Helo ppl....I happened to miss my S2 about a week back after which I had lodged a police complaint with IMEI and relevant details and am waiting for information about the phone. Regarding the instances and settings with which the phone was lost gave me a few doubts which I post here. Any one who could throw some light would be helpful
1) When the phone was lost it was already in 2% battery level. So as soon as I lost it when i called back to my number obviously I got a "phone switched off" message.But not sure if it had switched off by itself or if it had been switched off. I believe there is no way of knowing. But if any one has a miraculous idea or sumthing.... do post
2) I had pattern lock active on the phone so I wonder if there is any layman work around for pattern lock just to be sure if my data has been compromised. And also, if the pattern lock is active , when the phone is connected via USB does it give direct access inspite of the pattern lock or how else does it work? If my phone does end up non-traceable i just want to rest assured that the data doesnt get out and to bypass the lock the thief just formats the phone, which i would say is much better for me.
3)I came across a very promising tracking software called Plan B on the google play store and tried installing it via my computer by logging in to my gamil ID. Once i went to the google play store I could see that my ID was still associated with Galaxy S2 even after a week. So does the last active device on the gmailID still show up even if the phone has been logged of my account/phone formatted or could i take it that the device has not been logged off my gmail ID/not formatted yet??
Thanks for ur replies....
If you didn't install tracking software on your phone before you lost it, the police recovering it is your only chance. And at a rough guess, police probably recover 0.01% (1 in 10,000) of stolen mobile phones (in Australia at least)...you know the rest.
MistahBungle said:
If you didn't install tracking software on your phone before you lost it, the police recovering it is your only chance. And at a rough guess, police probably recover 0.01% (1 in 10,000) of stolen mobile phones (in Australia at least)...you know the rest.
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So what is the best tracking software for our phones?
There's lots of them. Search Google Play. I don't use any on my phone, but I use Prey on my laptop & I've heard good things about their Android app. Try a few out & see which has the features you want & works best for you.
metinrecepi said:
So what is the best tracking software for our phones?
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@mistah: thanks for the replyy....i too know the scenario about police helping out...but they insisted that they had retrieved quite a number of phones and since it was a smart phone it would be easier they said.......I was jus hoping if some one could enlighten me on point no 2).....
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.
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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.
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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.
Hi everybody,
a few days ago I received my brand new Redmi Note 2 32GB from gearbest. I spent a lot of time finding a suitable priced model from within Europe below EUR 200,-. Finally I managed from gearbest UK warehouse and looked forward to it.
First bad news was the price difference between the EUR amount shown on gearbest shop site and what paypal finally charged when fetching the money using their exchange rate to USD. So the phone was already much more expensive than expected but still below EUR 200,-.
Now I received the phone and switched it on without changing anything: First thing reboot loop with mi.com logog. Websearches result in the information that this only happened after some kind of rooting, flashing, etc. Neither of them I did.
After a while I managed to boot into android (this only succeeded 3 times within the past 2 days!). I could change some settings but then the screen did not react any more to any input. Neither did the keys below the screen - only hardware keys are reacting.
So I forced the phone to reboot only to get stuck in the reboot loop again. This is now ongoing and ongoing - I am stuck between reboot loop and non-reacting phone with some occassional seconds in between where I can use it.
As said: This is a brand new phone directly unboxed - nothing installed, nothing downloaded, nothing rooted, nothing flashed!
gearbest just offers either return on my own costs (which finally raises the price of this phone above a level where I could easily by it from some domestic shop) or they offer some ridiculous refunds but I can keep the phone.
So question is: Is there anything I can do here to get the phone working again without rooting/reflashing (using some kind of GSM codes or similar - the tip from here does not work for me. No menu occurs.
2nd question: Rooting and flashing different firmware will void my warranty anyway. But is there any chance that flashing a different firmware would even help in this cases (if not and it is a hardware problem I cannot sent back the phone for repair)?
I am really annoyed and frustrated!
Any help is highly appreciated!
Bye
Clearly, someone has flashed something that went wrong before dispatching the phone to you, and/or the device is faulty. At the very least, the device is not fit for purpose. You should take the issue up with paypal. I wouldn't recommend flashing anything, because then it will all be your fault.
DarthJabba9 said:
Clearly, someone has flashed something that went wrong before dispatching the phone to you, and/or the device is faulty. At the very least, the device is not fit for purpose. You should take the issue up with paypal. I wouldn't recommend flashing anything, because then it will all be your fault.
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Since it came from a shop with the mentioned poor return possibilities I assume there is nothing PayPal can do against. I just wanted to check out my possibilities before returning the item (making it more expensive again).
Ok. Clearly, if it's a hardware fault, then flashing something new will not solve the problem. But how do you tell? I don't see any other way than flashing a new ROM.
Also don't see any way. Thought there might be some apps for analysing or something like the screen calibration where I posted the link (example given in that link does not work for me)?
Alternative would be: Returning the phone.
Are you able to enter recovery, and does it work correctly while in recovery?
If you can, you should try another rom from this forum. Maybe GearBest screwed up when they switched the original chinese MIUI to their "international version with bloatware".
