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Here's how Android 15 blocks thieves from bypassing factory reset protection

This article goes into more detail about how these new measures will actually work compared to the blog post earlier this year from Google. Namely:

  1. Enabling the OEM unlocking setting will no longer prevent FRP from activating.
  2. Bypassing the setup wizard will no longer deactivate FRP. FRP restrictions will apply until you verify ownership of the device by signing in.
  3. Adding a new Google account is blocked.
  4. Setting a lock screen PIN or password is blocked.
  5. Installing new apps is blocked.
KickMeElmo ,

Sounds like good ideas that’ll be a pain in the ass for innocent power users.

philodendron ,

Until they sign back in to their own phone…? How is that a pain?

sebsch ,

I could imagine this could also deeply enforce OEM locks on the bootloader.

So for everybody trying to root or custom rom a device this isn’t the best situation.

piracysails ,

Not eveyrone has or needs a google or any system-wide account to use their phones.

skullgiver ,
@skullgiver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl avatar

And if you don’t sign into Google, the protections won’t activate, and you won’t have a problem.

ReversalHatchery ,

because I want to get rid of google, and not use or even have a google account anymore

jbk ,

Looks like they “just” have to stop signing in with a Google account, and may have to enable adb and install apps using it / e.g. Shizuku

shortwavesurfer ,

Okay, according to the article, this functionality will only activate after you have signed into a Google account for the first time on the device. So, at least for those of us who use custom software such as lineage OS, that won’t matter since we don’t put a Google account on the device to begin with in a lot of cases. A lot of us boot the phone for the first time, skip the entire setup wizard as fast as possible without signing in or any of that stuff, and then immediately enable OEM unlocking and flash the lineage or whatever software.

henfredemars OP ,

I also imagine FRP will be ignored by custom ROMs even if the secret data is set.

shortwavesurfer ,

Well, that won’t matter unless it’s a brand new phone or has been properly erased because you won’t be able to install lineage anyway unless one of those two conditions are met.

Rikj000 ,
@Rikj000@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

The more I hear about Android 15,
the less excited I get for it…

ReversalHatchery ,

for me it’s been the same since 8. sure there are some good changes, but generally it’s forced restrictions upon more forced restrictions, and I hate it

ElPussyKangaroo ,

I’m more focused on the adorable plushie in the hero image 🥹❤️

skullgiver ,
@skullgiver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl avatar

How was this not already a thing? These seem like quite basic features if you want to stop people from using stolen phones. From what I can tell online, it seems rather trivial for thieves to bypass FRP in the current incantation of the system.

I do wonder what will happen if your Google account gets banned, though. I can’t find much about it online. Some older posts suggest that only having the email address and password is enough, but these days you can log in to Google without ever entering a password, and there’s no way Google will just send your password to a new phone.

istanbullu ,

Google is making Android worse and worse in each release.

FuckyWucky ,

L tbh, if the thieves steal my phone I would rather them be able to have someone else use it than throw it away. hopefully they find a way around.

atleast they can still break it down for parts.

Chozo ,

Nah, fuck that. I'm not rewarding somebody's thievery, that just empowers them to do it again. I'd remote-destroy my stolen phone with thermite if I could; not to protect what's on the phone, but so that whoever stole it has absolutely nothing to show for it.

jbk ,

This could still be bypassed by flashing a new OS that deliberately messes up the userdata wipe-persisting secrets. Well idk if there’s a way to prevent that, but I guess really needy and tech-savvy people could recover lost devices that way

skullgiver ,
@skullgiver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl avatar

You can’t really flash phones without unlocking the bootloader first, and you can’t unlock the bootloader without unlocking FRP

Without opening the phone up and directly accessing NAND storage, you’re not going to be able to reflash much. This makes it impossible for most thieves to abuse custom ROMs to sell stolen devices, because there’s not that much profit in stolen phones if you need to spend hours on making them work again. You might as well get a real job at that point.

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