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Help Hacked Google pixel 4xl

So I've seen a few posts on here which have a lot of similarities to what I've been going through for the last year. About a year ago I noticed a lot of bloatware in my phone. Apps that I can't get rid of that have permissions that are completely unnecessary. When I look deeper into my system apps and compare them to a normal operating system It showed me that somehow my phone isn't running the factory version of a Google pixel. Once I started digging deeper into the problem I noticed the issue had spread to all your devices. When I brought the phone into a telus store and explain my issue the cocky employee told me this was all normal. When my card declined after I had to buy a new SIM card thanks to a SIM pin suddenly disabling my ability to use my phone I knew something was wrong. I went directly to my bank only to discover thousands of dollars of transactions sent through e-transfer in small denominations had been going out of my account. After further investigation I learned that not only was my bank account being drained but my credit cards had been billed for $25,000. This happens several more times to me the next few weeks. In total I lost about $125,000, once I reported it TD Bank never returned a single dollar of the $26,000 I lost even after my bank account had no email or phone number attached and they still managed to eat transfer thousands of dollars out of my account. Mastercard was able to refund the $100,000 in stolen charges only after a secondary phone number and email was set up and I had never heard of either of them. At that point the fraud representative took me very seriously and told me I was the first person they had dealt with where they're voice recognition technology had failed to distinguish me from another person and told me to use that in my efforts to get my money back from the bank. I could probably write a novel with what continued on from this but I'll try and keep it on point and not go into everything. I ended up going through 12 cell phones in 2 months trying to keep myself connected things kept happening like phone calls my friends had made never reaching my phone. Secondary accounts being added to my email and giving themselves admin authority. Requests were made to download all of my information off social media and through my emails and once the package was ready the passwords were all changed as well as the backup phone numbers and back up emails for log in. I have hard reset the phone over 20 times and even went in and had it professionally wiped only to have the same programs. Tellus had offered to give me free phones and return for not going to the media and causing a panic since I could see my phone was making its own network and suddenly my apps were doing things that shouldn't. For instance my Google maps had information on who lived in the homes I was viewing a lot of personal information if I was to zoom in on any Radom house. I also ended up with a 20 GB zip file that contained client data from tellus including information that is protected by privacy laws. It gave me the coordinates that phone calls were made from their account numbers their sin numbers and when I told that to one of the engineers I had spoken to she told me that only a judge would have access to that because it's protected by law and locked deep in their system. They tried to switch me to iPhone hoping the different operating system would fix the issue and that it would not carry over to that but before I had even used the phone to call anyone somehow the applications made it onto this phone as well. And it was not connected or anywhere near any device that I had used before. Brand new account that wasn't carried over just to be safe, new email I made right there, different phone number. At that point I couldn't understand what was happening. When I talk to AppleCare they passed me along to the development team and I was given privilege to use lockdown mode before it was released because I was told I had the most aggressive case of hacking that they have ever come across and they were training for this but had yet to see it. Lockdown mode helped for about an hour before it had no effect and suddenly there was custom exceptions made on the device that bypassed any security. My phone also was able to make 1500 phone calls without my consent or knowledge I only noticed it in my notifications that all of my contacts were called at once and when I clicked on it they all said they were still ongoing calls. I was burning through 200 gigs of data a day and even my smart TV suddenly had Microsoft and Google apps that were never there before and my microphone was now unusable to search for things because it said the TV was in listen mode. I tried to call every tech company and most of the time my phone would rather lock me out or it would say default route hardware 9. Anytime I spoke with anyone who understood what was happening I would never hear back from them again. I would have interactions with them through closed captioning that would turn on and not match what was playing on the TV. It would literally be talking to me and asked me to take the phone to a hospital and plug it in and report it stolen. All of this is so hard to believe but I feel like it needs to be said because I'm a pretty level-headed person with a lot of resources and I had the most trouble with this you can imagine. Government agencies all tried to pass the buck to something else, police agencies were useless and tried to pass it off to the tech companies stating that they were only law enforcement and can't deal with things on a national level like this since it was giving me information about zero day attacks on infrastructure, like Rogers wireless last July when it service is went down I was informed of this a month before it happened and absolutely nobody took it seriously until it happened on the day I said it would. National security agencies told me that unless I knew more information about ongoing future attacks that they would only be able to refer me to police agencies but after getting no help the first time I had no faith. I moved from Vancouver to Alberta for 6 months and I had no issues, I moved back 2 months ago and noticed it happening again. Was locked out of my social media once again and was unable to retrieve them, as a precautionary step I stopped using my bank accounts because of what happened last year. Once I stop trying to delete the programs the hijacking of my account stopped. All of my apps have full capabilities even though at first glance they don't. When I click on show all permissions even simple apps like flashlight have the ability to control network access and send sticky broadcasts as well as control call logs and rewrite contacts without user consent. When I had a developer look at my phone they told me that I was running a custom ROM and have never installed anything like that on this phone. So I'm not expecting anyone to be able to solve this because I've been dealing with it for over a year and for other people think it's science fiction or they have no idea of what is going on. I even had a computer programmer run home to unplug his external hard drives once he looked at my phone. I can tell that this is not a me problem it is widespread since I have Show my friends who doubted me all the same altered programs in their phones. It appears to me like the program lies dormant in a phone until The phone senses a threat to its programming or exposure. The harder I worked at trying to regain my privacy and freedom the worse the activity got. At one point I literally had the phone go half black at the top with a list of 17 files and extortion list written about it. I have gone back to my original Google pixel since every other phone I've gotten over the last 2 years seems to fall apart shortly after I start using it. I don't know why but this is the preferred phone for whatever this is. They use a lot of Google programs and to be honest I don't even understand how I was able to spot this because it's very well hidden. Everything is masked in legitimate programs but if you really take a deep look you can see how it's not what it appears. So I hope the hardships I've gone through in the last year and the story helps somebody. If anyone has any useful information please feel free to comment. I'm going to try and wipe my kernel out and reinstall the factory ROM as the last attempt. With some luck the the system updates that I haven't been getting are able to disable whatever connection this outside interference has been using. I've heard of hackers finding targets and staying with them for years. I'm just hoping I'll be able to be free of this one day. Thanks for listening

