Database Users

How to disable "power off" if the phone is locked?

My Gnex was stolen a few months before I got my N4, and although I tried to track it the thief was "clever" and simply turned the phone off. I think he then took the SIM out before turning it back on, so that even when powered up it never connected to the network and he had time to wipe/sell/use my device. The biggest lesson I learned was to lock my phone, and so my N4 has a PIN code. However, I was thinking that a thief could still do the same thing if this one is ever misplaced and I would be screwed. Is there a way to prevent someone from shutting down the phone without unlocking the device? At least this way you would be able to track it or install tracking software until the battery dies.

webmaster said:
My Gnex was stolen a few months before I got my N4, and although I tried to track it the thief was "clever" and simply turned the phone off. I think he then took the SIM out before turning it back on, so that even when powered up it never connected to the network and he had time to wipe/sell/use my device. The biggest lesson I learned was to lock my phone, and so my N4 has a PIN code. However, I was thinking that a thief could still do the same thing if this one is ever misplaced and I would be screwed. Is there a way to prevent someone from shutting down the phone without unlocking the device? At least this way you would be able to track it or install tracking software until the battery dies.
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Click to collapse
I have Avast! installed on mine and when I changed out the Sim at the store the other day, the phone freaked out and sent me text messages (to my backup phone number) of the location and the new phone number. I'm about 90 percent sure that some of the other settings in the app lock the ability to wipe the phone... but I'm new to this Android thing and I could be wrong (workaround via fastboot?).
Anyway, if this is the case, Avast should calm your fears... plus its free.

What if the other person simply turns the phone off?

theres nothing you can do after they turn it off they will just restore the device, even if your carrier blocks your imei number, they can just use the phone in another country ,you can only protect your information on the device

If you have a rooted device you can install Cerberus as a system app, so it will survive to wipe. But disable power off is impossible.

I realize it is impossible to disable power off (for good reason!), however there should be a way to disable it when the phone is locked. In fact, I cant think of a single reason the phone SHOULD allow you to power it down while it is locked.

webmaster said:
I realize it is impossible to disable power off (for good reason!), however there should be a way to disable it when the phone is locked. In fact, I cant think of a single reason the phone SHOULD allow you to power it down while it is locked.
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Click to collapse
A single reason?
You turn your phone screen on. It randomly locks up and not responding.
Oh no what do I do now?! I can't pull my battery!!!!!!
Long press hold for 10 seconds. Phone turns off.
Long press is encoded within the phone and can't be disabled, it's down to the bootloaderish level.

Locked out of Galaxy S4 using Unlock w/ WiFi

I have been using Unlock with WiFi on my Galaxy S3 using a 1 letter password with no issues. Please don't judge me for using such a simple password
Anyhow, I now have a Galaxy S4 and just got it all setup last night. Installed Unlock with WiFi, entered my 1 letter for the password, and now I appear to be locked out of my phone.
At the lock screen, when I type just 1 letter and press the return key, it just erases the letter like I didn't type anything. This continues up to 3 characters. If I type 4 or more, then I get a message, Wrong Password. So this tells me the S4 must only recognize 4 or more characters, yet Unlock with WiFi still allows you to enter one 1 character for the password. I have sent an email to the developer, but I was hoping someone from here might be able to shed some light on the matter. I 'm curious why or how this could have happened.
How do I get back into my phone? I have already tried the Android Device Manager, but my phone never receives the new lock. I know this because it allows you to enter a message that will be displayed on the lock screen, and I never receive the message. I also tried AndroidLost but no luck. It apparently thinks my phone is offline and none of the commands sent are successful on my phone.
Also, my phone is rooted if that helps. Just rooted it last night thanks to the help of this forum.
Thanks
Mike

Hmm... Try searching around xda for a lockscreen reset zip. I think it's I'm android software development

bennyboy78 said:
Hmm... Try searching around xda for a lockscreen reset zip. I think it's I'm android software development
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think any of that is going to work. It either requires a recovery partition to be installed or USB Debugging enabled.
I had USB Debugging on, but after I had everything setup on my phone I turned it off. I didn't install a recovery partition.
I have decided to just reset it and wipe it clean, since it's still like new and I have no data or pictures on it. Though I do dread fine tuning all my settings, reinstalling all my apps and setting everything back up the way I had it.
Anyhow, not sure how you reset the phone though. I thought after you enter the pin code wrong so many times, it will ask you to reset the phone. Anyone know the limit?
When I enter the code wrong after 5x, it tells me to wait 30 seconds, and then tells me a total of how many times I have entered the wrong code. I currently have entered the wrong code 30x and all it says is wait 30 seconds and try again.
Seriously, that sounds like it's going on indefinitely! If so, what can I do at this point?
I'm still waiting to hear back from the developer of the app that contributed to all of this.
Thanks
Mike

