Unauthorized Third Party Access - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

So I've had this problem for at the very least about a year now. If I think back, it's been going on for a lot longer than that.
It started off with my Galaxy S8 on ATT. It was subtle at first and I just presumed them to be glitches. Webpages would open by themselves. The back button would randomly go off at times. Things would "click" themselves. It wasnt as prominent as it is now so I just assumed it to be weird errors.
So around April of 2019 the glitches got so bad that I thought my phone was being hacked and I needed to get my own plan so I upgraded to an S10 on the T-Mobile network.
Things started off slow, but the same kind of problems kept happening. It just got a lot creepier because webpages started to open by themselves had significance to what was going on in my life. Like I had been fighting with my GF and a PsychologyToday article about narcissism opened on my phone which was beyond reaching distance.
I still had my S8 and used it at home to simply surf the web and such. There was a point where I thought I was going to end up in someone hacking my account and exposing stupidly taken nudes. Because I had my new S10 and was scared, I ripped the back of the S8 off and ripped the battery out.
This is where I believe I discovered one of the primary problems. Now the S8 might take a 15 second charge if I plug it into the wall, but it had enough juice to start up and when it accessed the PlayStore it showed up as two unique devices.
The PlayStore had two Galaxy S8's with just slightly different names accessing my account on the same day. I've almost always felt like I was guest on my phones while someone else was the administrator. My Note10+ had a similar issue which I will get to later.
So my S8 is toast now because the battery isn't removable on the fly. So I'm using the S10 now and the same problems keep happening. Things clicking themselves, webpages opening, as I'm typing something will hit space midword, and the creepy feeling of an omnipresent watcher.
I realized my S10's dictionary of used words was just kind of off. Words I wouldn't use started to show up in my autopredictions. One day perplexed by what was showing up, I just began hitting the center word. The sentence that popped up was something like "I really enjoyed the video of the 15 year old girl". Special note, my phone is beginning to lag terribly the farther I get into this. So freaked out by that 15 year old girl sentence I erased it, but curious repeated the process again. It turned into what looked like a suicide letter. I didnt know what to make of it, but thought I might get killed and set up to look like a pedophile/suicide case.
This is when I turned off it's network access and began using a low end prepaid Android. I actually went through two. At this point everything I touched techwise began to malfunction. For some reason my FiOS didn't want to work so I bought a hotspot pass from Xfinity. Long story short, this phone apparently used 300 GB of data in one week. The phone itself registered 30 GB for two months. The S10 I had bricked apparently had the capability to send cellular data stil as well. It wasn't a ton, but there shouldnt have been any. When I questioned T-Mobile they couldnt give me a straight answer.
So at this point I have a Galaxy S8 showing up as two devices, an S10 that should be off, and another phone that had 270 GB of data go missing. I tried calling Xfinity about the data, but couldn't get through. I tried my T-Mobile line, my father's Verizon line, a third party app combined a VPN, and even walked to a local firehouse around midnight. My grandmother's home phone line with Comcast even died while I tried to get though.
I tried a cheap trac phone, but the camera on that would turn off and on by itself. I'm not an apple fan but tried an iPhone 6S on the trac as well. Still had the same unnerving issues. I didnt trust the S10 so I hoped a clean start with new number on a new network would help so I got my grandmother to get me a Note10+ on her Verizon account.
This phone has acted the same way as the others and has had the same weird issues. Showing up as two devices? In Members I had two Note10's. The first was named something like "Verizon Note10+ 256 GB". It looked official but when selected under serial number it had my IMEI number. Now the second Note10 was named, generically, "Samsung Device". But when this was selected next to serial number was the correct one.
I questioned Samsung help about this, even asking which one to remove but couldnt get a straight answer from the rep. It was so vague and confusing I even gave the guy option a or b, and got nothing.
I was tinkering around with an app called 3C toolbox and at one point I believe my phone was running five simultaneous Android OS. When looking at an IP log I had taken, I took a few pictures from my laptops computer screen. I had the phone's wifi off, bluetooth off, mobile data off, and in airplane mode. I have no idea how it happened, but I guess my phone picked up a rogue connection somehow and the pictures began erasing themselves.
I cant be certain of what's going on but whoever has access is able to go into my accounts via my phone. Going back to the S8, I tried purchasing a recovery software because I thought looking into the innards of my phone might give me some insight. The email with the verification code was snoozed on me, and the only device logged into my gmail was my S8. There was no notification of a sign in attempt, so I presume it was snoozed through my device.
