This is recurring in all phones I've had for at least a year now. Once again...And it is just now that I am once again getting upset at Google Play Services making itself a device admin daily on startup so it can update its app daily. So it can weasel into the browser and log my account and store cookies and track and etc etc etc.
If I do not lose my phone, then it should stop activating the find my device. If I lock my screen, then it should stop activating itself as an administrator. If it was just to find the device, then it should stop putting itself as an account in my browser.
The Google Play Services can no longer be reverted. It has turned the phone into just another chunk of Google Garbage.
It's a critical part of android. What is it you are trying to achieve by locking it down?
James.Miller said:
It's a critical part of android. What is it you are trying to achieve by locking it down?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
site storage in browser. I believe it is s carrier config or carrier settings. I have ridden myself of it by disabling carrier configs on other phones but here I can't disable carrier system apps.
I play with it off on some phones, and of course on rooted phones. It is irremovable here now. I had it removed during the first few days on my new A70 but now can't get it off noway no how.
The carrier configs and other things from carrier are a real problem. Carriers (used to) push settings they deem appropriate at regular intervals on an old phone I had. Their settings push included things like turning on location, and worse. all kinds of settings would get changed. Google calls these in its "partner" app. It's all tied together. There are credit agencies certs, and security companies in the system app.
James.Miller said:
It's a critical part of android. What is it you are trying to achieve by locking it down?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may sell the phone if I can't use it on internet without continued police insults on my humanity. I'm sick of it all. Been taking abuse for years. Only useful as a gaming and music player.
In my experience, once you have confirmed to your own recognition that they are behind the curtain of the device, talking to you invisibly thru the back door in the comments sections of the internet, then the phone is no good.
I believe that screenshots of their android back-doored comments, -- along with proof in pictures or recordings that they have been speaking in narrative to you that way -- should be grounds for money back from the phone company for the device. The device is faulty then beyond the shadow of a doubt and worthless and irreparable. Money back should be the rule for hacked devices.
comments, recommendations...or other festures being hacked. I have had apps hacked, I have had voice recognition dictation hacked. etc. I don't remember a list of features of android I've stopped using because of insult hacks. The predictive words on the keypads, and auto correct, used to be a favorite exploit they'd use to deliver cracked commentaries against my humanity...
All features and apps I no longer use. And how many people would never pick up on how these devices are being used against them.
I think the phones should be peogrammed to avoid cached dns results, and to randomize the dns it uses. The apps such as YouTube should never return to an open session or use a cache. These devices are fast enough and simple LTE/4G is fast enough to load fresh sessions from sites from new lookup services.
if Google needs to have Find My Device in Android to serve customers who are afraid their devices will be stolen by non professional phone thieves or lost, then they should sell different versions for those who don't want a system admin like Google which gets its money from data theft and spamming.
The persistent settings in the browser for its default site bothers me. I got rid of it on my Oreo running phone. Took awhile, but I finally got rid of it on one phone by deleting all browser data. It comes back when the browser restarts on internet tho, and persists again like a foul barnacle. Used to be able to get rid of it.
Here it's seen it camoflages itself if I change the default search page, but it still persists
I've got two kids, ages 6 and 8, and we keep their screen time limited, but they love audiobooks and for the past few years we have bought them cheap mp3 players and loaded audiobooks on them from the library using the Overdrive app on a pc which then syncs the mp3s to the mp3 player. However, Overdrive has been discontinued and is likely to be fully killed off sometime in 2023 (no doubt thanks to pressure from the publishing industry) whereupon the only way to get audiobooks from the library will be through the Libby app, but this of course requires an internet connected device. For obvious reasons I don't want to just give my kids an Android phone with access to Youtube, social media, etc. I have played around with LineageOS to breath fresh life into an old Kindle tablet and various older phones, so I'm thinking perhaps picking up some cheap old Moto phones and loading them up with LineageOS would be an option, but I'd want to strip out some of the functionality and remove the web browser, phone and sms, and basically just have a camera, Libby app, k9 email client, and if possible voice recognition. presumably Libby and k9 mail could be sideloaded. Not sure about voice recognition, but it seems like maybe Gapps pico or microG might offer a way to implement google voice recognition? But is it possible to have voice recognition without having the play store? As far as removing the browser, it appears that LOSdiet should work for that purpose.
