Hello dear community members,
I think I have a security issue and need some advice what to do. Thanks in advance for your help!
I’ve got my fairphone last autumn. First, my whatsapp contacts were sometimes showing normal with the names, but sometimes only the telephone numbers. It was annoying but well.
Then last week I really got problems: My alarm started at the time set but I couldn’t put it off in any way nor shut down the phone, so I took out the battery in the end. After putting it back in, I could hardly type in my codes to unlock my sim cards as the field kept shaking. Finally I got access but the phone was buzzing every other second as it does when you get a notification while it is set on vibration alarm. I couldn’t do anything, no calling, no email checking, as the ‘buttons’ were not working, or the ‘windows’ opening but closing the second after again. I shut down the phone twice and just tried again but it didn’t change, only in the afternoon, suddenly everything worked fine again.
Yesterday it started buzzing and opening apps or windows while I didn’t touch anything. I started an antivirus scan and it said the following: “unsecure high privilege mode - your phone got rooted.” I don’t understand what that means but I put my phone back to factory settings after that. Then I directly downloaded the same antivirus app again and have still the same threat on my phone. So my question is: What does being rooted mean? What shall I do now?
First I thought about writing my own explanation, but here is one from androidauthority.com:
[quote]#####What is rooting?
Rooting is the process by which you regain administrative access to your phone. Even though Android is an opensource operating system, you still don’t have full “root access” to do what you please on your phone. Back when the iPhone launched in 2007, the hardcore techies quickly realized the true potential of the device and the cruel software limitations that Apple had sealed it with. What became ‘jailbreaking’ on the iPhone was quickly translated to other platforms as well, and when the world saw the first Android back in 2008, the term “rooting” was born.[/quote]
So being rooted doesn’t mean something bad per se. As long as you do not grant root access to apps, which are insecure, no harm should be done.
As to your other problems, it sounds very much like a touchscreen failure. Please do the touchscreen test and report back!
I just want to add: The Fairphone comes rooted per default! So nothing is wrong here and nobody played wrong with your phone. As “root” allows apps to get access normally denied, it can be a security risk to allow apps you don’t know/trust that level of access, that is the reason for that scary warning.
Hope you are able to solve the other issues you described! Good Luck!
I did the touchscreen test and it mostly seemed normal. Only in each of the lower corners, one of the squares didn’t get green and the fingerslides didn’t go straight in, but were redirected to the sides. My question is now: What do I do with this result?
You contact support and hopefully get a warranty ticket. If you search the forum, there are some other people, who had trouble with their touchscreen, you are not the only one…
