Does avast anti-theft lock phone based on SIM card itself or the network unlock status? I have a HTC One M8 running andriod (I think it’s lollipop).
I was trying to unlock the phone from being locked to its network provider (in my case, Fido in Canada). I got a unlock pin code that corresponds to my IMEI#. I totally forgot about avast anti-theft that I have installed on my phone two years ago. I just inserted a SIM card from a friend that’s on a different network (Bell Canada), turn on the phone, and entered the network unlock code. All seemed ok and it confirmed it’s unlocked and rebooted my phone. Then avast kicked in on powering on and announced the phone was lost or stolen!!!
Surely I powered if off and just inserted my original SIM card right back. That was the ORIGINAL SIM when avast was installed on. But the phone still insists it’s lost or stolen and demand a unlock PIN code which I surely forgot! I was able to log in to myavast account online using a computer. But none of the command works in the myavast panel. I kept sending unlock command, and all commands said cannot connect to my device and “command timed out”. Then I noticed the information in my avast account regarding this device was mostly wrong. The device info in the avast panel still shows the phone was in kit-kat-4.4 and last communication with my device was over two years ago. My phone has been updated by the carrier to lollipop a long time ago since then. But apparently the device never communicated with avast since 2014 and now avast cannot connect to device when I want it to.
I tried to reset the avast PIN inside the avast panel, and while that seems successfully done inside the account info itself, I doubt any of that was updated on the actual device since avast cannot even connect to the device. So the device keeps asking for a PIN that I forgot and cannot reset through online account?? And what could I do now that avast cannot even connect to my device?? Now I wish I did not have avast installed cause this is just as bad as losing the phone altogether!
Please help! Thanks!!!
By the way, I only have anti-theft installed in this phone, not Mobile security. I think I uninstalled avast mobile security a year ago or so. Does that matter? I’ve read all FAQs and they are not helpful so far. Thanks.
Also, I have total 3 devices in my avast account and both other two devices seem to be able to communicate with avast. The last communication time for those two devices are very recent. And they show up in avast with the big green button and “You are protected”. But not this HTC phone! There’s a green shield icon shown for this HTC device, but not “you are protected” text. The anti-theft is listed in HTC page though. THe IMEI number listed in HTC info is correct.
WHAT should I do???
As the last resort, Is there a limit on PIN number trials? So I can do brutal force typing and hope for a pin match after trying for a million times without worrying about avast does something that permanently locks the device after a certain number of trials?? I’ve already tried about 50 times I guess… oh my god.