Everyone’s missing the fact that the thieves unlocked the phone. This means they can change settings like logging out of the Google account or turning off remote wipe. A thief that sophisticated will turn the phone off right after stealing it.
The solution here is to have strong unlock security.
The ‘Find My Device’ feature is the best, but it doesn’t always work.
If they remove the OS and install a custom ROM, they won’t have Google Play services, and we can’t control the phone.
As long as they don’t use the data, it’s a win.
PixelVoyager2 said:
If they remove the OS and install a custom ROM, they won’t have Google Play services, and we can’t control the phone.
As long as they don’t use the data, it’s a win.
They need to unlock the bootloader and enable USB debugging, which is blocked behind a passcode. Unlocking the bootloader will also wipe the data.
@Chase
No need to unlock the bootloader. They just need to enable USB debugging and connect to it via ADB.
PixelVoyager2 said:
If they remove the OS and install a custom ROM, they won’t have Google Play services, and we can’t control the phone.
As long as they don’t use the data, it’s a win.
But if they install a fake OS, wouldn’t they lose the current data anyway? The goal is to wipe the data after all.
@Binary
That’s the last line of the above comment.
I was discussing the possibilities if remote wipe doesn’t work.
If the phone is on, we can still track it.
PixelVoyager2 said:
@Binary
That’s the last line of the above comment.
I was discussing the possibilities if remote wipe doesn’t work.
If the phone is on, we can still track it.
Insurance will cover a new phone. I don’t really care about recovering the old one, as long as my data is safe.
Just to clarify: If they don’t change the OS, will remote wipe work? If they change the OS, they lose the data anyway?
@Binary
If they wanted the data badly enough, they could probably download whatever they can before installing a new OS. They would then work on the data with a separate device while reselling the phone.
Gotta become president to have access to nuke launch codes.
Not sure about iOS, but Android has a ‘Find My Device’ feature.
https://www.google.com/android/find/about
If your phone gets stolen, just Google ‘Find My Device.’ Log into your Google account (the same one on your Android), and it will show where your device is if location is turned on. You can play sound, lock it, and even factory reset it from your laptop.
For iPhones, there’s ‘Find My iPhone,’ but I haven’t used one in over a decade. Hope this helps 