Related
I was wondering if anyone has found a way to develop any kind of protection for our phone that does more than apps that are installed once booted up? Let me explain. There are quite a few different apps that protect and find your phone and they can be protected from being uninstalled or turned off so that a thief cannot disable the protection. But there is one glaring weakness. I have yet to find any kind of protection that keeps a person from getting around all of these current apps by simply removing the battery and rebooting into Recovery and flashing to a different ROM or firmware. By doing this they are able to delete everything on the phone and they basically have a brand new phone in hand. We need a way to protect against a person being able to simply take out the battery and reboot and flash a new firmware. The protection needs to be built into the Recovery and Download modes or protect the phone before they reach Recovery or Download modes. If we can't find a way to protect prior to reaching these modes then a thief who knows anything about changing firmwares or recoveries can simply replace what is on the phone and successfully have bypassed all the protection that we invested in with these apps that are on the Play Store or at other places.
So does anyone know of any way that we can get this kind of protection? I have never seen anything that can do this. Is it even possible to build this kind of protection? If anyone knows anything, I would love to hear it. Thanks.
I heard there are apps that can be flashed to the phone and are running in the background that notify you with an sms if the sim card is changed, but they can be easily removed by wiping the cache/factory reset and/or installing a new rom.
However every GSM device as a unique IMEI code so that if your phone gets stolen you can go to your service provider or the police they can search for the code and have a basic idea of where it is. Even if you don't know the code i'm sure your service provider keeps logs of it.
gaka01 said:
I heard there are apps that can be flashed to the phone and are running in the background that notify you with an sms if the sim card is changed, but they can be easily removed by wiping the cache/factory reset and/or installing a new rom.
However every GSM device as a unique IMEI code so that if your phone gets stolen you can go to your service provider or the police they can search for the code and have a basic idea of where it is. Even if you don't know the code i'm sure your service provider keeps logs of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I was aware of using the IMEI. But judging from the success that people have of stealing phones and never getting caught, I just assumed that for one reason or another this method just wasn't a very reliable way of getting your phone back.
Well a friend of mine found an old nokia phone in a park near where i live. She needed a 2nd phone and decided to use it. However after 2 or 3 weeks a police officer went to her home and they accused her of theft.
Anyway if you don't trust the authorities your my best guess is flashing one of those background running apps. Do a research i'm not realy familiar with them.
gaka01 said:
Well a friend of mine found an old nokia phone in a park near where i live. She needed a 2nd phone and decided to use it. However after 2 or 3 weeks a police officer went to her home and they accused her of theft.
Anyway if you don't trust the authorities your my best guess is flashing one of those background running apps. Do a research i'm not realy familiar with them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It appears that relying on the IMEI is going to be the only way for true protection. The background running apps don't work if you note in my OP. All you have to do to get around them is to remove the battery and boot straight into Recovery and flash a different ROM or firmware. That will erase everything on the phone including any apps installed, even if they do run in the background. They can't run in the background if they aren't there.
I'm very sad to admit that I updated from 4.2.2 to 4.3 on my Verizon Galaxy S4 and lost root. I made the terrible assumption that someone would root 4.3 quickly after release, but didn't want to wait to see the updates. So far, the only two solutions are:
1. Root on 4.2.2 and upgrade through this method
2. Use VROOT to root stock 4.3
This thread and this article both make me VERY wary of using VROOT, but this seems to be the only option once you do the OTA update.
Has there been any additional investigation into VROOT? Is it safe to use again, or is it a lost cause?
As of right now, that is the only option that I am aware of. I am no dev, but I have been tinkering with my phones for quite some time. I personally have not encountered a single ill effect from using vroot. There is a script which completely wipes it off your phone and installs the supersu app. Ultimately, it is up to you...I did it and I'd do it again. No ill effects what so ever and it's been a few weeks-nothing wonky to report.
bjoostema said:
As of right now, that is the only option that I am aware of. I am no dev, but I have been tinkering with my phones for quite some time. I personally have not encountered a single ill effect from using vroot. There is a script which completely wipes it off your phone and installs the supersu app. Ultimately, it is up to you...I did it and I'd do it again. No ill effects what so ever and it's been a few weeks-nothing wonky to report.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm really on the fence... My fear is that I don't want to compromise my Google Account, since my whole life goes through that thing. Did you find that hidden app was installed after using VROOT?
Why is there yet another thread asking the SAME question about rooting MJ7??????
