Nextcloud data wipe

guy_758

I know this is not a nextcloud forum, but I'm guessing there's a decent overlap of the grapheneos and nextcloud communities.

My 5a has a non functional screen. From what I can tell, the rest of the device is still working. I may drop off my phone for repair and provide my passcode. This phone is linked to my nextcloud server. It interacts with the server via the nextcloud synchronization app, the nextcloud notes app, and davx5 app (for calendar synchronization).

If I drop off my phone and provide my passcode, I'd like to wipe as much of this data as possible. What is the best way for me to do this? I could change the server IP address so that my 5a cannot access the server. However, the notes app stores a local copy so it's available offline. I could also delete all my notes data from the server and hope that my notes app also deletes everything locally. I don't have a good way to test this at the moment, though.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

treequell

guy_758 Does your screen still show? You can data wipe (factory reset) the device using only the power and volume buttons from recovery mode.

de0u

guy_758 I may drop off my phone for repair and provide my passcode.

Are they absolutely requiring your passcode?

guy_758

treequell Nope. Screen has no image and no touch sensitivity. My end goal here is to recover data from the device that I didnt have in the cloud, so I'm trying to avoid a factory reset. In the future I will be sure to have auto backups set up..

csis01

In Nextcloud from Personal Settings --> Security, scroll down to "Devices & sessions", and hit the "three dots" button beside the applicable authorizations. You can pick either "Revoke" or "Wipe device". Your mileage may vary on the "Wipe device" option, depends on the function of the particular client being connected via that auth.

guy_758

csis01 Sounds promising! I'll be taking a look at that tonight.

guy_758

de0u According to the employee on the phone today, yes. He said that techncially by Google's rules, they are required to factory reset. However, sometimes they make an exception and will accept the passcode instead. I believe this is their process since they run diagnostics before doing any repair, and they need access to the phone to do that.

de0u

guy_758 Interesting! That sounds like a potential argument for everybody having a minimal owner profile and keeping anything private elsewhere. But it's also a little worrisome to give techs access to "only" the owner profile...

Skyway

Just my opinion , I'd go elsewhere.
We're here for privacy , to just give up the password because they say so sounds silly.
Remember you own the phone not google not the repair shop if they wipe your data without your consent that's fraud or theft .
Sorry if this sounds harsh.
Sounds like you may go diy

guy_758

Skyway Yup, I totally understand what you're saying. I've ordered a new screen and am planning to do a DIY replacement. However, if that is an insufficient fix, I'm trying to best understand the options I have.

There are tradeoffs to be made here if I am to recover the data I (carelessly) did not have auto-backed up.

treequell

Skyway If you take a phone to a Google-approved repair shop they clearly warn you that a factory reset is required and that you should backup first.

This is far preferred to giving them your passcode, both for them and for you.

Skyway

treequell
Yes if you know ahead of time to make a decision that's acceptable .
But put yourself in op shoes.
I read up repair shops asking for passcodes , they claim its to test every system is working after screen replacement which I understand. But you should be able to say just replace the screen nothing more nothing less and understand the risk .