I don't know if anyone is going to believe this. I decided to test Android Device Manager's lock feature. Worked fine on my tablet. Did not work right on my phone. Now I am locked out of my phone. It would not accept the PIN I selected. I tried sending different PINs and it won't accept any of them! When I change the "message," it does change but the PIN doesn't work.
1) Is there any way to fix this???
2) If not, ugh, if I send an ERASE command, will I be able to get back into the phone?
Help!!
Thanks!
Paul
(I don't know how to prove this isn't a stolen phone - I have full access to it via Device Manager in my google account)
Talked to AT&T. I was screwed. FYI for anyone else... The Android Device Manager Lock may not work right on the AT&T Galaxy S4.
The entire point of locking a phone through ADM is to render it useless for anyone that has stolen it or "found and tried to use it" if it was lost. It's not intended as a tool to be used day to day or for any other reason than loss or theft. As such, I don't see why there would be a need to re-activate the phone after locking it through ADM.
However, if it simply won't let you unlock the lock screen, why not use ODIN to re-flash the firmware and start fresh with an unlocked lock screen?
scott14719 said:
The entire point of locking a phone through ADM is to render it useless for anyone that has stolen it or "found and tried to use it" if it was lost.
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Click to collapse
I should have posted more details. Actually, you can factory reset the phone and it comes out of it fine, albeit factory reset. It doesn't make the phone useless. It just protects the data on your phone with the standard PIN lock screen. It's certainly no kill switch.
To add more info to this - it literally changes the lock screen setting to PIN lock. So, for example, on my tablet, I had a pattern lock. Even after I unlocked it with the ADM PIN I sent, the next time it locked, it was the same PIN lock. I had to go back and change it to the pattern lock.
This is unlike the 3rd party solutions I have used in the past (e.g. Lookout, AVG) which overlay their own lock onto the phone one time only. Once you unlock through their PIN system, the device reverts to whatever locking method you had been using (or none).
This is just what I learned from the experience. Maybe people knew this but it was interesting to me.
PaulQ602 said:
I should have posted more details. Actually, you can factory reset the phone and it comes out of it fine, albeit factory reset. It doesn't make the phone useless. It just protects the data on your phone with the standard PIN lock screen. It's certainly no kill switch.
To add more info to this - it literally changes the lock screen setting to PIN lock. So, for example, on my tablet, I had a pattern lock. Even after I unlocked it with the ADM PIN I sent, the next time it locked, it was the same PIN lock. I had to go back and change it to the pattern lock.
This is unlike the 3rd party solutions I have used in the past (e.g. Lookout, AVG) which overlay their own lock onto the phone one time only. Once you unlock through their PIN system, the device reverts to whatever locking method you had been using (or none).
This is just what I learned from the experience. Maybe people knew this but it was interesting to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the additional info. It's nice to know how it works or is supposed to work. Starting mid-2014, all cell phones sold in the US will be required to have a "kill switch" available. I wonder if it will operate in the same way. I guess time will tell. Again, thanks for the info.
I do wish people who don't read a persons message properly and are not informed on the subject wouldn't waste every ones time posting their drivel aye Scott!
You like so many others state the obvious, I did like your post Paul and thank you for taking the time to post
I have had issues with ADM and have found the application about as useful as Scott's drivel
Related
When i boot up the phone, it shows the please input your pin code thing..but then continues booting anyways? It used to allow me to put my pin code in first? Whats going on, and how do i fix it so it allows me to put in the pin before it boots?!
Same problem here.
Me too.
The quick and dirty fix I found is to remove the PIN request and set a phone lock code instead. The phone will always wait for the lock code on startup. The good thing with this is it locks the phone without regards to what SIM card you use. (You can call you SP and request a SIM card disable, right, but not a phone lock)
You can set a timeout for the lock. Additionally, whenever you connect the phone to a new computer it will lock the phone. Good anti-theft mechanism, but I'm sure it's easy to remove if you really want to.
