Database Users

[Q] event log showing when SD card removed?

I need to know if there is any record or event log kept in the phone as to when an SD card is removed or inserted, or when the phone is turned off, battery removed, etc., and if such a log exists, how to view it.
I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S / Sprint Epic 4G, firmware version 2.2.1
I've tried searching for "event log" to no avail, "SD card removed" mostly turns up people who are getting messages that their SD card is not there, etc. Not sure if there are better search terms to use to find the answer.
Long Story: My phone was stolen from my office, I sent several texts to it from other phones informing the person who had it that the phone had GPS tracking software enabled and I was recording everywhere the phone went (complete bluff). The next day, I was contacted by someone who was in possession of my phone, her story changed several times, from the person who stole it was a friend and felt bad and gave it to her to give to me, to she didn't know the person, to the person being her brother who found the phone in a 7/11 bathroom.
I find their frequent story changing very suspicious and suspect they are covering for the person who actually stole my phone, but I don't want to go to the police and press charges against someone who might just be a good Samaritan.
The phone was returned with the SD card removed. I suspect the theif thought it was a SIM card or something that could help locate or identify the phone and ditched it. Her "brother" told me he found the phone at 5:00, and is willing to say the same in a police report. I need to know if the SD card was removed from the phone before or after 5:00 before I decide to attempt to press charges against the people who returned the phone to me.

Sorry that happened. While I don't know the answer, the subject relates to a great free app I've put on my phone & is getting more popular called Android Lost. It helps track and remotely lock/wipe (including just the SD) and control the phone in lots of cool ways. Hoping it'll help other folks. The SD card use log though is not one of its features, so I'd be interested to hear if that's possible at all.

DroidApprentice said:
Sorry that happened. While I don't know the answer, the subject relates to a great free app I've put on my phone & is getting more popular called Android Lost. It helps track and remotely lock/wipe (including just the SD) and control the phone in lots of cool ways. Hoping it'll help other folks. The SD card use log though is not one of its features, so I'd be interested to hear if that's possible at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response! I actually found out about Android Lost while I was trying to figure out what I could do to find the phone, but it was too late. I was able to remote install it via the android market web page (I see that it is installed now that I have the phone back), but it seemed to require manual activation from the phone to work before I could do anything, so it was too late.
There was another app called Plan B that supposedly will work with a remote install even without any use of the phone, it did install but it never worked. Tried it on a friend's phone right in front of us and it didn't work on his either, so I can't recommend Plan B to anyone who comes across a similar problem in the future.
I guess the real lesson here is, install and register Android Lost before the phone is lost! Which I have now done.
Now my goal is to try to find out who in my office is a thief, but without screwing over someone who might potentially be a good Samaritan just returning my phone to me.

stufff11 said:
Thanks for the response! I actually found out about Android Lost while I was trying to figure out what I could do to find the phone, but it was too late. I was able to remote install it via the android market web page (I see that it is installed now that I have the phone back), but it seemed to require manual activation from the phone to work before I could do anything, so it was too late.
There was another app called Plan B that supposedly will work with a remote install even without any use of the phone, it did install but it never worked. Tried it on a friend's phone right in front of us and it didn't work on his either, so I can't recommend Plan B to anyone who comes across a similar problem in the future.
I guess the real lesson here is, install and register Android Lost before the phone is lost! Which I have now done.
Now my goal is to try to find out who in my office is a thief, but without screwing over someone who might potentially be a good Samaritan just returning my phone to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dont press charges just tell him to box you. if hes a man he will.

schnowdapowda said:
dont press charges just tell him to box you. if hes a man he will.
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Click to collapse
She was a woman with a 4 year old kid. The problem is that I don't know for sure if she is somehow involved with the person who stole the phone or not. I know she lied to me several times about how it was "found" as she says, but I want to be sure that the SD card was removed after she claims it was found before I go forward.

stufff11 said:
She was a woman with a 4 year old kid. The problem is that I don't know for sure if she is somehow involved with the person who stole the phone or not. I know she lied to me several times about how it was "found" as she says, but I want to be sure that the SD card was removed after she claims it was found before I go forward.
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Click to collapse
Combine the ideas. Box her 4 year old until she gives up the real thief.
(don't do that)

othan1 said:
Combine the ideas. Box her 4 year old until she gives up the real thief.
(don't do that)
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Click to collapse
LOL AMAZING LOGIC ROFL
But nah, this iswhere something like what htc has going on with the sense3.0 where you can remote wipe,track, lock,blahblahblah through the web
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

recover files with no power?

