Trying to get into an old phone

[Jeremy S Bell]

I have this old LG G2x Android phone that's been sitting in my closet for five years, and it has some stuff on it that I really need to access. Specifically, a bunch of text in an app called Colornote. I was able to get the phone to power on after I bought a new battery, but the problem is that it isn't giving me any access. It keeps asking for my google login, but when I enter my google info, it just says "Your username and password do not match. Please try again." As you can see in the screenshot, it suggests a help page to recover my account info, but it's not at all helpful to me because I already know my username and password, and I am entering them correctly. I even tried changing my password just to be sure, but the phone still won't accept my info.

Any ideas? Thanks!
~JSB

 

[Dannydet]

Your image isn't showing.
If you are logging in with the correct credentials it should work.
Has anything changed in the past 5 years?

 

[Hadron]

It shows fine for me (and I often have problems seeing images posted here).

I admit that all I could think of was to try your credentials from 5 years ago if they have changed, just to be sure (yes, I can see a WiFi connection so would expect it to know the current credentials, but "expect" and "certain" are not the same thing).

 

[nickdalzell]

If this phone is running Android 2.3 then forget about the Google account. You cannot login to a Google account on a 2.3 device today. Google recently cut off their support for Google Play Services and accounts on Android 2.3, Gingerbread (I'm assuming it's 2.3 just from the UI design; green battery icon, the button styles on the error dialogue, etc but many skins like TouchWiz and Optimus had a 2.3 aesthetic long into Jelly Bean so I can only guess)

Google won't allow users to sign in to their Google accounts on Android devices running Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread or older after September 27, 2021. If you or someone you know uses an old Android phone, this change will be a big one.

https://www.makeuseof.com/old-android-phones-will-lose-google-apps-support/

As for Colornote, I still use the thing haha. My daily driver is still an HTC Thunderbolt and that's my go-to notes app!

 

[Jeremy S Bell]

Thanks for the replies, and apologies for the late response. I forgot what forum I had posted this question on! Anyway, I assume @nickdalzell is correct -- it is a pretty old phone. So I'm just wondering what my options are now, because it's really important. I was thinking that maybe I could post a job on upWork to find someone who can hack into my old phone, as the files should be stored locally. Or is there someone at Google I can reach out to.. or LG.. or whomever makes ColorNote?

 

[nickdalzell]

LG is not even in the phone game anymore. Google would probably ask you to 'get a newer phone', and the developer of colornote did issue an update that just flattened the UI, but I doubt that helps.

I wasn't even aware that app used Google to backup data. I never use that sort of stuff anyway so I can't help there, sorry. The app will run on Android 12, so perhaps you can use a newer device with the same account, and reinstall the app and get the data that way?

 

[Deleted member 2157292]

This probably won't help much, but I've always used Color Note (maybe not from my first Android as I thought).


I just now swiped way down to my first note, and it's dated 30 Dec 2013, around when I had purchased my second device.

I currently keep 4 phones running, and I manually sync Color Note across all, just in case. (notes only, no lists or calendar stuff)

I would try the developer, but if you think you originally started with a different email address, things are unlikely to improve.
Also if there was a long gap, or if your last use was not synced before closing there wouldn't be much chance anyway. (I find I have to press sync or also close and open before new data transfers to another device).

Afaik it doesn't use Google backup
as such, you just need to be logged in to the original Google or Facebook account you started with.

Too late now, but fwiw a fully accessible online note app has it's worth - ala Google Keep; but Color Note is easier and quicker to work with offline.

 

[nickdalzell]

The version of Colornote I use is from 2010, so I never get asked for any account just to open the app or use it.

If there was an old Google Account set to sync on Android 2.3 you will get errors and endless prompts to re-login as your original post shows, but you can keep backing out long enough to just delete said account and it will leave you alone. Or force it via Airplane Mode or disabling Sync. I'm quite versed in Android 2.3's way, given it's my favorite version of Android.