I think it's a generic problem on this phone. I just push the call button again to get the PIN dialog up once more.
sad to hear this is a common problem as it poses a security threat..unless you take other measures. but inputting 2 passwords is quite annoying..ill just wait i guess... does anyone else have problems also that when on 3G the phone appears switched off if someone were to call and it doesnt connect properly?
I am looking for a reverse thing to a sim-lock. I have a phone, which I would like to make sure of, that no other card can be used in it as mine- or a card that has the same pin as mine. I thought about a phone-lock for the sim-card. Once the cell is turned on, the cell enters the pin code without being noticed by me. I keep forgetting this damn number anyway. However, I don't want to miss the capability of the card being rpotected by its pin number, either when put in a different phone, or the functionality, that if someone wants to steal my phone, that it enters the preset pin number, therefore bricks the sim-card.
Basically this is what I want:
1. The phone enters a preset pin, without me or anyone else seeing it.
2. If another sim-card is installed, the card shall be bricked because the phone tries to enter the preset pin.
And last but not least: If someone has a sim-card that has no pin that is put into the phone, is it possible to deny the service the sim-card offers?
WaveSecure seems to do pretty much what you want.
Effectively it can lock out the phone and stop other SIM cards being used.
It was free to begin with, but I think it has now been sold to one of the big companies and may be chargeable.
WaveSecure is cool but!
I think that WaveSecure does part of the job, but the most imprtant one, is entering the pin number automatically. This however is not supported by WaveSecure.
Maybe there is another app anyone can think of.
Meanwhile I am rowsing git, maybe I find ssomething in there!
kevke said:
I think that WaveSecure does part of the job, but the most imprtant one, is entering the pin number automatically. This however is not supported by WaveSecure.
Maybe there is another app anyone can think of.
Meanwhile I am rowsing git, maybe I find ssomething in there!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
doesnt entering the pin number automatically defeat the point of having a pin?? If someone steals your phone, they wont need your PIN to unlock it??
Yes and no!
Assuming that I want the card only to work without hesitation with this particular cell, then I need the cell to enter the pin automatically, and when put into another cell, it the pin dialog ifres up, since the pin request is still in effect. I am not concerned about someone stealing the phone, it is insured against stealing. And assuming someone would use the phone with his own sim, without resetting the phone/ putting a different firmware on it: the phone would try to enter the preset pin, thereby bricking the card.
Anyway, the phone has been tempered with, in a way, that the cell can only call numbers which are for free for me, according to my cell-plan.
So having the pin still in effect is basically a precaution against taking the card out and set it in a different phone.
While playing around with my new Lumia 920, I noticed that the Kids' Corner exhibits a behavior that essentially defeats the entire purpose of it: if I have a lockscreen PIN set, that PIN is required to either unlock the phone, or access Kids' Corner. If I have no PIN, then no PIN is required on either side. The whole idea of KC, though, is that I could hand my phone to someone, who could swipe over and up to get into Kids' Corner, then have free access to a sandboxed area without the ability to unlock the phone. Having to give them the PIN to unlock the phone is rather silly...
I'm curious as to whether others have noticed this same behavior, and whether it varies by phone model/OS version.
I'm running an AT&T Lumia 920 with OS version 8.0.9903.10
bkaul said:
I'm running an AT&T Lumia 920 with OS version 8.0.9903.10
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Same phone, same OS version, and I don't have that problem. My PIN only applies to my user, not Kid's Corner (or Guest, as I've renamed it).
@OP
Do you have your phone synced to an Exchange server and does it require you to set a PIN? I've been looking at a few WP8 handsets exhibiting this problem and they seem to be the ones connected via Exchange ActiveSync with security policies in place.
Same for me. I noticed it worked fine the first day I had the phone but trying it now, its asking for a pin. I am connected to exchange servers, but neither require a pin.
dcuk7 said:
Do you have your phone synced to an Exchange server and does it require you to set a PIN? I've been looking at a few WP8 handsets exhibiting this problem and they seem to be the ones connected via Exchange ActiveSync with security policies in place.
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Click to collapse
No: I'm connected only to my Microsoft account and a Gmail account. No EAS policies are in play.