Read the other threads...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=47566483
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2535416
thethotbot said:
I'm really on the fence... My fear is that I don't want to compromise my Google Account, since my whole life goes through that thing. Did you find that hidden app was installed after using VROOT?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a single thing was different on my phone. There were even some folks who ran an md5 checksum on all apps and reported that nothing was altered what so ever on any system level. I understand your concern, it took me a couple weeks before finally doing it. I really weighed it out and decided that root was important to me. Also, a good dev on the forums did it with no ill effects. I have faith in him and thus far, nothing has happened. I don't want to push you into it though. I don't even worry about it anymore since the script wipes all traces of the chinese superuser app off the phone.
bjoostema said:
Not a single thing was different on my phone. There were even some folks who ran an md5 checksum on all apps and reported that nothing was altered what so ever on any system level. I understand your concern, it took me a couple weeks before finally doing it. I really weighed it out and decided that root was important to me. Also, a good dev on the forums did it with no ill effects. I have faith in him and thus far, nothing has happened. I don't want to push you into it though. I don't even worry about it anymore since the script wipes all traces of the chinese superuser app off the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did the same thing. My life runs through my google account and I was very weary. I dont see anything strange occurring and ran malware scans on both the PC and phone and didnt find any trojans. I am assuming it is safe with the removal script posted on Rootjunky.com
I'm going for it.
Alright.... I just did it. I used Sandboxie on my computer to temporarily install the Chinese program (just to be safe), and everything on my phone now looks like it's fine. I'll keep a close eye on my accounts, and have enabled Two Step Authorization on my Google Account. I'll still be super bummed out if it ends up VROOT is collecting personal data, but I just couldn't bring myself to wait for root any longer.
I'm curious to know if the developers of vroot have removed the data mining features from the more recent versions?
Hello everyone,
I might have a big problem.
This morning I booted my HTC One M7 as usual, and when it finished booting it opened a browser tap with a fake whatsapp update. I closed the browser immediately, and five minutes after this, the exact same thing happened. I started thinking how this could happend, and honestly I have no clue. All my apps are from the play store, and I only download documents for school. I haven't even downloaded a new app in the last week, however 15+ of my apps aren't up to date.
I scanned my phone with malwarebytes and it couldn't find anything. I rebooted my phone after the scan, and the problem seems to be gone. I was telling this story to a friend of mine this afternoon, and my mother said that she experienced the same thing, just a couple hours before I experienced it. After further investigation, it wasn't exactly the same. When she opened whatsapp, it asked her to do a weekly back-up of her chats. At first, she closed whatsapp, but when it appeared again, she clicked yes. She wasn't very clear about this, so I don't know if it was a fake menu, or the real deal. I have also scanned her Moto g (2013), and it found no malware.
I don't know if this could be harmfull. Especially because my parents use their phones for mobile banking.
This is a screenshot of my HTC
It could easily have been done through whatsapp. Part of the reason most people have stopped using it. Viruses run rampant I'm just about all of Facebook apps. And no anti virus will find them as they are vastly different then normal viruses.
zelendel said:
It could easily have been done through whatsapp. Part of the reason most people have stopped using it. Viruses run rampant I'm just about all of Facebook apps. And no anti virus will find them as they are vastly different then normal viruses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the Netherlands literally everybody uses it, but it's good to know that this could indeed happen! Should I be worried about this, and what should I do when it returns?
Dark-shot said:
In the Netherlands literally everybody uses it, but it's good to know that this could indeed happen! Should I be worried about this, and what should I do when it returns?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I heard alot of people in Europe use it alot, here in the states almost no one uses it really except for kids. Most have moved to hangouts.
If I was you I would completely back up the device and then wipe everything and reflash the device.
Things like this will not be picked up by so called virus scanners.
I'am afraid that it is something like ShiftyBug (https://blog.lookout.com/blog/2015/11/04/trojanized-adware/). In the article it says that you have to install apps from third parties, but I have almost never done that. I have downloaded popcorntime in the past, but I have deletet it almost 6 months ago.
I'm afraid that if I reflash my device, that it will come back fairly soon. Is it possible that it has spread over my wifi network? Because of the fact that my mother got something similar on the same day.
But how do I know for sure that it is a virus? After I restarted my phone (12 hours ago), it hasn't shown up yet. Am I worried for nothing, or is there a big chances that I'm infected?
Thank you for all your replies!
Dark-shot said:
I'am afraid that it is something like ShiftyBug (https://blog.lookout.com/blog/2015/11/04/trojanized-adware/). In the article it says that you have to install apps from third parties, but I have almost never done that. I have downloaded popcorntime in the past, but I have deletet it almost 6 months ago.
I'm afraid that if I reflash my device, that it will come back fairly soon. Is it possible that it has spread over my wifi network? Because of the fact that my mother got something similar on the same day.