Ok so i have a crazy question. Im sure its a lost cause but Ill ask anyways. I have a G2 that i used a few years ago and one day it just turned off and never would turn back on. I opened it and installed a new battery if that was the issue, no luck. Left it on chargers for a week, no luck. Im not sure if it just shorted out or what. BUT my question is this. That was the phone i had when me and my wife first met, so theres pictures still on the phones storage. Is there any possible way to access that without the phone getting power? No its not detected by the PC or anything but is it possible to find the chip from the phone that holds the storage and in some way solder that to a new component and get the files? Like i said i know its a long shot, but honestly I dont care if they phone gets destroyed, i would love to recover those photos. If anyone has ANY ideas from the strange to the downright bat**** crazy feel free to let me know.
Thank you!!

This is going to sound like complete tinfoil hat stuff but it's not

I've got an Android G5 running 7.0 software, it's a LGUS992 and the carrier is under US Celluar.
I know this is going to sound like someone who's hearing things, hallucinating, etc but without a doubt. 100 %. someone in my community has access to my phone [and my Chromebook, actually] I'm not very computer savvy but I know there are means through which you /might/ be able to do this kind of thing- malware or spyware, keylogging, some kind of physical device, etc
I've heard people mention things as specific as individual songs I'm listening to, passwords I've used, things I've typed, etc. Like literally everything and anything I'll do on my phone, I know people have access to and I absolutely need to know how this is being done and how I could stop it, I've been a phone addict for years, use mine for both professional and personal purposes, and since I live out of state from most of my family and friends it's literally the /only/ way I can talk to 99 % of the people I know. My life is already in the dumps so to lose my main access to a ton of the things in my life is soul crushing and whoever does this doesn't care a bit
It's not just something that could be from my Gmail account being linked- I've heard mention of texts, etc. Phone only offline stuff. Does this sound like something that could be done and if so, evaded?
I've changed my phone password, Gmail password, Skype password, Youtube password, put on a PIN, put on a fingerprint access for my phone and this has still continued

What is the EXACT problem? As in, how did you find out and what EXACTLY happened in full detail. I any be able to help.

Betroot1A said:
I've got an Android G5 running 7.0 software, it's a LGUS992 and the carrier is under US Celluar.
...
I've heard people mention things as specific as individual songs I'm listening to, passwords I've used, things I've typed, etc. Like literally everything and anything I'll do on my phone, I know people have access to and I absolutely need to know how this is being done and how I could stop it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had some folks do this to me many many years ago on my pc when I was a teen. That kind of blunt invasion of privacy - and showing it off - is scary stuff to say the least.
If you were on a samsung device (which this subforum is targeted to by the way) I could tell you what to do right out the gate. I would tell you to reset the whole thing - meaning all partitions on it - to stock configuration via a special tool.
I have no idea if something like this exists on LG devices such as yours. So I would suggest you repost your question here in the LG G5 subforum. I'm sure there is a way to get rid of that malware and that someone there will be knowledable and kind enough to tell you how!
Keep your head up & good luck!

Hawaiihemd said:
I had some folks do this to me many many years ago on my pc when I was a teen. That kind of blunt invasion of privacy - and showing it off - is scary stuff to say the least.
If you were on a samsung device (which this subforum is targeted to by the way) I could tell you what to do right out the gate. I would tell you to reset the whole thing - meaning all partitions on it - to stock configuration via a special tool.
I have no idea if something like this exists on LG devices such as yours. So I would suggest you repost your question here in the LG G5 subforum. I'm sure there is a way to get rid of that malware and that someone there will be knowledable and kind enough to tell you how!
Keep your head up & good luck!
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Click to collapse
Yeah man, it's pretty hellish. Good looks on the referral, I'll see if anyone has a solution over there
And in reply to the first poster, I think I made the problem pretty clear, literally everything I do on my cell phone anywhere in town I'll hear about later on which for some odd reason I'm not okay with