If you can't enter recovery, you should return the phone.
To my knowledge there is no recovery installed. As said I just unboxed the new phone and tried to use it. The only thing I can enter is the fastboot screen.
Ok, found recovery mode. Inside is also one menu entry shown regarding installation of update.zip. But if I install a new ROM and it turns out to be a hardware bug - how to restore previous ROM in order to return the phone?
Also maybe important: Currently installed is MIUI-Version: MIUI 7 by xiaomi.eu 5.10.16 | Beta
Aight so I have this Samsung Galaxy J7 Max that I've been trying to unlock for more than 2 years now. I of course, don't want to lose the super important data it holds. It got locked out randomly and hasn't been able to take up the pattern I had put on it till date. I'm absolutely sure no one changed its lock screen pattern and its the phone that is unable to recognize the exact same password it had before this happening. I got hold of it today and yet again, started looking for solutions on YouTube and the internet itself. After all of my research, one thing is clear. There is only one way that the pattern lock can be removed in such a condition; by deleting this system folder called gesture.key that lies within the phone itself. I am by no means a nerdy software dev or something but I do have very little knowledge about these workarounds. I used an ADB via a cmd terminal to contact my phone. But it turns out that due to my usb debugging setting not being turned on in my phone, the adb didn't have the required authorization to make any changes to the target. I then got my phone into stock recovery mode and chose the Install through ADB option there. Now when I input the command adb devices, the prompt showed me my device ID, but instead of the "unauthorized" indicator beside it, it now had the indicator "sideload". I had no idea of what had to be done when such happens, so I tried the adb shell > cd data/system > su > rm *.key [taken from an XDA forums thread] commands again. But right on the second step it displayed error this time. I have tried using a key eraser via sd card too, but it just doesn't happen, the sd card folder in the stock mode does not display the contents of the folder.
Now the phone isn't being an obstacle in my life right now, but I really hope there's a way to fix it. Early help would be appreciated. Thank You.
If the data is super important why isn't it redundantly backed up?
Having a set lock screen and storing data on the OS is a sure fire way to lose data, eventually.
Maybe you'll get lucky... is that drive encrypted?
If not it may still be corrupted and unusable.
Don't put yourself in this position again... been there, done that
@blackhawk As I said, this was an absolutely random incident, had never even thought this could've been the case someday. Its not like the phone crashed and then this happened, I turned off my phone's display and the next time I woke it up, the pattern wasn't working anymore. Furthermore, the timed attempts that happen after 5 incorrect tries wasn't existing anymore. Now it could be that someone did get the timed attempts wrong as well [it isn't my own phone]. But I really don't see any other reason to that occurrence.
About the backups, I mean cmon, I was 15 back then, a medico student even more so. I never got my hands around backing up anything. But yes, have been backing up every single bit of data within these two years.
The storage drive shouldn't be encrypted. It was a regular phone bought online that had pdfs, images, recordings and videos stored. The google account was not that of the owner either! It was my uncle's account that was being used ever since he bought it. And since there was never a problem having used his account for quite a while, we never cared to change it to a new google account. Now my uncle's google account itself handles another device, his own phone, exact same model, Galaxy J7 Max. I have tried using his account at the Google Find My Device app to locate and unlock the phone that way [I hope you know it has the three options Ring, Secure and Erase Data]. But it happens so that the Secure phone with password option only for devices that have been lost and don't have a security lock already setup, which wasn't, unfortunately, my case. So that option was greyed out.
For the data corruption, you might be correct. But that phone still does receive SMS texts, calls, whatsapp texts and other notifications. They just don't show up on the lock screen anymore. I honestly had the "Screw the data, I'll erase it anyway" thought yesterday, but during my latest tries, I found the XDA forums website to be quite helpful. Had not it been the damn USB debugging, the solution I approached from this forum would've got the job done in a couple minutes. Again, if the data might've gone corrupted, I will erase the data [I mean I would have to]. But this little glimmer of hope that I experienced yesterday is what is preventing me from doing that. I really hope there is a fix to my situation.
@Chinmay47
a phone can get booted into these modes
Normal ( AKA Android OS )
Recovery
Fastboot
Sideload
EDL
Sideload mode is used to flash OTAs and/or ROMs.
Recovery mode allows you to perform some ADB actions as e.g. pull userdata, but this reqires ADB ( read: USB debug ) got enabled.
So my guess is you can't recover phone's userdata at your own, this would have to be done by an external service who can pull out phone's internal SD-card and has the forensic tools to read it.
@jwoegerbauer Surprisingly the idea of taking the phone to a forensic service struck me yesternight too. As you mentioned, since I can't recover the phone's data myself, all tips and tweaks on the web should now be struck off of my list of solutions. I'll leave the data to some forensic services then. Let's hope the recovery is worth the hassle. The thread is still open to more suggestions though. Thanks for the replies everyone. Really appreciate it!
