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Samsung’s “repair mode” lets technicians look at your phone, not your data

arstechnica.com

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Re: Samsung’s “repair mode” lets technicians look at your phone, not your data

#31

Post by recycledmatt »

kevincox wrote: post #14
recycledmatt wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You want to turn it back on to validate everything is working right and it’s all plugged in correct. You also want to validate you didn’t break anything else while attempting the repair

Can't they have a signed "self-test" image that they can boot up and it checks the phone? This wouldn't have access to any user data but can boot up and check that all of the components are working. This sounds much quicker and more effective than prodding at the user's OS anyways.

In high volume test and repair environments this exists, but part of how they can do it is they erase and overwrite the data on the phone. When you don’t care about the users data this becomes much easier. Data migration is a pain. (Esp when it’s not yours)

Re: Samsung’s “repair mode” lets technicians look at your phone, not your data

#32

Post by NavinF »

Nullabillity wrote: post #23
liminalsunset wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think on Samsung phones, plugging them into a standard USB-C multiport hub with an HDMI monitor and a keyboard/mouse plugged in allows use of the "DeX" mode, even while locked. I would assume someone could plug the phone in, use the mouse to enter their password and operate the UI to activate such a feature.

I'm sure that'll be helpful for the one person in the world who owns a USB-C multiport hub.

They’re pretty common. I don’t own one personally, but lots of people have laptops with no full-size HDMI port. For them the dongle is necessary to make the laptop usable.

Re: Samsung’s “repair mode” lets technicians look at your phone, not your data

#33

Post by zuminator »

leereeves wrote: post #10

> If the user executes 'Repair Mode' in the 'Battery and Device Care' menu in the 'Settings' of the smartphone, the smartphone is rebooted. But how do you enter repair mode if your phone is broken?

Seem to me that if your phone can't even boot up, then repair mode is moot, the repair person won't be able to log into your account to access your private info. Even after the phone is operational they still won't be able to run anything without you putting in your password. I think this is more for the situation where the repair person asks you to log in so they can verify that the phone is fully working. You'll want to expose as little sensitive data as possible.

I do think you have a point though. If you sent in a non-functional phone, and now it's in the shop being fixed, but the repair person needs to do a detailed check of the phone's operation, how can that be done safely without you being present? Maybe there could be a "repair mode password" that you can give out remotely and only allows the phone to enter repair mode.

Re: Samsung’s “repair mode” lets technicians look at your phone, not your data

#34

Post by vladvasiliu »

silversnitch wrote: post #5

Curious, why does Samsung need to have Phone booted up for battery repair? I recently had a battery replacement done for my iPhone and I had similar concerns if I need to give them Phone unlocked, but they asked me to turn off Phone. That is what I expect from battery repair!

When I had my iPhone battery changed, they explicitly said it should be unlocked and / or I should give them the code. So I went through the trouble of backing everything up, wiping the phone clean, and then reinstalling everything when I got it back.

If there was some kind of "status debug port" or whatever, the technicians could've done the various checks the sibling talks about without needing full control of my phone.

Re: Samsung’s “repair mode” lets technicians look at your phone, not your data

#35

Post by randombits0 »

63 wrote: post #3

This feels like a big win for privacy. I just hope that it's communicated well enough that users know to enable it when they send in their phone for repairs. I also wish there was a way to enable it if the touchscreen is inaccessible, as it usually is by the time I would consider seeking repairs.

It’s also bs. The promise is only as good as the maker and the technology. Has it been vetted? Are there independent evaluations? Is Samsung willing accept any liabilities in the event of failure?

All hype, no substance. Delete your data (with no way of verifying) and restore it on return.

Re: Samsung’s “repair mode” lets technicians look at your phone, not your data

#36

Post by ixmerof »

That's both odd and interesting, my only experience with official repair services was that they always were starting ANY job by wiping the entire device. That was always written in bold letters that's what I have to agree for. Their answer on why it is required was always that's the only way to test the phone is fully functional as from factory with default config. Thus... I started fixing them on my own.

Re: Samsung’s “repair mode” lets technicians look at your phone, not your data

#37

Post by GuB-42 »

kevincox wrote: post #14
recycledmatt wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You want to turn it back on to validate everything is working right and it’s all plugged in correct. You also want to validate you didn’t break anything else while attempting the repair

Can't they have a signed "self-test" image that they can boot up and it checks the phone? This wouldn't have access to any user data but can boot up and check that all of the components are working. This sounds much quicker and more effective than prodding at the user's OS anyways.

At least on my phone (Samsung), the "self-test" app is on the /system partition, which is where the user OS is, and you need to boot normally to use it. You can run it by entering *#0*# in the dialer, no need to flash anything.

Having a dedicated test image (like /recovery) is a possibility, but it wouldn't be the same environment as the user. The kernel may be different, maybe some runtime calibration data would be missing, and most customers want to see their phone working after a repair.

Re: Samsung’s “repair mode” lets technicians look at your phone, not your data

#38

Post by ajsnigrutin »

recycledmatt wrote: post #8
silversnitch wrote: post #5

Curious, why does Samsung need to have Phone booted up for battery repair? I recently had a battery replacement done for my iPhone and I had similar concerns if I need to give them Phone unlocked, but they asked me to turn off Phone. That is what I expect from battery repair!

You want to turn it back on to validate everything is working right and it’s all plugged in correct. You also want to validate you didn’t break anything else while attempting the repair

Plus, a lot of phones give out diagnosic info (current going in, battery voltage, current going out, etc.)

Phones also have induction chargers on their back plates (Qi, usually to charge heaphones and stuff), that have to be enabled in software to charge.

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