Broken Phone HELP PLZ ?*♂️

Hi, so I recently smashed the H*** out of my Essential Phone. I put my sim in my wife's old Nexus to try and get back into the Gmail account I've had for 10+ years, and they've forced 2 step verification onto my account and will not let me use my number for recovery. The ONLY way to complete this verification is to use my Broken Essential Phone to accept screen prompt. So here's my question... I was rooted, with TWRP and Custom rom but do have Full Back ups on my computer, so if I were able to get another essential phone and root it, would I be able to then restore the factory image and back ups I had created for this old essential phone onto the new device and gain access to my Gmail account that way, or am I totally out of luck unless I fix my smashed phone enuf to get to the screen on to accept screen prompt to verify my identity....? Any insight here is greatly appreciated. I have 1000's of $$ invested in that Gmail and have been unable to access it for a week now. Google has been zero help. Sorry if. This is posted in the wrong space, I haven't been here in a while.

Kushmin05h said:
Hi, so I recently smashed the H*** out of my Essential Phone. I put my sim in my wife's old Nexus to try and get back into the Gmail account I've had for 10+ years, and they've forced 2 step verification onto my account and will not let me use my number for recovery. The ONLY way to complete this verification is to use my Broken Essential Phone to accept screen prompt. So here's my question... I was rooted, with TWRP and Custom rom but do have Full Back ups on my computer, so if I were able to get another essential phone and root it, would I be able to then restore the factory image and back ups I had created for this old essential phone onto the new device and gain access to my Gmail account that way, or am I totally out of luck unless I fix my smashed phone enuf to get to the screen on to accept screen prompt to verify my identity....? Any insight here is greatly appreciated. I have 1000's of $$ invested in that Gmail and have been unable to access it for a week now. Google has been zero help. Sorry if. This is posted in the wrong space, I haven't been here in a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A few years back you used to be able to get a new phone install TWRP create a backup on new phone and then copy the files from the old phones backup into the new backup folder (with the new unique file number). But think I read this doesn't work anymore on new version (but not sure you'll have to check yourself or hopefully someone here knows)
Even if that works what type of 2FA is it? Authenticator or SMS?
https://support.google.com/accounts/troubleshooter/4430955?hl=en
without a backup code it may not work anyhow
if you can see your screen but touch is not working just plug a mouse into the usb & click away! If screen is blacked out but rest of hardware good easiest to buy a replacement screen as cheap or use usb-hdmi hub to mirror screen (not sure if Essential phone requires any input to set up as haven't tried with this phone)
If other hardware damage it will depend, but as rooted you are in with a chance. Is usb debugging on?

Thanks for your response, Google has been zero help and I've definitely considered ordering a screen to see if I can get the old device to work, but the og screen is detached from the chip board, as far as I can tell it will power on with some serious prompting, but idk if it's actually trying to boot up or in some kind of safe mode detecting the screen is missing, or just wrecked completely...? Lol the notification Light stays red until the battery dies. I've considered maybe trying to clone the esn of my old essential phone to another phone to try to trick their servers that way but idk if they recognize the device via that (The ESN) or tokens generated locally on the device, and the more I think about it, the more I think the latter sounds more logical considering the nature of the beast I'm fighting here... Seems It would b wildly irresponsible of them to rely solely on esn to identify a "Trusted" device. Idk what to do, lol except cry... I'm basically at a loss at this point, so I will order a screen and go from there I guess, if the screen option doesn't work. You'd think with the money they have, they'd have some type of account recovery team, or a way to recover in the event something like this happens, or someone to speak to at the very least, the can verify my account in seconds over the phone, but do literally nothing for me, nor let me speak with or point me towards anyone who can.... And this is a pretty common issue it seems after lookin at their "Community help section" it's literally top to bottom ppl complaining about what I'm looking to "get help" with. There is zero reason they should be forcing 2fv on my account it's shut off in my account settings, I can get far enuf to c them, just doesn't let me change anything with out "Signing in" and verifying. Nor does it give me the option to use my only ACTUAL set up recovery option on the account, a code via text. It's almost like theyre protecting all my own s***, from me. The owner. Makes zero sense to me.

It sounds like when you setup the essential, you configured your Google account to use the *device* (via the Google app) for verification. I've done this also, but I have an old device also configured to authenticate. So the pop-up screen appears on both.
If you use a computer to log into your Google account (not gmail) on the screen that is waiting for verification, there should be a link to try a different method. Hopefully you setup a secondary email address in addition to the gmail account one.
Edit: start here https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/7682439?hl=en
OT: I realize you are frustrated, but it would be easier to pick out the relevant information in your posts if they were not one long paragraph.