But how do I know for sure that it is a virus? After I restarted my phone (12 hours ago), it hasn't shown up yet. Am I worried for nothing, or is there a big chances that I'm infected?
Thank you for all your replies!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The key word there is almost. If you reflash the device and it comes back then it maybe something that someopne else downloaded and was shared through your network. As you said your mother also saw it so I would go through her phone as well.
There are many apps out there that do this that are in the play store. So it is all a matter of being careful.
There is a chance. If it is big or not depends on how you use your device. It could also have come from a website someone visited. Im not saying you did but many porn sites are set to infect devices when they visit them.
If it was me. I would just start from scratch with each device and make sure that all the things installed are legit.
You could also run a logcat and try to reproduce it. That would tell you what is causing it.
Doesn't seem dangerous.
JohnColston said:
Doesn't seem dangerous.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then you have not been paying attention. Any browser pop that tells you to update an app is 99% an infected apk. It is a common practice for those that take apks and re-package them with malware
After reading more i must admit you are right.... My bad:good:
So I have to flash my phone, aren't there any other options? And if not, how do I reflash The HTC firmware to my phone?
Should I make a back-up before doing this, won't the malware spread again if I instal the back-up on my phone?
Thanks again!
EDIT:
Unfortunately, I still haven't been able to reproduce the problem.
I still haven't been able to reproduce the pop-up.
I do propably know where the problem came from, a friend of mine sent me a older version of soundcloud (the new one can't cache music). I installed that app, decided that it was to old for me and deleted it. The malware must have spread right after the first use. I'm planning on flashing my phone inthe weekend.
EDIT: I can reprodce the pop-up! It's linked to opening the app 'night mode', this app was downloaded in the official play store 2 years ago. Since then it hasn't got a lot of updates though.
Hey,
Time for a little update.
Last weekend, I contacted HTC's customer support due to the fact that I couldn't find my software version. They told me that I should execute a RUU, but they couldn't find the right version, so I had to contact the Dutch customer support (I didn't do this in the first place because the Dutch customer support wasn't open in the weekend).
The next monday (23-11) I contacted the Dutch customer support and asked them for the ROM, and unfortunately due to the regulations they don't publish the ROM's. However, they told me to do a factory reset and that should solve the issue. Unfortunately, it didn't. After the reset, I now get a different Whatsapp pop-up once or twice a day. The pop-up isn't connected to opening an app, like it was before the reset.
A friend of mine experienced the same problem this week on his new Moto X. All the other phones in my home network don't have this problem.
I hope someone will be able to help me!
Thanks in advance!
Dark-shot said:
Hey,
Time for a little update.
Last weekend, I contacted HTC's customer support due to the fact that I couldn't find my software version. They told me that I should execute a RUU, but they couldn't find the right version, so I had to contact the Dutch customer support (I didn't do this in the first place because the Dutch customer support wasn't open in the weekend).
The next monday (23-11) I contacted the Dutch customer support and asked them for the ROM, and unfortunately due to the regulations they don't publish the ROM's. However, they told me to do a factory reset and that should solve the issue. Unfortunately, it didn't. After the reset, I now get a different Whatsapp pop-up once or twice a day. The pop-up isn't connected to opening an app, like it was before the reset.
A friend of mine experienced the same problem this week on his new Moto X. All the other phones in my home network don't have this problem.
I hope someone will be able to help me!
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a chance that it might've spread over a certain network.... Is you and your moto x friend uses the same network ?
sdeepb said:
There's a chance that it might've spread over a certain network.... Is you and your moto x friend uses the same network ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, we both use the wifi network at our high school. But I did the factory reset friday evening, and since then I haven't connected to that network.
It might have spread through that network though.
Dark-shot said:
Yes, we both use the wifi network at our high school. But I did the factory reset friday evening, and since then I haven't connected to that network.
It might have spread through that network though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depending on the malware a factory reset will not remove it. In fact most malware cant be removed that way. You have to flash the whole device to get rid of it.
Dark-shot said:
Yes, we both use the wifi network at our high school. But I did the factory reset friday evening, and since then I haven't connected to that network.
It might have spread through that network though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion after starting all over again as you've already been told, you should do all that you did before and monitor each step with patience and concentration to actually understand what's behind this... This may help out
sdeepb said:
In my opinion after starting all over again as you've already been told, you should do all that you did before and monitor each step with patience and concentration to actually understand what's behind this... This may help out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As he said. Here is what I would do if I was in your place. Anyone got any extra steps to add feel free to chime in. This would kinda suck for a bit.