No Voicemail Notification S8 and Note 8

We have two devices. Samsung S8 and Note 8.
Both do not display a notification in standby (locked, dark screen) mode when a new visual voicemail is received. No sound. No LED. We have to use our psychic powers to guess if there are any new VMs. Voicemails do pop-up about 15 seconds after we check for them.

The voicemail app is Xfinity Mobile Voicemail, ver2.10.0.006
Android software updated, ver. 9
Provider: Xfinity Mobile

I have (but not in this order)...
Cleared phone and voicemail data and cache, and Android cache
Disabled Do Not Disturb
Disabled voicemail and phone from battery saver and optimization functions
Disabled 'put app to sleep'
Enabled LED indicator
Enabled notifications wherever I could find them
Allowed app while data saver is on
Enabled notification reminders
Reset VM (*86)

Consulted chatGPT for a long list of anything to check. (Good list, BTW)
Asked chatGPT for more (and I got more)

Spent the better part of 5 hours both with "chat" and then a Tier 2 Xfinity agent

The agent advised me that I have an old phone and the new technology utilized by Xfinity Mobile is not compatible with such old tech.
Suggested changing to Samsung's Visual Voicemail (wherever I'd get that) and that I would lose all previous VMs.

Really? Xfinity's upgrades disable VM notifications?

I'm betting on 'user error' of some sort, although it's interesting that both phones have lost notifications.
SMS notifications work.

I'd love to learn any additional steps I might take, short of a new $1200 Samsung S23 Ultra.