My tech in general has gone to hell this year. When the S8 was acting funny I was doing research on my very old laptop. The network driver uninstalled itself. This is when I bought a chromebook. The operating system corrupted within a week. For some reason I thought iOS might help so I bought an iPad. When I connected it to my home network during setup the pin changed bricking it. So I bought another chromebook, and decided to update and set it up in the Target I purchased it at. There was already an owner to the device. Things had been so wrong for so long I simply kept it. I bought another laptop which works ok, but you can tell something's off.
The most frustrating purchase beyond the Galaxy's was a Macbook Air. After trying to get iPad that bricked itself fixed, but couldnt I bought the Air on the spot with Apple Care. I sent logs and videos to Apple and was told it'd take a week. Two and half months later, questions unanswered, blatant videos, I was told nothing was wrong with it. The thing turned itself on just last month and I only know that because my router showed that it had connected.
At this point I've tried Bitdefender, Lookout, Malewarebytes, McAfee, Kaspersky, and probably a few others. In terms of VPNS I've tried a few. But going back to when my keyboards dictionary changed about liking underage girls and what seems to be the ability for someone to access my accounts and use them as their own I'm somewhat afraid of hiding myself. I wish there was the opposite, no logs, I want super logs.
But back to the main point. I've had three high end galaxy devices all with this same issue. I'm not sure who it is, but by power of deduction, Iwould guess the government. I mostly say that because of when I tried to save the data from Xfinity and five different forms of communication couldnt get through. From another standpoint the issue is larger than just my creepy stalking feelings because this could be hypothetically dormant on a massive amount of phones leaving bank accounts, social security numbers, really important information available for prying eyes. I wouldn't of realized until things got strangely personal.
The closest thing I found was Pegasus. I say that because I had friends phones who began to malfunction in the same way as mine and the only thing linking us were phone calls.
My bet is its a day one exploit. When my phone starts up it looks like it's skipping critical android functions. Story sounds crazy, but I've tried every OS and Network. Others have been having similar problems as well. Read the reviews for this ip address on whatsmyip 2607:fb90:5c3c:6fac::41:f20e:701. This IP broke into my Facebook silently and the only reason I found it was through downloading an archive of my facebook. And the only reason I did that was because it was like I was led there as things quickly highlighted themselves just long enough to catch a glimpse.
I tried ignoring it. But it's really hard to do. what got me today was my volume buttons decided to stop working. The down button works though because I can still take a screenshot. Of those I have many, I have the whole story documented because even I think it sounds ludicrous at points.
Hopefully when I send it to Samsung they can actually diagnose the problem.
I cant verify but half the time I talk to reps on the phone or through chats they dont work for the respective companies. A story for another time, but let's just say I just signed up for Hulu and when I asked why 24 devices were signed into my account they said it was a normal glitch. Understandable enough, but some had distinct names lik Andy's iPhone.
TL;DR - all my stuffs hacked, third party user controls device thinking it's you, possible key logging / video jacking meaning cell phone users passwords are highly susceptible

Related

[Q] New Here: Seeking Help w/ Rebooting S4's.

Hello:
So, the bottom line up front is I need help solving a problem with my now third, new Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4--it keeps restarting on its own, at random times, but most often after I lock the screen.
To go in more depth, if you think you may know the solution: I purchased the S4 when it first came out, some time in 2013 (not sure specifically, but it was new) and it worked just fine for 13 months (1 month past the warranty of course); this was back in August, when I got the latest Android update pushed to my phone from Verizon (4.4.2). A couple of weeks later, I would occasionally get overheating warnings that would very quickly disappear (like within a few seconds), and then the device started restarting itself... I cannot predict when it will restart, it's random, but like I said above, it usually happens most right after I lock the screen by pressing the right side button once. I started looking around on the internet for a solution then, but only found a couple of videos from earlier in 2013 where people were having battery problems (Google search has been letting me down more and more as the years pass). One day while at work, I was listening to Pandora as I always have with the phone in my front pocket, as I always have. A few hours later when I got home, not having taken the phone out of my front pocket since those last few hours at work, I went to answer a text message I had received; when I unlocked the phone, the screen was black, except for a small bit of white showing through some cracks UNDER the LCD, UNDER the screen protector, INSIDE my Otterbox Defender... the phone appeared to be working still, but the screen and touch screen did not. At that point I was pretty damn irritated and tried to find answers for a week with no luck... I called Verizon, they sent me on a goose chase to Samsung, who sent me back to Verizon, who got me in a conference call with Samsung and then left the call, and then Samsung ultimately said I would need to pay for repairs to the phone... SO... I went back to Verizon who again said I would have to talk to Samsung, but instead I just settled to giving Asurion (my phone insurance through Verizon, whom I pay an extra $9 monthly) $99 as a deductible to get a replacement S4...
