This is mostly an informative post, as I have spent a few hours on the phone with Verizon and Samsung tech support regarding this issue.
This issue affects the Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 on Android 4.4.2 and Baseband version I545VRUFNK1.
First, some info. When setting a pattern lock to this phone, it will ask to enter a backup PIN in case the pattern is forgotten. Additionally, this phone has a Kids Mode widget pre-installed by Samsung to download the actual app. Once the app is installed and setup, it will allow a child to play with the phone on any app you designate, keeping them from messing around with settings and etc. This app also requires a PIN to keep kids from exiting Kids Mode or altering it's settings.
The issue with the above mentioned info is this: if Kids Mode is active and the phone goes to sleep, and the lockscreen pattern is entered incorrectly to the point that it will ask you to enter the backup PIN, the backup PIN you created WILL NOT WORK. An error message will appear stating "you have attempted to unlock the phone unsuccessfully X times, you have X times left before a factory restore is performed." Once the last attempt has been reached the error message states this feature can be turned off by going to Settings > Lock Screen > Auto Factory Reset. The additional issue here is that this menu setting does not exist. After ten failed attempts to enter the correct PIN the phone will erase the SD card and perform a factory restore.
This issue ONLY occurs when Kids Mode is installed, is active, and when there is a pattern and backup PIN set for the lockscreen. I was able to reproduce this issue six times with Verizon tech support over the phone.
Verizon did send a replacement but unfortunately this issue occurred with the replacement as they were on identical Android and Baseband versions. Verizon got me in touch with Samsung tech support and they are going to repair the phone for me. My assumption is that they will reflash with a previous version of Android, or newer. Won't know until the phone returns.
If you wish to see a video of the process, please search YouTube for "Samsung Galaxy S4 Kids Mode issue". I'm still a new user here on Xda so I cannot post links.
Related
My brother set up a lock screen pin on his Xperia Go and now cannot access his phone. He was messing around with the phone and ended up setting a pin which he does not remember. He's tried various combinations and nothing has worked.
A factory reset wouldn't be an issue but there are photos which he wants to recover.
The WiFi is connected and his Google account is in tact. He remembers the password to that but the device does not offer any option to reset the pin. I tried installing a free and paid screen lock bypass app but none of them worked, I was going to try installing Screen Lock Bypass Pro through the web market but it says the device is incompatible with it.
The phone is stock, it has not been rooted or modified in any way.
Can anyone please help recover the photos?
Help..locked screen hacked need trouble shoot
I have been dealing withe a trojan and it has been affecting all my devices:
iPad, PC, tablet, and android 4 ...I have got the ipad working and affected areas documented but I need to get the android MOST IMPORTANT.
The trojan is sourced from a possible ex husband (very technical )and involves custody issue, happened at first legal proceeding and now again.
symptoms of android 4
# no wifi access to home service - data, and service shut down by provider when issue started again. But 3G showed full access through bloetooth port open 442.
I have home wifi but all disconnected so source of 3G unexplainable.
:: after trying to figure it out I was locked out totally by main screed. Can't download fix or access home wifi.
Not worried about fix as much as grabbing dated and reports of what, when, and how. Gotta get past screen lock.
PLEASE HELP
Bump! Has anyone got any suggestions?
Hello guys!
I work at a smartphone repair shop fixing phones both hardware and software issues. A customer came in yesterday, they just bought a Galaxy Core Prime from T-Mobile (SM-G360T). The same day she was partying, setup a password to unlock the screen and couldn't remember it the next day.
I told her I could remove the password however she would lose pics & docs since we had to do a factory reset.
A few hours later she came back in and showed me this weird loop the phone is going thru. It asks to setup a Wi-Fi and enter her gmail account. Upon entering the gmail account it goes back to same screen to accept terms, enter Wi-Fi, etc.
I concluded this is the copy of Apple's iCloud lock, obviously, albeit it seems filled with bugs. If that is the case then what is the website I can go to remove the lock - same thing as going into iCloud.com and removing "Find my iPhone" - that would remove the lock for android? Does google even allow removing of this feature online?
I have checked email/pass the information is legit, all the email notifications are there.
My other alternative is download a different ROM (since I can't find the T-Mobile one, seems it just came out - SM-G360T) and try restoring via ODIN, however, I'm not sure it will work since I've done a factory reset, thus removing USB Debugging.
Help me out if possible guys, thanks in advance!
deathcorps said:
Hello guys!
I work at a smartphone repair shop fixing phones both hardware and software issues. A customer came in yesterday, they just bought a Galaxy Core Prime from T-Mobile (SM-G360T). The same day she was partying, setup a password to unlock the screen and couldn't remember it the next day.
