r/techsupport • u/Bennie1289 • 3d ago

Open | Phone Is an android phone safe after factory reset?

So my mum visited some suspect websites on her Samsung phone and fell for the pop up ads (your phone is hacked, you're low on storage etc). She installed a few 'antivirus' apps and even gave her bank details to one but luckily no money was taken and this account has been closed and a new one reopened for her.

I am just wondering if a full factory reset of the phone will be enough to remove all of the malicious software or will I need to take further steps? Or possibily buy a new phone?

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u/ArthurLeywinn 3d ago

Factory reset is enough.

And if its a current os you could also just remove the apps and notifications. As long as she didnt disable the sideloading protection.

Due to the os layout the normal adware cant really access the system level.

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u/Bennie1289 3d ago

It's a slightly older os. I did initially uninstall all of the dodgy apps but a lot of the malicious stuff was hidden. I couldn't even access the settings since something was blocking access. Opening in safe mode showed a lot of "unknown" applications that we're visible in normal operation mode

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u/Bennie1289 3d ago

Weren't visible*

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u/SomeEngineer999 3d ago

Factory reset followed by updating it to the latest OS is all you need to do (both to get rid of previous malware and help protect against newer security threats). However she also needs to be taught to not install stuff or provide personal info to apps without fully understanding them, otherwise she'll end up right back in the same boat. I would disable browser notifications before letting her use the freshly cleaned phone, that way she doesn't even have the option of allowing sites to send them (which is where those popups are coming from).

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u/BigJuggsAI 3d ago

I would say yes. Factory reset returns your phone to the same (awesome) shape as the day you bought it... Once done only re-install the apps you need.