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Any mobile phone gurus out there? (Read 1751 times)

205Chris

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Any mobile phone gurus out there?
August 27, 2020, 08:23:10 pm
Hi All,

My other half has smashed the screen on her phone. Not a problem as it's covered on insurance so they sent her a replacement.

However, the phone she received was still logged into the previous owners Facebook account (refurbished phone).

She has to return the old phone to the network provider as part of the insurance agreement but is anxious as there's personal information on it.

A phone call to their support line gave the response 'we promise it won't happen again' etc.

The phone is working as you can hear notifications etc. but the screen is smashed and completely blank.

Is there a way to access it through a PC or other way of completing a hard reset to wipe any data from it?

It's a Samsung A3

Thanks

M1V0

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#1 Re: Any mobile phone gurus out there?
August 27, 2020, 09:01:53 pm
There's often a "hard reset" option with phones that involves a sequence of holding buttons down. Googling "Samsung A3 hard reset" should provide you with instructions on doing so (but these instructions seem appropriate: https://thedroidguy.com/how-to-hard-reset-factory-reset-on-samsung-galaxy-a3-1094886). Obviously with the screen smashed you'll have to hope that it works as it's hard to check it worked.

jwi

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#2 Re: Any mobile phone gurus out there?
August 27, 2020, 10:01:57 pm
you can still access the file system by installing android transfer on your computer and connecting the phone with a usb cable. I don't know if you can delete all application data this way, as I'm not too keen to try it on my own phone.

sxrxg

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#3 Re: Any mobile phone gurus out there?
August 27, 2020, 10:52:32 pm
Do you have find my phone installed? If you do you can log in (if you are logged in on chrome then the link will automatically locate the registered device) and activate a factory reset, this will work as long as the phone has power.

https://www.google.com/android/find

IanP

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#4 Re: Any mobile phone gurus out there?
August 28, 2020, 08:19:20 am
Do you have find my phone installed? If you do you can log in (if you are logged in on chrome then the link will automatically locate the registered device) and activate a factory reset, this will work as long as the phone has power.

https://www.google.com/android/find

I think find my device is now switched on by default for android phones when you add a google account so should be available unless its been specifically switched off.  Obviously the phone needs to connected to the internet but sounds like it is.

remus

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#5 Re: Any mobile phone gurus out there?
August 28, 2020, 10:33:55 am
If you want to go belt and braces, most big services (e.g. facebook, google etc.) have a page that'll let you see all your currently logged in devices and kick them off if you want. The google page is here https://myaccount.google.com/device-activity and this is the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=security

 

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