Two days later I receive a brand new S4... spend hours setting it up the way I had my prior one... wasting tons of my valueable time to do so and bandwidth from my Concast ISP and the data cap they've decided to give us... one week later, the phone starts restarting itself... and this one did it more often than my prior one... EVERYTHING is up to date, minus a good amount of useless bloatware apps I never use from Samsung, like "Watch On," which I ignore... but everything necessary, I update. So, I go back to Asurion, who quickly ships me a 3rd S4...
Two days later I receive that third, brand new S4... spend hours setting it up the way I had my prior one... and now, this one is also restarting itself randomly. Interestingly, when I visited family for Thanksgiving, it restarted itself over and over and over much more frequently than when I'm at my place... at my family's place, they have very poor reception, and my phone usually has to work more to try to get the signal... IDK what the deal is, but maybe that information can be helpful to y'all.
Other things to note:
1) When I check the "RAM manager" by holding down the home button and then choosing "Task Manager", the phone is always using at least 800MB of 1.77GB of RAM... even when I choose "Clear memory" and it tells me 30 something apps have been closed... it jumps right back up to 800-900MB of usage.
2) I've tried factory resets on all three phones; with the first one where the screen cracked inside, I hooked the phone up via HDMI... within a couple of days, the restarting begins.
3) With the first replacement I received, I could not sent text messages with the default messenger app... and shortly after trying, it would restart.
4) I have used the same SIM card with all three phones since the issue began, when I first got the 4.2.2 update... I do not suspect the SIM card is the problem, but I'm also not savy with the phone... I know my way around it, but I'm not in the know.
5) I thought maybe it started because of some apps I had been trying, so I had deleted them, and the problem still persists.
6) I constantly have a Pebble Bluetooth smart watch connected to the phone... I have since I got it last Spring (2014).
7) I have never rooted the S4, overclocked it, underclocked it, or modded it in anyway because I do not know how, and I was afraid of what could happen in the future with whatever ROM I did flash onto the device if Verizon tried to push an update to it... I just don't know anything about the whole process, and I'm assuming it requires a lot of know how and babysitting of the device... I just want it to work.
8) I've replaced the battery twice; it doesn't seem to be the problem.
9) I've cleared the cache through the boot manager thing gotten to by holding a combo of buttons on the device while it's rebooting... it did not help.
Edit: 10) Today while I was listening to Pandora in the car, the audio began to skip and scratch, and then it paused for a moment, and then the phone restarted itself.
11) I forgot to mention that the reboot process itself is very fast compared to a manual restart performed by me... the phone will go black, the Samsung color rings will show a second after that, the logo appears then, the screen flashes the red Verizon logo, and then the devices is ready to be used... it's less than 10 seconds.
I've been searching around on the internet for about two months now while dealing with the problem and I can't find anything useful. Does anyone here know what my issue is and how I can fix it? Is there a way to pull error logs / information from the S4 somehow to give to someone to diagnose, like DxDiags on PC? I don't know how to read that stuff myself, but I know it can be very useful... I just don't know how to find that info inside of these very locked down ****boxes we call smartphones...
I truly appreciate any help I can get--sorry I can't offer anything in return; if I can't find a solution, I'm just going to go to my backup phone from 2011 (Droid X), and I will definitely never purchase another Samsung device, especially after they blamed me as the cause of the problem without even seeing the phone...
Thanks.
The problem is with the NG6 software build, and "probably" not with your phone. Go to Settings>About Phone> and see what Baseband Version is on your phone. If the last 3 letters are NG6, that's probably the problem. There is a new OTA update (as of 12/1).....Baseband Version ending in NK1, which corrects the rebooting problem. Either install the new update, or go back to the NC5 baseband version and that should solve your problem. Both NK1 and NC5 can be rooted if you desire.

GPS turns on by itself after Android 4.4.4 update

Hi, I recently updated my phone to Android 4.4.4 and now I am having this issue: Every time the phone acquires a cell signal, GPS turns on about 10 seconds later and stays on for a long time. This happens even if the GPS and location services are turned off. As a result my battery drains in half the time that it used to. If I stop IQ Agent process, GPS icon immediately goes away until the next time phone reacquires the signal. This happens multiple times a day. I can easily reproduce the problem by toggling airplane mode. I don’t think it’s a conflict with any of the apps because the problem exists if I boot into safe mode. I called HTS but they never heard of it, said they will escalate the problem to the developers, but I don’t know if anything will be done. Does anyone else experiencing the same problem? My phone is not rooted and locked.
