Been offered a company phone, believe it will be an i5 or i6. I'm guessing it will be locked down and have spyware on it. What I want to know is how I can find out what's being recorded/sent and if there's any way to block it. Would a factory reset work?
Company phone
- Thread starter Gti
- Start date
Just use it for it's intended work purpose and then you don't have an issue surely?
You won't be able to factory reset it if it's set up properly by your IT lot and even if you can it then won't work until they have it back to reset it up AFAIK.
You won't be able to factory reset it if it's set up properly by your IT lot and even if you can it then won't work until they have it back to reset it up AFAIK.
It will be my personal phone as well. I don't fancy having two phones to carry around.
Indeed - I would not want an employer coming anywhere near a device I use to communicate with friends and family.
Same thoughts here. It can be a hassle carrying two phones around but I think it's worth it in this case.
I concur.
i'd have to agree with that. if you can avoid having a company phone, then do so. it might sound like a nice, handy deal getting a new phone and having your monthly bill/contract covered especially if they've said you're free to use it for personal use too. but it can be a nightmare and can come back to bite you on the bum especially if (as i've said above) you come across a over zealous or indeed even vindictive manager/HR Bod. that jokey/dodgy email you sent a mate from your separate, private email - it was sent from a company device - that's actionable if they so decide. that bet365 account you have (just an example) - that can be actionable too if you happen to stick a bet on the footy from your work phone. your lady friend sends you a racey pic (and i'm not even talking racey racey) some utter jobsworth could have your job for that. tht drunk text your mate sent you, you know the funny one but verging on sexist/racist (whateverist) that can cause you grief.
can you turn it off when outside of your contracted hours or put it on silent, are you going to be expected to be contactable at silly o'clock now just because you have a company phone? these things all need to be considered. obviously if you are contractually obliged to have one then so be it but if you have to have a company phone, have it separate from your personal phone and only use it for company business.
don't listen to the promises that you can do as you wish on the company phone. management changes or HR changes that promise can be utterly worthless and could potentially cost you your job.
This.
What on earth do you think an employer is going to do? People seem to really mistrust their employers lol. Or is the question really, what are you doing on your phone that makes you worry your employer will see? I got news for you, if your employer cares, it's probably because it's morally or ethically 'wrong' and you should probably think about that
This.
OP, I had the same thing. I have to have a work phone, it's a shiny new iPhone and upgradeable every year, with unlimited data/everything including abroad. It's wonderful. But, I'm an Android boy at heart and they will only let us have iPhones for security. We can do a BYOD but they do not support Android phones so I'm stuck carrying around two phones. It absolutely does my nut, especially since my personal phone is dual-sim and we've just migrated to O365 which means in theory I should be able to do everything on my personal phone. So, I tend to forward it to my personal phone out of hours and that's it. Our corporate phones are totally locked down with Airwatch, btw.
If you do anything to your corporate phone, you're on real shaky ground to be fired for gross misconduct. To your company, it's not just a phone but a device that let's you access secure company data. Doing anything to risk the security of that data and they will come down on you hard. In this day and age, data security is no joking matter. You'll be out on your ear faster than you can say sorry.
What on earth do you think an employer is going to do? People seem to really mistrust their employers lol. Or is the question really, what are you doing on your phone that makes you worry your employer will see? I got news for you, if your employer cares, it's probably because it's morally or ethically 'wrong' and you should probably think about that
You ask this question....and then go on to answer it here:
Thekwango (above) gives several pertinent examples. A company device belongs to the company. If a manager takes a dislike to an employee, or if another employee spots something on the phone and decides to report it just to be an ****, then the company can sack you for misconduct. These things CAN happen. Why take the risk in order to get that "shiny new iphone and upgradeable every year" that you mentioned?
Sorry, I still don't understand. What exactly could be on your phone that means it can be used to get you fired? 
It's all well and good saying a manager could take a 'dislike' to you, but what evidence could they find that will get you fired? At the end of the day if you have something on your phone that could get you fired, it's besides the point who finds it; you should be asking what exactly you have on there and for what reasons?
I also have a lot more faith in my company that if somebody took a dislike to me and started snooping on my phone, well [a] they wouldn't find anything that constitutes a sackable offence and the company would probably go after the agitator for snooping around my personal stuff (even if it is my work phone, they have no right to snoop on it).
It's all well and good saying a manager could take a 'dislike' to you, but what evidence could they find that will get you fired? At the end of the day if you have something on your phone that could get you fired, it's besides the point who finds it; you should be asking what exactly you have on there and for what reasons? I also have a lot more faith in my company that if somebody took a dislike to me and started snooping on my phone, well [a] they wouldn't find anything that constitutes a sackable offence and the company would probably go after the agitator for snooping around my personal stuff (even if it is my work phone, they have no right to snoop on it).