You will need a custom recovery. And a bit of time to set up
1. Take everything off device.
2. Format full device in recovery. Not factory reset. Format system, data, internal storage and both caches.
3. Flash complete stock firmware.
4. Get root before rebooting
5. Reboot, do not connect to wifi during set up. Do not restore anything.
6. Get Catlog from the play store and run it.
7. Then continue set up. Wifi and ect. Scan backed up files with a pc virus scan but only return what you really need.
8. When restoring from TIBU install apps fresh from the market and restore data only to apps. (sucks I know but only way to be sure) make sure to delete old back and redo.
Then monitor catlog. This will tell you everything going on. You would be able to figure it out.
Lol... Use adaway or adblocker and such pop up will be gone ... These are the new tricks from those freaking advertisement companies. They are now smart buddy. Even they can access the vibration as the pop up will come phone will get vibrate and users understand this as genuine and click on those ads . You got whatsapp pop some got browser pop up. Hope this will help u ...
Even you can flash moaAB ADBLOCKER from recovery.
veer.killerboy said:
Lol... Use adaway or adblocker and such pop up will be gone ... These are the new tricks from those freaking advertisement companies. They are now smart buddy. Even they can access the vibration as the pop up will come phone will get vibrate and users understand this as genuine and click on those ads . You got whatsapp pop some got browser pop up. Hope this will help u ...
Even you can flash moaAB ADBLOCKER from recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you would've read it fully than you'll know that the case is far bigger than what you're thinking it is
I lucked into a sale on a HUAWEI Y538 smartphone at Best Buy the other day, knowing we have no Boost Network around here for the cellphone service. Perfect!
I just wanted it as a nice little media player and access to my LAN, like my KitKat tablet. Nothing terribly fancy. I rooted it with Kingo, hoping to remove that nag cellphone activation every startup. I have to press Accept, then Self Service comes in and I click the no button. In addition as many of you know, Lollipop has a lot of unwanted background apps running . I spent a whole day trying to tame this and the only good news is that I worked out the factory reset.
My real question is if it's possible to remove that startup nag entirely, but either way, to ask if it's possible to downgrade to KitKat or something else? As a WiFi-only media player Lollipop would seem to be quite awful.
I've been on computers for decades but no experience with Android except my happy KitKat tablet. If some kind soul could be persuaded to help me out, well that'd be really cool.
JoeyTablet said:
I lucked into a sale on a HUAWEI Y538 smartphone at Best Buy the other day, knowing we have no Boost Network around here for the cellphone service. Perfect!
I just wanted it as a nice little media player and access to my LAN, like my KitKat tablet. Nothing terribly fancy. I rooted it with Kingo, hoping to remove that nag cellphone activation every startup. I have to press Accept, then Self Service comes in and I click the no button. In addition as many of you know, Lollipop has a lot of unwanted background apps running . I spent a whole day trying to tame this and the only good news is that I worked out the factory reset.
My real question is if it's possible to remove that startup nag entirely, but either way, to ask if it's possible to downgrade to KitKat or something else? As a WiFi-only media player Lollipop would seem to be quite awful.
I've been on computers for decades but no experience with Android except my happy KitKat tablet. If some kind soul could be persuaded to help me out, well that'd be really cool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://www.techmesto.com/unlock-bootloader-huawei-honor/
http://forum.xda-developers.com/and...how-to-data-off-shell-command-tasker-t3370783
Well I can't thank you enough for trying, but it seems Huawei changed their procedure. I got the 4 informations required and registered with Huawei. Going to the unlock page changes to Chinese and says too much traffic for servers in English. So I emailed Huawei Mobile support and got the following reply:
Dear User,
Huawei Customer Service is pleasure to be at your service,sorry to bring you the trouble,if you want to unlock your phone, you should meet these conditions as follow:
1.Please register your Huawei ID in our official website http://huawei.com/en/ on your phone.
2.Log in your Huawei ID for continuously 14 days.
3.Each Huawei ID should not apply for the unlock code more than twice within half years.If you meet the information,please go to http://emui.huawei.com/en/ and click the 'download'button to login your Huawei ID other than any other third party ID to apply for the unlock code.Please contact us by mail or local service hotline as following if error message appears.
TEL: http://consumer.huawei.com/en/contact-us/index.htm?tag=hotline
Mail: http://consumer.huawei.com/en/contact-us/index.htm?tag=email
Please submit your mobile model, SN, IMEI/MEID and erro message in your e-mail.We also need to know that your phone is rooted, it can be out of the best working state and part of functions may not be able to work normally. In additon, the system is vulnerable to be invaded by viruses once your phone is permitted to unlock. What's more, for the lacking of fully tested, the third party software will not be compatible with your phone. Unlocking will bring unexpected negative impacts and the device will be not normal, and can not be restored, Huawei after-sales service office will not provide warranty service for your rooted phone, and you may bear the cost. So we strongly advise you to think it twice.
