Hello all,
I'm guessing this is a long shot, but I know this group will be much more tech savvy than I am and can hopefully point me in the right direction.
I'm being electronically stalked on 2 Pixel 4 phones-- one is used for work, the other is personal. I'm at an absolute loss as to how it's happening. I've gone to the police and they said because it's Android, there are many ways it could be happening, but they can't find out how.
Here are some of the symptoms:
-when I unlock/wake the screen, apps will be open that I am not using, or menus I don't know how to access will be up, for example in Gmail
-phone overheats often/excessive battery drain
-sleeping phone will suddenly wake, background is gone and replaced with a black screen, date and unlock option still present, then it disappears
-stock phone dialer: tapping on the favorites/recents/contacts/voicemail buttons always causes a weird notification when I go from contacts to voicemail. One phone always shows a 'syncing voicemail' popup in the top tray; the other phone shows a missed call notification, and clearly I'm not missing any calls. It happens every time I move between screens.
-At times, recent calls screen shows a missed call. If I tap on it, it never unbolds-- always shows as new
-when phone is locked, using another phone's camera shows that the selfie cam is flashing red like it's in use... Maybe this is normal but it doesn't always happen so I'm not sure why?
-biggest issue is the Now Playing feature: it will show songs on screen and in the Now Playing history that have never been played in my environment. I've actually watched it happen where a song flashes up on the phone and nowhere around me is any song playing. The songs are creepy and yes, lyrically they're meaningful... At times they're love songs, other times threatening. I do know who is doing this, I just don't know how, and I've contacted Google support for help with this. They've provided steps to try to fix the Now Playing issue and nothing helps.
I have heard about malware apps being able to hide behind a partition? So when one phone began with these behaviors I bought another Pixel 4 and got a new email and phone number for it and did not share the number with anyone other than a trusted family member... And yet the stalker found it and is doing the same types of things. I have no idea how.
If anyone has any ideas... Beyond changing my Google password, setting up 2 step verification, or getting a new phone, all of which I've done... I'm looking to find a way to catch who is doing this. I've heard of cloning phones... Does it sounds like that's the issue and if so how would I know? There are a ton of other symptoms I can share... At times I can't place or receive calls or texts at all for hours... NFC appears to have been used... Weird menu overlay that look like fake menus pop up... Website access is restricted... I can go on and on.
Any thoughts on what to do to try to document this and catch who's doing it would be so very appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Related
Hello everyone!
I've got some weird issues with my Samsung Focus. Throughout the day, my phone doesn't receive any messages. It can be for periods of 10 hours. If I shut off my phone for a minute, then turn it on, I'll either get a message then another a minute later..etc.. Or I'll get a flood of messages at one time. The messages were all sent from the past, and come in the proper order, but not at the right times (they have a delay). I didn't have this issue until I started looking around at my diagnostic application so I believe I accidently changed a setting in it. I've already talked to at&t but the store here won't do much with it because the water indicator is red. I have my phone in developer unlocked state (I sideload apps and apps that I make). The reset data functions don't seem to change the diagnostic settings back, so I'm thinking I'll have to flash it with an original rom, but I'm not an expert by any means, but I'll understand whatever instructions or tests that are given.
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. I haven't had a phone that never had text messaging issues so this is a bit annoying for me when people think you're ignoring them.
Trikun3 said:
Hello everyone!
I've got some weird issues with my Samsung Focus. Throughout the day, my phone doesn't receive any messages. It can be for periods of 10 hours. If I shut off my phone for a minute, then turn it on, I'll either get a message then another a minute later..etc.. Or I'll get a flood of messages at one time. The messages were all sent from the past, and come in the proper order, but not at the right times (they have a delay). I didn't have this issue until I started looking around at my diagnostic application so I believe I accidently changed a setting in it. I've already talked to at&t but the store here won't do much with it because the water indicator is red. I have my phone in developer unlocked state (I sideload apps and apps that I make). The reset data functions don't seem to change the diagnostic settings back, so I'm thinking I'll have to flash it with an original rom, but I'm not an expert by any means, but I'll understand whatever instructions or tests that are given.
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. I haven't had a phone that never had text messaging issues so this is a bit annoying for me when people think you're ignoring them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try this fix. it has fixed my issue with txt not coming in.
*#197328640#
1 Debug
8 Phone Control
7 Network Control
1 GCF
3 Setting Cancellation
End
Soft Reset phone (Reboot)
You can test by texting yourself (your mobile number)
I looked everywhere for this problem didn't find a topic so here it goes.
I LOVE this phone however I'm having a problem; text input disappearing or not showing up at all when trying to enter information. When this happens calls don't go out and I can't do anything network related. I've tried to type things into to other places as well to no avail. The only hope is resetting it everytime, and it can remain working correctly for 5 min or 5 hours, until it freezes again. I'm stock with the latest update, also running widgetlocker and launcher pro with various other minor apps. Anyone else have this issue or know of a fix? thanks
Still happening, I guess no one else has this issue?
I second you. I have the problem as well when text disappears suddenly as im inputting, and I can't see what I type, until I click send. This happens especially while I am on the Skype app. The only way to get it to work is to leave the conversation and step back into it.
Are you having the issue all over or certain programs?
