help removing unwanted app/program from my rooted phone

[hdozier]

hi. I know NOTHING about phones. My ex husband took the liberty of rooting my phone for me. Now he recieved an email with MY call logs, MY text messages and MY physical coordinates. I have no idea how he is doing this, but I want it to stop. I dont know what program/app or whatever he is using, but I need it to stop. PLEASE HELP!
I know the phone is rooted, I did the root checker and I am positive.
If someone can help me restore it so that there are not ANY additional apps or whatever on it, that would be great. If I can restore it to factory settings somehow (I KNOW NOT TO RESTORE THROUGH THE SECURITY THING, I read a little before I made my own post) ANYTHING. I just need this to stop.
Please someone help!

 

[Atma]

Hi hdozier :hello: welcome to the forums.Since you're rooted I moved this to the all things root forum. You can do a factory reset and all you will have on the phone is what it came with when it was new.

Power off your phone then hold both volume buttons and the power button at the same time. When the phone vibrates, let go of the power button but keep holding both volume buttons. In a few seconds you should be in the recovery menu. Use volume buttons to move up/down and power button to select. *if power button doesn't work, use your home key*. Go to wipe data/factory reset and select it. Select yes on the next screen. Next, select format cache partition then select yes. Now select reboot.

 

[hdozier]

Thankyou very much for the response. I tried doing this but the volume buttons do not seem to work. The screen blanks out every now and then while it is in the menu, although it does come back on. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[lunatic59]

Hello hdozier. Welcome to the Forums.

First things first. Are you sure he is getting that information from your phone? If he has access to your credentials then he might just be logging in as you and checking them for himself. You should change your gmail passwords and any other passwords stored on the phone to be safe.

Now about resetting your phone, Atmazzz has given you the procedure so when you try it what exactly happens?

Do you see a recovery screen something like this?

If not, what exactly do you see?

We'll take this one step at a time and get this worked out for you.

BTW, if your ex really did install something to monitor you without your consent, that is illegal in many jurisdictions and you might want to contact your local law enforcement or an attorney just to get it on the record.

 

[hdozier]

Thank you so much for the help. I managed to get it to work. The touch screen was still working in yhat menu and that is how I had to select yhe restore. Then it had a bunch of "no"s. That hung me up, but if I touch and drag, it turned it to a yes. So yhat seems to have worked. My phone appeared to me wiped after the reboot.
I do have a question ... Is there anyway that this program may have survived?
I am 100% positive he is doing it through my phone. I have seen the emails ... It even labels the record as they r labeled in my phone. For instance, when I text my mom ... His email shows that the text is from mom, not the pbone number.
Changing my passwords will do absolutly no good. He is a complete computer guru. As far as the legality, the divorce is not final and therefore my phone is marital property and he has just as much legal rivht to it as I do ... At least until the divorce is final.
I have no idea what all he has done to my stuff. I cant get into my laptop at all. He has a key logger or something on it ... Like I said, he is a wiz on puters. Because of that, he is making my life hell. Keeping him out of my phone is a nice start. At least I dont have to worry about him reading every text I send or recieve, or monitoring my phone calls.
Also, I may want to add, that he recieves the email VERY quickly after the phone call or text message is sent. Not sure if that matters in trying to get rid of it though.
Once again, ty so much for the help.

 

[hdozier]

Oh, I had one more question. After I did the reset, I noticed a lot of apps that I dont recognize ... One of them is called com.logmein.rescue .... There are several with very similar names. Are these supposed to be there or could these be part of the spying stuff he put o. This?

 

[lunatic59]

Unfortunately, there may well be a method to inject spyware that could survive a factory reset. What he'd have to do is modify the operating system to make it think it was part of the system so it would be restored on reset. You could also be reinstalling it if the setting to restore apps is checked under privacy settings.

There are only really two ways to be absolutely sure. On is to flash a completely fresh operating system onto the phone (what phone do you have?) and the second is simply to get a new phone.

As far as spying on you being legal because the divorce is not yet finalized, you should really consult an attorney on that point.

 

[lunatic59]

Oh, I had one more question. After I did the reset, I noticed a lot of apps that I dont recognize ... One of them is called com.logmein.rescue .... There are several with very similar names. Are these supposed to be there or could these be part of the spying stuff he put o. This?

logmein is a remote access app but it might have come with the original system as a way for the carrier to troubleshoot. I was under the impression that the owner of the phone must always grant permission for a logmein session to start. But, if he has access that way he pretty much has complete control of your phone.

