HTC U11 home button -> black screen; 30 secs before phone wiped

[andyste1]

I've had my phone for two weeks now without any problems, but today I had been using a couple of apps (FB, Twitter) then pressed the Home button, at which point the screen went black and the phone would not respond to further button or screen presses. I ended up holding down the power button for a good few seconds which eventually restarted the phone.

Once I saw the animated HTC logo I put the phone in my pocket while it finished booting, but decided to check the phone a short time later. I'm glad I did as there was a white screen with a message along the lines of "phone encrypted. If you do not enter your lock screen PIN within 30 seconds the phone will be deleted".

Any idea what this is and why it appeared? Can it be turned off? I'm a bit concerned that I'll end up with a wiped phone if it crashes when I'm not around to enter the PIN on this screen.

 

[Mathrania]

Have you installed some encryption app for your work email?

 

[BigDinCA]

Are you sure you're not thinking of the standard PIN screen that comes up when you restart the phone? It shows a number pad and a note beneath that tells you you have 30 attempts at the PIN before the phone will be wiped. This is standard fare if you have it enabled. It normally asks you to set it up when you first start the device.

Settings > Security > Device Security > Screen Lock

Whichever one you choose can also be used to decrypt your device for use, or wipe it clean if someone tries to access it.

 

[andyste1]

Are you sure you're not thinking of the standard PIN screen that comes up when you restart the phone? It shows a number pad and a note beneath that tells you you have 30 attempts at the PIN before the phone will be wiped. This is standard fare if you have it enabled. It normally asks you to set it up when you first start the device.

Apologies - I must have been in a flap after the phone crashed and coming across this new screen. I saw the number 30 and assumed it was a time countdown rather than number of attempts, and quickly entered my PIN without reading the whole message properly.

Still, I've never seen this screen before. It had a white/grey background, unlike the minimalist black PIN entry screen I normally see when waking the phone.

 

[BigDinCA]

No worries. Just for reference, this is to decrypt the data on your device and to actually start the phone. That screen only pops up once, when the phone starts from a power off state or a restart. Once the phone is on it won't show up again. Until the next power off or restart.