All over. Can't send a text or call out. Other programs work just fine, but anything that needs inputted text doesn't work
I have the Samsung GalaxyS5 from Verizon. Recently I noticed I have been getting notification sound/vibrate when I don't even get a notification. I have tried what seems to be everything and just can't seem to get it to stop. I also noticed that it happens every 5 minutes - on the dot. Even when I put my phone on silent it still vibrates. I know this in right, I'm thinking I have some type of bug or virus. I have the Verizon Protect which scans for viruses and such. According to that, I have nothing wrong. I had a system update which I installed a week ago. This hasn't been happening for that long, only about 2 days. But every 5 minutes exactly I get the sound of a text, with no text.
If anyone has any idea I am up to all options. I have went through numerous threads on different websites and nothing seems to be working for me.
I just need someone with a bit more tech skills than what I have!!
Please help me out. Thanks a bunch!!!!
bethany420 said:
I have the Samsung GalaxyS5 from Verizon. Recently I noticed I have been getting notification sound/vibrate when I don't even get a notification. I have tried what seems to be everything and just can't seem to get it to stop. I also noticed that it happens every 5 minutes - on the dot. Even when I put my phone on silent it still vibrates. I know this in right, I'm thinking I have some type of bug or virus. I have the Verizon Protect which scans for viruses and such. According to that, I have nothing wrong. I had a system update which I installed a week ago. This hasn't been happening for that long, only about 2 days. But every 5 minutes exactly I get the sound of a text, with no text.
If anyone has any idea I am up to all options. I have went through numerous threads on different websites and nothing seems to be working for me.
I just need someone with a bit more tech skills than what I have!!
Please help me out. Thanks a bunch!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not so easy to identify an app that make a notification sound/vibration. Just some suggestions:
- If there is any notification message on the notification bar, long tap on it and select "App info" to see it belong to which app.
- Check yourself what apps you have installed recently. Try to uninstall some apps that you suspect.
- Use Permission Explorer to check for apps that have "Vibrate" permission.
First time poster here, I recently bought a Galaxy S8 after I became tired of my iPhone and boy, do I love this phone. I have never had so much fun with a mobile device.
My phone is only a week old and was working perfectly until a couple of days ago - one evening, I was messaging a friend on Discord when suddenly the notifications started getting cut short and not showing up in the AOD/notification centre. My notification sound would only play for like a split second, the Discord logo would appear in the status bar for a split second, and then the sound would suddenly stop and the notification was not able to be found in my notification centre. Discord had not received an update, and I had not (knowingly) changed any settings, so I had no idea what had caused it.
Now, I get this with Google Allo as well. And Telegram. And my Twitter DM notifications have straight up stopped working, they don't even make a sound or appear for a split second. I have no idea what has caused this, I've tried reinstalling all of these apps, force stopping them, ensuring that they are not put to sleep in the device manager, etc...but nothing seems to be working. It seems to be getting worse and worse, as initially I only encountered this issue with Discord, but now it's with all of these apps - Snapchat, WhatsApp and Messages are now the only apps on which I receive notifications reliably (for now).
I posted a thread on the /r/galaxys8 subreddit discussing this and found that other users shared the same issue, and even found another thread posted by somebody having the same issues with Google Allo, but nobody has a solution. Is there anything that you guys can recommend? I'm willing to try anything, I'm just extremely hesitant to factory reset my phone as I've finally got it set up how I want it and I really don't want to have to start over.
Thanks!
So.. Story begins..
I bought my S8 a few months back.. Worked flawlessly (Stateside).. Then I came overseas and the problems began.. I requested my service to be suspended by Verizon and after doing so my phone began to freak out.. I don't know for sure if this is the cause but having just received my replacement device and experiencing the exact same issue. Could it be possible?
Issue: No matter what I am doing on the phone it will freeze for a split second then appears to refresh.. For example.. If I am typing an email, as I am writing my keyboard locks up and the phone becomes unusable then it jumps to the top of the app and then I can continue .. It is SOOOO frustrating because for example.. SnapChat: While I am writing and the screen freezes and refreshes, I lose everything I wrote.. If I'm scrolling through Facebook .. It jumps back to the top..This became more frequent and even more annoying! Even if I am in the settings menu scrolled all the way to the bottom.. it freezes for a second and then jumps to the top of the app.. So.. I began removing apps I thought could be the cause of the problem.. I cleared the cache on the phone as well as the apps, reset settings, removed/re-added Google accounts, even tried some developer options to scale down the graphics, background processes etc.. No avail.. I finally caved in and contacted Verizon who put me in touch with TechCoach app to remote in a see the issue for themselves.. All the troubleshooting steps they walked me through, I had already done.. So they sent me a replacement.. I set the new phone up, installed the software updates, just a few apps to test and sure enough same issue! Then I wiped the phone again.. didn't install any software updates, I left it bare bones and even set the phone up as new (no restore from Google)... So as I am writing this TechCoach wants to send me yet another replacement device.. But I'm certain the "Certified Like-New" S8 they send me will end up doing the same thing.. What it appears to be to me (No expert here) is that once I came overseas and suspended my line.. There's some service/app that is trying to push/pull over network data and since it's unable to do so it's causing the phone to glitch? I mean I really can't think of any other reason this could be happening .. Furthermore, I tried different Wi-Fi connections, changed performance modes, disabled many "enhanced features" ... Any ideas/suggestions greatly appreciated while I wait for the replacement device.... Thanks XDA!
Update:
Verizon had to reactivate my line before they could send a replacement... So I asked the rep to keep my line active to see if the issue persists.. Would you believe it worked flawless as it did when I first bought it without issues.. So my theory was right!!! Some service running in the background is attempting to refresh without connectivity.. I'm now going through every system app to disable and test ... more to follow!