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So, you broke your phone. Don’t worry, it happens, but now it’s time to remedy the situation. It’s time for you to do your due diligence and send it off to be repaired. Before you do that, there’s something you need to do first; secure it. Here’s how to secure your Android phone before sending it off.
In this piece, we’ll go over some useful actions you can take to make sure that your phone is safe when you send it off to be repaired. You don’t necessarily have to do all of these methods. However, it’s advised that you do something.
Why should you secure your Android phone?
Securing your phone before sending it to be repaired is an extremely important thing to do. Your phone, especially if you’ve used it for a while, holds a ton of important and sensitive information about you. We’re talking about your email address, home address, phone number, banking information, etc. That’s not to mention the media on your phone like pictures and videos.
When you send your phone to be repaired, you never know if the person taking apart your phone can be trusted. If they manage to gain access to your phone, they could possibly gain access to your sensitive information. You never know if they could steal any of your information or anything else.
Securing your phone makes it so that no one has access to your data when repairing it. It’s not as much of an issue if you’re sending your phone back to the actual OEM to be repaired. However, you’ll want to be careful when you’re sending your phone to independent repair shops.
Remove external storage
People typically keep their files on a micro SD card. Also, people typically forget that it’s in their phone when getting it repaired. It’s extremely easy to forget, and that could be bad if you have sensitive files on your card. The thing is that an SD card is the easiest thing to infiltrate. All the person has to do is pop your SD card out of your phone and copy the files to their device.
Factory reset your device
One recommended way to secure your Android phone is completely erasing all of the data on it. This is called factory resetting it. This means restoring it to the condition that it was in when it left the factory. This way, there’s no way that anyone could gain access to your data. There are a few things to know before factory resetting your phone.
Back up your app data beforehand
The most important thing to know is that factory resetting your phone is not reversible. Once your data is gone, it’s gone for good. This is why you need to back up your data. Doing this will save your data to Google’s cloud servers. After you get your phone back, you can redownload your data and more or less pick up from where you left off.
Depending on what company made your phone, the process could be a little different. Since most Android phones either use stock or near-stock Android, we’ll explain how to do it on stock Android.
Go to your settings and tap on the Google button. On the resulting page, scroll down to the Backup button. On this page, you’ll see how much storage you have left on your Google account. In the middle of the page, you’ll see the Back up now button.
When you press that button, your phone will start uploading your data to the cloud.
Back up your files
The backup feature saves most of your data like your app data, passwords, etc. However, it doesn’t affect your actual files. This means that files like pictures, music, documents, and other files will be deleted. For something like this, you’ll need to save the files in a different location. This could be in the cloud or on an external storage device.
Be careful about the accounts
Android has a security protocol where, when you factory reset the device, you’ll need to sign in with a Google account previously on that device in order to get into it. If you can’t log into that account, the phone is as useful as a paperweight.
So, if you know how to log into your Google account, then you can proceed. This means that if someone turns on your phone while repairing it, they won’t be able to use it. So, it’s highly recommended that you keep your account on the phone.
Just make extra sure that you remember how to log into your account. If you don’t remember, then you’ll want to remove your account from the phone. In the settings, go to the Passwords & accounts button. Find the Google account(s) on your phone and tap on the Remove account button.
When you do that, you’ll get a popup saying that the device’s security will be disabled. Just know that if you remove your account, it makes it possible for anyone to turn on your device and set it up as their own.
Resetting your phone
After your data is completely backed up and your accounts squared away, it’s time to actually reset your phone. Go to your settings and go to the System button. On that page, scroll all the way down to the bottom to the Reset options button.
There, you’ll see some options for things to reset on your phone. On the very bottom, tap on the Erase all data button. The system will ask you if you’re sure. Take this time to make doubly sure that you backed everything up on your phone. Once you press the reset button there’s no going back.
Lock your apps
If you don’t want to bother with setting up your device again, you can simply lock your apps. When you lock an app, you restrict access to that app and only allow people to access it if they put in a password.
This is something that might come with your phone depending on the software you have. For example, phones from Infinix and Tecno both have a function called “App Freezer”. Check to see if you have an app lock function.
If you don’t, then you can look for one on the Google Play Store. A good app to consider is simply called AppLock. You’ll set up a screen pattern when you start up the app. You’ll choose the apps that you want to lock. You can also make it so that you need to enter the pattern just to access the UI.
When you set a pattern for your apps, make sure to use a pattern that’s different from your device’s pattern.
Make sure that the person repairing your phone actually needs to access your UI
If the person repairing your phone asks for access to your UI, make sure that the repair job actually requires access. This is a good way to secure your Android phone. If you’re getting your battery or your screen replaced, chances are that they don’t need access. Make sure you keep an eye on that.