It’s a special semi-lockdown thatlets repair technicians check your phonewithout accessing your private data.
In the meantime, access to personal data like photos, messages, and passwords is blocked.
“Once your phone gets damaged, we can’t sign out.
Kilian Seiler / Unsplash
Once the smartphone is repaired, the notification can pop off on the lock screen, revealing our data.
So, it’s essential to have a lockdown mode like Samsung’s.”
The trouble with this is that your phone’s locked state is binary.
PR Media / Unsplash
It’s either locked or it isn’t.
“It all depends on the issue being repaired.
That’s where Samsung’s repair mode comes in.
Samsung
Nobody, that’s who.
Which is a terrible way to do it.
Samsung
Samsung’s repair mode will first be available on its Galaxy S21 series handsets via a software update.
The only problem is that Samsung doesn’t have a great history in terms ofprivacy or security.
A much better implementation would be done at the operational level.
Google and Apple could presumably build this into Android, Chrome, iOS, and macOS.
That way, it would be as secure as a fully-locked phone but with access to essential diagnostic tools.
The team of repair technicians should alert you if they have to access any personal information.
A repair mode should also be accessible remotely.
How do you switch it onto repair mode to secure it?
Apple might build a switch into the Find My app alongside the existing lock and remote-wipe features.
So if you trust Samsung, this new feature looks great.
If you’re more skeptical, you might wait to see if Apple or Google copy this idea.
