{"id":924,"date":"2018-11-05T07:00:16","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T12:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=924"},"modified":"2018-11-02T11:33:42","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T15:33:42","slug":"a-reader-asks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/05\/a-reader-asks\/","title":{"rendered":"A reader asks: How do I data-wipe my lost smartphone?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reader Al has lost his phone and is nervous about the data it still contains. He used the CONTACT<\/a> link to ask for help:<\/p>\n

“My S9+ is powered off as well as being lost. Can a factory reset be made to happen the next time the device powers up?”<\/strong><\/p>\n

The S9’s built-in software will indeed let you remotely data-wipe the phone when it’s back online; but you (the authorized user) have to manually trigger the wipe.<\/p>\n

In fact, most current smartphones have a built-in way to help you locate them if they’re lost or stolen; and to perform a remote data-wipe, if necessary. Some implementations and third-party add-ons go even further, such as taking and emailing you a gps-tagged selfie of whomever is trying to unlock your phone; playing a loud siren sound to scare the thief; and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n

The specifics for a remote data-wipe and options vary by brand and model, but Samsung gives general instruction for its current phones here<\/a>:\u00a0<\/small><\/p>\n

\n

Erase Data Remotely:
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/small>Don\u2019t let that phone thief access your private data. You can wipe it clean from a computer…. Navigate to https:\/\/findmymobile.samsung.com<\/a> and log into your Samsung account. Select Erase data, review the information, and then select ERASE. Enter your Samsung account password. If your phone is powered on and connected to a network, all of its data will be wiped, including the data on your SD card. Note: If a Google account is registered on your phone, you will need to sign into the account before you can use the phone again.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For other\/older phones, visit the manufacturer’s support site; or do a general search using the manufacturer, phone model, and the words remote data wipe erase<\/strong>. (Example: samsung galaxy 5 remote data wipe erase<\/a><\/p>\n

Permalink: https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-eU<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

\n

Want free notification of new content like this? Click here<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Want to ask Fred a question? Click here<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reply to this item via the Comment box below.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reader Al has lost his phone and is nervous about the data it still contains. He used the CONTACT link to ask for help: “My S9+ is powered off as well as being lost. Can a factory reset be made to happen the next time the device powers up?” The S9’s built-in software will indeed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-smartphones"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-eU","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2523,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/04\/04\/a-reader-asks-can-getting-the-password-wrong-on-your-phone-too-many-times-make-it-factory-reset\/","url_meta":{"origin":924,"position":0},"title":"A reader asks: “Can getting the password wrong too many times make your phone factory reset?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-04-04","format":false,"excerpt":"Yup. It's a security feature, so that a hacker or thief won't have an infinite number of chances to break into your phone. For example, Android 9 (\"Pie\") on a Samsung, will optionally perform a factory reset after 15 consecutive failed logons\/unlocks. For example, Android 9\/Pie has its auto-reset function\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Misc"","block_context":{"text":"Misc","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/misc\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/autodelete-phone.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1661,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/14\/a-reader-asks-what-happens-if-windows-is-infected-with-ransomware-but-the-files-are-already-encrypted-with-truecrypt\/","url_meta":{"origin":924,"position":1},"title":"A reader asks: “What happens if Windows is infected with ransomware but the files are already encrypted with TrueCrypt?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-01-14","format":false,"excerpt":"The files will then be doubly-encrypted; once by TrueCrypt, and once by the ransomware. The good news is that the malware can't read the contents of your TrueCrypt-encrypted files. That's not what ransomware is really about anyway: It's not designed to snoop; it's just designed to take your files hostage.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2828,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/21\/ive-installed-a-1tb-hard-drive-from-my-old-pc-it-has-files-but-no-operating-system-how-can-i-fully-wipe-it-to-use-its-full-storage\/","url_meta":{"origin":924,"position":2},"title":"“I’ve installed a 1TB hard drive from my old PC. It has files but no operating system. How can I wipe it to use its full storage?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-05-21","format":false,"excerpt":"You don't need to wipe it. Simple re-partitioning and reformatting will make the drive fully available to you. And that\u2019s a very good thing, because wiping a drive involves overwriting every spot on the disk \u2014 in your case, a trillion bytes\u2019 worth. On an average system and HDD, that\u2019d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1680,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/17\/a-reader-asks-what-do-i-do-with-the-usb-drive-that-i-found-in-a-department-store-changing-room\/","url_meta":{"origin":924,"position":3},"title":"A reader asks: “What do I do with the USB drive that I found in a department-store changing room?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-01-17","format":false,"excerpt":"You have four choices: a safe and ethically positive one; a probably-safe but ethically murky one; a maybe-kinda-sorta-safe one, also with murky ethics; and a totally unsafe one, with murky ethics. The 100% safe choice is not to keep the drive. For one thing, the person who lost the drive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1133,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/21\/a-reader-asks-why-does-tech-support-think-that-formatting-your-hard-drive-is-the-only-solution-for-all-your-pc-problems\/","url_meta":{"origin":924,"position":4},"title":"A reader asks: “Why does tech support think that formatting your hard drive is the only solution for all your PC problems?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-11-21","format":false,"excerpt":"Q: \"Why does tech support think that formatting your hard drive is the only solution for all your PC problems?\" (via Quora) A. Holy smokes! Who told you that? If that\u2019s your experience with tech support, you really should change techs, brands, stores --- or wherever it is you\u2019re getting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1485,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/26\/a-reader-asks-how-can-i-recover-android-data-after-a-factory-reset-if-it-wasnt-backed-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":924,"position":5},"title":"A reader asks: “How can I recover Android data after a factory reset if it wasn’t backed up?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-12-26","format":false,"excerpt":"That's a terrible feeling, isn't it, when your data's gone --- maybe forever! Ugh. But it may not be gone, or at least, not all of it. Google, or your phone maker, may have provided at least some automatic backup services for you. Some third-party apps may have likewise saved\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/smartphone-backups.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=924"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":967,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions\/967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}