I need help accessing locked phone - 8 Pro

I have a OnePlus 8 Pro that i need to get in to. The phone is mine on my T-Mobile account, i bought it for my brother on his birthday.
2 days ago he committed suicide. No note No explanation nothing. He was the strongest person we all knew. Never showed any weakness.
Even his wife cant understand it. I need to be able to get into the phone. There has to be something in there that shed some light on WHY???
His wife, daughter and I NEED answers. I have a ton of experience rooting and modding phones but i don't know how to get past a lock screen without wiping the phone.
If anybody can help me out i would be forever grateful. I would even pay if that's necessary. I am in so much pain right now over this.
Please help

Chipman417 said:
I have a OnePlus 8 Pro that i need to get in to. The phone is mine on my T-Mobile account, i bought it for my brother on his birthday.
2 days ago he committed suicide. No note No explanation nothing. He was the strongest person we all knew. Never showed any weakness.
Even his wife cant understand it. I need to be able to get into the phone. There has to be something in there that shed some light on WHY???
His wife, daughter and I NEED answers. I have a ton of experience rooting and modding phones but i don't know how to get past a lock screen without wiping the phone.
If anybody can help me out i would be forever grateful. I would even pay if that's necessary. I am in so much pain right now over this.
Please help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to hear this.
If the phones on Android 11 then theres no twrp so there no way to remove the passcode / pin as far as I'm aware.
Here's a guide explaining how to remove a passcode. However I think with an encrypted phone you won't be able to access files even via twrp.
https://forum-xda--developers-com.c...e-hacking/remove-lockscreen-recovery-t3530008
Data recovery companies may be able to help if it's really needed.
Don't advise them as to what's happened just the phone is yours and your brother was using it, don't tell them how important it is or the price may just go up.

dladz said:
Sorry to hear this.
If the phones on Android 11 then theres no twrp so there no way to remove the passcode / pin as far as I'm aware.
Here's a guide explaining how to remove a passcode. However I think with an encrypted phone you won't be able to access files even via twrp.
https://forum-xda--developers-com.c...e-hacking/remove-lockscreen-recovery-t3530008
Data recovery companies may be able to help if it's really needed.
Don't advise them as to what's happened just the phone is yours and your brother was using it, don't tell them how important it is or the price may just go up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for this info. I will attempt whatever i can.
I will try this and see if it works. I just received a call from the detective and he said they have a device that could do this for us.
I might go that route since there is nothing illegal that he was doing.
was just hoping to do it today as to get it done sooner.
Thank you for the help

Chipman417 said:
Thank you for this info. I will attempt whatever i can.
I will try this and see if it works. I just received a call from the detective and he said they have a device that could do this for us.
I might go that route since there is nothing illegal that he was doing.
was just hoping to do it today as to get it done sooner.
Thank you for the help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As it's Android it'll be possible. But difficult without the right kit..
I'd clarify what the detective wants to see on the device and can you be present for the unlock.

dladz said:
As it's Android it'll be possible. But difficult without the right kit..
I'd clarify what the detective wants to see on the device and can you be present for the unlock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly what i was thinking. I would prefer i am there and they unlock it and hand it straight to me.
I know he wouldn't appreciate anybody not the closest of family getting access and seeing his personal thoughts.

Chipman417 said:
Exactly what i was thinking. I would prefer i am there and they unlock it and hand it straight to me.
I know he wouldn't appreciate anybody not the closest of family getting access and seeing his personal thoughts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tbh I wouldn't want anyone looking through my phone is like a treasure trove..
I'd bare that in mind, not everything is meant to be seen. Doesn't mean anything, it's just how we are.

OP, sorry for your loss. That's all I have to offer. RIP.

Just my condolences to you and family

I'm sorry to hear also. May God bless you and family.

Thank you everyone that offered condolences

Chipman417 said:
Thank you everyone that offered condolences
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any luck with it?

As insensitive as this sounds, I am a homicide detective. If he had a fingerprint lock on the phone, you could use his physical fingerprint from his hand prior to burial to unlock the phone. We have used this method several times with success.
Regardless, my condolences to you and yours.

