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Lost mode, a little dive

(Topic created on: yesterday)
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arianwen27
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Heyo, I recently was looking through some documentation and found a "black hole" in real world lost mode usage. I thought some people might find it interesting. This will be about phones, wearables have their own lost modes but they aren't as important.

Lost mode is either on or off. When enabled, all the below features are enabled

What is lost mode?
Lost mode is an option within samsung find and google find. I will be focusing on samsung find for this but will occasionally mention the google version. Since samsung phones can use both the samsung and google find system, they have duplicate lost modes.

If you ever lose your phone, lost mode allows you to lock it down as much as possible without resetting it. If you think you have a chance of getting your phone back, lost mode is ideal.

Features
Lost mode includes a set of features to aid in keeping a phone secure if it's gone missing. Here I'll explain them and give extra info I've found.

Lock phone.
This adds a second lock screen to your phone with a pin set when lost mode is enabled. If someone has your phone and knows the pin, this will lock them out. Entering the pin will disable lost mode, ensuring only the owner can disable it.

Of note, I've seen some people think the pin is setting your phone code, it is not. The lost mode pin adds a second lock screen to your phone. If you forget your phone code and use lost mode to attempt to reset it, the original device pin will not change.

Keep power on
This one has a rather simple task, prevent the phone being turned off. It has some issues though.

On a normal phone, regardless of lost mode, the phone cannot be powered off without unlocking it first. For emergency and diagnostic use, samsung phones have a hard shut down option done by holding volume down and power for 10 seconds. This force powers off a phone even if it's locked and cannot normally be shut down.

With the force power off in mind, I'm not actually sure how lost mode's "keep power on" works. Since you can't normally power off a phone and the force power off cannot be stopped. Would love if someone in the comments knows or tries it. It seems kinda redundant to me as a feature since it's not normally possible to power off a locked device and a force shut down should always be possible.

Lock samsung wallet/pass
Another self explanatory one, locks the samsung wallet and password manager. Prevents someone using cards or passwords stored within the phone if they can unlock it.

As a kinda side note, it's more useful than you'd expect. There's a potential vulnerability within samsung wallet that makes it easier to access than expected under certain circumstances. Having lost mode fully lock it is handy. Being kinda vague as samsung doesn't seem to view it as an issue, but I do so I won't be spreading it.

Message for finder
This one actually uses a default android system to display a message on the lock screen. It sets anything you want into the "contact info" setting under lock screen and AOD. Handy for people who don't have their info there already.

To address the google side
The google find network within the phone is kinda reduced in power. By default, it can locate and track phones but not much more. To enable the full features, you need to give "find hub" device administrator permissions within settings to give it extra access.

Assuming it has full access. The google system can now wipe the device and use it's lost mode.

The google lost mode works like this.

Your phone gets sent to the lock screen if it's currently unlocked.

Your google account is signed out of to prevent someone using your google login.

You can still track the phone even after the google account was removed.

Google wallet is reset, wiping cards.

The issue
The google system has a flaw compared to the samsung system.

If someone who knows the phone code takes it, you cannot set a new or second pin.


An issue for both, they of course only can activate if the device has an Internet connection. If the phone has no WiFi or data, lost mode will only enable when it next gets an Internet connection.

Unlike pixel devices and iphones, samsung phones are not able to work as Bluetooth trackers when shut down. Meaning if someone powers off a samsung phone, it cannot be tracked in any way unless it is turned back on.

I kinda really wish samsung was up to date with tracking when powered off but hey, their normal tracking system beats the google one when powered on.

To conclude
The samsung lost mode is a real powerful tool if you believe a device is lost or stolen, just be aware it's not impenetrable. If you feel there's no way you'll get the device back, issuena remote reset to hopefully protect your data. Though to be honest an up to date S series is not worth the effort to hack into if it's even possible. Knox is really good at it's job. A series phones are still really strong, the S series just goes the extra step.
2 REPLIES 2
Tourbillon De La Vie
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Good overview. Thanks. Enable it all
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JAMES4578
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@airenwen27 A fairly comprehensive guide ,advisable to utilise the tool.

I do not work for Samsung or make Samsung Products but provide independent advice and valuable contributions.


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