 

[Atma]

Oh, I had one more question. After I did the reset, I noticed a lot of apps that I dont recognize ... One of them is called com.logmein.rescue .... There are several with very similar names. Are these supposed to be there or could these be part of the spying stuff he put o. This?

You might see several com.something apps. They are part of the normal system. I don't have the com.logmein.rescue app, but I've deleted a lot of the bloat that came on my phone. I know that com.logmein.rescue is pre-installed on some phones now. I think Logmein Rescue is an integrated part of T-Mobile's My Account app. Here is a video of how it works on a tablet. LogMeIn and T-Mobile: Out-of-the-Box Mobile Support

You can try going to settings > applications > running and see if anything looks suspicious. It sounds like your husband may have been using something like SMS Tracker.

 

[hdozier]

I have a samsung galaxy s2. I have a lawyer .... But the county that I live in is strange about this stuff. He even told me that if I lived in the next county over, he would not have any problems making the ex stop. My phone is just one of the many problems I am having ... Very controlling.
Im not sure I am comfortable trying to instal an entire new OS ... Is that difficult? He has been making a lot of comments about wondering what I was doing on my phone ... So I am pretty sure I have removed the app. I just wish there was some way I could be certain. I have noticed that when I text now, the superuser pop up doesn't appear like it used too ... I have tried to find the AP in the past, but was unable. I even brought it to the store so they could look through it and see if they could find anythinv crazy on there. They couldnt .. Thats when I came to you guys. I think for now I am goinv to assume this has worked ... He wont be able to keep his mouth shut if I speak to anyone that he does not view as appropriate, including my ex sister in law ...
I cant thank you enough for the help.
Here is my advice to you ... Dont get married to a crazy person!!!!!

 

[hdozier]

Oh yes ... I did have another question. are there any phone locks that I could use that will actually keep him out. Hes really good with all this stuff, he has managed to get past the pattern lock and the number lock. Any suggestions that will actually keep him out?

 

[lunatic59]

I have a samsung galaxy s2. I have a lawyer .... But the county that I live in is strange about this stuff. He even told me that if I lived in the next county over, he would not have any problems making the ex stop. My phone is just one of the many problems I am having ... Very controlling.
Im not sure I am comfortable trying to instal an entire new OS ... Is that difficult? He has been making a lot of comments about wondering what I was doing on my phone ... So I am pretty sure I have removed the app. I just wish there was some way I could be certain. I have noticed that when I text now, the superuser pop up doesn't appear like it used too ... I have tried to find the AP in the past, but was unable. I even brought it to the store so they could look through it and see if they could find anythinv crazy on there. They couldnt .. Thats when I came to you guys. I think for now I am goinv to assume this has worked ... He wont be able to keep his mouth shut if I speak to anyone that he does not view as appropriate, including my ex sister in law ...
I cant thank you enough for the help.
Here is my advice to you ... Dont get married to a crazy person!!!!!

Since you're rooted already, installing a new OS would be a snap We can walk you through it if you like. The Galaxy S2 has a huge user/developer base so there are plenty of roms to chose from. We'd just need to know the model number because the Galaxy S2 on AT&T (SGH-i777) is different from the Galaxy S2 on T-Mobile (SGH-T989) etc. It's very important to get the rom for the specific device so everything works right.

 

[Atma]

Im not sure I am comfortable trying to instal an entire new OS ... Is that difficult?

It isn't hard to do. If you decide you want/need to, just follow this guide, if you have the SGH-T989.

I can't say for sure either, but my guess is whatever he had on the phone is gone after the reset. Seeing as how you don't know much about phones and unless he does some kind of Android development, I think he wouldn't have had anything more than an app.

We'd just need to know the model number because the Galaxy S2 on AT&T (SGH-i777) is different from the Galaxy S2 on T-Mobile (SGH-T989) etc. It's very important to get the rom for the specific device so everything works right.

And what Lunatic said.

 

[hdozier]

Where do I get the model number?

 

[Atma]

Where do I get the model number?

Settings > about phone

 

[Atma]

Where do I get the model number?

Were you able to find it?

 

[hdozier]

Sgh-t989

 

[Atma]

Sgh-t989

Same as mine so you could use the guide I posted the link to if you decide you want to do that.

 

[hdozier]

Thank you so much. You two have been such a huge help!!! Any suvgestions on how to make a crazy ex act like a sane, responsible adult?

 

[lunatic59]

Thank you so much. You two have been such a huge help!!! Any suvgestions on how to make a crazy ex act like a sane, responsible adult?

Sorry, the impossible may be done while you wait, but miracles are by appointment only.

 

[Atma]

Any suvgestions on how to make a crazy ex act like a sane, responsible adult?

Maybe you could try a factory reset.