Can the Android Device Manager Lock and Erase function be turned off?

[mike9o]

After I lost my S4 this Saturday, I tried using ADM to find it. The battery was completely dead so it did not work. I suspected a day laborer I hired on Saturday had stolen it so I used the ADM Lock and Erase feature. It was a work phone so I got a replacement phone activated with my old phone number yesterday (Monday) morning. When I got home that evening, lo and behold he had only "borrowed" it (it had a PIN number) and I now have my S4 back. I have fully charged it but have not turned it back on. I checked the gmail account associated with that phone and I didn't receive an e-mail that the S4 had been Locked and erased but don't know if that is how it works.

Please tell me there is a way for the ADM Lock and Erase function be turned off so my texts, contacts and pictures will not be deleted.

 

[jpr]

Well, it has to be connected to the internet for it to work. So, first remove your SIM card. Then, if you left WiFi on or don't know if it is on, make sure you are away from any WiFi devices that it would automatically connect to. Then you can safely turn your phone on. If you see that WiFi is turned on, turn it off.

Now go into your security settings and find Device Administrators and uncheck the ADM box. If you have the ADM app installed make sure the lock and erase feature is set to off there and/or go to google settings in your app list and uncheck the box there too.

Then, back up everything you want to make sure not to lose from your phone. The lock and erase feature needs Device Admin permission to work so it should not reset after your uncheck that, but to be safe just make a backup so it won't matter.

If you recheck those boxes because you want to be able to use the feature again, I don't know if there is any time out (number of days, etc) on the command, so confirm you have everything backed up before ever rechecking that again. Also, if you have a major firmware upgrade, no guarantee it won't reset the settings so again, backup.

If you want to be proactive, after the backup, you can just go ahead and recheck the device admin and lock and erase boxes and then connect to the internet and let it reset (or see if it does or not) so that you don't have to wonder if it will happen at some point in the future.

You could also remove your google account from your phone and use a different one. You have to be signed in to that account on the device that you sent the command from.