Sorry, I still don't understand. What exactly could be on your phone that means it can be used to get you fired?
As mentioned above - drunken texts in and out, unasked-for emails etc etc. What if you have music or videos stored locally and someone suddenly decides it's against company policy? People can be very, very petty when they want to be.
But we're not talking about your company. We're talking about who the OP works for. If he's best mates with everyone and trusts everyone implicitly, then sure, make joint business and personal use of a work phone. Just be aware that if someone takes a dislike to you, there's a possibility they might make a big thing of how you've been using the "company's assets." Never forgot that the phone does NOT belong to you.
i think you're being intentionally obtuse on this. i've looked at pornhub on my phone, nothing particularly wrong with that. if my phone was a company phone and they discovered this they could well have grounds to sack me. WilliamHill account, perfectly legit to have an account wouldn't you say? not something that should necessarily give an individual cause for self reflection? also perfectly legitimate reason for a company to sack someone - gambling on or with company property isn't usually deemed acceptable.Sorry, I still don't understand. What exactly could be on your phone that means it can be used to get you fired?
what's acceptable to an individual and to a company can vary greatly.
Well, drunken texts... I dunno. That's a private conversation, same with emails. If it's a private conversation and not being shared on social media I'm not sure there is an issue. Most companies have policies around social media or stuff in the public domain. Yes with the Sony hack as an example people got 'removed' for private emails but they were in very public-facing positions and not taking action would lead to a lot of issues for the company. If that's what you're trying to compare it to I'm not sure it works. But again, if you're slandering your company constantly in emails/texts then perhaps you need to rethink where you work?
I know, I said pretty much the same up there^
I am. Just because people were like 'zomg they'll fire me if they found out what's on my phone!!1" and I'm just pointing out that it's perfectly easy to run a single device and.. err.. not do anything that contravenes company policy. Even the below examples, you could, like, not going on pornhub, and umm, not gamble
As above. You could, like, not do those things if you're using a company phone?
I am being annoying, I'll admit. I'm just curious as to what exactly people do/have on their personal phones that would immediately get them fired from their company... Heck I work with some old dirty ******** that are very senior and don't even have a personal phone or number. They've only known corporate devices...
Well id imagine most companies would have top shelf disabled anyway.
I have a company phone and a personal phone and I agree with @Scam, if your company appears to be a good business to work for and you have permission to use the phone for 'personal use' and whatever that may involved I can't really see it being a problem.
Why not send an e-mail to HR or your Line Manager asking them if its OK to use the phone for personal use and if so what restrictions (if any) they may have?, if they say sure its OK no restricts then you surely have nothing to lose. If in 12 months time they say you have broken the rules on using your company mobile phone, you will have an email that you can show them to say that you had permission. If they ever did end up sacking you or going down the disciplinary action route, you could potentially sue them for unfair dismissal.
you could have course not do those things on a company phone. but what if you want to do them, then you need a second phone. that was the point.
i've seen it before, people being told 'here have a company phone, feel free to treat it as your own' then circumstances change and and suddenly they're in hot water over what they've been using the phone for. if you don't specifically need a company phone and it's not a contracted obligation to have one then i would always suggest not to get one. i don't have one, rejected the last offer of one and have even resisted attempts/offers to pay my monthly contract. i still have my work emails though and do the work things i want to do and when on it but more importantly i can do whatever the **** else i want because it's mine and not subject to the whims of a company. some might view that as a bit silly but i don't want the hassle of a second phone nor do I want the hassle of some rat in a HR dept suddenly deciding that i'm in breach of company policy because i had a shuffle in the evening watching pornhub ......yes i'm a ******!!
As above. You could, like, not do those things if you're using a company phone?
The OP clearly wants to use the company phone as his personal phone so that he doesn't have to carry two devices. If he wanted to look at scud or gamble or whatever, then he'd need to think carefully about it because the phone isn't his. If it was his personal phone, he could do whatever the hell he wanted. In my mind, a personal mobile phone is so much tied to its owner that it would be daft to try and combine business and personal usage in a single device - especially when it's only for convenience rather than as a necessity.
Anyway, I work for myself, so it doesn't affect me either way
all that is hassle that's not needed. either use 2 seperate handsets, or avoid the use of a company phone unless mandatory. i work for a great company, phone was offered absolutely no strings attached - decent enough of them no doubt and was a genuine offer. but i politely declined. i'm not contractually obliged to have one, therefore i don't 'need' one. if 12 months from now my current manager is replaced with a knobber who takes the hump with the fact i use my phone to place a few bets on the footie and uses that as a reason to bin me off, i don't need the grief of an employment tribunal to prove i was allowed to.
use a company phone for company use only (if you must have a company phone) and personal phone for personal use. nothing will convince me that's not the most sensible thing to do.