If you have any other problems, please send your feedback to us. We will be at your service to help you to solve your problems.
Once again thank you for contacting Huawei device.
Best Regards.
Huawei Device Customer Care Team 3206
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I 'm reading that right they want me to log in every day for 14 days, which is kind of nuts.
To be fair the phone may possibly be rooted using Kingo (fast boot showed an "unlocked" message which I don't know if that means rooted but probably not boot unlocked), and for all I know that changes some of the information.
So I'm just replying FYI so you know how it went. Maybe I should do factory reset and try again?
Long day I'll go crash and see how it looks in the morning. Thanks for trying!
Joey
Happy here to report a partial solution, 1/2 way there!
If you take out the SIM card inside the phone it only nags once and saves probably 30 seconds of boot-up time. It's a great improvement!
bg260 said:
https://www.techmesto.com/unlock-bootloader-huawei-honor/
http://forum.xda-developers.com/and...how-to-data-off-shell-command-tasker-t3370783
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought the same phone at BB ($10 on sale) to use like you do (unactivated). What you're trying to do is actually super simple. Merely put the device in Airplane mode, then turn back on the wifi (and GPS if you like). You will not be prompted to activate your device. You actually should be doing this anyway as it saves your battery by not having the cell radio constantly trying to talk to the tower.
In case you missed it, there is a firmware update to the phone that can be downloaded via the Emui app on the phone. I'm not sure what all the update affects, but it doesn't impact your ability to use the procedure I described to avoid the constant activation reminder.
I believe this was in response to your question @JoeyTablet
bg260 said:
I believe this was in response to your question @JoeyTablet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oops, sorry, yes it was meant for @JoeyTablet
zerozed99 said:
I bought the same phone at BB ($10 on sale) to use like you do (unactivated). What you're trying to do is actually super simple. Merely put the device in Airplane mode, then turn back on the wifi (and GPS if you like). You will not be prompted to activate your device. You actually should be doing this anyway as it saves your battery by not having the cell radio constantly trying to talk to the tower.
In case you missed it, there is a firmware update to the phone that can be downloaded via the Emui app on the phone. I'm not sure what all the update affects, but it doesn't impact your ability to use the procedure I described to avoid the constant activation reminder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe this was in response to your question @JoeyTablet
Remember, quote or mention the member if you want them to be notified.
zerozed99 said:
I bought the same phone at BB ($10 on sale) to use like you do (unactivated). What you're trying to do is actually super simple. Merely put the device in Airplane mode, then turn back on the wifi (and GPS if you like). You will not be prompted to activate your device. You actually should be doing this anyway as it saves your battery by not having the cell radio constantly trying to talk to the tower.
In case you missed it, there is a firmware update to the phone that can be downloaded via the Emui app on the phone. I'm not sure what all the update affects, but it doesn't impact your ability to use the procedure I described to avoid the constant activation reminder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
COOL! Perfect it boots and no need to click anything further - and besides it's less stray microwaves. Also to report Huawei replied and said they accept bootloader code requests at: consumer (at) huawei.com. They say to include IMEI and serial numbers in the email. Both can be found in Settings >> about phone or underneath the back cover.
Where to go from here, I'd also like to disable sneaky RAM-stealing apps like Sprint cellphone and some apps I'll never use, such as most Google Play. Add decent firewall and decent media player, and have a good time!
Recommend root method I'm good to go.
JoeyTablet said:
COOL! Perfect it boots and no need to click anything further - and besides it's less stray microwaves. Also to report Huawei replied and said they accept bootloader code requests at: consumer (at) huawei.com. They say to include IMEI and serial numbers in the email. Both can be found in Settings >> about phone or underneath the back cover.
Where to go from here, I'd also like to disable sneaky RAM-stealing apps like Sprint cellphone and some apps I'll never use, such as most Google Play. Add decent firewall and decent media player, and have a good time!
Recommend root method I'm good to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read elsewhere (here on XDA) that folks have gotten root using Kingo root (mostly tethered to a Windows PC and not the app version). Note that this root method often requires you to run the rooting program multiple times before it is successful. I'm not a fan of Kingo after being forced to use it to re-root another device (it took well over a dozen times before root took). Also, Kingo doesn't use SuperSu, it installs a Kingo version of SuperSu which CAN be removed (not exactly easily) but users of the Huawei Y538 Union have gotten bootloops trying to remove Kingo's proprietary SuperSu, so not advisable at this time. Even after rooted you are not able to remove the pre-installed bloatware because of the locked bootloader (which is different than the carrier unlock). To be honest, I've pretty much decided to just not root this device and just install an SD card if I need the space...I'd rather do that than risk bricking the device when (for me) there's really no need. I'm going to wait it out and see if anybody can figure a reliable way to deal with the device without bricking before I do anything else.