Thanks…
madelman99 said:
I called HTS but they never heard of it, said they will escalate the problem to the developers, but I don’t know if anything will be done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That usually means nothing will be done.
I haven't heard of this. I typically recommend backing up your data, and doing a factory reset; as this often (although not always) clears up random bugs after an OTA. Smart of you to eliminate the possibility of 3rd party apps by trying Safe Mode. But there may still be some migrated user settings causing a conflict.
redpoint73 said:
That usually means nothing will be done.
I haven't heard of this. I typically recommend backing up your data, and doing a factory reset; as this often (although not always) clears up random bugs after an OTA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was hoping to figure this out without doing a factory reset. I know I am not the only one with this issue, I've seen others with the same problem on different forums...
redpoint73 said:
That usually means nothing will be done.
I haven't heard of this. I typically recommend backing up your data, and doing a factory reset; as this often (although not always) clears up random bugs after an OTA. Smart of you to eliminate the possibility of 3rd party apps by trying Safe Mode. But there may still be some migrated user settings causing a conflict.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some (including myself) have noted that this has something to do with carrier IQ services.
GPS
I just got off the phone with ATT just yesterday, and I can confirm they are aware of the issue. But seeing how Lollipop is just around the corner, you might want to wait a bit, unless of course you're in dire straits.
o0RaidR0o said:
I just got off the phone with ATT just yesterday, and I can confirm they are aware of the issue. But seeing how Lollipop is just around the corner, you might want to wait a bit, unless of course you're in dire straits.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The HTC tech also said that Lollipop will be out soon, in fact he said they are in stage 2 testing (whatever that means). I just hope that the problem will not migrate to Lollipop.
I'm having a similar issue with my phone. Been sitting on my desk trying to charge, but it can't because the GPS is sucking away the battery.
Others over at AndroidCentral are complaining about the same thing.
Unfortunately I'm new here, so I can't post a link, but you can search for android central 494182-massive-battery-drain-gps-constantly
Also on Android Central: 494174-how-do-i-stop-my-gps-icon-flashing-att-htc-one-m8
Douglas_D said:
I'm having a similar issue with my phone. Been sitting on my desk trying to charge, but it can't because the GPS is sucking away the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can turn off the GPS by stopping IQ Agent Service. It should stay off until the cell data connection is lost.
I think everyone should call them so they know it is happening to a lot of people. Otherwise nothing will get done. I am surprised that there is not that much chatter out there. It was hard to even find forum discussions.
Funny I just posted the same question in the generic M8 Q and A section. I just noticed it too. My battery life has not been affected that I can see after going through the data. I've gone and disabled any app that uses the GPS service but it's still coming on so it's not an app or app update that I can tell. I guess I can wait until LP comes out.
So far so good since I've stopped IQ Agent Service. It hasn't popped back up and I've made 5 or 6 phone calls since then.
I think I solved it…
I think I solved it… I believe the app DriveMode was causing an issue. Here is what I think happened. When I got my phone a year ago, I immediately disabled few apps, DriveMode was one of them. I believe the recent update was designed to more closely interact with DriveMode and even though the app was disabled, it appeared that as soon as the phone acquired data connection, it tried to determine whether or not the user was moving. When I re-enabled the app, I disabled it internally (within the app) and I guess that told the OS not to bother determining if the user was moving anymore. Here are the steps: I re-enabled DriveMode, I then went to google play and updated it to the latest version, I opened the app and immediately noticed GPS icon turned on, the screen appeared telling me to enable GPS, I checked ignore check box and left the location service running in battery save mode. I closed the Drive mode app and left it along without disabling it. I did this yesterday and haven’t noticed GPS turning on even once since then.
I hope this helps everyone solve this annoying problem; please let me know if this works for anyone…
madelman99 said:
I think I solved it… I believe the app DriveMode was causing an issue. Here is what I think happened. When I got my phone a year ago, I immediately disabled few apps, DriveMode was one of them. I believe the recent update was designed to more closely interact with DriveMode and even though the app was disabled, it appeared that as soon as the phone acquired data connection, it tried to determine whether or not the user was moving. When I re-enabled the app, I disabled it internally (within the app) and I guess that told the OS not to bother determining if the user was moving anymore. Here are the steps: I re-enabled DriveMode, I then went to google play and updated it to the latest version, I opened the app and immediately noticed GPS icon turned on, the screen appeared telling me to enable GPS, I checked ignore check box and left the location service running in battery save mode. I closed the Drive mode app and left it along without disabling it. I did this yesterday and haven’t noticed GPS turning on even once since then.
