Google Allows Creditors to Brick Your Phone

In 2020 Google claimed it was supposed to be limited to a single region in partnership with a single carrier. And was never meant to be put up on Play Store.

A spokesperson from Google reached out to clarify some details about the Device Lock Controller app. To start with, Google says they launched this app in collaboration with a Kenyan carrier called Safaricom.

Google has confirmed that the Device Lock Controller app should not be listed on the Google Play Store for users in the U.S., and they will work to take down the listing.

Source: https://www.xda-developers.com/google-device-lock-controller-banks-payments/

Of course, it was a lie since it's still on Play Store an of today and in use.

It must be globally, I'm in Australia. What utter bullshit, since I would have never known if it weren't for my NetGuard firewall app.
- Being Australian this is likely one to report to the ACCC, as Aussies at least have basic consumer protection, though that get murky with overseas tech entities.
- Definitely report this to the accc
- I'm in Australia, and when I search for Device Lock Controller in Play Store, it says "This app is not available in your region"
  This happens on 2 separate devices from different manufacturers. Both devices were purchased in Australia and have Australian ROMs
I'm using CalyxOS and it's pre-installed as a system app, so this seems like something that's being built in at the AOSP level of development.
Of course, it was a lie since it's still on Play Store an of today and in use.
FWIW, I just searched it up and it's listed as unavailable in my region (USA) 🤷‍♂️ so at the very least, they scoped it down a little bit
- So they region locked it from US, but it can still be pre-installed as a system app from AOSP. And it's available in EU, while was meant to be in Kenya only.
- Just because it's not in the Playstore, doesn't mean it's not installed.
  It's not listed in the Australian Playstore either, yet here we are with it making internet requests.
  It's definitely installed.
- Checked my pixel 6 and it's on mine. Might not be in the store for everyone, but it's installed on my owned device.
I'm surprised it would be on the play store since presumably if you were a carrier or creditor of some kind you want this installed in a pretty clandestine way and wouldn't want to draw attention to it by having an app store listing.
- Being on the play store means it can be updated and managed like a normal app and not stuck on whatever version shipped with the OS
- I'd assume they want to be able to update it and that's why it needs a store listing.

This type of tech is already being put into vehicles as well. I used to get laughed at 20 years ago when I predicted this. Nobody is laughing anymore. If anything, they just accept it.

Sigh. Way too much freeze in fight, flight or freeze...
- https://neuroclastic.com/the-6fs-of-trauma-responses/
  Don't forget the 3 other Fs! Fawn(Friend), Flood, and Fatigue/Flop
your self driving car will just drive itself back to the lot when your payment is late
- shhhhh
- That's cool. I was envisioning something even worse. Maybe in cahoots with the IRS they wait till you were also late on your taxes and did a double whammy
People laughed at Stallman, too. But I'm not comparing you to him. He's apparently a real POS.
- Nah, he's difficult to work with for sure, and rather extremist, but unfortunately he is a lot of right on the money. I wouldn't call that a pos

Requests the app made today.

This is my phone I own outright, by the way. I don't have any creditors.

Update for those curious:

adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.google.android.devicelockcontroller
If you're using Shelter, then in addition to that command, replace --user 0 with --user 10
You don't need root to do this. You can also uninstall other bloatware using this same method.
- Hero, I just have to get around to doing it 😅 (I will, but grumble, grumble this is why most people don't bother battling for privacy)
- I tried this on a Pixel 7 and am getting:
  panther:/ $ pm uninstall --user 0 com.google.android.devicelockcontroller
  Failure [DELETE_FAILED_INTERNAL_ERROR]
  I also tried disable and got:
  Cannot disable a protected package: com.google.android.devicelockcontroller
- New to this depth of phone administration, where are you entering this command? Is there a developer CLI I should be looking for or is this done with a third party app or something?
I find it interesting that yours is com.google.android.devicelockcontroller.
I checked mine on GrapheneOS and it looks like it's the AOSP version of the package: com.android.devicelockcontroller
What app are you using to see this traffic?
- https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard
  https://netguard.me
Mvp comment there. I checked mine and I am in the US, on a phone I originally bought on credit. I do not have that app installed. Go figure. 🤷‍♂️
Definitely worth checking out your app list to make sure. I wonder if it accidentally came downstream from AOSP into the alt ROMs, and that's why it's not in my stock, proprietary, US market, flagship Google pixel device.
- I am at such a loss, because I can see it in NetGuard, and open it's app details from there, but it doesn't work even appear in system apps in Shelter.
- Just following up that it
  is indeed in my apps list
Can you tell me what is this app? Edit, I found it, it's NetGuard

At least it's open-source: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/modules/DeviceLock/+/refs/heads/main/DeviceLockController/

And that'd be why custom roms have it. It's part of the base Android system.

