I'll make a reservation right away, we will look for secure phones from a software point of view, on which you can install your own software shell, somehow customize. And not physically protected (from moisture and dust, from falls, etc.)
A secure phone should be selected based on how easy it can be to customize. We are not interested in smartphones on which it is impossible to get root (hello Huawei). To see which phones are right for us, use the “Tool All in One” utility. The best options:
- OnePlus 5,6,7
- Nexus all versions
- Xiaomi Mi 1, 2
- Xiaomi Mi A2 or A2 lite.
- Google Pixel all versions.
- Samsung Galaxy S7, S8, S9, S10.
Those. we focus on phones that are developed using technology Android One. A more complete list of models is available on the developer's website.
Customization is the demolition of the stock (standard firmware from the manufacturer) and the installation of third-party firmware.
Android One is a new platform that was launched in 2018. In fact, these phones run on “bare” Android without any third-party modifications. This OS gives us guaranteed opportunities to use our phone for 100% of its functionality.
Many smartphones of Chinese manufacturers with proprietary firmware send data to Chinese servers. There were many craftsmen on Habré who tried to “wean” the firmware to send data, but nothing came of it. It's easier to demolish the entire Android system and put an external one.
Soft reset – reset the settings on the phone
I'll touch upon one more topic – resetting the settings on a smartphone (or “returning to factory settings”). As a rule, this method is used in the following cases:
- the phone is slow
- little memory
- virus or trojan
- sale of the phone, transfer to a third party.
So, resetting the settings helps in all cases, except for a smartphone infection with a serious virus or Trojan. In fact, a factory reset – it only resets USER data (installed applications, contacts, photos, videos, music, downloads), and does not touch system applications. Therefore, if a virus program somehow gained administrator access and became a system application, resetting the settings will not help get rid of the virus. You will be saved only by a full custom phone firmware (custom recovery).
to the content
Recovery in the phone
Recovery (bootloader, recovery menu) is a system application that allows the user to operate at a low level, something like a BIOS on a computer. Install the TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project ) application.
- We turn off the phone.
- Turn on recovery mode. We turn on the phone by holding down the power button and one of the volume keys (on different phones in different ways). We will see the following menu:
- To install the required firmware, you first need to put it inside the phone (Install menu).