TIA

DrCarl

Unable to send or receive SMS text messages on Tab S5e

I am unable to send or receive SMS text messages.
I have a Samsung Tab S5e.
I do not have a SIM card installed.
I use Wi-Fi for everything on this device and have used it for SMS for years.

Of course, I could enable “calls and texts from other devices” to use my phone’s connection.
All apps and the tablet itself are current with updates.
My internet connection is enabled and works fine for all other functions - on this and all other devices in the house.
Online advice asks me to contact my provider. Did that. No help.

Can anyone please help me re-enable SMS texting on my tablet?

Among Water: Meditation Idle. Sail and relax with a cat fisherman.

gameCoverSmaller.png


This is new cute idle game about the world where cats sail on boats, from station to station and can catch various fantastic fish and other items.

Every child has dreamed of receiving or sending a letter in a bottle. It's so exciting when a stranger on the other side of the world can fetch that bottle and read the letter. We added this as one of the wonderful features in our game that we are excited about. You can read messages from other players and send your own. And you can also learn about the world by finding bottles with notes that tell the story of Among Water.

And the best part is that you can also meditate in the game. You can focus on your breathing, listen to soothing music, and enjoy the beautiful scenery. And you can experience the smooth change of day and night, which makes the game even more beautiful. You can watch the sunrise and sunset, the stars and the moon, and the different colors of the sky and the water.There is also the possibility of different customization. You can improve the boat, open new technologies, stations, change the appearance of the player.

We created Among Water with a vision: to make a game that is not only fun and engaging, but also relaxing and healing. We believe that games can be more than just entertainment, they can also be art and therapy.

Unfortunately, we did not have time to add to the game all the features that wanted, such as delivery of parcels from one station to another, but we will continue to work on the game and try as soon as possible to add a lot of cool features which wanted.I hope that our game will make you smile, wonder, and relax.

I hope that it will be more than just a game for you, it will be a friend. I'll be very interested to hear your thoughts on the game, what you like and what you lack.

Download for free on the Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tapteek.amongwater

Screenshots

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switching to linux OS?

Hello, today my smartphone Xiaomi Redmi 10 got hacked. I'm sure bc i was working when i got a Twitter notify about my tweet. The tweet contained a photo stored in the gallery. The phone nn can't access the camera, select the photo, choose in which app to share, send with messsage and reply, then. i got HACKED!
I'm not using my phone on porn site or something else. I just use for social media (Telegam, Whatapps, Twitter), to check mail e phone call. So, as im not trusting anymore Android, there is a way to install another (stable OS) to my smatphone? i tried Ubuntu mobile, but seems my Xiaomi is not supportaded

  • Question Question
Unable to screenshot

In the last couple days, I have been unable to take a screenshot. It doesn't matter if I'm in Chrome, on my homepage, or on any app...I get an "Unable to take screenshot due to security".
I can't find any setting that would change screenshot settings. Any help would be appreciated!
Samsung S20 Ultra 5G

Files App Has Mystery Documents

Hello All!
My Moto G Stylus using Android 11 has some files in the Files app that I don't recognize. They are under "Downloads" and in "Documents & Other".

In Downloads, there is a zip file called 2023-07-14 02-53-13.zip. I did not click on it because I don't know where the enclosed files will land on the phone.

In Documents & Other, there are several dates with files under the dates. A screen shot of one page is attached.
Example File Names in the most recent date: DB_SONGS_LOG, PCs_M_2019, etc.
Example File Names in an Older One: 117173, 117174, Etc. Those are all numbers. When I hover, a pop-up says December 1979. (Before cell phones!)

Clicking any file asks me if I want to open it in Garmin Connect or in Magic Earth- even the one that says Musicolet Backup.
Using Garmin, I get a message: "Unable to open course". I don't have any courses saved in Garmin. If I choose Magic Earth, a blank page shows up.