I hope this helps everyone solve this annoying problem; please let me know if this works for anyone…
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like this idea -
However, I was able to get rid of this issue by disabling the carrier IQ service. I did this using an application called Disable Service from the Google Play store.
Works like a charm, and has the added advantage of disabling the IQ service intrusion.
DanGeorges said:
However, I was able to get rid of this issue by disabling the carrier IQ service. I did this using an application called Disable Service from the Google Play store.
Works like a charm, and has the added advantage of disabling the IQ service intrusion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately this only will work on rooted phones, mine is not.
madelman99 said:
Unfortunately this only will work on rooted phones, mine is not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just want to throw my $0.02 in here....I'm having hte same issues noted in the thread, and it's murdering my battery life. I typically get 24-30 hours of battery life easily on this phone, but now if i dont spend all day killing IQ Agent, i get about 7. I can't root my M8 due to some work restrictions, so it's all manual IQ Agent task killing fo rme. although I was EXTREMELY active yesterday in killing the service ~30 times throughout the day yesterday, Android System (where IQ Agent lies) still managed to run 2hr 24 minutes of GPS on, according to two different battery/service monitoring apps. This, mind you, all occurred without my actual GPS toggle ever being switched on.
I'm waiting for a call back from HTC, and AT&T punted completely and denied any knowledge of why it would happen (although ironically offering to remote into my phone to "diagnose" the issue, which I could not do becuase I was in transit when I called and they required I remain stationary...)
I'm 100% convinced it's entirely due to the IQ Agent task, or another involuntary watchdog service trigging IQ agent. This task is started under at least two distinct condition, with no fail:
my phone goes between 4G and LTE (Subway, between towers/coverage zones, all flipping day long in my concrete-and-steel office building...)
I make or receive a phone call (can feel teh phone get hot in ~2 minutes while on the phone).
switching in or out of airplane mode (which is really an extension of #1).
I love my M8 like crazy, but I cannot wait until my next phone because I absolutely refuse to purchase anything associated with a cell carrier ever again. Fvck that.
Agreed...DriveMode part of the problem
madelman99 said:
I think I solved it… I believe the app DriveMode was causing an issue. Here is what I think happened. When I got my phone a year ago, I immediately disabled few apps, DriveMode was one of them. I believe the recent update was designed to more closely interact with DriveMode and even though the app was disabled, it appeared that as soon as the phone acquired data connection, it tried to determine whether or not the user was moving. When I re-enabled the app, I disabled it internally (within the app) and I guess that told the OS not to bother determining if the user was moving anymore. Here are the steps: I re-enabled DriveMode, I then went to google play and updated it to the latest version, I opened the app and immediately noticed GPS icon turned on, the screen appeared telling me to enable GPS, I checked ignore check box and left the location service running in battery save mode. I closed the Drive mode app and left it along without disabling it. I did this yesterday and haven’t noticed GPS turning on even once since then.
I hope this helps everyone solve this annoying problem; please let me know if this works for anyone…
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. I mostly followed these steps by downloading the latest DriveMode, walking through DriveMode setup, then disabling DriveMode and then stopping the IQ Agent Service. SInce then, GPS has performed as it should, only on demand. I did notice that when switching from mobile to a wi-fi network that requires a sign in that the GPS fires up. But again, killing the service stops the random GPS after logging into the wi-fi. So overall, much better than the constant on/off, but still ATT needs to resolve this at some point.
Have a carrieriq blocked/inactive build in testing so we shall see if it is indeed the culprit by end of day.
I've been testing this build for a couple of days now, and so far the GPS has stayed off like a good little app should. It only turns on when I expect.
Update/Reply From AT&T as of 03/23
Finally!!! An admission from AT&T that they jacked up our phones with their software update back in January. It's only taken a month and a half, 4 calls to text support, 3 attempts to reach their urgent care department (by the way... they are completely incompetent. They call from an unknown number, I normally don't answer but I also couldn't answer anyway due to being at work. They leave a message requesting you call a number in KY and leave a message. Left a message on two different occasions and provided the days and hours they could reach me. Of course they call whenever they want and the process starts all over) in addition to all this, I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau that resulted in a call back from a corporate executive. Now the only problem is they don't have a solution for the issue yet and probably won't do anything with the Lollipop update that "SHOULD" be released within the next 15 days. No one should have to go through this but I honestly think everyone should file a BBB complaint just to show AT&T a lesson.
