can't use S7 unless previous owner unlocks it!

unwashed potato! · 16 Dec 2018 at 22:48

my friend has a second hand S7 that he got from his parents when they upgraded. this happens every 2 years, his current phone is an S5, from parents, next will be the S9 etc.

previous years have all been fine, the parents reset the phone and hand it over, but with the S7 that's not enough apparently, and now it needs to be unlocked by Samsung before it can be used by another person, and they are being told the only way this can be done is when taken to a Samsung store. With no local ones, they are stuck

i'm hoping there's a work around, perhaps it can be flashed and start again? what options do we have? I have the phone sat in front of me

Big Elf · 17 Dec 2018 at 00:17

Why doesn't he just get his parents to unlock it?

pepp77 · 17 Dec 2018 at 00:30

It will only need unlocking if it is locked to a specific network, if it isn't just wipe it and stick a new SIM in.

silverblack · 17 Dec 2018 at 00:34

Sounds like Samsungs own security software from start up.Does it ask for user/pass to access the phone?

silverblack · 17 Dec 2018 at 00:36

Ah is your brother on another network different from your parents ? They should be able to phone the network and get the pass code to unlock it.

Kill_Phil · 17 Dec 2018 at 06:21

My wife's just had my recently unlocked s7; Vodafone unlocked it no problem at all so I suspect its either hasn't been unlocked or like other say has some other security installed.

Again I did a reset and the wife was able to swap the sim and away she went.

FishLicker · 19 Dec 2018 at 12:47

Username checks out...

tom_e · 19 Dec 2018 at 13:36

He's not in a different country is he and this is one of the being locked down to the first countries SIM that is inserted thing that vaguely rings a bell in the back of my mind.

Big Elf · 19 Dec 2018 at 17:42

I must admit that my first thought was FRP (Factory Reset Protection). However it can't have been that important or was otherwise solved.

unwashed potato! · 19 Dec 2018 at 23:39

tom_e said:
He's not in a different country is he and this is one of the being locked down to the first countries SIM that is inserted thing that vaguely rings a bell in the back of my mind.

Nope. All in same country

Sp00n · 20 Dec 2018 at 13:24

How is it locked? Locked to region? Sim locked to provider?

Who is/was the provider? Most are pretty forthcoming with unlocking devices so I'm surprised they are suggesting you go direct to Samsung.

biron_w · 21 Dec 2018 at 10:17

If they haven't removed their Google account from the phone then they will need to do that before he can use it. https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-remove-the-history-in-recently-used-devices-in-Google
If it's locked to another network then his parents need to get in contact with the network.