Are you sure it isn't a PIN setting in the Kid's Corner settings? It asks you if you want to use a PIN when you first set it up, and that's not available from the KC "Customize" tile.
Lenas said:
Are you sure it isn't a PIN setting in the Kid's Corner settings? It asks you if you want to use a PIN when you first set it up, and that's not available from the KC "Customize" tile.
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It never asked me that when I first set it up; never asks that if I disable/enable from settings. Regardless, it follows whatever the setting from the lockscreen is.
I'm actually beginning to wonder if this may just be a poorly thought out design decision. I've seen reports on other forums that people who report being able to get into KC without a PIN when they have a lockscreen PIN also have a timeout set, rather than having it apply instantly, and that there seems to be some odd behavior with the two sides resetting that timeout differently, but that eventually even they would have to enter a PIN either way. Have you (or anyone else who can get into KC w/o a PIN immediately after locking their phone) tested whether the same is true if the phone's been sitting around for a while without being used and you try to go directly to KC? I trust people here more on troubleshooting than reports from other forums, so curious if those claims of it just being that it hasn't timed out yet have any validity.
I know for a fact when I turned on my wife's KC on her 820 yesterday that it asked if she wanted to use a PIN. When I try to find the setting on my 920 I can't see it anywhere, even turning KC on and off. Perhaps it's a one time thing and you mistakingly said yes?
bkaul said:
The whole idea of KC, though, is that I could hand my phone to someone, who could swipe over and up to get into Kids' Corner, then have free access to a sandboxed area without the ability to unlock the phone. Having to give them the PIN to unlock the phone is rather silly...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kid's Corner is working as designed; your premise about it's purpose is what I think is wrong. (BTW, your idea is a fine one, but it's not the problem that Microsoft set out to solve with Kids Corner.)
On PIN-protected phones, unauthorized users aren't permitted to just jump into Kids Corner on their own. (Among other things, allowing that would let anyone drain your battery.) Instead, the use case that Microsoft wanted to address was giving parents a way to grant their children a game-playing session with the phone without letting the child have full access to the phone (i.e., trapping the kid in the sandbox). For security reasons, that granting is to be done by the parent keying in the PIN, not by the parent revealing the PIN to anyone else.
Assuming that your phone is set up to prompt for a PIN after 15 minutes of inactivity, if the kid puts down the phone for 2 minutes and picks it up again, the PIN isn't needed because the parent-approved game-playing session is still active. If the kids sets down the phone for 20 minutes, the kid will need get the parent to OK additional game play.
Other users have complained that phones with PINs always require the PIN after a Kids Corner session. (The argument being that you may have just unlocked the phone for your kid's use so why would you have to key the PIN in again.) I would argue that the current behavior is the only one that makes sense because the other way creates a path for a kid to get out of the sandbox by just tapping the power button twice. So, the PIN is needed after a Kids Corner session because the phone knows that it was just in the hands of a kid or guest (i.e., not the actual owner) and it needs to get the owner's OK before letting the user into the full feature set.
Lenas said:
I know for a fact when I turned on my wife's KC on her 820 yesterday that it asked if she wanted to use a PIN. When I try to find the setting on my 920 I can't see it anywhere, even turning KC on and off. Perhaps it's a one time thing and you mistakingly said yes?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, I'm quite certain it never prompted me.
manicotti said:
Kid's Corner is working as designed; your premise about it's purpose is what I think is wrong. (BTW, your idea is a fine one, but it's not the problem that Microsoft set out to solve with Kids Corner.)
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Click to collapse
Yeah, I was beginning to think it was actually working as designed, just designed in a way that seems contrary to its stated purpose.
So, the PIN is needed after a Kids Corner session because the phone knows that it was just in the hands of a kid or guest (i.e., not the actual owner) and it needs to get the owner's OK before letting the user into the full feature set.
