Re: Unusable Android J5(6)

Jörg Lorenz <hugybear@gmx.net> wrote:

On 14.05.25 13:26, R.Wieser wrote:

Jorg,
 

"Remove the Google-account of your friend"
>
Thats the whole thing : *how* ?  My friend doesn't remember anything
about
his erstwhile, years old identity.

>
https://www.devicesfaq.com/en/delete-google-account/samsung-galaxy-j5

 
I cannot even get that far.  The OS doesn't allow me further than the
"choose a WiFi network" screen, so it can "verify my identity".
 
... something that we won't be able to complete, because of what you quoted
in the above.(no knowledge about the phone or whats on it anymore)

 
Your friend has to help you because there is no way around a login to
remove the account and the device. The device is - as Carlos explained -
tied to the identitiy of your friend. This helps to avoid theft of
mobile devices.

  If unlinking the phone from the ex-user's Google Account (as suggested
by Carlos) doesn't work, can't Rudy do a 'Hard reset' ('Wipe data/
factory reset') as per the instructions in your above reference?

  Yes, smartphones have some 'theft protection', but that's primarily
protection against theft of the user's data, obviously not against theft
of the device itself. And AFAIK [1], after a 'factory reset' anyone in
the possesion of the device can re-use it from scratch.

  Of course the disadvantage of a 'factory reset' is that it will also
wipe any Android updates and it's doubtful that such updates are still
available for such an old device.

[1] I once did an 'Android Recovery' -> 'Wipe data/factory reset' on one
of my old devices, but that was after unlocking the bootloader, so a bit
different scenario.