StewartR
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 11,513
- Name
- Stewart
- Edit My Images
- Yes
Any Android experts out there? If you aren't one, do you know one? I've managed to lock myself out of my Android tablet, and for the life of me I can't work out how to get in.
Here's how it happened.
I have an app on my Android tablet called 'Screen Off and Lock'. It gives me a button on the home screen to switch the device off without having to fumble for the tiny on/off switch. Unnecessary but sometimes convenient.
Last night the device wanted to download and install a system update. I'm not exactly sure what it was. Maybe an Android update, or perhaps a pointless update to the manufacturer's pointless pre-installed software that I don't use. Either way, the device was going to keep reminding me about it until I did it, so I allowed the installation to proceed.
This morning, there's something subtly different about the login procedure. Normally I just switch the tablet on and do the join-the-dots security thing. But today, firstly I have to swipe a little Google icon up the screen (maybe that's a new Android thing?), and then I play join-the-dots. And then it pops up a message asking me which app I want to use for this action: Google? or Screen Off and Lock? And of course I'm offered Just once or Always.
I select Google, Just once, and I'm in OK. But I'm curious. What (if anything) would be different if I select Screen Off and Lock? Maybe I won't need to swipe the Google logo before playing join-the-dots. That would be a slight improvement. So I switch off, and then switch on, swipe the Google logo, and join the dots, only this time I select Screen Off and Lock instead of Google.
Instead of the system letting me in, it shuts down. Oh. I guess that's really all that Screen Off and Lock does, but if that's the case I can't imagine why it was offered to me as an option. Anyway, I switch on, swipe the Google logo, join the dots... and it shuts down. Switch on, swipe the Google logo, join the dots... and it shuts down.
I think I must have accidentally pressed Always instead of Just once. Oops.
So, how do I get in?
Is it possible to uninstall the Screen Off and Lock app remotely? I have a vague feeling that it's possible to do this from the Google Play Store, but I've checked that from my phone browser and I can't see how to do it?
Is it possible to uninstall the app if I'm logged on to the device in a different account? The tablet is configured with two users and two accounts, mine and my wife's, because we use different apps and like to use the tablet in different ways. I can log on as her, but is that going to help?
Any other ideas?
If it's relevant, the device is an Asus Transformer TF101, one of those convertible devices with a detachable keyboard. It's running Android 4.4.2.
Thanks for your help!
Here's how it happened.
I have an app on my Android tablet called 'Screen Off and Lock'. It gives me a button on the home screen to switch the device off without having to fumble for the tiny on/off switch. Unnecessary but sometimes convenient.
Last night the device wanted to download and install a system update. I'm not exactly sure what it was. Maybe an Android update, or perhaps a pointless update to the manufacturer's pointless pre-installed software that I don't use. Either way, the device was going to keep reminding me about it until I did it, so I allowed the installation to proceed.
This morning, there's something subtly different about the login procedure. Normally I just switch the tablet on and do the join-the-dots security thing. But today, firstly I have to swipe a little Google icon up the screen (maybe that's a new Android thing?), and then I play join-the-dots. And then it pops up a message asking me which app I want to use for this action: Google? or Screen Off and Lock? And of course I'm offered Just once or Always.
I select Google, Just once, and I'm in OK. But I'm curious. What (if anything) would be different if I select Screen Off and Lock? Maybe I won't need to swipe the Google logo before playing join-the-dots. That would be a slight improvement. So I switch off, and then switch on, swipe the Google logo, and join the dots, only this time I select Screen Off and Lock instead of Google.
Instead of the system letting me in, it shuts down. Oh. I guess that's really all that Screen Off and Lock does, but if that's the case I can't imagine why it was offered to me as an option. Anyway, I switch on, swipe the Google logo, join the dots... and it shuts down. Switch on, swipe the Google logo, join the dots... and it shuts down.
I think I must have accidentally pressed Always instead of Just once. Oops.
So, how do I get in?
Is it possible to uninstall the Screen Off and Lock app remotely? I have a vague feeling that it's possible to do this from the Google Play Store, but I've checked that from my phone browser and I can't see how to do it?
Is it possible to uninstall the app if I'm logged on to the device in a different account? The tablet is configured with two users and two accounts, mine and my wife's, because we use different apps and like to use the tablet in different ways. I can log on as her, but is that going to help?
Any other ideas?
If it's relevant, the device is an Asus Transformer TF101, one of those convertible devices with a detachable keyboard. It's running Android 4.4.2.
Thanks for your help!
