung using a USB cable, the rights to make a deep scan on the internal memory, to be able to get any results. I'm right on this one?.
If I'm right, what curse of action should I face?, I just want to root the device in order to give the software full rights, with no intention of install rooms or update the firmware or anything else. So, I would appreciate any recommendation about a simple a straightforward way to root the device.
I would really appreciate any help and information regarding these two questions, hope you all are doing great.
Kudos.

Related

HTC One M8 - Soft brick on unrooted phone (apart from OS upgrades)

I've had my M8 since about the end of 2014. Originally on Android 4, have since done OTA upgrades to 5 and 6 as they were flagged as available by my carrier (UK, O2).
I've never managed to get HTC Backup on my PC to recognise the phone, even with the original USB cable, so have never done a proper backup (Yes. I know). Fortunately for me, my Gmail contacts list was almost up to date, and apart from my calendar, that was the most important thing to save, so I've just had to grin and bear it.
Because of the lack of proper backup and therefore the facility to restore from one, I'd never done a factory reset after the various OS upgrades, which I've been told might have avoided my present situation, which is that I can't get any further than a bootloop situation. Other than that, I can get into recovery mode, but no further.
I've tried clearing the cache, I've tried a factory reset. Neither of those have got me anywhere.
I've no great desire (at present) to go fiddling with rooting or anything clever with the phone, I'd just like to get it working again. I've downloaded Android Studio to get the SDK for ADB but don't really know what I'm doing, and if I mess around without expert advice I could end up with a hard brick - which is why I'm here.
Can anyone give me some guidance about what I need to do to get my phone working again?
Thanks in advance...
Hi, I have the same problem, started a few days ago when I was trying to download VLC from the play store, the phone rebooted and said optimizing apps.... It has been in an optimizing apps bootloop since - it gets to the end, then says starting android then freezes and reboots, then starts again... I tried clearing the cache and doing the factory reset as well but nothing helps. We could really use some expert help on this :S
If a stock phone isn't booting, and factory reset doesn't help, the OS is possibly damaged or corrupted in some way; and needs to be restored.
If your version has RUU, you can try to run that.
If no RUU for your version, then probably your only choice is to unlock the bootloader, install custom recovery, so you can restore a stock TWRP backup from the following thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-one-m8/help/tutorial-how-to-stock-stock-twrp-t3086860
I am in a very similar situation, apparently because of a botched automatic system update, almost same symptoms as airick94. I haven't tried a factory reset yet though, because I want to try to recover what I can from the internal storage first. Can I do that through ADB even if my phone is not recognised as a device by the computer?

