I tried to repurpose my deceased father's old phone into an audiobook player. I discovered Android's Factory Reset Protection in the process. How do you Android users put up with this? (I know how, you just buy a new phone.) Another phone going into e-waste...

I understand the security reasoning for the feature. I just also understand that cooling the secondary market with uncertainty about used phones is likely a stronger motivator for the feature than reducing theft.

Show thread

@kyle I have my grandfathers iPhone. I don't have the pin, so I think that it's bin bound!

@kyle I believe that's only happening on the phones that were purchased through the plan, typically the best thing to do is to buy an unlocked phone outright, that's not as free as buying Librem, but at least you would be able to factory reset it.

@kyle I agree. Any potential benefit of theft prevention is far outweighed by the downside from loss of control. This isn't an Android only issue. Apple phones have the same problem.

Sign in to participate in the conversation
Librem Social

Librem Social is an opt-in public network. Messages are shared under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license terms. Policy.

Stay safe. Please abide by our code of conduct.

(Source code)

image/svg+xml Librem Chat image/svg+xml