I was able to start some of its private activities with ActivityLauncher as root. Most of them just crash immediately, but the help page is available. And yikes, they got them covered against a possible bypass, no developer tools or sideloading.
Still disappointed this is shipped in LineageOS, but I suspect not for much longer with that publicity.
- So, that looks like this is less insane than it sounded... This is for if you buy your phone on a payment plan? Not for creditors more generally to have a option to repossess/dispossess your phone?
- On my lineage for micro G install it's not present (or at least I didn't spot it) maybe it's a regional thing? I'm not in the us

I'm using a fresh install of GrapheneOS, and this is installed too. Not sure what that suggests, except that it's possibly some core system level app.

Oh jesus, that's crazy that it's on GrapheneOS too.
Edit: I'm on a no-longer-supported GrapheneOS install on a Pixel 3a. I've checked and it's not there for me. I also don't live in the US (like OP). I wonder when it would've been added?
- There's little to no info out there, but I did see some suggestions on a forum, that it may also be installed when setting up a Work profile. I use Shelter to create said isolated Work profile. I wonder if that's a possibile explanation.
- Seems unlikely if you outright own it, this is for bought on a plan type stuff, no ?
  Edit: On further reading, apparently not. WTAF?
- According to people from GrapheneOS these are two different things:
  To be clear, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.devicelock is not what's included in GrapheneOS. There seems to be some confusion about that. This is the app that does what's being described.
  What you see in GrapheneOS is https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/modules/DeviceLock/+/b1a971a6e29f5b426b13d96d7692e9dd5a7e81e2/DeviceLockController/
  https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/11639-device-lock-controller/9
Using Lineage and I dont have it. Sucks for people using Google crap
- Out of curiosity, you're specifically checking in the system apps?
- Thats interesting, I am using lineage as well (oneplus 6t) and do have the app com.android.devicelockcontroller. This could be some junk added when I enable the gapps magisk module which I generaly keep dissabled though.
I've installed graphene on my phone a while ago (bought from a carrier in germany) and this app does not exist.
edit: nevermind, it's there
That's deeply disturbing, what else could be hiding next to it? I sort of hope it's somehow being installed by your phone company, as bad as that is, the alternative is worse!
- I mean, I bought my Pixel 7a unlocked and paid in full, from Google. And my assumption has always been that when GrapheneOS is flashed, any previous stock bloat is wiped.
I also have it on the latest version of GrapheneOS

Remember when Google said don't be evil. Ha

I think it was "don't. Be evil."
- "Don't be." -Evil
- It was actually closer to: you don't have to be evil to make money
  But they've definitely lost their way
'Dont be evil' was a warning to the users...cause google be watching you.
It was a command to the slaves using their services: “Don’t be evil.(We will know and judge)”
Their definition of evil was insubordination, their way of telling people to listen to them, while also trying to legitimize their message.

Version 14 is installed on my Pixel 7 in the USA. I bought this phone outright, no credit, directly from the Google store.

Not on my phone though. Pixel 4a, bought outright from Google but in Canada, no credit.
- Did you hit the three dots on the top right and select "show system"? It only shows after that.
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.devicelock (via this comment 15 hours ago...)

I know this is a privacy community, but I'm not sure I'm onboard with the outrage on this particular one. If you rent/lease or go on a payment plan for the device you're using, then it isn't yours, it belongs to the entity you borrowed it from.

If I don't make car payments, the bank can repossess my ride. If I dont pay my mortgage or rent, I can be evicted by my landlord or bank.

If I don't make my phone payment, the company should have recourse to prevent me from using their device.

This could open up the ability for bad actors to disable my device, and I agree that's a horrible prospect. But the idea of a legitimate creditor using this feature to reclaim their property is not something I find shocking.