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Click to collapse
OK, this is the part I was missing ... at least it will always require a PIN to get back out of KC into the rest of the phone, though it still seems counterintuitive that there aren't separate settings. The demos show Joe handing a phone to his kid, who swipes over and up to get in - but it's never made clear what the intended behavior is with a PIN enabled. I was (apparently incorrectly) assuming that it could be set up to allow use by kids as demoed where they can unlock and get into KC themselves without allowing them out of the sandbox. The behavior as you describe it makes sense though, at least as far as not being a bug, even if it seems incomplete to me.
bkaul said:
The demos show Joe handing a phone to his kid, who swipes over and up to get in - but it's never made clear what the intended behavior is with a PIN enabled. I was (apparently incorrectly) assuming that it could be set up to allow use by kids as demoed where they can unlock and get into KC themselves without allowing them out of the sandbox.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that in the demo, Joe didn't unlock the phone for his kids because he had just used it for another task and it hadn't yet relocked. I agree with you that at first glance Kids Corner seems odd. When I thought about it more, I realized that it's designed more to provide protection to the adult than it is to provide entertainment to kids.
Anyone else running into problems with wallet delays when attempting to pay? NFC is enabled, wallet configured correctly, but nothing seems to happen when i go to pay. My screen is active, but nada. I then unlock the screen, and google wallet automatically says "setting up wallet", and then it lets me pay with a pin. feels like more effort than an actual card however.
everyone else running smoothly? any ideas about when a pin is absolutely required?
Read the instructions and all problems will cease.
1. You must type in you pin number to unlock Google Wallet before you can use it. (and it will time out and re-lock after 5 minutes)
2. Your phone must be unlocked before it will work. Not just turned on sitting at the lock screen.
Personally, I set a slider link to Google Wallet on my lock screen. That way I can just whip out my phone, slide to the Wallet icon and enter my pin while I'm waiting in line or giving my order. Then it is ready to go long before they ask for payment.
Works perfect every time.
narcopolypse said:
Read the instructions and all problems will cease.
1. You must type in you pin number to unlock Google Wallet before you can use it. (and it will time out and re-lock after 5 minutes)
2. Your phone must be unlocked before it will work. Not just turned on sitting at the lock screen.
Personally, I set a slider link to Google Wallet on my lock screen. That way I can just whip out my phone, slide to the Wallet icon and enter my pin while I'm waiting in line or giving my order. Then it is ready to go long before they ask for payment.
Works perfect every time.
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Click to collapse
I had been misguided thinking it was simpler. So might as well turn off nfc until I want to use it as well right?
Thanks for the response.
With direction lock, you can unlock your phone by drawing a pattern on it...pretty cool I think
https://youtu.be/iIQUWxuLhOI
Considering I'll be coming from a G2, it's a far cry from knock on. I will miss knock on more than anything on my G2 I'm sure. It might break the boredom of just swipe to unlock, but leaves more room for error and will take longer.
natypes said:
Considering I'll be coming from a G2, it's a far cry from knock on. I will miss knock on more than anything on my G2 I'm sure. It might break the boredom of just swipe to unlock, but leaves more room for error and will take longer.
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Click to collapse
Knock on was very cool, pressing the home button once with the fingerprint reader is cooler.
Well, I'm getting an S6, so I'm certainly willing to give it a shot.
After activating the direction lock feature I have run into a very serious issue. An OTA software update came in from AT&T after which the phone did a reboot. I cannot unlock the phone as it no longer recognizes the direction lock pattern and sadly, it is requiring that specific unlock method for the first unlock after reboot. Samsung tells me there is no way around this except a full master reset which the data loss would be devastating! I cannot locate any software that will pull the data via USB either as the model is an S6 Edge SM-G925A which is not offered via FonePaw, Phone Doctor or Mini Tool. Since the direction lock is located in the Accessibility menu the "unlocking" methods don't work either as the values are apparently in a different location. I seriously need some help with this issue. Losing all the critical data from my last backup to now is beyond stressing me out as it is vital as well as having some very sentimental items. If I could just find a way to either pull the data or explore the phone via third party software I would be one very happy man!! Please, if there is anyone that has an idea, I am willing to try just about anything to prevent a factory reset! Thank you very much in advance!! And yes, I have searched and read and searched and read..... over 5 hours worth of time spent online trying to get this solved... BTW, the phone does not have USB debugging enabled and is not rooted. Just stock Android 7.x