Help me solve a complicated case - Backup bricked 100% stock M8

Hi All,
I seem to have run into a very dire case where my 100% stock M8 is completely unusable, due to what seems to be a failed OTA update.
Phone will boot up normally, but as soon as the home screen comes up a "com.android.systemui" error comes up, preventing any type of further interaction with the os, since the screen goes black and start flashing an empty default background on and off indefinitely.
Now, I'm fairly computer literate but I never rooted or modded any phone so I spent the last 3 days on these forums looking up information and learning what rooting, bootloaders, ADB and all that fun stuff I had never heard of before meant. However, after initially being optimistic about at least getting my data back before an inevitable factory reset I have reached a dead end.
Here's what I went through so far:
- To backup without normal access to the OS, I need the ADB pull command
- To use the ADB, I need "USB debug" enabled BUT Can't access settings, so can't enable USB debug
- Searched for ways to work around enabling USB debug via bootloader/recovery
- Found out you can use ADB with a custom recovery image
- Tried flashing a custom image BUT bootloader is locked, so no dice
- Found the only way to unlock the bootloader with S-ON is via HTC dev BUT will wipe all data upon unlocking
- Found no way to set S-OFF without wiping
I can't believe a fully stock phone can be hard bricked by a simple OTA update just because I never tampered with it (cos if I did, I would have a lot more options).
I'm aware I'm going to have to factory reset eventually anyway, but I want to pull out whatever data I can first.
Please help, I'm running out of ideas.
Thank you all.
lo11o said:
I can't believe a fully stock phone can be hard bricked by a simple OTA update just because I never tampered with it (cos if I did, I would have a lot more options).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can believe it, since I've seen it happen enough times to folks on these forums. You do a major update to the OS, bootloader, and radio; and there is always a possibility of rendering the phone non-operational.
What kind of data are we talking about? Is it on internal storage, and if so, can you see internal storage on your computer when you connect the phone?
If no to any of that, you're probably stuck at a dead end. If the data is important, it should have been backed up off-phone to begin with.
Thanks for replying redpoint, and the answer to both questions unfortunately is no.
I'm mostly interested in backing up text messages and notes, everything else is either synced with google or redownloadable. Of course I'll take care to remove the SD before resetting so whatever's in there won't be affected.
I have no idea what could have caused this mess. What's more infuriating is that the system underneath the error dialog does seem to be functional, notifications pop up and it even rings if I try calling my number, but can't pick up. Even Wi-Fi is on, for the record. Everything just goes to hell as soon as that dialog goes away (yes, I've tried ignoring it and trying to get the notification bar down). It's just that the fact it's technically not in a "bootloop" situation made me hope.
I read somewhere on these forums that unless your phone doesn't charge, doesn't turn on and doesn't even get recognised by a computer, it can almost always be saved. Am I truly SOL?
lo11o said:
I read somewhere on these forums that unless your phone doesn't charge, doesn't turn on and doesn't even get recognised by a computer, it can almost always be saved. Am I truly SOL?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you can't interact with the phone to turn on Debugging, I personally can't think of any way to pull the desired data off the phone.
Bummer. I'll proceed with the factory reset then, live and learn.
Thanks for the advice, I learned a lot of very useful stuff from this community, having the patience to read and process all the wealth of information - even n00b-friendly, too. :good:

I'm an idiot and I got some crazy malware. Help please.

OK so I smashed my s5, am a UDP verizon guy and hooked on the open bootloader, so i searched far and wide for another one with the 15 chipset...which I didn't find but I found a note 4 with it.
I bought it and unlocked it and loaded on a rom I loved. (5.0.1 og5). Well...no sense lying here...I was trying to do some less than kosher things regarding my ex's Facebook account with it. In the process I wasn't smart enough to cross check MD5s (a precaution I learned all too well) and opened an app that has me baffled.
It basically hijacked admin on my device completely. No Antivirus program can touch it, though many detect it. "Unknown sources" in my security folder is stuck permanently enabled, and I can't take over as admin on my own brand new note4.
I have tried flashing twrp and titanium backups to no avail, and also tried the safe stock og5 firmware through Odin but it never completes. I am stuck. I have logcat records and all the tools I would think might help, but I can't get rid of it...it seems to have used root and embedded itself into every facet of the device.
I am willing and ready to do anything including a full unroot and stock rom, I just don't want a locked update. Can anyone help me please?
As of now, no roms break it, only the stubborn malware CM app tries to get rid of it, but only identifies it as "suspicious file". My user admin and unknown sources are both locked, and a gaggle of bizarre log events happen constantly, forcing my device into crazy lag. As soon as it happened I received a couple random number-link blank text messages, but I never opened them. I don't have the numbers saved as I've flashed the phone like 30 times since trying to rid myself of this. Aside from the lag and locked unknown sources and admin, and an inability to clear trusted credentials, the phone seems to run normally, though I am scared to use it to log on to pretty much anything. The malware didn't come from a text, but from an app that I knowingly permitted thinking it was something else and I feel like a moron for it. It doesn't seem to have a name. It installed as an untitled app and I couldn't delete it with the root system app deleter, because it put a green bar over the check box in the app. I got rid of it with titanium, but to no avail. It still lurks.
Thanks in advance, and let me know of any screens hits or logs or tests I can provide to help.
At that point, I would recommend using Samsung's Smart Switch for PC program to do an emergency firmware upgrade & initialization. This will download a full copy of the stock firmware for the device (including a few bits that you won't find in stock firmwares available for download through sites like SamMobile) and will erase everything on the device and restore your phone to stock firmware.
If you are in the US and have a Best Buy nearby, you can see if one of their Samsung reps can perform a factory recovery using their SMART tool (which will do the same thing that Smart Switch's emergency firmware initialization will). Officially, rooted devices are not supported and they may rightfully refuse to do this, but it's worth asking if you don't have a computer to use for Smart Switch or don't want to wait.
You will need to redo the developer conversion, but that's the only thing I can think of that will definitely completely restore your phone to stock and eliminate all traces of whatever you installed.
thanks. that solved my problem and got it back to stock, rid of the malware completely. unfortunately, when i tried to return to the rom i had used, everything fell apart for me :/.

