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Remove Google Account After Factory Reset (2019)

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Re: Remove Google Account After Factory Reset (2019)

#41

Post by swiftcoder »

easton wrote: post #14
mjevans wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's not a good thing. The Factory Reset process is defective. It SHOULD ask the user if they are selling, giving away, or otherwise disposing of the device; or otherwise just want to remove that device from their account.

It does. "Erase all content and settings" prompts the user to enter their password to disable Find My iPhone, and if you do it through iTunes, once the phone reboots into the clean OS it prompts on the computer to type the credentials in. You could refuse to type the credentials in leaving it locked, but Apple is pretty informative throughout the process. (You can also remove it from Find My iPhone on the web and it…

Note that Android doesn't ask the same thing (and especially not if you initiate factory reset from the bootloader, as tech folks are prone to do).

Re: Remove Google Account After Factory Reset (2019)

#42

Post by swiftcoder »

raxxorrax wrote: post #40
taneq wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stolen devices are an edge case because it removes the incentive to steal the devices. Back when mobile phones first started becoming popular they were an equally popular smash-and-grab item. Now? Not so much.

But most phones don't have physical reset buttons, so all of them have this kind of protection without the shenanigans of account de-association.

Are there any extant android devices that can't be factory reset from the bootloader menu?

Re: Remove Google Account After Factory Reset (2019)

#43

Post by swiftcoder »

sschueller wrote: post #27

The amount of these devices going into the trash is shameful and unnecessary. Vendors like Apple should be required to take back phones and devices that are in such a locked state for free. They should then unlock devices that can be sold as refurbished, used or even part out the devices.

If look at Apple's trade-in program, they'll accept any phone in any state (even broken phones from competitors) and recycle them. Pretty sure this is a legal requirement in several jurisdictions.

Re: Remove Google Account After Factory Reset (2019)

#44

Post by taneq »

b3lvedere wrote: post #39
taneq wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are tons of procedures to make pretty sure devices are wiped completely from any sort of data. Why is this not enough? It sucks, but it's not enough because it doesn't remove the incentive to steal the device in the first place. If you want someone to plonk down $2k for a fancy phone, you'd better be able to (a) convince them that they'll be able to re-sell it for a good chunk of that amount, and (b) at the s…

"If the thousands of devices you mention were legitimately obtained, why were they locked with account credentials that you didn't have? Or were they recovered from dumped recycling or something?" Oh that was not only smartphones, but also data carriers like harddisks and usb sticks. Apologies for not clarifying. Nevertheless valid points indeed. Regarding smartphones people just forgot or died. Most of them 'assumed…

Oh, right yeah that makes sense. And a moment after I posted I remembered the "donate your old phone" bins that many mobile phone shops had last time I was phone shopping. I'd imagine most people dropping their 3-year-old iPhone into one of those wouldn't bother to disassociate their account with it before they hit reset and chucked it in.

Re: Remove Google Account After Factory Reset (2019)

#45

Post by sschueller »

swiftcoder wrote: post #43
sschueller wrote: post #27

The amount of these devices going into the trash is shameful and unnecessary. Vendors like Apple should be required to take back phones and devices that are in such a locked state for free. They should then unlock devices that can be sold as refurbished, used or even part out the devices.

If look at Apple's trade-in program, they'll accept any phone in any state (even broken phones from competitors) and recycle them. Pretty sure this is a legal requirement in several jurisdictions.

With a trade in you get money for the device, hence you need to own it. I want phones that have been lost or stolen to be recycled with Apple not compensating anyone for bringing them in.

Re: Remove Google Account After Factory Reset (2019)

#46

Post by swiftcoder »

sschueller wrote: post #45
swiftcoder wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If look at Apple's trade-in program, they'll accept any phone in any state (even broken phones from competitors) and recycle them. Pretty sure this is a legal requirement in several jurisdictions.

With a trade in you get money for the device, hence you need to own it. I want phones that have been lost or stolen to be recycled with Apple not compensating anyone for bringing them in.

If you go through the trade-in evaluation online, and say that the device is smashed or doesn't boot up, they'll offer to recycle it for you at their cost.

Re: Remove Google Account After Factory Reset (2019)

#47

Post by anoncow419 »

nojs wrote: post #10

I have a perfectly good phone that’s bricked because of this. It really seems like there’s nothing you can do.

I work in an area of refurbishing phones, this is something I deal with sometimes.

Often times we receive phones that are completely locked, but depending on the version, you can bypass it by using Android manipulation tricks. If a phone has FRP (factory reset protection) enabled, then it is locked to the original account, and the phone setup process, even after a factory reset, is a lot different. The phone requires that WiFi is enabled and connected to a network, as opposed to optional, and that the original account owner signs into it in order to set it up.

The bypass trick is going into either emergency phone call mode, or by going into TalkBack settings and bringing up the global context menu to do what I call are break-outs. You can dial an emergency phone number (I hate doing this) and hop to the Bluetooth Android settings, which then lets you navigate to Backup&Reset, and from that you can completely wipe the phone and get rid of FRP. You must enter the settings before the phone hangs up.

Or you can go into TalkBack, activate it, go through help docs, and try to find a help doc that links you to an exterior site like YouTube through Chrome (not the app). From the browser, download any kind of APK, then head into APK installation settings where you have to grant security permissions to install APKs from unknown sources, which then takes you to Android settings, which you can then do a full factory reset to remove FRP.

I've also seen on Android 8 or newer that you can use the Google assistant type-text modes to do break-outs as well from inside the locked phone setup process. YMMV, but these are things I've done in practice on some slightly older phones.

Re: Remove Google Account After Factory Reset (2019)

#48

Post by oyebenny »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #3

This is really no different to Apple’s Activation Lock. If the previous user isn’t careful to sign out of their Apple ID (or, at a minimum, disable “Find My”), the new owner will need the previous owner’s password to reset the device. This is a good thing . Combined with remote lock, it renders stolen devices useless.

What if this was a dark pattern implemented so that people will generate more useless phones and will have to purchase new ones all the time?

Re: Remove Google Account After Factory Reset (2019)

#49

Post by lotsofpulp »

taneq wrote: post #37
b3lvedere wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"This is a good thing. Combined with remote lock, it renders stolen devices useless." My personal opinions on this: Factory reset should mean 'just like when it came out of the factory brand new'. So no hidden keys, certificates, connections, locks or other dependencies. Either change the definition or do not call it factory reset. If people will not be able to factory reset a device, please explicitly state so in th…

> There are tons of procedures to make pretty sure devices are wiped completely from any sort of data. Why is this not enough? It sucks, but it's not enough because it doesn't remove the incentive to steal the device in the first place. If you want someone to plonk down $2k for a fancy phone, you'd better be able to (a) convince them that they'll be able to re-sell it for a good chunk of that amount, and (b) at the s…

>If you want someone to plonk down $2k for a fancy phone

Which phone is this?

Re: Remove Google Account After Factory Reset (2019)

#50

Post by JadoJodo »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #49
taneq wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are tons of procedures to make pretty sure devices are wiped completely from any sort of data. Why is this not enough? It sucks, but it's not enough because it doesn't remove the incentive to steal the device in the first place. If you want someone to plonk down $2k for a fancy phone, you'd better be able to (a) convince them that they'll be able to re-sell it for a good chunk of that amount, and (b) at the s…

>If you want someone to plonk down $2k for a fancy phone Which phone is this?

While I suspect this is a slight exaggeration, a 1 TB iPhone 13 Pro Max w/ 2 years of AppleCare+ (with Theft and Loss), as well as tax (for me in the US, at least) runs $1,980.08. It's $1,599 without the add-ons.
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