Anyone embarked on a similar task?
mgrharry said:
(...)
Anyone embarked on a similar task?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why can't you use a guest account?
While I suppose using the Guest feature on a stock Android device might be an option, I'd prefer not to go down that route for a few reasons. First, it seems like it's mostly designed as a temporary option for loaning a phone to a friend, not as a permanent function, and I am afraid it would be easy to accidentally delete all the contents of the guest account which would result in a very unhappy kid. Second, if they know it can do all the things a "real" phone can do and they're just locked out of doing them, that will make them much more prone to nagging us to install random junky games and apps and fiddling around trying to access the main account. I'd prefer if it just wasn't an option at all.
Maybe try it out before you reject it.
Google Family Link
Yes, I have also the combination of google family link and LOS and IF it is working, it is working really great!
On some systems, you need to have two user profiles on the device, as the children account alone would lead to an FRP lock , at least on S4 and S5 neo.
I got it one time working by adding first the parents account and then afterwards adding the children account. In Settings, enable multi user and then add a PIN (or whatever) to prevent access to your account from the one your child is using.
Good morning everyone,
I am not super tech savvy, and need some help. I truly believe that my phone is somehow hacked, here is the situation:
My significant other and I are going through a break up in court,
She seems to know what I am saying in real time, often mentioning in it later that day or the next day; She seems to know what I am google searching, and even possibly what photos I have taken.
When I put my phone in airplane mode a few times, I could tell, even though she would have no idea that I put it in airplane mode, she freaked out by texting me repeatedly as if she was trying to get me to respond to pick up my signal or something.
Could she have hired someone from the dark web or something and they have hacked or cloned my phone?
The program I have for security is Avast.
Is there anything I can do other than trading my fold 3 in for the fold 4 to completely gain confidence I am not being spied on? I know that she would go to any extreme to find out what I am doing, her whole family is schizo like that and I am really worried, I just want to have the piece of mind my phone is safe, and as of now I dont trust it, or anything else electronic in my house.
Any comments or suggestions are truly appreciated and welcomed.
Check Google account for any unauthorized logins.
Backup all critical data, remove Google and Samsung accounts from phone.
Factory reset from settings, then reset your Google account password. Done.
Be careful what you install and don't let others use the device or connect foreign flash drives to it. Do Not install or use trash sites like WhatsApp, FB, Tiktok, etc.
blackhawk said:
Check Google account for any unauthorized logins.
Backup all critical data, remove Google and Samsung accounts from phone.
Factory reset from settings, then reset your Google account password. Done.
Be careful what you install and don't let others use the device or connect foreign flash drives to it. Do Not install or use trash sites like WhatsApp, FB, Tiktok, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree completely with the recommendation that you do the factory reset. And if you have access to a laptop or computer-- or any other device: use a web browser to change Google and Samsung passwords. Also if you use any other email provider, chat apps change those passwords too.
eliniko said:
Good morning everyone,
I am not super tech savvy, and need some help. I truly believe that my phone is somehow hacked, here is the situation:
My significant other and I are going through a break up in court,
She seems to know what I am saying in real time, often mentioning in it later that day or the next day; She seems to know what I am google searching, and even possibly what photos I have taken.
When I put my phone in airplane mode a few times, I could tell, even though she would have no idea that I put it in airplane mode, she freaked out by texting me repeatedly as if she was trying to get me to respond to pick up my signal or something.
Could she have hired someone from the dark web or something and they have hacked or cloned my phone?
The program I have for security is Avast.
