Now reboot, and make sure everything is working as expected. I would suggest backing up anything you needed an app or the cloud to backup that you couldn't earlier, such as text messages via SMS Backup & Restore app. Now enable the network access (WiFi or reinstall SIM) and verify you can access the Internet and your Google account such as Gmail, and continue to use the device for a few minutes. Verify again that Find My Device does NOT have permissions as device administrator by going to Settings - Security - Device Administrators.
Do not attempt to backup to any cloud service, install apps, or anything else requiring network access. Now backup any data via USB to PC, SD card, or OTG flash drive. Important things here are usually photos and video in the DCIM folder. Then go to Settings - Security - Device Administrators and disable Find My Device's administration capabilities. As soon as you are able to do so, turn on Airplane Mode. Once you have removed the SIM and disabled WiFi, power on the device.
Remove the SIM card and disable any WiFi that may be in range device, such as turning off your wireless router and any network it may automatically connect to, if it connects to the Internet and Google, it will wipe all data immediately. Once the erase is initiated from the website the command will go out, it cannot be stopped from happening, although it can sometimes be mitigated.Īssuming you find the device and it is powered off or the battery is dead, DO NOT attempt to turn the device on. Since you have already initiated the Erase procedure, the only solution is to prevent the device from contacting Google so the wipe command to Find My Device (the Google Device Administrator service on your phone) is not received or executed. Unless you pressed that button, you should be fine - but again, there is no harm in following acejavelin's paranoid procedure, so I recommend being paranoid! Google does make it very clear what this button does: And since it was probably online (otherwise the two buttons wouldn't have appeared), it's very likely too late - the device has already been erased. If you then hit "erase device", your device will be erased. Despite that, I'd still go with acejavelin's paranoid approach if I had any un-backed-up data.Īfter you press "enable secure erase", Google contacts your device to enable the feature (not erase your device) and once Google gets an answer back, you should see two new buttons - "lock device" and "erase device". So if that's all you've done, your data is still fine, and you can undo it by going into settings and removing Device Admin permission. Instead, what it does is reach out to the device to and turn on the Device Admin permission for the Find My Device app. The “enable secure erase” button does not actually erase your device.