If you do root using Kingo, you might be able to "freeze" the background apps you don't want using Titanium Backup. I've read that folks haven't had any luck using TB to uninstall the bloatware, but if you're just trying to free ram it *might* work. I believe the risk would be the device expecting certain apps to run, and if unable it might bootloop/brick. Without a custom recovery allowing a nand backup bricking seems like a real possibility.
Please post your results if you unlock your bootloader. It surprises me that they're offering this, as I thought they only supported carrier unlocking. If you're able to figure out how to trim down the bloat please share.
I'm currently using Google's Play Music app for music/podcasts since I've already got 20,000 song's uploaded and since I can't delete that app anyway. Otherwise I'd just use Doubletwist for offline listening.
In case you, or anyone else with this phone is interested, I ended up purchasing a cheap ($5 delivered) case for this thing. Overall I like the case, but if you have any questions about that, let me know.
Yeah that case is perfect. I might have found the same on eBay searching " Huawei Union Y538 Case Innovaa".
As for Kingo ROOT, I have one hit and one miss to report. The KitKAt tablet it worked and I un-rooted after I got my business done. But the Lollipop phone is another story. I run a really tight ship on the Windows end, and Kingo rooted Lollipop, I got some functions involving root accomplished, but it ended at some point (completely offline except for USB tether to PC).
I factory reset the phone and tried again. Kingo downloaded more stuff and my firewall asked for access to PCAccelerator and acdsee.. The former is considered a virus and the second an image viewing app, which I don't use (maybe it's payloaded who knows).
I don't wish to scare anyone nor besmirch Kingo ROOT's reputation if it's a wholesome rooting app, but advise great caution and use a firewall that notifies things like this (I use NetLimiter on PC).
So I await the boot-unlock code and hope I live to tell about it Thanks a million zerozed99! That case is icing on the cake.
For what it's worth, no reply from Hauwei, and yesterday I sent another SOS asking, if not for boot unlock code, even just a stock KitKat ROM for the Y538. We know that model ran KitKat as well as Lollipop.
It just kills me to see this cute little quadcore wasted with all the bloatware taking up valuable RAM and battery power as well.
Ladies & Gentlemen, distinguished colleagues at xda-developers... Please bear with me.
I started coding on Macs in 1981(1981!). I later went on to 5 years formal education in Computer Science at a decent University, and spent the better part of 2 decades volunteering for low and no income people- those were the best years of my life!
Now I'm on the old side, with some heart disease that has four stents in my heart and the no-fun life expectancy that goes with it.
Now, being a reasonably informed geek, I'm seeing some disturbing things I want to air out in "public" if you'll so allow me.
The idea Hauwei will send you a boot unlock code, I don't think it's true. They make it easy to fill out a form with at least four identifying informations, but I have YET to see anyone receive their code! In my case the form advances to a page written in Chinese! I believe this is a spy device and priced to spy on a certain demographic. The almost perfect unlockability and easy bootlock application with no one reporting being sent a code.... there's a reason.
Granted one thing: I've never owned a cellphone nor did I even want cell access from this. Maybe you've noticed the same thing(s) years ago. I just wanted a little quadcore computer to play around with, to access my LAN and play media, and this has me worried the kind of entities that design such forced options.
Oh well, no luck. anyone else going to wait a bit or should I trash this?
Can't tell you how much I'd like Marshmallow and the evil bootloader out of there for something else.
Lollipop is not so bad IMHO except for the lack of privs to access our own SD cards.
If you hold down the volume-down button and press the power button until the phone starts up you can boot into fastboot mode. I've read here in XDA someplace that there are 2 available builds of TWRP custom recovery for the y6, both work on our phone, tho only one of the builds works fully. I have not tried to install either on my y538 yet, but I will, and I'll let you know what I find out.
If you can get the bootloader unlocked, you should be able to flash SuperSU from TWRP.
I suggest you google the xda guide to fastboot. It is not very complicated.
I doubt we can locate any custom ROM for this device. However, if we can get rooted we can backup stock and then remove all the bloatware. ES File Explorer is great in root mode for managing the SD card.
