Wipe device from the lockscreen

[deleted]

Hello,
Recently a member of my family was assaulted on the street and forced to reveal their Android device unlock PIN.
I have some sensible information at my device, including the apps from my banks, bitwarden, etc and reveal my PIN is not an option.
Is there an option to wipe the device from the lockscreen in that case? I have no problem giving my device and the money from my pockets if they point a knife at me, but sharing my data is already more dangerous :/

GrapheneLover

Sorry to hear that, I'm in the same situation as you, theres no duress feature as of right now, but I heard it's being worked on, the work around for now is to use Wasted or Duress app from F-Droid. It's able to accomplish what you need in the meantime. Did your family member lose any money or valuables when the thieves got into the phone?

[deleted]

GrapheneLover Luckily I only had a virtual prepaid card with little money, but that would not be my case. Duress/wasted apps from F-Droid are working with GOS? I have tried it on the Android emulator and are not working.

[deleted]

[deleted] Duress/wasted apps from F-Droid are working with GOS?

Yes.

optimal

I use FMD. It can be triggered remotely via SMS - you either need to whitelist the phone number or configure a PIN that you also need to text. It can do everything from locking the device to wiping it.

[deleted]

optimal Thanks for the reply, but I prefer a instant solution that I can enable. The SMS is easily disabled by swiping out the SIM and that what would be the first thing I would do if I were a thief

[deleted]

optimal Do you think that someone will have the time to send an SMS from a different device when he is being assaulted on the street and being forced to reveal his Screen lock.

[deleted]

[deleted] I think that by the time I can send the SMS the damage will already be done, that's why I prefer an option that I can activate, like entering a lock code or something (Duress style)

mmmm

In situations like this I always wish there was a device which existed, some type of small keyfob or something, which when away from the phone for X amount of time will cause an automatic erase.

[deleted]

mmmm That's useful if you lose your phone, but really if you lose your phone, and your password is strong, you don't have too much to worry about. In the case that I expose, a unlock password that causes instant wipe would be enough too

mmmm

[deleted] I think it’s a bit dangerous though, especially if it actually wiped the device. You may piss the attacker off. May be more prudent for the duress code to destroy all profile keys and unlock the phone into some kind of tidy profile. At least that way they think they have something so run off with your phone and leave you be hopefully..

DeletedUser28

Yes the best would be a function to use a special PIN to log in to a special user profile. This decoy profile could have a few apps installed, a few photos, a few text messages and so on. Just enough for plausible deniability.

I think Veracrypt has such a feature (for PCs) where depending on what password you enter you either unlock data A (the real one) or data B (the decoy one). This is also helpful for countries where you're legally required to give your password to the police (e.g. UK: up to 5 years of jail for refusing to give them your password).

But that's probably not easy to implement because it's not an AOSP feature.

[deleted]

DeletedUser28
I long wished for a decoy fearure....
I suppose another available option for high opsec requirements would be to arrange one's affairs in such a way, that all the important stuff isn't on the device, but accessible via logged in service.

It's a challenge to implement, but no one will ever know you have Proton if you check your messages online, bookmark-less.

I don't do it nearly enough, but there are no banking apps on my phone.

Of course there are issues... Gotta be online, using Keepass becomes a challenge...

raccoondad

Very scary, and yes there is. You could use an application like Wasted and set it so that you can press the 'Airplane Mode' button and it will trigger a wipe.

You can also set it so it wipes after a certain amount of days without an unlock

You could also keep your phone on a secondary profile with this set and pretend as if thats your main one (most people don't know about the android users feature)

[deleted]

raccoondad You could also keep your phone on a secondary profile with this set and pretend as if thats your main one (most people don't know about the android users feature)

I can do this with GOS?

router99

raccoondad True but if they are familiar with GrapeheneOS the phone owner is fucked because the ability to swap profiles is present. Perhaps a profile that shows no indication of having other profiles would be good, and only accessible via a special PIN as mentioned previously.

MoonshineMidnight

raccoondad You could also keep your phone on a secondary profile with this set and pretend as if thats your main one (most people don't know about the android users feature)

This is a very good idea. Not real practical for easy use of main profile, but if in a bad part of town or a dark street late at night a good setting to make.

[deleted]

[deleted] I guess safety and efficiency must be a compromise. Using all the services on the web and authenticating every time is very difficult, unfortunately

Skyway

[deleted] me as well , from any lock screen you could enter a decoy profile that wouldn't reset the auto reboot feature .
But keeping your phone in a locked down profile when in public is the next best thing .

raccoondad

[deleted] Yes

[deleted]

Skyway even better thing is: do not carry information you don't wish to be revealed around in your pocket. There are situations when you can not refuse revealing access to your device, whether it's the law or use of force.