AlphaKoi said:
As insensitive as this sounds, I am a homicide detective. If he had a fingerprint lock on the phone, you could use his physical fingerprint from his hand prior to burial to unlock the phone. We have used this method several times with success.
Regardless, my condolences to you and yours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i was hoping to be able to do just this but since the family members are not very etch savvy, they power cycled the phone off and because of that the first unlock into the system has to be with the numeric password.
I rebuilt his laptop for him a couple months ago so i have the password to get into it. I'm hoping that he saved his email credentials in it. I know that after multiple attempts into android it allows you to change password through the email. This is the last thing i can think to do.
I reached out to OnePlus this morning and the woman who was answering my questions said she had no answers for me. she kept saying i could factory reset it through recovery mode. I already know that, i need the info on it. I'm thinking about reaching out to google also. Who knows they might help since the phone is in my name on my account.

dladz said:
Any luck with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not yet. I had an appointment to day with the funeral home to get access to his body so we could use his fingerprint but the phone was turned off since his last login.
It now required the numeric password before logging in. I have one shot left that i can think of. If i can gain access to his email i might be able to reset the password that way.
Fingers crossed. It was so hard yesterday going to the funeral home. We all need answers

Chipman417 said:
Not yet. I had an appointment to day with the funeral home to get access to his body so we could use his fingerprint but the phone was turned off since his last login.
It now required the numeric password before logging in. I have one shot left that i can think of. If i can gain access to his email i might be able to reset the password that way.
Fingers crossed. It was so hard yesterday going to the funeral home. We all need answers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When your reset his email you'll be able to recieve s text message with a verification number

Google find my device . It can unlock it.

SjDU said:
Google find my device . It can unlock it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw that. unfortunately i don't have his email credentials for his Find My Device.
Also the sm card was removed my his wife before she gave it back to me unfortunately.
Although it does connect to my Wifi at home... I'm almost to the point of giving up.
I don't think we will ever know why he did what he did.
Thank you to everyone that jumped on this thread. I love this community.

I kinda don't buy the OP story but here is my take:
- Doesn't need a SIM to get/use Find my device working but does require Google account access which is recoverable easily.
- It's trivially easy to recover a Google account with the phone number of the deceased unless the person specifically removed those options and used for instance an authenticator app (of if you don't have the actual SIM or access to that phone number but that would be strange).
- If you cannot recover the account that way, you can still recover it using a legal path by providing the correct inheritance documents to Google (through a lawyer if required) which should pose no issue (again this should pose no issue and while it would take time, it would work).
- Whatsapp cloud backup (on Google drive) is enabled by default and if you're after that, it's probably gonna be trivially easy to restore said backups on any new phone by using the SIM card of the deceased. Unless the person specifically disabled this to prevent this.
You can most likely recover Whatsapp messages without even unlocking the phone. This whole process is actually not hard and requires no tech help and can be done through the legal processes.
Added to all this, I checked your history and saw that you requested help before unlocking a Pixel phone that magically came into your possession before. So it seems you have a pattern of coming into possession of locked phones that makes me very suspicious of your demand.
I'll report this thread and ask a mod to review it.

Sorry. I also have doubts any time I see a story here asking for help unlocking a phone. Always sounds suspicious, and furthermore where are the mods here? Aren't there rules that state no requests for help unlocking phones??
Here is the OPs other post:
" Junior Member11 postsThanks: 2
I have a 64gb Pixel 4 XL that i want to unlock and use on T-Mobile.
The phone was never actually on a Sprint account. It was never technically paid off by a consumer. Its also never been activated on the sprint network to my understanding. (Which are all required to have sprint send an unlock code)
It was given to me by a Sprint store manager when they had to clean out end of year inventory.
I'm trying to figure out if i can unlock it somehow without having to get sprint to send the unlock code.
I don't really want to go through the hassle of explaining to them how i got a hold of it when they look at it in the system.
Any help would be greatly appreciated"

@San Diego The moderators are here and monitoring the thread since it has been created. And these are the XDA Forum Rules to cross-check.
To ask for assistance is not against the rules, and if you read back in the thread quite a few legal possibilities have been given. They obviously didn't delivered the desired result. However, as soon as the discussion or advices deviate towards the obscure side or to paid unlock services this would be removed immediately.
If you check the thread, from which you quoted, you'll see that moderators were acive in it, too.
Stay safe and stay healthy!
Regards
Oswald Boelcke
Forum Moderator