I installed NetGuard about a month ago and blocked all internet to apps, unless they’re on a whitelist. No notifications from this particular system app (that can’t be disabled) until recently when it started making internet connection requests to google servers. Does anyone know when this became a thing?
Edit 2: I bought my Pixel 6 phone outright, directly from Google’s Australian store. I have no creditors.
Were the courts not enough control for creditors? Since when are they allowed to lock you out of your purchased property without a court order?
I don’t even live in the US, so what the actual fuck?
Edit 1: You can check it’s installed (stock Pixel 6 android 14) Settings > Apps > All Apps > three dot menu, Show system > search “DeviceLockController”.
I highly recommend getting NetGuard, you can enable pro features via their website if you have the APK for as low as 0.10€, but donate more, because it’s amazing. You can also purchase via Google Play store.
Pixel 7 Pro reporting in. There is no DeviceLockController on my phone. Just installed the latest monthly updates a couple of days ago.
It’s ok. You can just make some calls and settle your arrears.
Where did you buy your phone? What kind of phone is it?
Australia directly from the google store, Pixel 6.
In that case I would seriously contact Google, and either completely reflash either factory Android or one of the ALTs available.
Remember when Google said don’t be evil. Ha
I think it was “don’t. Be evil.”
It was actually closer to: you don’t have to be evil to make money
But they’ve definitely lost their way
Well yeah, you don’t need to be evil to make money, but you can make more money by being evil.
So, don’t be evil until you have a commanding market presence, and then be evil to make even more money.
Seems to be the MO of any large org.
“Don’t be.” -Evil
‘Dont be evil’ was a warning to the users…cause google be watching you.
Their definition of evil was insubordination, their way of telling people to listen to them, while also trying to legitimize their message.
It was a command to the slaves using their services: “Don’t be evil.(We will know and judge)”
Have you tried Universal Android Debloat to disable it?
https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater
Stuff like this is why I root or just flash my phones.
Oh this looks great, thanks!
I’m in the US and it’s not on my phone and even though it’s listed in the Play Store it says it’s not available in my region
It says the same thing for me (not listed in the Australian Playstore), but it is installed.
Doesn’t seem to be installed on mine. Maybe it’s because I’m using a Motorola?
Found it is present in my Moto g84, Android 14.
Same with my Motorola. Mine’s rooted so I would have uninstalled it anyway.
Same, I think my phone is too old to have it.
My phone’s only about a year old maybe it’s something that just started
The Netherlands here: not installed on my S22 and not available in my region.
NL here too, but 1+8t on OxygenOS 14, and it is installed here. Did you check your system apps?
Another NL user here, not installed on my carrier-bought S23 Ultra, checked system apps as well in both my personal and work profile.
Here’s an article that explains more about what this is: https://www.androidauthority.com/device-lock-controller-1175637/
Since when are they allowed to lock you out of your purchased property without a court order?
That’s an oxymoron. Creditors have the ability to lock you out of a device you haven’t paid for yet. Standard terms and conditions in B2C and B2B; you don’t own it until you’ve paid for it in full.
Also locking you out of a device you don’t own yet is cheaper than taking you to court.
i think they’re just using the device administrator feature of android right? i know outlook does this if i connect to my work email
So because I’m using a work profile, this gets installed?
I’m using shelter, also, hence have a work profile.
But even so, this shouldn’t be installed.
If it’s specific to a work profile, then it’s likely to allow a user to prevent leaking sensitive work materials in case of a lost phone.
It’s not specific, it’s in both. And it being installed due to the work profile is speculation on my part.
Seen this comment several times and since you’re OP and can get more eyes on you than my random comment: P6 paid for in full, installed GrapheneOS with no gApps and no Work Profile and I still have that app
Yikes. Well at least I feel vindicated that it’s not somehow my “fault” for using Shelter. It’s where I install all my questionable
Why in the world would this be bundled with AOSP? (Or is Graphene not built on stock AOSP, I have no concept of how that works)
No idea about why, and I’m pretty sure GrapheneOS is AOSP. I guess I’ll have to bring this up in one of their official spaces
Use K-9 mail
It’s built into Android, but I suspect yes it needs to be granted device admin first so I doubt this can just enable out of nowhere.
you will own nothing and be happy
At least it’s open-source: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/modules/DeviceLock/+/refs/heads/main/DeviceLockController/
And that’d be why custom roms have it. It’s part of the base Android system.
I was able to start some of its private activities with ActivityLauncher as root. Most of them just crash immediately, but the help page is available. And yikes, they got them covered against a possible bypass, no developer tools or sideloading.
Still disappointed this is shipped in LineageOS, but I suspect not for much longer with that publicity.
On my lineage for micro G install it’s not present (or at least I didn’t spot it) maybe it’s a regional thing? I’m not in the us
So, that looks like this is less insane than it sounded… This is for if you buy your phone on a payment plan? Not for creditors more generally to have a option to repossess/dispossess your phone?
Yeah, this is likely something that’s configured on an OS level to talk to some server when being sold.
However, note that SIM cards can have a flag that might enable this app (given how much power sim cards have over phones)
Note: no source, just assumptions
Edit: second note: this app isn’t present on my EU OnePlus Nord.
This is what small claims court is for. To me there is no excuse for this.
That is both Google’s official version and what it looks like poking at it.
I haven’t dug in the code, so I don’t know if this is theoretically possible for a shady carrier to enable after the fact. But it very much looks like a dormant feature nobody uses.
I guess I could see that making sense in poorer countries where carriers might have issues of people signing up for phone plans and never paying. A carrier locked flip phone was pretty useless, but nowadays cutting your phone/data off is more of an inconvenience than a dealbreaker, you’ve still got WiFi and a nice phone.
I’m worried about the “if you stop using their SIM” part. It’s one thing if you switch providers before paying it off, but that’s already covered with the skipped payments part. This implies that even after you finish paying it off, you can get locked out. Either way, I’m curious if the app even has any way of knowing whether the creditor really is using it “as intended,” or just trusting that a creditor wouldn’t want to lock the phone of an active, paying customer. I don’t have time to dig through the code myself though, so I’ll just hope this blows up enough for somebody else to figure it out.
if you switch providers before paying it of
Usually a financed devicd is financed through the carrier, and therefore a carrier branded device, and therefore locked to the carrier (yes they have the unlock option but compatibility tends to be far more limited than on the manufacturer unlocked version of the model)
If you look at the bottom it says once the device is paid off they can no longer access/change settings
Assuming there are no additional backdoors…
Coz we all trust in that…
Fuck the entirety of this noise.
Doesn’t this go against their own terms of service?
Mate we live in a 5 eyes country so whatever shit you see in the USl by default you’ll see it here. Its sad but that’s how it is and regular 9-5s can’t do much about it
Interesting. It’s not available in the US.