Chinmay47 said:
@jwoegerbauer Surprisingly the idea of taking the phone to a forensic service struck me yesternight too. As you mentioned, since I can't recover the phone's data myself, all tips and tweaks on the web should now be struck off of my list of solutions. I'll leave the data to some forensic services then. Let's hope the recovery is worth the hassle. The thread is still open to more suggestions though. Thanks for the replies everyone. Really appreciate it!
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It not a card they can pull. More than likely it's on a BGA chipset, the hardest kind there is to work with.
If they can't access the data on/with the mobo they will have to unsolder the chipset without damaging it then put it into a test jig or another mobo (after pulling that mobo's matching chipset).
If they can access the data on the mobo, not so bad. Otherwise not so good.
Let us know how this plays out for you.
Here's one I found showing you this complex procedure: https://flashfixers.com/recover-data-dead-phone-chip-off-data-recovery/
They may be able to help you, but I have no personal knowledge of this company.
blackhawk said:
If they can't access the data on/with the mobo they will have to unsolder the chipset without damaging it then put it into a test jig or another mobo (after pulling that mobo's matching chipset).
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Actually thought of this idea right after a couple days from the beginning of the problem. Yes its gonna take loads of precision and patience but it does sound doable. Maybe that's what is gonna be the last option for the forensic service too in case, god forbid, they aren't able to do it the "simple" way. Can't say yet, but I'm gonna keep this thread updated with all the developments that take place.
Chinmay47 said:
Actually thought of this idea right after a couple days from the beginning of the problem. Yes its gonna take loads of precision and patience but it does sound doable. Maybe that's what is gonna be the last option for the forensic service too in case, god forbid, they aren't able to do it the "simple" way. Can't say yet, but I'm gonna keep this thread updated with all the developments that take place.
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If they need to remove the chipset the chances of failure increase. Flash memory retension is generally good for 10+ years but it may be damaged in the removal process if so, snake eyes.
Get price quotes up front for the whole process.
Once they got the phone, they got you by the balls. Not saying they aren't trustworthy but feel them out. If it's a couple hundred and you get the data back, you did good.
No idea of the cost though, my guess is $400-1000+ especially if they need to pull the chipset.
That's high risk even if they do it by the book.
If their policy is no data, no charge... expect higher rates to cover their loses.
@blackhawk All of that sounds kinda terrifying if you ask me. Well I mean, there is always a first option that can be tried without any mentions of pull-aparts. Yet I will surely judge the person well before I hand my device in his hands. I would try my level best to not take it to the critical stage, but if it needs be and there is a really high chance of losing my data, I can factory reset my data at home by myself too can't I? Future shall tell I suppose.
If you factory reset it all data will be lost.
It will not be recoverable!
If you want the data you will need to use a service like I showed you. They will need physical access to the phone to recovery the data.
The phone may be scrape afterwards
@blackhawk Sure does look like it would be! But paying to get your phone reset for you is way to harsher than doing it yourself. It is only in case the data is nearly impossible to recover that I'll reset the phone myself.
Chinmay47 said:
@blackhawk Sure does look like it would be! But paying to get your phone reset for you is way to harsher than doing it yourself. It is only in case the data is nearly impossible to recover that I'll reset the phone myself.
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Reset? Most likely destroyed.
Do you really want the data?
blackhawk said:
Reset? Most likely destroyed.
Do you really want the data?
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I actually do though. But well, if it ain't coming back then why wish for it. Yeah the data was really important.
Chinmay47 said:
I actually do though. But well, if it ain't coming back then why wish for it. Yeah the data was really important.
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Call them up and see what they say.
Since it's not physically damaged they may be able to access it none invasively.
blackhawk said:
Call them up and see what they say.
Since it's not physically damaged they may be able to access it none invasively.
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I'll do that and report back ASAP. Thanks for the help sire!
I have an old AT&T Asus 9020A tablet. I got them new years ago thru my phone plan with AT&T. It wasn’t used much and is like new still.
Anyway, I take care of my mother and she likes games and painting by numbers on her iPad but she broke it and screwed up her charging port. I want to fix this tablet up for her.
I bet it wasn’t used 2 months and was just forgotten….I looked it up and completed a factory reset on it and wiped it clean. So I was trying to set it up and get her to painting again! It’s bout to kill her not having it..lol
I was setting it up and it wants the old email associated that was used to set it up. There is no way to remember that or even get it. I asked my daughter, she don’t remember. Anyway, are there any way I can use (reset) this tablet not knowing the old email that was associated with it? Where I can fix her up for her or am I just wasting my time? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
So it is FRP locked?
Arealhooman said:
So it is FRP locked?
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It’s not locked. It reset ever And started the initial setup as if it was new. It just wants the old gmail for some reason before it will accept the new one. It lets me start in the setting up her account on it but is asking for the old email for verification….. I don’t have it and there is no way to remember it unfortunately. I know they are there to keep folks from stealing them and that’s great. But 10 years later…LOL Is this possible?
what you describe (verify device with google account) is called FRP lock (factory reset protection). this is same on most/all official android devices to render device useless on theft.
however, the unofficial by-pass methods vary for each device model/android version. search on YouTube.