Android phones now locked
Posted: May 11th, 2017, 2:02 am
A short while ago, I was mentioning secondhand mobile phones.
I purchased an Android phone, which the owner wisely factory reset prior to sending. Unfortunately, I discovered that Google have instituted a phone lock, similar to the icloud lock on Apple phones.
This has only been in place since January I am told. The way it works, if someone performs a factory reset on a phone, that gets rid of apps, photos, music and so on, and reverts to the bare operating system. However, the phone retains a memory of its Google account, so on trying to enter your own details, you hit a screen that says, "Verifying your account. This device was reset. To continue, sign in with a Google Account that was previously synced on this device." After entering the email address, it then asks for the associated password.
Apparently, once you have the phone opened and running, in the settings is another reset command, which warns that 'this will delete all your Google account details.' Any vendor should delete the Google account first, using the 'internal' reset command, and then perform the factory reset.
It didn't used to be like that, which is why it was a surprise to find.
I purchased an Android phone, which the owner wisely factory reset prior to sending. Unfortunately, I discovered that Google have instituted a phone lock, similar to the icloud lock on Apple phones.
This has only been in place since January I am told. The way it works, if someone performs a factory reset on a phone, that gets rid of apps, photos, music and so on, and reverts to the bare operating system. However, the phone retains a memory of its Google account, so on trying to enter your own details, you hit a screen that says, "Verifying your account. This device was reset. To continue, sign in with a Google Account that was previously synced on this device." After entering the email address, it then asks for the associated password.
Apparently, once you have the phone opened and running, in the settings is another reset command, which warns that 'this will delete all your Google account details.' Any vendor should delete the Google account first, using the 'internal' reset command, and then perform the factory reset.
It didn't used to be like that, which is why it was a surprise to find.