Mobile has to go to menders - how to secure it

[Brigadier]

Hello All,

HTC One M8, on android something-or-other.


Rather than back it up and wipe it before it goes to the menders, could i do something more simple and less of a faff to restore, while keeping it secure?

I was thinking:

-remove SIM
-remove SD card (most of my stuff is stored to that, rather than internally)
-set a pin lock / passcode


Or, any other non-pain-in-the-ass-to-rewind options appreciated

 

[Keithmac]

They will have to access it probably to check the repair.

For me all pictures automatically to SD card and all phone numbers straight to sim.

Email etc can all be reinstalled so it would be a factory reset first if mine had to go back..

 

[Brigadier]

Will removing the sim and SD effectively make it "not my phone" though, and therefore protect all of my personal data, apps etc anyway?

 

[Iamchamps]

Will removing the sim and SD effectively make it "not my phone" though, and therefore protect all of my personal data, apps etc anyway?

No, backup and wipe if you want it clean. Unless you have stuff on there you don't want anyone to see naked pictures of a misses or bank documents I really would not worry.

 

[EddieM]

Back it up to Google sync and factory reset it.

 

[Keithmac]

Most of the App data is stored in the phones internal memory (auto fill passwords/ email login/ ebay etc).

Depends what you use your phone for and how trusting you are that an employee won't try data mining it (unlikely but not impossible).

 

[JohnD]

if you send a phone to the menders, it is very likely to come back wiped with a factory reset, or even an exchange device or new parts.

So you might as well back up the data before you send it, and reset it yourself if you can and if it has stuff on you don't want seen.

I don't back up mine, but I copy the photos to the PC from time to time using copy and paste. When I connect it to the PC with a USB it starts trying to synch files unless I stop it.

When I had an HTC it had a synch app to update Contacts and maybe other stuff with the PC.

 

[Brigadier]

Nothing dodgy on there, but banking apps, email, and stuff like that gets me a bit concerned.

Plus, it'll take ages to back up the gigs and gigs worth of music and photos that are on there. And, I'm bound to forget which apps were on there, and which usernames / passwords I set for them.......

Really didn't want to have to back up and factory reset, but might do that, as well as drop out the sim and sd.

Cheers all

 

[SirGalahad]

Nothing dodgy on there, but banking apps, email, and stuff like that gets me a bit concerned.

Plus, it'll take ages to back up the gigs and gigs worth of music and photos that are on there. And, I'm bound to forget which apps were on there, and which usernames / passwords I set for them.......

Really didn't want to have to back up and factory reset, but might do that, as well as drop out the sim and sd.

Cheers all

Backup to Google and then restore it later. HTC will send it to one of their approved repairers - so they will run tests and have access to the memory etc so no point leaving anything on there.

Also once the repair is effected I suspect they will do a full factory reset anyway for testing purposes so you will have to do a backup anyway.

 

[^woody^]

The wipe it straight away and reinstall the plain OS as party of the process.

You need to back your stuff up to your Google account, and then it will all reinstall everything automatically to how it was before. No one should be backing up to cards nowadays, it's not 2007 anymore.