[Solved] Weird lock-screen issue

Solved (how can I add that to the title?)
Verizon Galaxy S5, rooted and running 4.4.4
I had a weird and unsettling incident today. I had my phone set up for pattern unlock. I pulled my phone from my pocket and it was on a pin unlock screen. I was unable to get it to go back to pattern unlock, even with pulling the battery. As so often happens when I'm ambushed with a password requirement (the old pattern unlock didn't require a pin), I couldn't remember it. I'm sure I'll remember it eventually but I needed to have navigation right then so I had to do the reset, lost some stuff, nothing too important (old factory reset didn't used to wipe the SD so I lost some stuff there too). Mostly annoying but neither here nor there really. I always assume that anything on my phone is volatile.
So that was that. I assumed my phone had pocket-swiped and got caught in a pin fallback. Except I'm playing with my phone now and I'm unable to duplicate the effect. I have a pattern set and a pin behind it but playing with it and getting the pattern wrong doesn't lock me into having to enter the pin. If I get the pattern wrong several times, I get prompted with forgot pattern (which prompts me for my google account info) or backup pin (which prompts me for my pin but allows me to hit the back arrow to go back to the pattern).
If it helps, I did not have encryption on this device. It was not new when I got it so I had performed a factory reset so it should have been in exactly the same state. Can anyone help me understand how I got locked into this "having to enter a pin" state?
[Edit: I just tried enabling the pin lock screen and it is different from the screen that I saw which was more like the "backup pin" screen]
As an additional question, I see there is an option to disable the auto factory reset. If you disable it, what are your options for if you forget your passwords? How would you reset the device?
Edit2: OK, the clue was in there. If the auto factory reset is disabled, you are able to go back and forth between the pattern unlock and the pin unlock. If the auto factory reset is enabled, you jump to the pin unlock and then you get 10 chances at the pin and there is apparently no way to get back to the pattern unlock. I'll reserve comment on whether having the auto factory reset enabled as the default is a good idea or not.

Just as an additional note, I just checked and it is not possible to unlock the device from the android device manager when it has a pattern lock or pin lock screen set

This just happened to me after the tenth try and fail it wiped the whole internal and external cards and went in to boot loop I had to reflash the rom best thing to do is turn off the phone boot to safestrap and restore a back if you go through with the 10 tries at least pull your memory card before the 10th try
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Free mobile app

It looks like a good answer I found was that if you load up the play store on a browser on a PC, there is an app you can install that will unlock your device. Pretty smart (though not cheap [edit: actually pretty cheap, just not free]). I did need the nav but if I had known of this app, I probably would just have asked directions. I definitely should have pulled the sd card anyway.
Here is the link to the app. There is also a free version which does less. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.thomascannon.screenlockbypass.pro
Other useful info available here
http://null-byte.wonderhowto.com/ho...u-bypass-android-pattern-lock-screen-0138807/

S7 Edge Lock Screen issue, wont unlock

I bought two Galaxy S7 Edge phones recently and have noticed this issue on both phones now. Both are also updated to the latest firmware. Both of us have fingerprints set up and a pattern backup. So far, the issue has occurred to us both twice. I happen to always use my fingerprint to unlock and she always uses pattern out of habit from a past phone. She brought it to me a couple of days ago and said her phone says to wait 60 minutes and try again. I asked how many times she entered it wrong, because of course I thought she entered it wrong. She said she didn't enter it incorrectly. I asked if she tried to reboot, of course not. Anyways, I held on to it and after 60 minutes I entered the pattern to unlock her phone and sure enough it wouldn't work. I rebooted, and tried again and it worked. OK...Weird.
The very next day, it happened on my phone. I always use my fingerprint though so it told me no match found. Say what? Tried again. Same thing. OK, swipe and tried my pattern. It says its incorrect and to try again in 30 seconds. 30 seconds later, I tried again and it locked me out for 60 seconds. This time I rebooted, and after it was done and 60 seconds had passed my pattern was working again.
I don't get why it randomly seems to not recognize that we are putting in the correct pattern or fingerprint. I am however happy that a reboot seems to resolve the issue. Is no one else experiencing this?

