Stolen phone - got this message on new android

[novo87]

phone was stolen - jellybean 4.3 right before i saw it last i was using google maps for street navigation - phone would have been screen pin locked at time of theft - about 5 minutes later .

I just bought new phone with kit kat version - and when first loading up google maps got this message:

" In a previous version of android you turned off the ability for google APPS to access your location . turn it back on for all google apps ?"

Forgive me but i don't understand the relationship of this process - can this new phone with a new sim replacement card know the state of my android settings in old phone at last point before i had it cancelled? - would google device manager have record of this too ?

I am worried sick, because if so , it means the baddy was able to turn off location and access my phone apps - google account passwords were not changed for over an hour - none my email/social accounts were compromised.

This would mean the thief got past my pin protection in the hour before i initiated device wipe using google device manager, i was not able to ever contact device after theft i figured baddie just turned off power .

I just need to know where it is getting the "previous version from " what previous version ? my stolen phones previous version ?
I have three other android devices linked to my google account ( including the stolen phone )
Sorry to sound frantic ,,,, but I am please help explain if you know how this works -Thanks !

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Sorry to hear that your other phone was stolen. I suspect the message you're seeing is due to the fact that you had the "Backup My Data" setting checked on, which backed up settings, wi-fi passwords, and some app data to your Google account. So when you log into a new device, it will restore that information (or prompt you, in this case).

As long as your Google account is secure and you had your passcode lock on for your stolen phone, it shouldn't be very easy for the thief to break into your account.

 

[novo87]

Thanks for welcome and really wish it wasn't under such circumstances too !

Yes. i have backups for all three devices linked to my account turned on . I see a backup for the stolen phone that occurred at least 20 minutes before the theft , and in that time after backup I know i was using google maps and viewing my location as i walked along . So my "location was definitely being " accessed " by google apps .

Could this message be generated because one of my current backups has google apps location services turned off ? one of the system backups is from February - who knows maybe it was off on that phone at that point - i don't know how to vies the backup files- or even if you can . I remember in past seeing the message " you must activate google location services to use app etc and had to go in and activate it at various times in the past, would that be enough to generate this message ?

If the backup was before theft - and it was location services where on - then that would have to be the status of location services my new phone is seeing - so i don't understand the " previous" bit in message ..

I have changed all my passwords and none of my accounts have had any suspicious activities - but it is a wake up call and serious creepy feeling to know some thief is seeing emails and pics of my child wife house etc. ( if they did get into my phone - if they did turn off locations services - which is what a thief would do... That's why i'm buggin out !
thanks again - really appreciate your time !

 

[B. Diddy]

I really wouldn't worry too much. As long as your PIN wasn't something obvious (like 1234) or your pattern unlock really simple (like two lines that can be seen by the fingerprint pattern), it's really unlikely that a typical thief could break into your phone. They're probably not really interested in your information--chances are that the first thing they did was do a factory reset so they could either use it for themselves or sell it.

Oh, one important thing--make sure you reported the theft to your wireless provider. They would then mark the IMEI number as stolen, and can then track it if it pops up again. See information here: Stolen and Lost Wireless Devices | FCC.gov

 

[novo87]

Yes the IMEI is blacklisted- they can't use it in UK , we are Americans living in London - stuff stolen here usually goes over with gangs to Europe where they will get around the blocked IMEI issue I hear...
I used location service in device manager and saw time stamped points of our travel that day and the last sys backup for stolen device occurred at 5:15 google maps and location services were definitely being used by me as i can see my path up and reversing down street at later time stamped points .
So now I know that if this android was pulling previous settings from my google accounts it wasn't the stolen phone that had that option deselected - maybe its the "google location service " on my sony experia M its referring to - i have that deselected .
Thanks so much for your time - i have learned a lot tonight !