All your points are sound. The issue that I have with this is that remote disable functionality is not necessary to achieve any of these aims. Before they were connected to the internet, people were still able to rent/lease autos and the world managed to survive just fine. There were other ways for lenders to get remunerated for breaking lease terms - they could issue an additional charge, get a court order for repossession, etc. Remote disable was never needed or warranted.
So let's start by considering the due process here. Before, there was some sort of process involved in the repossession act. With remote disable however, the lender can act as judge, jury and executioner so to speak - that party can unilaterally disable the device with no oversight. And if the lender is in the wrong, there is likely no recourse. Another potential issue here is that the lender can change the terms at any time - it can arbitrarily decide that it doesn't like what you're doing with the device, decide you're in breach, and hit that remote kill switch. A lot of these things could technically happen before too, but the barriers have been dramatically lowered now.
On top of this, there are great privacy concerns as well. What kinds of additional information does the lender have? What right do they have to things like our location, our habits, when we use it, and all of the other personal details that they can infer from programs like this?
There are probably lots of other issues here, but another part of the problem is that we can't even start to imagine what kinds of nefarious behaviors they can execute with this new information and power. We are well into the age where our devices are becoming our enemies instead of our advocates. I shudder to think what the world would look like 20 years from now if this kind of behavior isn't stopped.
- Perfectly stated! The moralizing story kind of serves as cover, as a complete blank check to excuse practically any behavior of the lender, without any limiting principle.
- Exactly. These types of changes grant corporations extrajudicial power.
- I don't disagree with anything you say. I think it's worth mentioning that the cost of enforcement directly informs the cost of a lease/rental situation. The cheaper they can enforce the contract, the less they can theoretically charge. If they had to get a court order to lock your phone or repo your car, they'd make it more expensive or be much more selective about who they lease/rent to. This maybe enables more people to have phones or get cars?
  I swear I'm not rooting for team "aggressive manipulative business behavior widens opportunities for the less well off". Gross. Kind of how I hear about globalization of manufacturing stuff - "they get paid pennies!" "yeah, but that's more than before the factory came? look what they can buy now" I know that's a overly broad generalization but you see those arguments.
Oh nono no, the world is much worse than that:
If you make all your car payments on time except one, the bank can still repossess your car.
If you pay your mortgage or rent on time every time except once, the bank can initiate the process of eviction.
Remember: the power triangle points down
- I paid off a car without ever being late, and they reported my account as unpaid and in collections at the end. They had no reason to do so and to this day I still don't understand why they did it. I contested it and the best I was able to accomplish was getting the entire loan removed from my credit report. So 2 entire years of on-time payments and satisfactory completion of a loan resulted in no positive credit boost for me, and a big PITA, just because the company made a mistake. Companies are not responsible enough to wield the type of power that this app grants.
- Yes? That's why loans with collateral charge a lower interest rate than unsecured loans.
Not an unreasonable thought, but my question is what is the process to disable? In your examples, there are legal steps/requirements to repossess those assets.
In this case I can't imagine the process is longer than "press the brick button and extort money"
- Is it extortion if it's contractually obliged?
That’s not how it works, at least in Spain.
I agree completely, but it's an odd way to go about repossession.
- And there's the rub. Sure, it's a financed phone. It doesn't follow that we have to suspend judgment on the means they resort to, to enforce their terms.
I find it funny how differently Lemmy reacts to something like this vs reddit. The Lemmy community is certainly very different than reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/jpdup2/google_app_lets_banks_lock_your_phone_if_you_dont/
For every single one of those scenarios, a set of legal processes need to be exhausted. This app gives the lender the ability to do whatever they want, whenever they want, without following a set of legal processes.
That's dystopian mentality at it's greatest.
When I saw this on a custom ROM, it was basically the same thing, but said that my financial institution or whoever had admin access to my phone, including seeing texts and everything else, until my phone was paid off. Still not sure why that was there in a custom ROM, but I ended up not using it.
What about for people like me?
I bought my device outright. No loans, no payment plans and no reason for that functionality to exist on my phone. Yet there it is, just waiting to be taken advantage of whether there is a valid reason or not.
This is the kind of apathy that leads to phrases like, "If only we had known" but we do ... and do nothing about it.
I can and will at least do my part for myself and encourage others to do the same.
This is classic efficient market hypothesis brain worms, the kind of cognitive dead-end that you arrive at when you conceive of people in purely economic terms, without considering the power relationships between them. It's a dead end you navigate to if you only think about things as they are today – vast numbers of indebted people who command fewer assets and lower wages than at any time since WWII – and treat this as a "natural" state: "how can these poors expect to be offered more debt unless they agree to have their all-important pocket computers booby-trapped?"
-Cory Doctorow from his blog, unintentionally addressing you