Is there anything I can do other than trading my fold 3 in for the fold 4 to completely gain confidence I am not being spied on? I know that she would go to any extreme to find out what I am doing, her whole family is schizo like that and I am really worried, I just want to have the piece of mind my phone is safe, and as of now I dont trust it, or anything else electronic in my house.
Any comments or suggestions are truly appreciated and welcomed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree completely with the recommendation that you do the factory reset. And if you have access to a laptop or computer-- or any other device (not the phone in question): use a web browser to change Google and Samsung passwords. Also if you use any other email provider, chat apps change those passwords too.
---------------------------------------------------------
Yeah in this case I would say she definitely somehow has access to your Google account. Your best bet is to first go through and remove any recovery email / phone numbers you don't recognize from your account and then do a factory reset of your current device, if you want to go further you could reflash Android onto the device using ODIN but that does take some knowhow. Also check for any unrecognized apps on your device, as simply having access to your backups will not give her instant access to what you said so my best guess is that she has your passwords.
eliniko said:
When I put my phone in airplane mode a few times, I could tell, even though she would have no idea that I put it in airplane mode, she freaked out by texting me repeatedly as if she was trying to get me to respond to pick up my signal or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you receive any messages when in airplane mode?
eliniko said:
The program I have for security is Avast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can deinstall it. It's worthless.
WoKoschekk said:
You can deinstall it. It's worthless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, you can tell I dont know anything, can you tell me what program/app can scan my phone?
WoKoschekk said:
How do you receive any messages when in airplane mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
they all come through in a flurry when I switch my phone back on. I turn it on in airplane mode when I have my son with me, this is what I am most concerned about is she is spying on me for.
eliniko said:
thanks, you can tell I dont know anything, can you tell me what program/app can scan my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
brain.exe! An anti virus app compares your installed packages (apps) with a black list on its home server. Is there a match => show a warning screen. The problem here is that it's no problem to install a package with a random generated name (Magisk users should know what I mean). So you have no chance to detect it. And that's only one method to bypass your anti virus.
Afraid of unknown apps? Check your installed apps either in your device settings or by checking the folder /data/app which is accessible without root permissions. Every app for Android has to store its APK in this directory or otherwise it is not executable.
Apart from that a Google account must be secured by at least 2FA. This is the minimum to secure your data. Find it in your Google settings. There is also listed which devices are currently logged in.
Messenger apps can't be installed with your account on 2 or more different devices without a warning or without being uninstalled on the first device. Additionally you need a verification for that which will be sent to your mobile no.
Spying on a device also means permanent data traffic. Did you check your device settings if any app shows irregular high data traffic?
eliniko said:
Good morning everyone,
I am not super tech savvy, and need some help. I truly believe that my phone is somehow hacked, here is the situation:
My significant other and I are going through a break up in court,
She seems to know what I am saying in real time, often mentioning in it later that day or the next day; She seems to know what I am google searching, and even possibly what photos I have taken.
When I put my phone in airplane mode a few times, I could tell, even though she would have no idea that I put it in airplane mode, she freaked out by texting me repeatedly as if she was trying to get me to respond to pick up my signal or something.
Could she have hired someone from the dark web or something and they have hacked or cloned my phone?
The program I have for security is Avast.
Is there anything I can do other than trading my fold 3 in for the fold 4 to completely gain confidence I am not being spied on? I know that she would go to any extreme to find out what I am doing, her whole family is schizo like that and I am really worried, I just want to have the piece of mind my phone is safe, and as of now I dont trust it, or anything else electronic in my house.