Mine doesn't lock instead!
So I tried couple of things. Rebooted, re-initialized Finger Prints and even pattern. Now matter what I do, it won't lock the phone. It will just unlock without asking for passcode, pattern, password or fingerprint. Only option I can think of is to restore the phone and try setting up lock option but that's pain in the a**!! I tried third party apps as to lock screen but none of them have the fingerprint unlock option! And some have ads and weird setup which worked... Gettting frustrating. Perhaps I should try restoring phone if there's no other option left

shunail said:
So I tried couple of things. Rebooted, re-initialized Finger Prints and even pattern. Now matter what I do, it won't lock the phone. It will just unlock without asking for passcode, pattern, password or fingerprint. Only option I can think of is to restore the phone and try setting up lock option but that's pain in the a**!! I tried third party apps as to lock screen but none of them have the fingerprint unlock option! And some have ads and weird setup which worked... Gettting frustrating. Perhaps I should try restoring phone if there's no other option left
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Entirely different. I'm not sure this is actually an issue as much as it is probably settings. Go to settings, Lock screen and security, Secure lock settings. Check how long Lock automatically is set for (mine is for 5 seconds after the screen turns off automatically and that is set for 2 minutes.). Then turn on lock instantly with power key. Go to smart lock and see if that's being used. IF it is it would keep your phone unlocked when its connected via Bluetooth to a device you told it to trust, or when you are at a trusted place via google maps (such as home or work), or it could simply know your voice, or lastly if it senses that it is on your body (I don't get this one. Seems very insecure, like anyone could pick it up and it would just unlock.). Good luck!

Viper41086 said:
Entirely different. I'm not sure this is actually an issue as much as it is probably settings. Go to settings, Lock screen and security, Secure lock settings. Check how long Lock automatically is set for (mine is for 5 seconds after the screen turns off automatically and that is set for 2 minutes.). Then turn on lock instantly with power key. Go to smart lock and see if that's being used. IF it is it would keep your phone unlocked when its connected via Bluetooth to a device you told it to trust, or when you are at a trusted place via google maps (such as home or work), or it could simply know your voice, or lastly if it senses that it is on your body (I don't get this one. Seems very insecure, like anyone could pick it up and it would just unlock.). Good luck!
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Forgot to mention, have done all of that. First I had it set Lock Automatically to immediately and tried 5 seconds, 15 seconds to all the 30 minutes, still won't lock (over night till I wok up in the morning)
Smart Lock:
Trusted Device are my car and my watch, but even with bluetooth disabled (just to give it a shot) it still doesn't lock.
Trusted Place: my home, but even with Location Service (GPS) turned off, still won't lock
On body Detection = Off
Trusted Voice = Off
Tried updating phone perhaps something may fix it, nothing.
Tried Security Policy updates and that says ... updated to latest version...
Been using Android since good old HTC Evo days and had no issue with my (last) Note 4 locking with fingerprint!! I love this phone really expect for this issue. Oh yes and another issue, gestures won't work also!!! Tried hand gestures for screenshot, nothing. Smart Stay doesn't work also!!!
Is something wrong with this phone perhaps??

shunail said:
Forgot to mention, have done all of that. First I had it set Lock Automatically to immediately and tried 5 seconds, 15 seconds to all the 30 minutes, still won't lock (over night till I wok up in the morning)
Smart Lock:
Trusted Device are my car and my watch, but even with bluetooth disabled (just to give it a shot) it still doesn't lock.
Trusted Place: my home, but even with Location Service (GPS) turned off, still won't lock
On body Detection = Off
Trusted Voice = Off
Tried updating phone perhaps something may fix it, nothing.
Tried Security Policy updates and that says ... updated to latest version...
Been using Android since good old HTC Evo days and had no issue with my (last) Note 4 locking with fingerprint!! I love this phone really expect for this issue. Oh yes and another issue, gestures won't work also!!! Tried hand gestures for screenshot, nothing. Smart Stay doesn't work also!!!
Is something wrong with this phone perhaps??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm.. Have you tried turning off Smart lock all together? Otherwise, all I can think is to factory reset settings before you factory reset the phone.