Rebel3085 said:
Finally!!! An admission from AT&T that they jacked up our phones with their software update back in January. It's only taken a month and a half, 4 calls to text support, 3 attempts to reach their urgent care department (by the way... they are completely incompetent. They call from an unknown number, I normally don't answer but I also couldn't answer anyway due to being at work. They leave a message requesting you call a number in KY and leave a message. Left a message on two different occasions and provided the days and hours they could reach me. Of course they call whenever they want and the process starts all over) in addition to all this, I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau that resulted in a call back from a corporate executive. Now the only problem is they don't have a solution for the issue yet and probably won't do anything with the Lollipop update that "SHOULD" be released within the next 15 days. No one should have to go through this but I honestly think everyone should file a BBB complaint just to show AT&T a lesson.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So - was it Carrier IQ? Did they say what was going on?
I know they said they don't have a solution, but it would be useful to know what is causing this. I found that disabling the carrier iq service does the trick, and WNC's ROM, which has it disabled by default, also does the trick.
Thanks for the update. My phone started doing the GPS thing a couple of weeks ago and my battery life has been shot.
The weirdest thing is that my issues only started 2 weeks ago, instead of when the update occurred in January, so ATT must be doing something weird on their network as well

Swipe code changed in middle of the night? Phone hacked?

So this isn't my phone, it's my sisters. Over a year ago after she first got it she gave it to one of her sketchier friends to use and it was out of her possession for several hours. She got it back and didn't think much of it until in upcoming weeks her "friend" ended up showing up at places my sister happened to be and a number of coincidences that were hard to explain unless someone had access to not only her texts but also somehow hear her calls.
I thought she was crazy but nevertheless checked her phone best I could, not that I am an Android expert by any means but I didn't see anything that stood out.
So over the next few months my sister and her friend had some big fights and for all practical purposes stopped being friends. Months went by without anything weird but then yesterday my sister was talking to a girl who is a mutual friend of both my sister and her ex-friend... My sister was still upset with the other girl and called the ex-friend some truly nasty things. Not that she should ever have heard any of this but...
When my sister woke up this morning for the first time ever her unlock code (which was a swipe code where you draw the lines) had somehow changed. She tried over and over it just didn't work. She ultimately got access back by logging into her Samsung account online and restoring access,
I;m at a loss, never heard of this happening, been using the same type of phones myself since they've been out and never heard of this happening before.
What do you guys think? Could her ex-friend really have been in control of this phone the entire time? Any place to look for it?

APPS being installed without authorization

hello i have a few concerns/questions about my stylo 6.... i noticed an app popping up in EVERY LG device ive owned, and ive never installed it. when ive first gotten my phones (each time) ive checked the instalkledf apps, and everything is just fine.... then a few days later, ill see "Font Server". the app has access to every nook and cranny in the phone; even receiving and sending calls and texts, whether the phone is locked or unlocked. i also noticed that the location icon pops up in the corner of my phone, despite the location settings being turned off.. ive had security concerns in the past, with different p[hones as well. can someone with legit knowledge/experience please help shed some light on this. im tech illiterate, but this banana horse**** has been lingering over me for a while and i need to know where its coming from, or at least how to prevent it. there must be some sort of loop hole im not closing off and allowing the continuous hacking/leaking of my phone.
before anyone responds with the typical: YES, ive factory restored my phones and when ive had iphones ive changed apple ids as well.

Question Shutting down every time screen turns off

Hi all,
Received my 1 iii yesterday, spent several hours setting it up, tweaking, testing, transferring files--and love it. Been an LG V-series user for the last six years, but with LG bowing out and having moved toward radiused corners, rounded glass, notches, etc. anyway--I'm very glad Sony is still out there making sane, non-compromised phones with basic features like microSD, no hole punch, and headphone jacks that are now treated as "niche" or "enthusiast".
BUT, unfortunately, having a very odd problem, and can't find any examples of anyone else having the issue... but it basically makes the phone unusable.
Literally any time the screen turns off--whether via pressing the power button, or via an inactiivty screen time out--the phone either shuts down, or restarts.
I've done a factory reset several times, tested it with fully restored apps/settings/personal data/etc., and totally un-restored, makes no difference--the issue always happens. So it's not the fault of any setting I altered, app I installed or disabled, etc.
I remember the first time I booted up the phone--but none of the factory reset times since then--that it said something about some setting being on to prevent battery wear from the phone being accidentally turned on during shipping. So maybe there's some bizarre setting somewhere that auto-shuts-down the phone when the screen turns off? Otherwise I'm at a total loss...
Thanks in advance for any help!!
Here is one of two reviews from Amazon about this phone:
"Got in the infinity reboot issue right out of the box...a $1200+ phone, very disappointed .
Got it today on the release. Then start setup and update. Not even until all set up finished, it restarted first time. Then again in just about 15mins. Overall been through restart 12 times. Try hard reset and all other methods, not helping. Return....."