That entire idea is terrifying.

you will own nothing and be happy

Hey man, quit repeating that. Each time we do it becomes closer to truth. Reality is what we make of it and we if tell these fucks no means no, it'll stop.
We'll own things, and we'll be unhappy about people trying to take away the things we own and paid for.
- I think the point of the phrase is to generate outrage to push against it
- i mean, i literally run my own server, hold 8TB of media archived locally, host numerous services for my family and friends, as well as provide them with help. I think i'm doing my part here.
  I am quite literally, telling them no, by not using any of their bullshit products. I mean we're on lemmy for fucks sake.
- Good luck convincing people to change
  I was asked “why bother with Linux if there is software that isn’t native on it”

anyone remember the time when google removed(!) their internal "don't be evil" rule? guess this is part of the outcome of that "be evil" that came along with removal of the opposite. Abuse of this mechanism is IMHO veery predictable ;-)

There are plenty of google-free cellphones, one could easily stick to better products of better companies. help yourself, google's not gonna do that for you within the next 5billion* years as they IMHO already stated they "want" to be evil now, always remember that ;-)

*) thats round about when our sun expands too much for earth, so i currently dislike doing any predictions beyond that point ;-) i do not predict google would last that long, only that they'll keep beeing evil until their end.

anyone remember the time when google removed(!) their internal "don't be evil" rule?
I remember when media falsely reported clickbait articles that they did and people bring that up to this day. They moved it from the introduction to the closing statement. Which you can argue makes it less prominent or whatever, but it was never removed.
Of course it makes no difference, it wasn't followed either way, and definitely isn't followed now. But no, it was never removed. You can see it yourself right here at the end: https://abc.xyz/investor/google-code-of-conduct/
- The only reason this ever got any attention was to push an agenda.
- it was never removed
  Context is key. It went from
  Google Code of Conduct is one of the ways we put “Don’t be evil” into practice
  to
  And remember... don’t be evil, and if you see something that you think isn’t right – speak up!
  So from a "we won't be evil" to telling others to not be evil.
  So yes, the context in which the statement was applied, means its very basis was removed.
- hm you have a point that it might not have been removed completely, but the problem with that point that i personally have is that this reached me too late to just believe it was really never removed. For some reasons i would not believe blindly in "evidences" that are in control of the one that is in question and could manipulate it later for such claims and also was experienced to not be trustworthy for what they say..
  saying that, there are ways to check if something was there at a time or not. the one source i know that could help here only seems to store records from 29th jun 2023 18:44:33 onwards which is too late for this.
  https://web.archive.org/web/20240000000000*/https://abc.xyz/investor/google-code-of-conduct/
  you are right, it does not make a difference in if they can be trusted, but it makes a difference in why not and what to expect if you do so despite the red flags or -as a gov- just let things go on. A person who by accident was speeding should maybe be treated differenrly than a person who intentionally(!) does so while risking others lifes. and what would be more proof of intention than a written statement or removed canary? thus such a statement does make a difference in terms of they just cannot handle their stuff, don't care at all or maybe even have evil intentions.
  examples:
  some kids making a fire in the forest cause they don't know the risks
  vs.
  some young adults making a fire in the woods cause they just don't care despite knowing the risks
  vs.
  a company making fire in the woods because its cheaper to do stuff there and they lack the resouces to do it safe and someone else will pay the firefighters anyway.
  vs.
  a company stating to want to do so cause they like it despite they could afford doing it secure but just no one could or would sue them anyway.
  while i don't want to say google is like no.4 here, to me these examples all make huge differences, no matter if the woods actually cought fire or not.
Devs still need to eat so we will need a better alternative to adsense. As long as we depend on these corporate services their stranglehold will only continue strengthen like this.
- No one really depends on these corporate services. People are just too lazy and conformist to give up on the convenience that they bring.
- https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/82ule/will_code_html_for_food_pic/
  not only devs 😜
Google-free phones? What are they? I know only Pinephone and Librem 5.
- ok, i have to admit, that i was thinking of google-"services" free phones like the new ones from huawei. but sure android is made by google (but not "owned" by them). however i can try to "rescue" my argument by saying something like "just use a nokia 3310! they're still working and the batterie should still last a week if not more" ;-)
  however projects like lineage os might be a good choice to have threeth (as in more than "both"), more security, less dependency from google, and also more influence on the actual software included in the build, if it's not even possible to just compile it yourself and have freedom of changing every line of code as you wish.
- You act like it is Google’s fault that someone found questionable software on the phone they got from Rent-a-center or Alibaba.
  Google made the app.
- Max-P commented on this thread saying the software was made by Google and part of Android (not Play Store services).