Factory Settings Reset did it
Factory Settings Reset did it however gestures and smart stay are still issues!! Then I courage myself to do Factory Phone Reset and dang the issue with the gestures persists!!

Bump.
No one else is having this issue? I just happened to be the only one with two new phones that do it?

This literally just happened to me! I was walking to a friend's house and was using the phone just fine - was using Facebook Messenger and Spotify. All of a sudden, I try to unlock it (I have a pattern to draw, not a code) and it doesn't work. I have no idea what's going on but I don't want to factory reset and lose all my contacts and pictures. I only have four tries left to unlock it before it automatically resets itself. I've tried using the Android Device Manager to set a temporary password but since there's already a pattern to draw it won't bypass the lock screen for some reason. I never thought to check the security settings on my phone (why would I if I had a lock screen on it?) so I can't use the Samsung equivalent either. I'm extremely frustrated - been looking for help for about an hour and I'm finding absolutely nothing. It's clearly been a problem before and yet there's no solutions or explanations as to why it's happening??

While I am still having this issue sparsely, I can get around it simply by rebooting. It's just annoying to have to do so.

It's anew feature of S7 called SMART LOCK, meaning your phone knows if you're in a safe place such as your Home, your Car or if you paired a smart watch with your phone and added it as trusted device, as long as you're connected to your watch, the phone knows you're in a safe place so you dont need to enter password to your phone. Or if youre in your car or at Home, then you wont need to enter password to open your phone. But if you want to remove this feature and want to swipe or enter your pin no matter where you are then do this..go to:
SETTING>LOCK SCREEN & SECURITY>SECURE LOCK SETTING>SMART LOCK. Here you'll see "Trusted Places" and "Trusted Device" Just edit or press and hold whatever is in there, e.i your watch, your home address etc...then remove and you should be good to go.

Have you tried turning off Smart lock all together? Otherwise, all I can think is to factory reset settings before you factory reset the phone.

After Power ON, MUST use Knock Code first instead of fingerprint?

Anyone else seeing this behavior? On my 995, whenever I restart, or power on my phone.. I have to use the Knock Code to get into my phone, and it says "fingerprints unavailable for use" or something to that effect.
I find this odd behavior.

Its not odd behavior its LG behavior.
Unfortunately there's no way around it.

turn off secure startup in security...

Your fingerprint is encrypted and you phone can't access encrypted data until you unlock it after a reboot. So its kinda a catch 22 where you will always have to unlock with a pin after startup instead of fingerprint. Your fingerprint is biometric data and obviously can't be changed so it needs to more secure on your phone than your pin which you can change. It is this way on most phones with fingerprint readers.

Double0EK said:
Its not odd behavior its LG behavior.
Unfortunately there's no way around it.
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It's not just LG, my Samsung S7 and Note 7 both required pin code on first log in after a reboot/boot up
It's part of Android now.

nest75068 said:
It's not just LG, my Samsung S7 and Note 7 both required pin code on first log in after a reboot/boot up
It's part of Android now.
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Click to collapse
It's not even Android. My work phone is an iPhone and it has the same behavior. Which drives me nuts because our work phones require us to change pin codes every couple of months and we can't recycle codes.

I turned off secure startup as I don't need kids messing with my phone and I imagine after ten attempts if wipes it?

reaverclan said:
I turned off secure startup as I don't need kids messing with my phone and I imagine after ten attempts if wipes it?
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Click to collapse
30 attempts for secure boot

If I'm right, the op is taking about setting the fingerprint to unlock but it still requires the pattern. You will notice this if you use a third party app or launcher to lock screen. E.g. Nova launcher double tap to lock screen. It will tell you fingerprint is unavailable.
A work around to this is to doubly tap the top part of the screen (the bar where the date and signal strength is).
This will allow you to unlock with fingerprint.
If you use the stock lg launcher then double tapping anywhere on screen shows you to unlock using fingerprint.

koppee1 said:
If I'm right, the op is taking about setting the fingerprint to unlock but it still requires the pattern. You will notice this if you use a third party app or launcher to lock screen. E.g. Nova launcher double tap to lock screen. It will tell you fingerprint is unavailable.
A work around to this is to doubly tap the top part of the screen (the bar where the date and signal strength is).
This will allow you to unlock with fingerprint.
If you use the stock lg launcher then double tapping anywhere on screen shows you to unlock using fingerprint.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm working with a developer of Screen Lock Pro to try and find a workaround for this. Currently his app will work on Android 5 and 6 by delaying the lock for 5-10 seconds but it's currently not working on Android 7 on LG (it is working on Pixel and Nexus devices).