More useful info: I pulled my SIM out before I fired up the phone for the first time, and when I turned on the phone it didn't download any of the extra crapware from Sprint! I have the Virgin version, and I expected all that stuff to download, but it did not. Also, if you look in the App Manager settings, you will see a few apps which shipped on your phone in the Disabled state!! You may wish to enable Lookout or others of the stock disabled apps. Also, without root, you can remove the Sprint ID app here, and disable any of the Google spots you don't want, like Play News or Play Movies.
This is my first Huawei device, though it's my twenty-somethingh Android, and so far I am very pleased with the layout of the settings and of the notifications tray. This is way liveable, and they allow us to disable most of the bloat.
Good luck!
Hi Friends,
I have a carrier SIM unlocked ATT Samsung S9+ (SM-G965U). I have switched to a different carrier and new SIM works just fine.
My phone currently runs Android 10; OneUI 2.5; SPL Aug 1, 2021.
I want to root my device and install custom ROM. Is it possible with my US AT&T phone?
Found this article, is it worth pursuing?
List of Custom ROMs for Samsung Galaxy S9+ SM-G965U star2qltesq - Download & Install Guide - TweakDroid
Here is the available Custom ROMs list for your Samsung Galaxy S9+ SM-G965U star2qltesq & Custom ROM Installation Guide for Samsung Galaxy S9+ SM-G965U star2qltesq.
tweakdroid.com
Thank you.
Hello, and yes, it is possible to root your device and install custom firmware. I'm getting ready to do the same thing, and I have the exact same model and model number as you; Galaxy S9+, SM-G956U (T-Mobile, though)
I unfortunately don't have any links to reputable custom firmware on XDA Developers or other known websites, as I am on a mission to install stock firmware (I have a malware I need to get rid of on my device), but it looks like you've got the sourcing part figured out already.
You're welcome, and I hope I helped.
Rotting Brain said:
Hello, and yes, it is possible to root your device and install custom firmware. I'm getting ready to do the same thing, and I have the exact same model and model number as you; Galaxy S9+, SM-G956U (T-Mobile, though)
I unfortunately don't have any links to reputable custom firmware on XDA Developers or other known websites, as I am on a mission to install stock firmware (I have a malware I need to get rid of on my device), but it looks like you've got the sourcing part figured out already.
You're welcome, and I hope I helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What OS version are you running?
blackhawk said:
What OS version are you running?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OS I'm running is Android 10.
Rotting Brain said:
The OS I'm running is Android 10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simply do a factory reset to purge any malware if you're unable to otherwise. There aren't any known trojans that can worm into other partitions from the user partition. Pre Pie versions are vulnerable to worms like X-helper though. Any OS version from Pie up are pretty secure.
Just be careful what you install and download, don't reinfect it!
blackhawk said:
Simply do a factory reset to purge any malware if you're unable to otherwise. There aren't any known trojans that can worm into other partitions from the user partition. Pre Pie versions are vulnerable to worms like X-helper though. Any OS version from Pie up are pretty secure.
Just be careful what you install and download, don't reinfect it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I've read; that anything above Android 8 can just be factory reset to kill malware and viruses, but it didn't work for me. It's been ingrained into the system of my devices and first appears on the initial set up after a factory reset has been done. They're system applications now (disguised as a legitimate System Update), and infect my other applications by updates through the Galaxy Store. At least, that's what I've noticed...
Rotting Brain said:
That's what I've read; that anything above Android 8 can just be factory reset to kill malware and viruses, but it didn't work for me. It's been ingrained into the system of my devices and first appears on the initial set up after a factory reset has been done. They're system applications now (disguised as a legitimate System Update), and infect my other applications by updates through the Galaxy Store. At least, that's what I've noticed...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Verify by scanning suspect apps with online Virustotal. See what you got. Unless someone had physical access to the device or the flashed rom was dirty that should be impossible.
The /system partition is isolated from the /data partition in normal operation. It should be untouchable.
Untouchable but not incorruptible; a single event upset could corrupt one critical bit of data by flipping its value. This is a rare occurrence and unlikely to do what you're describing.
A hardware failure could also cause corruption; flash memory is generally long lived but it eventually wears out or could fail prematurely. I have dozens of flash drives some almost 2 decades old. Only one has failed and it was buggy at the get go. A more likely scenario is damage by impact either direct contact, pcb flexing or excessive G loading ie dropping the phone especially with no case.
blackhawk said:
Verify by scanning suspect apps with online Virustotal. See what you got. Unless someone had physical access to the device or the flashed rom was dirty that should be impossible.
The /system partition is isolated from the /data partition in normal operation. It should be untouchable.