I told her I could remove the password however she would lose pics & docs since we had to do a factory reset.
A few hours later she came back in and showed me this weird loop the phone is going thru. It asks to setup a Wi-Fi and enter her gmail account. Upon entering the gmail account it goes back to same screen to accept terms, enter Wi-Fi, etc.
I concluded this is the copy of Apple's iCloud lock, obviously, albeit it seems filled with bugs. If that is the case then what is the website I can go to remove the lock - same thing as going into iCloud.com and removing "Find my iPhone" - that would remove the lock for android? Does google even allow removing of this feature online?
I have checked email/pass the information is legit, all the email notifications are there.
My other alternative is download a different ROM (since I can't find the T-Mobile one, seems it just came out - SM-G360T) and try restoring via ODIN, however, I'm not sure it will work since I've done a factory reset, thus removing USB Debugging.
Help me out if possible guys, thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it was her Google password that was reset, you must wait 72 hours before factory resetting after changing the Google password. That's what this sounds like. Try entering the old password or wait 72 hours.
Evolution_Tech said:
If it was her Google password that was reset, you must wait 72 hours before factory resetting after changing the Google password. That's what this sounds like. Try entering the old password or wait 72 hours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The password was never reset though, she had the same password before even purchasing the phone. Does that 72 hr thing still apply? I'm just confused as to why there's no place to deactivate this like in iCloud's "Find my iPhone". I can access the account, have searched all settings, I even get the notification email when I login from the phone itself, but it just goes back to terms, wi-fi, enter email, repeat. LOL
I'm guessing the T-Mobile variant is brand-new as well (SM-G360T) since I can find many other ROMs but none for the G360T.
Oh well I'll wait til the 72hr period or ROM shows up, thanks for the help :good:
Hi I hv a similar problem I forgot my pin on my galazy core prime so I did a hard reset. Then on log in I couldn't remebber my google password so I changed it via laptop. But it wont let me log in still. I can access google account on laptop etc what is going on please help
I need help I have factory reset my Samsung galaxy core prime and I keep going to put my Google account in but nothing it keeps going back saying please enter a email that was recently linked which I keep doing and nothing it's just keeps going back can u please help
Galaxy Core Prime Looping Hell
The phones keep looping back to the login screen beacuse of a security feature put in place by samsung. We must contact them directly and submit proof of ownership ( proof of activation or copy of receipt) in order for them to disable this security feature. The number to call is 800-726-7864.
you can remove that device from this account.
deathcorps said:
Hello guys!
I work at a smartphone repair shop fixing phones both hardware and software issues. A customer came in yesterday, they just bought a Galaxy Core Prime from T-Mobile (SM-G360T). The same day she was partying, setup a password to unlock the screen and couldn't remember it the next day.
I told her I could remove the password however she would lose pics & docs since we had to do a factory reset.
A few hours later she came back in and showed me this weird loop the phone is going thru. It asks to setup a Wi-Fi and enter her gmail account. Upon entering the gmail account it goes back to same screen to accept terms, enter Wi-Fi, etc.
I concluded this is the copy of Apple's iCloud lock, obviously, albeit it seems filled with bugs. If that is the case then what is the website I can go to remove the lock - same thing as going into iCloud.com and removing "Find my iPhone" - that would remove the lock for android? Does google even allow removing of this feature online?
I have checked email/pass the information is legit, all the email notifications are there.
My other alternative is download a different ROM (since I can't find the T-Mobile one, seems it just came out - SM-G360T) and try restoring via ODIN, however, I'm not sure it will work since I've done a factory reset, thus removing USB Debugging.
Help me out if possible guys, thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go to accounts.google.com
Hi, my girl's Samsung S6 Edge got stolen today, snatched from her hand. Easy victim.
I'm trying to review the aftermath and what I did and maybe get some feedback on this.
Tracking/Remote lock
1. https://findmymobile.samsung.com/ failed - always set a password you remember; I didn't. After 7 failed login attempts account gets locked and you must reset your password, but it seems you can still lock your phone even if password is reset.
Anyway phone lock says will trigger once the device connects to the network. Is this still true if the phone is wiped?
2. https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager failed too
Maybe both failed because thief turned phone off? I did not try calling the number.
Security
3. All passwords were reset immediately, and gmail sessions were deleted.
4. Phone was locked with a PIN though a pattern would have been preferred. I do not remember if I encrypted it, but I know you cannot use pattern after you encrypt. Maybe that's why it had a PIN.
Assuming it was NOT encrypted, can a new ROM be flashed to unlock the phone and access content on storage drive (USB Debug was off)? I cannot remember if this is the case, I only rooted once and it was long time ago.
