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Device Security without Lock Screen

S

Stang70Fastback

Well-Known Member
Okay, so for a myriad of reasons (in particular, the use of my phone in my car as a media device), I have decided to disable any form of lock screen on my device and see how things work out.

The way I see it is thus: I have never in my life misplaced my phone. That's not to say it won't happen, but if it DOES happen, it won't take me long to notice. In the event that this ever happens, I can log into the Android Device Manager from somewhere, and quickly lock the phone and/or erase it if need be. Seemed like a good plan...

Except that I seem to be discovering all kinds of flaws.

1. Anyone can go into the Google Settings on the device, and UN-CHECK the option to allow the phone to be remotely located/locked/wiped. I would have imagined the device would have asked for a password before allowing you to un-check those features, but nope. That seems to be kind of ridiculous.

2. Anyone can go into the security settings on the device, and UN-CHECK Android Device Manager as a System Administrator. Again, I would have imagined there would be some password protection here... in fact, the entire "Security" page of the device settings should at least have an OPTION for password protection.

I'm having a hard time understanding what the point of all these security features is. Anyone who knows anything about Android, who wanted to steal a phone, could completely disable your ability to track the device within seconds. The only form of security on the device seems to be the lock screen...

What am I missing? Is there an option somewhere that I couldn't find that will enable password protection for these settings? This option exists on XMBC for the settings page. It existed on the front end software I used to run in my car as a media device. There are lots of electronic devices that allow you to password protect your settings, if only as a child-lock feature. Why is this not implemented in Android? Seems a bit silly to give you an option to allow you to wipe the device in case someone gains access to it, when - if they DO gain access to it - they can just go in and turn it right back off.

It seems to be the equivalent of having a "bypass" button on the deadbolt on your front door.
 
Check out an app like Smart App Lock.
Settings on android is an app so it can be locked.
Nothing prevents a theif from going into recovery mode and doing a factory reset though.
If youre rooted you can put an app in the /system folder so a factory reset wont touch it but a really smart theif could get rid of it.
Bottom line is nothings completely secure.
If your data is important then you wont mind someone wiping the phone to get into it.
my data isnt important, id rather catch the theif so i dont use a secure lockscreen. (The average dumb theif will throw a locked phone away)
 
I suppose rooting the device is another option.

I ended up going with funkylogik's suggestion and installed "Smart App Protector" which I have assigned to require a password for all device settings. Seems like a fairly robust solution. The only annoyance is that, since it has to run constantly, I end up with an ongoing notification which takes up that much more space in the notification bar (along with the already annoying ongoing WiFi connection notification) but such is the price I will have to pay, I suppose.
 
If youre on jellybean then you should be able to turn off the notification in Application Manager mate (test it for a while though incase not having a notification makes it get kicked out of ram)
Also remember that the app can probably be uninstalled via Play so youll have to lock that :thumbup:
 
Please elaborate on what you mean. I have heard people say you can "Force Stop" the WiFi service, which will hide the notification until the next time you turn WiFi back on, but I feel as though that's a clumsy solution. Is there a service you can permanently disable from the app manager???

EDIT: Sorry, if you meant the notification for the security software, there is an option to do so right in the app, but as you said, there is no guarantee that the app won't get stopped by the system. If I'm going to add a security app, might as well make sure it doesn't get stopped, lol.
 
Yeah if youre on jellybean (>4.1.2 anyway), find the lock app in app manager and there should be a checkbox for notifications, just uncheck it.
Apps sometimes need the notification there to stop android from shutting them down when it needs more RAM. i find that that doesnt happen much on a >1gb phone though so test it

P.s. for the wifi thing theres a setting to turn that off.
Go into settings, tap the word WIFI (not the on/off switch), tap the 3dots or menu button, tap ADVANCED, there should be a setting to turn off notifications for available networks :thumbup:
 
Thom said:
The middle ground ... some people use Tasker with a phone that has the lock screen enabled. They have a procedure like perhaps ... if it's within range of their home or office WiFi the lock is disabled and otherwise it is enabled.

... Thom
Click to expand...

Delayed lock is similar, and probably simpler. It will delay the lock while you're connected to specific wi-fi networks or bluetooth devices (e.g. your car stereo or even a BT headset).
 
funkylogik said:
For the wifi thing theres a setting to turn that off.
Go into settings, tap the word WIFI (not the on/off switch), tap the 3dots or menu button, tap ADVANCED, there should be a setting to turn off notifications for available networks :thumbup:
Click to expand...

I did that. I unchecked the box for the setting "Network Notification - Notify me when an open network is available." However, I suppose that only refers to the device detecting a network. It does nothing to hide the ongoing message in the notification drop-down letting you know which network you are connected to. Bah!
 
Well, I downloaded a second app called "Helper(Smart App Protector)" which is some sort of... helper... app... for Smart App Protector (made by the same people.) Unfortunately their English leaves much to be desired, but in the main app, it says "If you install the Helper, than Protector will not be force closed by the task manager."

So I installed that, and then I set it to NOT show an ongoing notification, and we shall see if I have any issues. This app is in the 10 million to 50 million downloads range, so it can't be TOO terrible...
 
Sounds good man. A lot of times, helper apps add something that needs root access (a rooted phone) but hopefully this isnt one of them. Let us know how it goes :beer:
 
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