Yeah it's because they ship the same OS image for everyone, be it US on a carrier plan or otherwise. Google services has complete control over your device (more than just locking it down), and that's what you should be upset about. For you that app is just harmless bloat, what's actually spooky is google play services as a system app. Do yourself a favor and install grapheneOS.

This. Didn't even use my Pixel 8 (then brand-new) until Grapheme OS was available for it (my Pixel 7 Pro got damaged beyond repair in an incident, not happy but though I expect privacy I don't expect a phone to survive ~20G of force) because fuck Google.
- Well now you're burying the lead here. What situation involved 20g of force?
every time i have tried to install another OS on an android phone i have ended up bricking it.
- Good luck bricking a Pixel while following Graphene's installer. If it protected the phone from me, someone who bricks basically everything they touch, it'll be fine for you.
Isn’t this more easily fixed?

$ adb shell 'pm disable --user 13 com.google.android.gms'
grapheneOS and the like might work for the OP and anyone with a mainstream phone, but there are a lot of unsupported cheap obscure phones which are stuck with stock Android.

The fun aspect to this is that some banks have forced customers to use an Android for all their banking ops. So:

① You’re late paying a bill
② Creditor locks your phone
③ You cannot access your bank to make the payment because your phone is locked

Brilliant.

That's just disgusting, but still so normal in the market religion. Google act as judge and executioner above all local laws. Never ever buy a phone that can't be rooted and reconfigured. ..oh, and never again deal with anything Google.. ..oh, or any other big US tech for that matter. ..fuckit, never deal with ANY Capitalist cheater/scumbag unless you have to.

Unfortunately GrapheneOS still only supports Google Pixels, otherwise I would use something else in a heartbeat
- Use Lineage OS
Got a non-capitalist phone for me?
Sincerely as a hater...
- Huawei is a employee owned and communist state backed company - not very capitalist, at least by comparison.
  They're being hammered with export restrictions and sanctions and federal bans and executive orders to keep that from being a viable alternative in the US, but if you're outside that might be an option.
I'm not sure how we went from Google to Capitalism but Ok
- You don't see how a corporate entity like Google is related to capitalism? What exactly do you think capitalism means?

Have you tried Universal Android Debloat to disable it?

https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater

Stuff like this is why I root or just flash my phones.

Oh this looks great, thanks!

Apparently this is the app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.devicelock

Says it's not available in my country, but yet it is install and unremovable.
- Have you tried using adb to uninstall, freeze, or otherwise disable it?
- If it's unremoveable its probably been installed from the beginning.
- Did you buy your phone from eBay or amazon? Could be a refurbished overseas model
- Mine isn't installed, but my phone is also out of support and doesn't work on newer Android. So it's probably a more recent thing.

Root the phone and remove insane garbage like that. Rip and tear until it is done.

How about you just wipe and install Lineage OS
- It's in lineage too. Found it on pixel 7a with actual LOs 21

Is 3+ the age restriction?

Hilarious right?

I checked to see if this was on my pixel 6 pro. It wasn't but I found this.

Not something I installed and not something I would allow.

The uninstall did not appear to work UNTIL I disabled the app and cleared the data.

this is installed by default in case you want/need to enable it (company phone). it is a system app so it cannot be uninstalled, after disableing it (which probably does not do anything when it was not setup in the first place) you can uninstall the updates (so the 'old' version that's sitting in the system image is still there)
- Interesting. The app isn't actually listed anymore after whatever I did.
Do you use your phone for work?
- Never. Keep work and personal completely separate.

still allows access to settings

Oh thank goodness

I hope developer settings to flash a free ROM

Weird, I have project fi and don't have this app. It could be contractually required by your service provider that the app be installed on all the phones that they sell. That's a thing that they do.