Do any of you know what these files are & if I can ditch them?
Also, is there a way to prevent these- assuming they are not important?

Thank You for helping me figure this out!
Paul

Attachments

  • Mystery Files.png
    Mystery Files.png
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Any way to sort notifications so the newest one is on top?

I have a Samsung S23 (Android 13, of course). I get a bunch of notifications from apps (and often don't clear them), and when I get a new one that I still have the sound enabled for, I have to scroll through the list to find it (if I'm lucky, sometimes I don't find it). It's a real pain because it typically isn't even near the top, and they're displayed in a seemingly random order. Is there some setting or app that gets Android to always display the newest notification on top in chronological order? Thanks.

Fold4 - Android 14 UI 6.0 Beta

It looks as though the rest of the world will not be getting the One UI 5.1.1 Beta that has been rolled out to the Korean devices, F936N, after all.

Instead, it is rumoured that an Android 14 One UI 6.0 Beta will be released in the next week or so by Samsung to their flagship phones and will be in 2 stages.

Phase 1 will include Korea, Germany and the U.S.A.

Phase 2 will be for the U.K., India, Poland and China.

See...

Samsung One UI 6.0 beta: Check if it will come to your country

Root RIP ACE :(

Yo guys, hi, I have an S5830i Samsung ACE phone, I accidently bricked it before, I uploaded anything with correct order but not working (this time its stuck at boot animation looping instead of logo but it can show charging animation) I noticed that the guy I watched didnt use bootloader, can someone give me an bootloader for it so I can slap it onto my Odin3 and fix this phon

Texting apps and group texts

My old high school buddies and I keep a running group text to about 8 people. Periodically someone asks to be added or removed which then spawns a new group text with that person removed/added. The problem with that is people don't always look closely and use the old group text instead of the newly created one.

Is there a way to setup a single group text that you can add or delete members without creating a new group text?
Listen and download to an exclusive collection of message ringtone for free to personalize your iPhone or Android device. Android notification

Still rocking my OG Galaxy Watch 46mm

After trying the Wear OS versions they felt a lot like downgrades. Oh they were fast, were OK on battery (not great) but there were things I didn't like.

1. They look like smartwatches, not like actual watches. I am far more into vintage looks and that shows with the outfits I wear, trying to live it up like it's 1958. A watch that looks like a smartwatch, or the Samsung version of an Apple Watch (because let's face it, nobody is gonna see an Apple watch and assume it's a real mechanical watch) clashes with my preferred look and outfit. The original Galaxy Watch looks like a watch, as in a real watch, and they sure don't make 'em like that anymore. Even the default watch face is heavily skeuomorphic and has a second hand movement that looks mechanical, even a ticking sound when putting it near your ear.

2. I prefer Tizen over Wear OS. Hey, I gave it a chance, and yes, Wear OS is far better than the mess 2.x was a few years ago. Unfortunately there are downsides. One, I HATE the app drawer layout. Tizen has a better one that works best with a round display and you can use the bezel to scroll it. Also, you can see the names of apps when using the bezel, and don't have to decipher some of the more cryptic ones that are on a Wear OS version. Also, there's app badges for notifications. I always preferred app badges on the icons over a notification centre, especially when the ones on both Tizen and Wear OS are broken most of the time, showing 'no notifications' when there are notifications, or showing outdated notifications. Also, Tizen's notifications can be completely viewed, while on Wear OS, a lot of them are trimmed, and tapping the notification produces 'check your phone'. I mean, can I please read the complete text message via the notification please? without my phone? That's why I wear the watch--to keep phone in pocket when I'm away from home. The watch makes it convenient to read a quick text, respond, or see the beginning of an email. Which brings me to the next complaint--an email notification doesn't show anything and tapping it also produces 'check phone' instead of letting me at least read the first few sentences of the email or the subject. Tizen's battery life is double that of Wear OS. I also prefer Tizen's keyboard, since it allows me to type a sentence with an emoji all at once. With Wear OS, it only let me send emoji only, or words only. I couldn't type this "hey babe I love you 😍"anymore. I had to type "hey babe I love you" then in a separate text send the "😍". Also, the Gboard has lousy predictive text. It also can't suggest an emoji. Samsung's Tizen keyboard has learned my habits so much it pretty much knows what I'm gonna say before I say it, meaning most messages I send are one-tap quickies that show up on the predictive portion entirely. Meaning I don't have to T9 most of the time.