Untouchable but not incorruptible; a single event upset could corrupt one critical bit of data by flipping its value. This is a rare occurrence and unlikely to do what you're describing.
A hardware failure could also cause corruption; flash memory is generally long lived but it eventually wears out or could fail prematurely. I have dozens of flash drives some almost 2 decades old. Only one has failed and it was buggy at the get go. A more likely scenario is damage by impact either direct contact, pcb flexing or excessive G loading ie dropping the phone especially with no case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you again for your help, I tried both the VirusTotal website and the VirusTotal Mobile application on the Play Store. I'm not sure why, but after scanning an application, it states that its scan date was a different date. I'll attach a screenshot of an app scanned today and one scanned in May down below.
I have never altered my firmware (besides the standard ways), and it's possible that someone else had physical access to my phone, but I don't know for sure. I just remember that my WiFi usage and more applications started running in the background around the same time I had stayed and partied with a friend for 2 weeks. Impaired inhibitions and focusing on other tasks, like partying, surely made me lose track of how long my phone was misplaced or away from me. But it could be anything else.
I may not need to flash stock ROM this device (Samsung Galaxy S9+, SM-G956U), because all signs are pointing to "the malware is gone, and you're just paranoid," but I likely have to flash my 2 other phones, depending on what their OS version are.
Uninstall Brave, and install a known good version. Package disable Briefing, bloatware.
Samsung are notorious for sucking up bandwidth and battery if not optimized. That's just the way they roll. Once optimized they run well. Probably about 80 apks that you should package disable either with Package Disabler or by adb edits.
Unless you install or inadvertently download it, it's pretty hard to get malware on a Android running on Pie or higher. However never leave the phone out of your sight unless secured; physical possession is the only real security.
Thank you, I'll look into disabling those applications.
Here an example. This is what I have disabled in addition to settings changes I also modified.
Global power management is never used... it will cause erratic behavior and may increase battery consumption.
I don't use wifi so it is disabled.
My list is customized to my preferences, as should yours. It takes a while. Blindly disabling apks will have unpredictable results. Dependencies; disabling some apps will screw up others.
<string>com.samsung.attvvm</string>
<string>com.matchboxmobile.wisp</string>
<string>com.microsoft.appmanager</string>
<string>com.sec.android.app.ve.vebgm</string>
<string>com.drivemode</string>
<string>com.asurion.android.protech.att</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.app.social</string>
<string>com.sec.android.desktopcommunity</string>
<string>com.sec.android.app.safetyassurance</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.kidsinstaller</string>
<string>com.wsomacp</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.app.edgetouch</string>
<string>com.wb.goog.got.conquest</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.app.settings.bixby</string>
<string>com.sec.android.app.desktoplauncher</string>
<string>com.sec.android.daemonapp</string>
<string>com.android.vending</string>
<string>com.dti.att</string>
<string>com.samsung.systemui.bixby2</string>
<string>com.microsoft.skydrive</string>
<string>net.aetherpal.device</string>
<string>com.att.mobilesecurity</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.bixby.service</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.app.tips</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.bixby.agent</string>
<string>com.att.thanks</string>
<string>com.att.callprotect</string>
<string>com.att.myWireless</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.game.gametools</string>
<string>com.samsung.desktopsystemui</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.da.daagent</string>
<string>com.sec.android.desktopmode.uiservice</string>
<string>com.amazon.appmanager</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.app.routines</string>
<string>com.sec.android.app.dexonpc</string>
<string>com.sec.android.app.cmas</string>
<string>flipboard.boxer.app</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.wellbeing</string>
<string>com.att.iqi</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.bixbyvision.framework</string>
<string>com.sec.android.service.health</string>
<string>com.samsung.safetyinformation</string>
<string>com.att.dh</string>
<string>com.att.tv</string>
<string>com.facebook.katana</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.game.gos</string>
<string>com.att.android.attsmartwifi</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.app.camera.sticker.facearavatar.preload</string>
<string>com.facebook.system</string>
<string>com.ws.dm</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.bixby.wakeup</string>
<string>eu.thedarken.sdm</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.lool</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.app.spage</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.mateagent</string>
<string>com.enhance.gameservice</string>
<string>com.android.emergency</string>
<string>com.att.dtv.shaderemote</string>
<string>com.att.csoiam.mobilekey</string>
<string>com.att.personalcloud</string>
<string>com.facebook.appmanager</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.bixby.agent.dummy</string>
God, I hate Bixby too! Thank you for sharing this!
Anyone did it?
StealthyNeo said:
Anyone did it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ended up not needing to start the process out, but I did use Disabler Package Pro to disable some system apps. Did you try it out yet?