Hmmm... Not sure I understand this behavior. My fingerprint is much more complex than a 4-digit code that can eventually be brute-forced (phone wipe or not - in theory I mean).. so why wouldn't my fingerprint be the top-most factor in unlocking the phone? I mean.. say I'm one of those guys that uses his last four of an SSN like an idiot, and someone knows that about me.. boom, they're in my phone. Do iPhones do this for real (as stated above)?

CHH2 said:
It's not even Android. My work phone is an iPhone and it has the same behavior. Which drives me nuts because our work phones require us to change pin codes every couple of months and we can't recycle codes.
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Interesting. I wonder what type of MDM Solution your company is running...

dbornack said:
Hmmm... Not sure I understand this behavior. My fingerprint is much more complex than a 4-digit code that can eventually be brute-forced (phone wipe or not - in theory I mean).. so why wouldn't my fingerprint be the top-most factor in unlocking the phone? I mean.. say I'm one of those guys that uses his last four of an SSN like an idiot, and someone knows that about me.. boom, they're in my phone. Do iPhones do this for real (as stated above)?
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Click to collapse
Yup, every time I restart my iPhone, it asks for my pin number and the finger print reader is inoperable. Even when I don't restart my iPhone for a while, it will occasionally lock out the reader and require a pin to wake.
rudbwoy said:
Interesting. I wonder what type of MDM Solution your company is running...
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Click to collapse
Had to figure out where in the menus to dig through to find out who it is. (I seriously do not like how Apple sets their phones up.) Looks like it is AWMDM.

CHH2 said:
Had to figure out where in the menus to dig through to find out who it is. (I seriously do not like how Apple sets their phones up.) Looks like it is AWMDM.
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Click to collapse
Airwatch, by VMware. MDM....aka you're being watched...

rudbwoy said:
Airwatch, by VMware. MDM....aka you're being watched...
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I always assume as much. Not really a bother for me. The iPhone is a work phone that I don't like carrying or touching. My personal phone is always my go to for anything unless it is work related.

I have this on my nexus 6p also. When ever i reboot the phone it requires me to use my pattern to unlock. It's a "feature" of sorts. Not going to go into my thoughts as to why but i think i may understand why they did that.

In case anyone is wondering, a few conditions that force you to use backup method are being left alone (with no smart locks enabled or active) for 4 hours, a reboot, and a failed scan 5 times in a row.
The reboot case is due to encrypted data (no matter what you do, your phone is encrypted on boot, unless you fix that, however, you phone will still treat it as such). The only reason I can imagine for the time out is in case a ninja chops off your fingers in your sleep. As for the wrong input, that seems annoying sure, but odds are if you got the fingerprint wrong 5 times in a row, it's not you.

Yeah v10 does this as well on fresh boot ups.
I'm not sure I understand the reason behind it I would think it would be less secure this way.
Sent from my LG-H901 using XDA-Developers mobile app

Vuciz said:
In case anyone is wondering, a few conditions that force you to use backup method are being left alone (with no smart locks enabled or active) for 4 hours, a reboot, and a failed scan 5 times in a row.
The reboot case is due to encrypted data (no matter what you do, your phone is encrypted on boot, unless you fix that, however, you phone will still treat it as such). The only reason I can imagine for the time out is in case a ninja chops off your fingers in your sleep. As for the wrong input, that seems annoying sure, but odds are if you got the fingerprint wrong 5 times in a row, it's not you.
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I'm not sure I'm following as to why encryption matters. Are you saying my fingerprint data is encrypted? If so, why isn't my PIN also encrypted?

Speaking of fingerprints has anyone run into the issue where the phone "forgets" your print? I have had this happen at random times and while the fingerprint data is still saved the phone fails to recognize my finger so I have to set it up again.
Sent from my LG-H901 using XDA-Developers mobile app