Phone restored to factory settings by itself while charging!? Can I retrieve my data?

[Meletel]

Hello everyone!

Yesterday I powered off my Moto G3 and plugged it in to charge. After a few minutes I heard a short vibration, which normally means that the phone powered on by itself and is booting. I then checked the screen; I had to put in the PIN for my SIM card, but afterwards there was no pattern I had to draw in order to unlock the phone (I had one set up before!). After unlocking the screen I can see a blue screen with "Welcome" at the top, a choice of language and a yellow arrow ("next") button in the middle and "Emergency" call button at the bottom. And in the top right hand corner are the usual signal strength and battery icons.

When I press the yellow button, I'm asked to connect to a Wi-Fi network. I haven't proceeded beyond that point, as I don't want to mess up my phone even further. Basically it looks like my Moto G3 returned to factory settings and wants me to set it up for first use.

I then tried to reboot the phone a few times. I always get the standard Motorola "stitching" animation and get booted into the described screen. I also went into recovery mode, but almost every single option booted me into the blue screen and one time I got the "No command" screen. But maybe I did something wrong; I'm certainly no expert when it comes to using the bootloader.

Having described all of that, my questions are: is it possible for the phone to have reverted itself to factory settings? If yes - why and how? I have an SD card with a lot of photos, documents and application data that is very important to me. Is it still possible to retrieve the data that was saved on the device?

I would very much appreciate any help with this problem!

Thank you,
Meletel

 

[Dannydet]

I'd take it back to your carrier if it factory reset itself, as that is not normal.
Was the SD card set as external storage? If so you should have everything still.

 

[lunatic59]

My first question is does anyone else have your Google account credentials? It's possible that a command to wipe and reset your phone was issued from Android Device Manager.

 

[Meletel]

Thanks for the replies!

I'd take it back to your carrier if it factory reset itself, as that is not normal.
Was the SD card set as external storage? If so you should have everything still.

I didn't get the device from a phone carrier, so I can't do that. And no, I don't think the card was set to external storage... The only way to check right now is using an adapter for the PC, right? I'd have to buy one. Also, when connecting the phone per USB to a computer, it's being recognized, but there are no visible drives to browse.

My first question is does anyone else have your Google account credentials? It's possible that a command to wipe and reset your phone was issued from Android Device Manager.

Not that I'd know. By the way, I was using the Prey app, that would be another possibility for someone to format my phone. But, as I mentioned, it all happened after I powered the phone myself and plugged it in. How is it possible that someone wiped it in that state?

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Try looking on Google Drive for a backup.
That's still a thing, right?

 

[lunatic59]

Also, when connecting the phone per USB to a computer, it's being recognized, but there are no visible drives to browse.

What version of Android are you running? With Android 6 and later, the default usb connection is "charge only" mode, so you have to pull down the notification bar, tap on usb options and set to MTP mode to see the files.

I was using the Prey app, that would be another possibility for someone to format my phone. But, as I mentioned, it all happened after I powered the phone myself and plugged it in. How is it possible that someone wiped it in that state?

Since data wipe/reset is only available in the paid version of Prey, you might want to contact the developer to see if there is some kind of log or indicator that Prey was the culprit or not.

I am just imagining reasons why this could happen. I know some phones ship with a security feature where if you enter the unlock code/pin/pattern incorrectly (x) times it will immediately reset the device and wipe user data. Some Samsung phones will boot into download mode if you plug them in to a usb connection while holding a button, maybe Motorola phones have something like that? If part of your system became corrupted, that could force a reset, too.

I could probably think of a few more things that were 'possible' but not very likely.

 

[Meletel]

Try looking on Google Drive for a backup.
That's still a thing, right?

Sadly, I have nothing there.

What version of Android are you running? With Android 6 and later, the default usb connection is "charge only" mode, so you have to pull down the notification bar, tap on usb options and set to MTP mode to see the files.



Since data wipe/reset is only available in the paid version of Prey, you might want to contact the developer to see if there is some kind of log or indicator that Prey was the culprit or not.

I am just imagining reasons why this could happen. I know some phones ship with a security feature where if you enter the unlock code/pin/pattern incorrectly (x) times it will immediately reset the device and wipe user data. Some Samsung phones will boot into download mode if you plug them in to a usb connection while holding a button, maybe Motorola phones have something like that? If part of your system became corrupted, that could force a reset, too.

I could probably think of a few more things that were 'possible' but not very likely.

No way to pull down the notification bar. Normally it is possible, but before first setup it's not. And as I said, the only thing I did was turn the phone off and charge it. Didn't do anything "wrong", so to speak.

If I decide to complete the setup (which probably means that everything will probably be wiped, if it hasn't been already), is there anything in particular I should do in order to try and make freshly installed apps use the data on the SD card instead of overwriting it?
Also, should I be thinking about buying a new phone or is this a rather random occurrence which shouldn't happen again? Maybe installing a custom ROM, like LineageOS, would be a good idea?

 

[lunatic59]

If it's been wiped, it's already gone, so either way it probably doesn't matter..

is there anything in particular I should do in order to try and make freshly installed apps use the data on the SD card instead of overwriting it?

Make a backup of your SD card. If we're talking about an external card, a factory reset would have no effect on that unless it was formatted as adoptable storage, then it's toast anyway. To be safe, complete the setup with the SD card removed.

 

[svim]

Reading through your description this does not sound like an issue tied to a Factory Reset, neither done remotely nor locally from your phone. A Factory Reset does not wipe the Android operating system, it only wipes the data partition, where your files are stored. If this was a matter of a Factory Reset, you would still be able to start up your phone as the operating system would be left as, it's just that all your personal files and apps you've installed would be gone. As you can't even start up without going into Recovery Mode, this is an even more serious matter where the operating system itself is corrupted. If it's just the operating system involved, your personal files and data could still be there in the internal storage media, it's just a very problematic matter of actually retrieving it safely. It doesn't sound like there was any backup solution in place either.
I don't know if Moto G3 phones can have their stock ROMs re-flashed without also clearing the data partition. On older Samsungs, when properly done and without problems, flashing a ROM is done without affecting the data partition but I have no clue as to whether this also applies to this model.

 

[lunatic59]

After unlocking the screen I can see a blue screen with "Welcome" at the top, a choice of language and a yellow arrow ("next") button in the middle and "Emergency" call button at the bottom. And in the top right hand corner are the usual signal strength and battery icons.

When I press the yellow button, I'm asked to connect to a Wi-Fi network. I haven't proceeded beyond that point, as I don't want to mess up my phone even further.

Reading through your description this does not sound like an issue tied to a Factory Reset

That's exactly what it sounds like. The OP is presented with the welcome screen of a new (or reset) device.