3. the apps. I don't really need a ton of apps on the watch. It's just a convenient way to see notifications, send/receive texts, get email alerts, see the weather, get a glimpse of my health data, and control music. I don't WANT Google apps on my watch, and on my phone I tend to prefer Samsung's own apps over Google's. I actually love Bixby and for myself it works not only better than the Google Assistant but it can do far more than the Google Assistant. I know Bixby exists on Wear OS but I also want the Galaxy Store and other Samsung apps on the watch. I don't need Play Store or the far more limited selection of watch faces, plus, on Wear OS, all those fancy faces I purchased on the Galaxy Store aren't available. The watch face selection is crap on Wear OS, plus I hate having separate, redundant 'companion apps' on my phone for every face it does offer. Why is that still a thing?

4. "Check your phone" this comes up far more often than I feel it should on Wear OS. Even tapping an email notification produces it. I wear the watch to avoid extra screen time on my phone and to keep it safe in my pocket when out. I don't WANT to check my phone just to see the beginning of an email, the entire text message, and so on.

5. Downgraded app experience vs. Tizen. Spotify can't download, can't add tracks or search for specific songs on Wear OS's version, but it can on the Tizen version. There is also severely degraded standalone capability on the Wear OS watches.

6. I want my watch to be 'no longer supported'. I hate updates. I hate being bugged by them, nagged to install them, and forced to accept them. The OG Galaxy Watch no longer gets updates, but works fine. It can do what I ask of it and never bother me with another update ever again. On the modern watches, if there's an OTA update, the phone constantly shows a pop-up asking to install it multiple time a day. There's no 'leave me alone and let me enjoy my watch' button. You can disable auto-download on wifi, but it still bugs you on both the phone and the watch about it either way.

7. Samsung should have kept developing Tizen. Let's face it, we need competition otherwise we stifle innovation. We already have Wear OS. Why must Samsung start using it? Let's have more competition out there, please. Nothing wrong with it. Losing Tizen means less of that, and more and more homogenization. There's room for many OSs out there, not just one or two.

I'm gonna rock this watch until it ceases to function. I don't believe in obsolescence and I keep stuff until it breaks. Unless 5G ever dies off, I'm also hoping my Z Flip 4 works until I'm dead and gone. I don't see or understand the 'upgrade' of Wear OS. I can use Samsung Pay, Bixby, SMS, email, weather, Samsung Health, and get a great selection of watch faces just fine on the Tizen watch. What am I missing that would warrant buying a watch that I don't like? What does Wear OS do that I cannot do? From my short time with it, it seemed to do far less. It had more Google clutter, I wasn't certain a software update wouldn't remove Bixby one day, and it had no Samsung Email app or Galaxy Store app. The app drawer was a massive downgrade, and the rotating bezel seemed less utilized than it should be. It required 'checking your phone' far too much. Maybe everyone else out there wants their phone in their hand or in their face everywhere they go, but not me.

Deleting reminders

I was using Google Assistant to create reminders. I also used the Assistant to delete them.

Then I got this suggestion when I opened it up to switch to Google Tasks to manage them.

Now , when I try to delete the reminders, although the Assistant responds that they have been deleted, none are deleted.

Also, on the Google Tasks page, the option to delete all "completed" task does not work.

I am somehow supposed to use some voice command to evoke the Google task manager to do this?

If not, how can I revert back to the Google Assistant?

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