[Q] Please help, unrooted HTC One XL lost/"forgot" all SMS (no backup)

Dear all,
I hope you can help me retrieve my lost SMS. Please excuse me if the question has been asked before, but all threads I found were dealing with very different devices and/or devices rooted prior to the event.
Also, I'm an absolute newbie to this matter, up until now my phones have worked just fine the way they were delivered.
I have an unrooted HTC One XL with Android 4.2.2 and HTC Sense 5.0 (~4 years old). Yesterday, my phone went out of power while I was watching a youtube-video. Back home, I started to charge it, and turned it back on after half an hour of charging. Everything seemed perfectly normal, but when I got an SMS and openend it, I realized it was the only SMS left in Messages! So far, I have never done a backup of my SMS (even though some of them are very precious to me - I'm such a naive fool ), because the nice ladies at the O2-shop always helped me transfer them from the old phone to the new one.
Please excuse the wall of text to follow, but I have downloaded a ton of software already to save my data, and I guess you need to know precisely to help me:
First, I turned on flight mode to keep new SMS from writing over fragments of the old SMS which might still be there. Then I've "tried turning it off and on again" , but to no avail. Then I've tried recovery software working without root, Myphoneexplorer and Titanium backup, but of course they only found the one SMS that I hat received after the crash. Then I downloaded Android Data Recovery by Aiseesoft, which unfortunately needs a rooted device, so I set out to root my first phone.
I tried different Apps, towelroot + SuperSU, King Root and Kingo root, which all didn't work. I then tried the "official" way via htcdev.com, but got stuck in the middle (My phone was in fastboot usb attached to my laptop, but the command fastboot oem get_identifier_token was not understood. Imagine my distress, I'm such a newbie that just the sight of a command window gives me sweaty palms.). Maybe something to do with the drivers (the HTC drivers coming with Hasoon2000's Toolkit, which I also tried for the "official HTC route", weren't compatible with my Windows 8 laptop, so I had to download some universal ADB drivers instead).
I've asked my more tech-savvy friends on fb, who mentioned some of the Apps I've tried, but also frightened me with the contribution that if I root my phone now, I'd HAVE to go through a factory reset in the process. So my SMS fragments, if there were any on my phone still, would be erased by the time I could give Android Data Recovery a shot.
So please help me with the following:
- Do you see any way how I can retrieve my lost SMS?
- Is there a way to root without factory reset?
Additional info: I don't mind if my phone gets destroyed in the process of saving my SMS. It's anyhow time for a new one. What I WOULD mind is destroying my laptop, so as a laywoman I would only very reluctantly try stuff like "force-feeding" my laptop new drivers and such. Still, I would be thankful for any kind of ideas, whether I'll be brave enough to try them or not.
Thank you very much in advance,
M&C
Marigold&Catnip;69616753 said:
Dear all,
I hope you can help me retrieve my lost SMS. Please excuse me if the question has been asked before, but all threads I found were dealing with very different devices and/or devices rooted prior to the event.
Also, I'm an absolute newbie to this matter, up until now my phones have worked just fine the way they were delivered.
I have an unrooted HTC One XL with Android 4.2.2 and HTC Sense 5.0 (~4 years old). Yesterday, my phone went out of power while I was watching a youtube-video. Back home, I started to charge it, and turned it back on after half an hour of charging. Everything seemed perfectly normal, but when I got an SMS and openend it, I realized it was the only SMS left in Messages! So far, I have never done a backup of my SMS (even though some of them are very precious to me - I'm such a naive fool ), because the nice ladies at the O2-shop always helped me transfer them from the old phone to the new one.
Please excuse the wall of text to follow, but I have downloaded a ton of software already to save my data, and I guess you need to know precisely to help me:
First, I turned on flight mode to keep new SMS from writing over fragments of the old SMS which might still be there. Then I've "tried turning it off and on again" , but to no avail. Then I've tried recovery software working without root, Myphoneexplorer and Titanium backup, but of course they only found the one SMS that I hat received after the crash. Then I downloaded Android Data Recovery by Aiseesoft, which unfortunately needs a rooted device, so I set out to root my first phone.
I tried different Apps, towelroot + SuperSU, King Root and Kingo root, which all didn't work. I then tried the "official" way via htcdev.com, but got stuck in the middle (My phone was in fastboot usb attached to my laptop, but the command fastboot oem get_identifier_token was not understood. Imagine my distress, I'm such a newbie that just the sight of a command window gives me sweaty palms.). Maybe something to do with the drivers (the HTC drivers coming with Hasoon2000's Toolkit, which I also tried for the "official HTC route", weren't compatible with my Windows 8 laptop, so I had to download some universal ADB drivers instead).
I've asked my more tech-savvy friends on fb, who mentioned some of the Apps I've tried, but also frightened me with the contribution that if I root my phone now, I'd HAVE to go through a factory reset in the process. So my SMS fragments, if there were any on my phone still, would be erased by the time I could give Android Data Recovery a shot.
So please help me with the following:
- Do you see any way how I can retrieve my lost SMS?
- Is there a way to root without factory reset?
Additional info: I don't mind if my phone gets destroyed in the process of saving my SMS. It's anyhow time for a new one. What I WOULD mind is destroying my laptop, so as a laywoman I would only very reluctantly try stuff like "force-feeding" my laptop new drivers and such. Still, I would be thankful for any kind of ideas, whether I'll be brave enough to try them or not.
Thank you very much in advance,
M&C
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I currently see no means to save your SMS { I am really sorry to say that }
The first step to root is to unlock bootloader, unlocking it sure wipes the data
DevUt said:
I currently see no means to save your SMS { I am really sorry to say that }
The first step to root is to unlock bootloader, unlocking it sure wipes the data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, that wasn't what I had hoped to hear. Anyhow, thanks for your contribution.
Will unlocking the bootloader completely erase the data, or will it "only" allow the phone to overwrite the space if new data comes up? If the latter were the case, maybe the Android Data Recovery might have a chance afterwards?
Please excuse my newbie questions, I bet this is common knowledge among all of you.