Who is the carrier?

I don't have a carrier in that sense. I bought it directly from the Australian Google Store outright, and pay prepaid plans for mobile coverage.
It's 100% mine, unlocked to use with any network it's compatible with.
- What model of phone? That's insane if it's an official Google device
- That's weird then, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. It'd have to be connected to the carrier for it to be used. Maybe root the device and delete it? Alternatively, you could remove it with ADB terminal. Are you familiar with those at all?
  https://www.techmesto.com/uninstall-pre-installed-apps-from-android-phone/
Same, I bought my pixel outright and use mint and this system app is not installed.

damn and no one at google saw this as dystopian?

They saw this reality and thought it was awesome.
This isn't a Google thing. It's not normally installed on your device.
- It's literally phoning google services, and the package name has google in the name.
  It's a google thing.

Many thanks for this
They just fuck with Kenyans. And that's obviously okay, because they are not part of the western nations. /s

Were the courts not enough control for creditors? Since when are they allowed to lock you out of your purchased property without a court order?

I don't think courts are typically involved for civil repossession.

But it sounds like this is used when the device isn't your purchased property, but leased on contract.

I guess it makes sense for them to do this if people started leases, paid the first month to get the phone in their hand, then walked away with the nice new phone they paid like $35 for, to sell or just use off-network.

Well, I would say this is what small claims is for.
Should the bank should have keys to a mortgaged house? When you don't own the house outright yet? I'm gonna go with no.
And second, why is it installed by default on all phones? Really not cool.
- why is it installed by default on all phones?
  Absolutely batshit.
  Should the bank should have keys to a mortgaged house? When you don't own the house outright yet? I'm gonna go with no.
  Hmm, do they only not have keys because you can’t drive a house away?
  So obviously poverty fuggin sux and we need universal basic income etc.
  In today’s BS world:
  If we ban car repossession, what happens to car prices and access to transportation?
  Likewise - if digital repossession of phones is prohibited, will there at least be a couple impoverished people who have to use dumb phones even though they could’ve afforded a reposessable smartphone?
  Maybe a few people have to go without those cheaper phones because allowing lenders to killswitch phones causes greater harm to the whole. Anybody wanna speculate?

What's stopping someone from enabling debug mode, downloading adb tools and running pm uninstall --user0 then the package name? Surely with the app removed, the app can't brick your phone. Or running a custom rom like lineage or graphine os?

What’s stopping someone ...
Your average someone has no idea what any of that means.
- I've used odb before to debloat and I barely remember how I did it 😂
My guess is they are leveraging the techninical and technology illiteracy of the average consumer to not only not know this can be done but to even know how to even look it up. I have done some tech support for people that I have known for 20 years here and there and I am still oustanded at how little people know about tech outside social media sites, or have but only the most superficial knowledge on anything outside their work related applications. Many, many People just can't do their own research today specially, or so it seems in the aggregate. Unless perhaps if it is a hobby.
Also, perhaps some of these people may have shitty phones that may not have an option to install a custom ROM, too. Assuming they even know want a custom ROM even is.

Fuck the entirety of this noise.

I'm in the US and it's not on my phone and even though it's listed in the Play Store it says it's not available in my region

The Netherlands here: not installed on my S22 and not available in my region.
- NL here too, but 1+8t on OxygenOS 14, and it is installed here. Did you check your system apps?
It says the same thing for me (not listed in the Australian Playstore), but it is installed.
- Doesn't seem to be installed on mine. Maybe it's because I'm using a Motorola?
Same, I think my phone is too old to have it.
- My phone's only about a year old maybe it's something that just started

Apple does it to, but I've only ever seen it happen when you buy your phone on a payment plan as part of your service agreement through your service provider. Kind of like if you lease a car and stop making payments they can lock the engine from turning over.

I'm of the strong opinion that this ought not to be a thing. Even if you stop paying rent, they can kick you out, but there's a process they need to follow (in Australia anyway).
These software locks means they can do whatever they want, even if they're in the wrong, and then you're shit out of luck until you can take them to court, if you even have the time to do it...
It's so wrong, because of the power imbalance I really think this kind of thing should be railed against at all costs.
Google should not install this shit by default, and sneakily as well.
- You can also just root your droid anyway.