Any comments or suggestions are truly appreciated and welcomed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry to hear you are going through this. A friend of mine went through something similar. His ex had connections to email accounts and online messaging accounts by password spoofing and other means and might have had some help knowing what passwords he used or like to use. He was alerted of random locations of unauthorized access to gmail and yahoo many many times, he sent them to me along with other chat messages from things she wouldn't know unless she or someone was watching him. I believed his vehicle or phone had been tracked by gps but we never found anything. His ex knew stuff that didn't make sense and where he was were as if he was being watched, and I'm also positive he was being watched. They were living together during court for a 3 months and then separated. I told him to stop using all the online chats, reset phone and change passwords. And he did, but he was still being tracked. I said either they put in some gps tracking device like an apple air tag or cheap gps tracker or a recording device somewhere or had someone watching him. I told him to buy a temp phone with new number and he did and communicate with only a handful of people he 100% trusted and left his main phone at home most of time until the court stuff was over. He thought she had connections to a law enforcement detective. I said anything is possible. Talk about being paranoid. I went through most of it with him. He also bought a new computer and after a new phone and trading in his car, yes, he did all three. I thought he shouldn't have to go that far but there was a lot crazy stuff going that didn't make sense. So after he did those things and also got a secure place of his own, and bought video cameras for his car and house, she went completely was clueless...but also turned crazy agitated and annoying. There's so much more but its amazing what lengths some people will go to on both ends.
Oh I forgot to add she or someone had attached random different emails to two of his accounts for backup emails. He sent me pictures. I believe that is for an alternative login and forget password. So even if you changed it she could still get access. So check that too!
Do you have separate phone accounts or on the same plan? Hopefully separate or she could be accessing your mobile account.
Is she using Android or iPhone?
You can care or not care about it, but I say do what makes you feel safe and comfortable.
Definitely start with what Blackhawk wrote!
I'm so sorry to ramble on, your post just made me think of that and all the horrible stuff she did to my friend.
One day at a time my friend, it will get better!
I wish you the best of luck!
defcondoc said:
I'm sorry to hear you are going through this. A friend of mine went through something similar. His ex had connections to email accounts and online messaging accounts by password spoofing and other means and might have had some help knowing what passwords he used or like to use. He was alerted of random locations of unauthorized access to gmail and yahoo many many times, he sent them to me along with other chat messages from things she wouldn't know unless she or someone was watching him. I believed his vehicle or phone had been tracked by gps but we never found anything. His ex knew stuff that didn't make sense and where he was were as if he was being watched, and I'm also positive he was being watched. They were living together during court for a 3 months and then separated. I told him to stop using all the online chats, reset phone and change passwords. And he did, but he was still being tracked. I said either they put in some gps tracking device like an apple air tag or cheap gps tracker or a recording device somewhere or had someone watching him. I told him to buy a temp phone with new number and he did and communicate with only a handful of people he 100% trusted and left his main phone at home most of time until the court stuff was over. He thought she had connections to a law enforcement detective. I said anything is possible. Talk about being paranoid. I went through most of it with him. He also bought a new computer and after a new phone and trading in his car, yes, he did all three. I thought he shouldn't have to go that far but there was a lot crazy stuff going that didn't make sense. So after he did those things and also got a secure place of his own, and bought video cameras for his car and house, she went completely was clueless...but also turned crazy agitated and annoying. There's so much more but its amazing what lengths some people will go to on both ends.
Oh I forgot to add she or someone had attached random different emails to two of his accounts for backup emails. He sent me pictures. I believe that is for an alternative login and forget password. So even if you changed it she could still get access. So check that too!
Do you have separate phone accounts or on the same plan? Hopefully separate or she could be accessing your mobile account.
Is she using Android or iPhone?
You can care or not care about it, but I say do what makes you feel safe and comfortable.
Definitely start with what Blackhawk wrote!
I'm so sorry to ramble on, your post just made me think of that and all the horrible stuff she did to my friend.
One day at a time my friend, it will get better!
I wish you the best of luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, this is exactly happening to me. I believe she has seen photos either from google photos or on my phone, although I dont know how she could access, as well as a critical timeline of texts have just disappeared, I have no idea how to recover them, only her texts on the text app on the fold 3 phone have disappeared, a 2 month block of our conversations, I dont know how to e tthem back, I tried reinstalling my back up, but those messages are gone, even in my samsung back up and google back up, any idea how I could have my phone professionally recover those messages, i am willing to pay whatever amount, i really need those messages for court.....any ideas? I will pay for someone to try...