So, unless you are the one who left this review...you are not alone! This type of stuff makes me so disappointed!
Sounds like the reviewer on Amazon was having a different problem. Mine stays on perfectly fine as long as one is interacting with it--only shuts down/restarts if the screen turns off.
Given the variety of software states in which the problem occurs--vlank setup, full set-up, safe mode--seems like a rare hardware issue. As long as it can be replaced with a correctly functioning unit quickly, it's still the phone I want...
If not, I guess I ride out my LG V50 till it dies, and then quit using smart phones...
Having to ship it in for warranty repair. Seems like almost certainly a hardware problem--sounds like I "won" the lemon lottery. A bummer, but not an indictment of the phone generally.
But I'm still really digging the phone--when it works. Did a video A/B with my LG V50, and while it didn't strike me as miles better--it definitely was when full-screen. Not having to look at rounded corners and a notch is worth a lot to me. With font and display set to smallest settings, *love* the look and roominess of the screen.
I agree with not wanting notches, or punch holes...this is why I am interested in this phone...PLUS I truly miss having a notification LED. However, so far the reviews from end users/owners...not the "pro" reviewers on YouTube..is leaning towards the negative! My last three phones have been from OnePlus. Currently on the 8T. I know many have started to slam OnePlus for their practice of late patches and higher prices...but I have not had even ONE problem with any of the OnePlus phones I've had! They just work. I've had the 6, 7-Pro, and now the 8T. There's nothing out there that even interests me any longer that doesn't overheat, or freeze, or have unnecessary dedicated assistant buttons??? Disgusted with them all. I just might have to take a harder look at Apple!!!!
Outside of what appears to be a truly random and uncommon hardware issue that's affecting mine per this thread--I actually really loved the 1 mk iii so far.
I haven't had overheating issues, camera seemed excellent, loved the hardware build quality, *LOVE* having a proper screen again (including no notches, aspect ratio, and tons of room w/ fonts and appearance set to smallest). I will never buy a phone that doesn't have microSD support, and access on this phone is awesome (no tool needed).
I wouldn't be too quick to write it off--especially not for the likes of Apple, who provide a hugely compromised, feature-removing, closed-ecosystem product at an inflated price for what you get.
Keep in mind--it's the internet, so you're going to far disproportionatly have people needing to discuss problems. Folks for whom nothing goes wrong--for any product--won't tend to seek out places like this to say so. So I wouldn't let a really small sample of issues unduly color your view...
Hi I have the exact same issue. Received mine on the 24th and transferred everything over from Oppo find X2 pro. Thought it was me at first when trying to wake but it rebooted. All fine until used in car QI base. After 20 minute drive picked it up and tried to wake only for the same thing to happen. Did this several times yesterday and this morning both on and off charge and while cool to touch. Very disappointing as expected more for something that cost nearly £1200! Like the phone a lot and prefer it over the Oppo but cannot find a way around this. A new 256k micro SD card also being used so have tried without this, without the EE sim and factory reset but still it happens. It's unusable as is so will have to be replaced, unless any suggestions?
Have had a few good Android phones from Huawei P20 pro, Mate 20X to current Oppo in recent times but never had an issue like this.
Having to swap back to the Oppo is very time consuming and exasperating!
Shame as this is a stunningly good phone.
Mikehbw said:
Hi I have the exact same issue. Received mine on the 24th and transferred everything over from Oppo find X2 pro. Thought it was me at first when trying to wake but it rebooted. All fine until used in car QI base. After 20 minute drive picked it up and tried to wake only for the same thing to happen. Did this several times yesterday and this morning both on and off charge and while cool to touch. Very disappointing as expected more for something that cost nearly £1200! Like the phone a lot and prefer it over the Oppo but cannot find a way around this. A new 256k micro SD card also being used so have tried without this, without the EE sim and factory reset but still it happens. It's unusable as is so will have to be replaced, unless any suggestions?
Have had a few good Android phones from Huawei P20 pro, Mate 20X to current Oppo in recent times but never had an issue like this.
Having to swap back to the Oppo is very time consuming and exasperating!
Shame as this is a stunningly good phone.
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Forgot to say there are others on here with similar issue, under random reboot thread.
After sending in for "repair" and receiving it back with no improvement (but "repaired"), Sony has finally agreed I'm due a replacement unit. Have shipped my first unit off, due to arrive to them next Wednesday. Will hopefully receive a properly-functioning replacement soon thereafter... Agree that, if the phone didn't have this bizarre issue, it would be great--very close to what I want in a phone (versus the myriad options out there that don't offer what I want, and insist on absurd design choices I detest).