5. After 30 minutes I called the service provider and blocked the SIM card. She also offered to blacklist the IMEI number so I agreed. She even said that once you blacklist the IMEI, phone gets locked so thief cannot access it anymore - but this is bull****, it just won't be able to register to the network; it does not act as a remote lock lol. And IMEI can be easily overwritten once phone is rooted, so kind of an useless feature.
6. Reported to police but they don't care anyway, it's a petty crime. And chances of recovery are very little.
a) Would it be worthwile for the thief(s) to replace the front/back cover of the S6 Edge to a different color so they can easily sell it online locally afterwards? It seems to me the front cover is attached to the display, and to change that is quite expensive. Thoughts?
b) What happens with stolen phones anyway? Do they just root them and replace IMEI? I saw on a tv show that some will even replace the IMEI sticker on them.
thoughts:
- activate remote controls and TEST them
- install some app that takes snapshot of front camera when PIN is entered incorrectly
- encrypt phone, don't use dumb PIN
- set lock timeout to something short
- back up often
- engrave phone with custom message? (viable if you don't change often)
- have an action plan in case this happens
First two probably useless if thief switches phone off and reflashes it.
I probably need to restate my questions in a shorter format:
1. I had my phone registered with https://findmymobile.samsung.com. Will it still work if the phone is wiped?
2. Can content on the phone be accessed if phone was unencrypted and only had a PIN lock?
3. Is it easy to replace front/back case and bezel to give the phone a new 'look'?
Nobody answering... I'll try one last time.
1. Does flashing a new ROM give access to the stored files on the internal storage (like photos)?
2. Can a new ROM be flashed if the device is encrypted?
it can be flashed but the persob fill be stuck in bootloop and if the booted up ge will be stuck in frp lock by google he cant go past setup
w00tz said:
Nobody answering... I'll try one last time.
1. Does flashing a new ROM give access to the stored files on the internal storage (like photos)?
2. Can a new ROM be flashed if the device is encrypted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the guy who stole your phone flash another Rom and if not wipe the data then your photos etc will remain in your phone.. so if he wipe the data your file won't remain.. but the best option for him it's to wipe the data so this is good for you because he can't see your data.. make sure on your next phone to put pattern or a good code.. maybe you had put I didn't read all your posts.. that's all I know dude
I'm posting this in a bunch of different places just in case someone has an answer for me:
I'm so frustrated. I set some stupid new pattern passcode on my phone (Samsung Galaxy S7) yesterday because I wanted to try it out and see how it worked. It was a method where you swipe on the screen in a series of directions to unlock it. Now I've either forgotten it or it's not working and I only have two attempts left before my phone automatically erases all data on itself. I cannot do a factory reset and lose all of my data, that's just not an option for me. I've tried unlocking it with "Ok Google" which I do have enabled on my phone, but it didn't work. I've tried going to device manager in my google account and locking the phone but it won't override the password I already have on my phone so that doesn't work. Apparently my device wasn't registered in my Samsung account so Samsung can't remotely unlock my device. Verizon (my service provider) won't help me. The link that people online say should appear after too many attempts that lets me sign into my phone using the Google Account that it's linked to won't appear. The information that I've found online about how to "hack" my phone doesn't make any sense to me and requires me to download or already have installed all sorts of suspicious looking files/programs that I'm not willing to install onto neither my phone nor my computer. I'm just at a loss and really frustrated. What could be wrong? How do I fix this? Who can help me?
Check this , maybe it will works for you .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muAOM47VPOQ
You might be out of luck. You won't lose any files just apps and settings if you factory reset.
This is why no one uses pattern unlock any more. Too many things that can go wrong.
I have a Galaxy Note 8 from Xfinity Mobile that I'm trying to flash T-mobile firmware onto. Here are the issues:
Once upon a time I was using this phone as a home remote with no sim in it on airplane mode and made a random gmail account to set it up. It has been sitting in a drawer dead for 6 months, so without even thinking, the first thing I did was a factory data wipe only to be greeted by the FRP. I have no idea what the email was that I used to set up this phone (i remember making one that was along the lines of '[email protected]' but can't remember it exactly) and apparently did not use my real email or phone number as a backup. So the first issue is, I can't even get into the phone to see the current boot loader, or firmware version on it. Nor can I get far enough to even use a carrier unlock code (which i assume I'll need, but won't be a problem getting from xfinity).
Is there any way possible that given the current situation I can switch this device to tmobile?
never mind, by some divine miracle (and after exhausting every other possible solution i could think of) i remembered the email used