What happened was, she had my phone for like an hour (before the breakup) and I noticed days later those messages gone, then came the break up, seperation, court order, etc.....it is a true nightmare that was thought out by her. I know her brother stalked his girlfriend with a gps tracker, broke into her email, facebook, etc, so i know she used his know how to do the same.
Any ideas on how to ge tthose messages back? I would be extremely grateful to get those...
You should not forget that this person was part of your life for a long time. She knows a lot of your habits in daily life and there are a lot of people knowing both of you. One of them might see you somewhere and the next day this person meets your Ex and they talk about it. You can get a lot of information about a person even without having access to his/her mobile phone, accounts and so on. Sometimes you only see what you want ro see. Especially in such a challenging situation like a separation. Often you realized it by yourself when some time is passed and you have enough distance to it.
eliniko said:
Thanks, this is exactly happening to me. I believe she has seen photos either from google photos or on my phone, although I dont know how she could access, as well as a critical timeline of texts have just disappeared, I have no idea how to recover them, only her texts on the text app on the fold 3 phone have disappeared, a 2 month block of our conversations, I dont know how to e tthem back, I tried reinstalling my back up, but those messages are gone, even in my samsung back up and google back up, any idea how I could have my phone professionally recover those messages, i am willing to pay whatever amount, i really need those messages for court.....any ideas? I will pay for someone to try...
What happened was, she had my phone for like an hour (before the breakup) and I noticed days later those messages gone, then came the break up, seperation, court order, etc.....it is a true nightmare that was thought out by her. I know her brother stalked his girlfriend with a gps tracker, broke into her email, facebook, etc, so i know she used his know how to do the same.
Any ideas on how to ge tthose messages back? I would be extremely grateful to get those...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh ha, now this is definitely making more sense. So the actual SMS MMS text app? Only way to get messages back aside from a backup would be from the carrier, AFIK. I believe there is android recovery software that may be able to recover deleted messages.
defcondoc said:
Ahh ha, now this is definitely making more sense. So the actual SMS MMS text app? Only way to get messages back aside from a backup would be from the carrier, AFIK. I believe there is android recovery software that may be able to recover deleted messages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the SMS. I would have no idea how to contact them, I had Infinity at the time that the texts were sent, so would they even have those texts?
eliniko said:
Yes, the SMS. I would have no idea how to contact them, I had Infinity at the time that the texts were sent, so would they even have those texts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok. I don't know Infinity, but I believe you would need to open a case with them and file a court order with other carriers. I would give them a call and ask technical support and customer relations on how you would go about getting those back. Do you have date and time when they were sent? They might need that specific information. Your attorney may have experience with this.
defcondoc said:
I'm sorry to hear you are going through this. A friend of mine went through something similar. His ex had connections to email accounts and online messaging accounts by password spoofing and other means and might have had some help knowing what passwords he used or like to use. He was alerted of random locations of unauthorized access to gmail and yahoo many many times, he sent them to me along with other chat messages from things she wouldn't know unless she or someone was watching him. I believed his vehicle or phone had been tracked by gps but we never found anything. His ex knew stuff that didn't make sense and where he was were as if he was being watched, and I'm also positive he was being watched. They were living together during court for a 3 months and then separated. I told him to stop using all the online chats, reset phone and change passwords. And he did, but he was still being tracked. I said either they put in some gps tracking device like an apple air tag or cheap gps tracker or a recording device somewhere or had someone watching him. I told him to buy a temp phone with new number and he did and communicate with only a handful of people he 100% trusted and left his main phone at home most of time until the court stuff was over. He thought she had connections to a law enforcement detective. I said anything is possible. Talk about being paranoid. I went through most of it with him. He also bought a new computer and after a new phone and trading in his car, yes, he did all three. I thought he shouldn't have to go that far but there was a lot crazy stuff going that didn't make sense. So after he did those things and also got a secure place of his own, and bought video cameras for his car and house, she went completely was clueless...but also turned crazy agitated and annoying. There's so much more but its amazing what lengths some people will go to on both ends.