So, we'll see. Certainly frustrating to have an issue like this on a phone that costs more than plenty of computers...
(To be clear, I had the issue literally every time, from the beginning, regardless of what I had/hadn't set up, installed, sim card/no sim card, micro SD/no micro SD, etc.).
I have Xperia™1 III but the phone is really stable for me, no random reboot. I have only heating issue. Xperia™ XZ2 Premium hasn't heat like this phone. My phone is Hong Kong device
Most likely not what caused your issue...but...it is NOT a good idea to allow any backup to install all your previous apps from an "old" phone to a new one. I know it can be a major pain and very time consuming to install everything from scratch when setting up a new phone...however...when you allow a backup to flow freely onto a new phone you are allowing all the junk to come back also! It's up to you, but I always install everything from scratch and it may not be related but...I have owned many, many phones and NEVER had all the problems that so many have all across the board. Am I just lucky, or is it because I have so much experience with computers and know how to set things up properly? YMMV
jaseman said:
Most likely not what caused your issue...but...it is NOT a good idea to allow any backup to install all your previous apps from an "old" phone to a new one. I know it can be a major pain and very time consuming to install everything from scratch when setting up a new phone...however...when you allow a backup to flow freely onto a new phone you are allowing all the junk to come back also! It's up to you, but I always install everything from scratch and it may not be related but...I have owned many, many phones and NEVER had all the problems that so many have all across the board. Am I just lucky, or is it because I have so much experience with computers and know how to set things up properly? YMMV
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I think you have been lucky
Like you I have never had a problem and been in IT since the early 80's but this isn't something that's has been moved over. Sadly, the phone behaves the same wether out of the box or fully migrated. In the PC world I saw something similar with overheating and poorly cooled AMD processors in the 90's and am wondering if this is a heat related component batch issue?
Sony need to get a grip on this sharpish or they will be looking at refunds, which is never good.
The reboots are caused by the fingerprint reader. My new phone would bootloop while fast charging if my one and only configuration after a factory reset was setting a fingerprint.
DO NOT SEND IT IN FOR A WARRANTY REPAIR - - IT WILL GET WORSE
Get a refund.
First, Sony sent it to SBE with FedEx Ground, which currently takes about 2 weeks.
Second, SBE returned it bricked and voided my warranty. They said I flashed it but I had sent it in new and unmodified. I didn't even think they returned my own phone back because it had a UK/EU label and destroyed firmware. Sony Support would no longer help me because I was no longer a customer. SBE insisted I was a firmware flasher that deserved nothing. I ran EMMA and it showed my phone IMEI, locked bootloader, and stock firmware.
I finally found somebody on Sony Support who would give me an RMA. Maybe it was their mistake, but I wasted no time shipping it back. I'm doing a credit card charge reversal if I get any more crap from Sony/SBE.
I have spoken to Sony UK tech support and they have confirmed there is a reboot issue with some1iii's. Apparently, second line technical support have identified the issue (software) and there will be a revision released to cure this. When pressed, they couldn't give me a date for this and were a little vague. I was advised to return to my supplier for a refund.
Not good on a phone costing £1200 and surprised they haven't got their act together more quickly. They seem to be struggling getting phones shipped presently and my supplier has confirmed a 14 day wait if I want to re-order. I don't know if this is just poor advanced planning by Sony UK or if this is a Sony global problem trying to get hold of the components for manufacture.
Despite all the issues, this phone still ticks all the boxes for me so have decided to wait for the dust to settle!
Good to know there's some awareness now on Sony's part of this issue, and a plan yo resolve it via software (?). If the second unit I get has the same issue, I guess I'll wait a bit for that aoftware resolution--but deeply hoping I won't have the issue again.
I will say, I believe I tested not registering any fingerprints on at least one of the numerous factory resets I tried, and I believe the issue still occurred--had seen threads of similar issues stemming from the fingerprint reader on other manufacturer's phones, so tried to rule it out...
The original phone I got back from SBE wasn't bricked, it just wasn't in any way improved. Fortunately Sony didn't make any weird claims that I'd done anything wrong (I wouldn't know how to mess with "rooting" or whatever--no interest/need to). It was delivered to Sonyin San Diego by FedEx today--so hoping my replacement unit ships in the next day or two...
Mikehbw said:
Despite all the issues, this phone still ticks all the boxes for me so have decided to wait for the dust to settle!
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Agreed. With LG gone, I really want the Xperia 1 iii to pan out--only phone that has microSD, no notches/currves/radiused corners, a hogh-res screen, and a headphone jack. If I can't get one to work properly, I'll probably just buy another LG V50, second-hand.

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