Long shot but need a way to bypass the pattern lock

Hi everyone,
So i know this is a long shot but there are some amazing folks on XDA so after scouring the web i figured this was my final hope.
So my niece has a stock S9 (G960U1) bought directly from Samsung. 2 days ago, her phone died overnight and when she put it on charge and booted her pattern no longer was being accepted. Same pattern used for quite some time. She kept trying it and then thought maybe she did forget it somehow and tried something else and of course now she only has a few attempts left before auto wipe (option was on in the settings ). She foolishly had everything on her phone out of which the most important is photos of someone who has passed and no recent backups.
It seems that most of the stuff was backed up to Samsung Cloud but the images and no backup turned on. So i've been desperately trying to help her as the only option seems to be wipe at this point but i don't know if recovery software will even be able to fully recover the images.
Tried so far:
Find My Mobile won't work as phone is on boot screen so no internet connection
ADB won't work because it won't accept the shell cmd
Aroma File Manager won't install (sig failure)
Tried a few programs available online (Dr Fone etc) but they either don't support the S9 or they wipe phone
Some mentioned the Extreme Syndicate thread but that also states you have to wipe
Friend works with Samsung sales and he's going to check with a tech but haven't heard back from him yet (not even sure they can do anything)
We do have the original receipt from Samsung (bought directly from them)
Really appreciate any help and if a wipe is the only option then let me know if you have a preferred recovery software that will hopefully be able to recover the images of concern.
Thanks
If she has a Samsung account, you can unlock the phone. Go to https://findmymobile.samsung.com and sign in, then look on the right menu, there is an option to unlock phone.
kenboyles72 said:
If she has a Samsung account, you can unlock the phone. Go to https://findmymobile.samsung.com and sign in, then look on the right menu, there is an option to unlock phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response but no internet access at boot up.

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