Oh I forgot to add she or someone had attached random different emails to two of his accounts for backup emails. He sent me pictures. I believe that is for an alternative login and forget password. So even if you changed it she could still get access. So check that too!
Do you have separate phone accounts or on the same plan? Hopefully separate or she could be accessing your mobile account.
Is she using Android or iPhone?
You can care or not care about it, but I say do what makes you feel safe and comfortable.
Definitely start with what Blackhawk wrote!
I'm so sorry to ramble on, your post just made me think of that and all the horrible stuff she did to my friend.
One day at a time my friend, it will get better!
I wish you the best of luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stop goofing around with the runt and play hardball. Let the pros handle it. They have tools and methods that would make your head spin like Linda Blair.
&
Gps tracking device on car or other personal belonging. Relax. Sit back and look at the clues, find the cause(s), plug the leaks. Better yet, let the FBI build a case and do as directed... federal crimes will put someone deep in the hurt locker.
You could actually use this situation to your advantage, for a while, you could email/text things that would really make her happy/sad/angry/jealous etc when bored with that do the above wipe recommendations!
eliniko said:
Good morning everyone,
I am not super tech savvy, and need some help. I truly believe that my phone is somehow hacked, here is the situation:
My significant other and I are going through a break up in court,
She seems to know what I am saying in real time, often mentioning in it later that day or the next day; She seems to know what I am google searching, and even possibly what photos I have taken.
When I put my phone in airplane mode a few times, I could tell, even though she would have no idea that I put it in airplane mode, she freaked out by texting me repeatedly as if she was trying to get me to respond to pick up my signal or something.
Could she have hired someone from the dark web or something and they have hacked or cloned my phone?
The program I have for security is Avast.
Is there anything I can do other than trading my fold 3 in for the fold 4 to completely gain confidence I am not being spied on? I know that she would go to any extreme to find out what I am doing, her whole family is schizo like that and I am really worried, I just want to have the piece of mind my phone is safe, and as of now I dont trust it, or anything else electronic in my house.
Any comments or suggestions are truly appreciated and welcomed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The likelihood of your phone being hacked is really quite low. if you're truly concerned however, factory reset your phone, start from scratch, don't restore backups.
The main thing I'm certain you need to do is go and change all of your account passwords. If the account offers it, tell it to "force sign out everywhere"
Turn on 2 factor authentication, ideally not using a phone or email that she would know about.
Start here:
Account settings: Your browser is not supported.
myaccount.google.com
What to do if an unknown sign in or hacking attempt is found
FAQ for Samsung mobile devices. Find more about Continue watching videos after leaving Samsung TV Plus with Samsung Support
www.samsung.com
Goes without saying, go change facebook passwords, twitter, all your socials. change everything.
eliniko said:
Good morning everyone,
I am not super tech savvy, and need some help. I truly believe that my phone is somehow hacked, here is the situation:
My significant other and I are going through a break up in court,
She seems to know what I am saying in real time, often mentioning in it later that day or the next day; She seems to know what I am google searching, and even possibly what photos I have taken.
When I put my phone in airplane mode a few times, I could tell, even though she would have no idea that I put it in airplane mode, she freaked out by texting me repeatedly as if she was trying to get me to respond to pick up my signal or something.
Could she have hired someone from the dark web or something and they have hacked or cloned my phone?
The program I have for security is Avast.
Is there anything I can do other than trading my fold 3 in for the fold 4 to completely gain confidence I am not being spied on? I know that she would go to any extreme to find out what I am doing, her whole family is schizo like that and I am really worried, I just want to have the piece of mind my phone is safe, and as of now I dont trust it, or anything else electronic in my house.
Any comments or suggestions are truly appreciated and welcomed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you should change your phone and SIM card?