Get Shizuka, get it running by following a guide somewhere, install canta, remove it... Bang bang.

Don't you mean shizuku
https://github.com/samolego/Canta
- Yeah. Not sure why it autocorrected to that.
Did not know this was a thing. Thx!
Unfortunately I couldn't remove it with Shizuku + Canta. Can remove the devicelockcontrolleroverlay. But not the actual devicelock controller. Canta says it removes it, shows up in removed apps, but when I refresh canta, it's just installed regardless. Always stays visible in app list as well.

Pixel 7 Pro reporting in. There is no DeviceLockController on my phone. Just installed the latest monthly updates a couple of days ago.

Pixel 7 Pro here and on the latest update, and I have it. Mine is from factory, so no payment plan at all.
- iPhone 12 Pro Max with ios17 and I don’t.
- Probably a carrier thing. I'm on TMobile
Sony Xperia 1 here, no app, neither.
Pixel 6a here in the US. I bought it directly from Google. I have the app.

Where did you buy your phone? What kind of phone is it?

Australia directly from the google store, Pixel 6.
- In that case I would seriously contact Google, and either completely reflash either factory Android or one of the ALTs available.

i think they're just using the device administrator feature of android right? i know outlook does this if i connect to my work email

Use K-9 mail
So because I'm using a work profile, this gets installed?
I'm using shelter, also, hence have a work profile.
But even so, this shouldn't be installed.
- If it's specific to a work profile, then it's likely to allow a user to prevent leaking sensitive work materials in case of a lost phone.
- Seen this comment several times and since you're OP and can get more eyes on you than my random comment: P6 paid for in full, installed GrapheneOS with no gApps and no Work Profile and I still have that app
It's built into Android, but I suspect yes it needs to be granted device admin first so I doubt this can just enable out of nowhere.

You can check it’s installed (stock android) Settings > Apps > All Apps > three dot menu, Show system > search “DeviceLockController”.

Is that just a “feature” of recent AOS versions? AOS 5’s triple dot menu has nothing like “show system”.

Not sure, perhaps I should change this to "Google Pixel Android 14"

Not on my Galaxy S23+ from Google Fi

Thanks for sharing this OP. I turned on the notifications for my browser, and when I went on FB (thru firefox, not app) one of the connection notifications was to a website I went on once a few weeks or even a month ago. I knew it was creepy but damn.

I do have ublock origin but obviously that's not enough. I wish i could get rid of FB but there's 2 things i haven't been able to replicate elsewhere.

I'm just flabbergasted but wanted to say thanks.

No worries mate

It pings out to google constantly regardless of where you are. You should be able remove it with adb, or use an app like NetGuard to block it from acessing the internet.

NetGuard is how I discovered it even existed haha
- So for me, it shows up in my settings but netguard does not show it. Did i do something wrong setting up netguard?
  Also, does anyone know if my carrier will get mad if i remove it? I do technically owe money on my phone (they give me a credit each month so i dont have to pay it)
  🤔

Interesting. It's not available in the US.

It's not "available" in the Australian Playstore either, whether it's installed so far seems to be how old your phone is (rough feeling based on comments). Not yet clear what the pattern is.

I checked and this is not present on my device. It is an unlocked Google Pixel 6a purchased via contract with the mobile provider. That said, I factory reset the device when I got it, so it may have been removed at that time.

I checked my Pixel 6A direct from Google and I do have it. You have to tap "Show system apps" in the top right menu.
- Ah, yup. There it is.
I have it on my contract free pixel 6 bought from Google store.
I checked my pixel 7a bought from Google directly and I also don't have this app

Since when are they allowed to lock you out of your purchased property without a court order?

That's an oxymoron. Creditors have the ability to lock you out of a device you haven't paid for yet. Standard terms and conditions in B2C and B2B; you don't own it until you've paid for it in full.

Also locking you out of a device you don't own yet is cheaper than taking you to court.

Anything that connects to internet is something that you don't own. Companies can change their T&C anytime and take control of your device if it connects to internet. Hence smart people never buy anything that connects to internet.
- Where did you hear that? Can you share a link? It's not entirely true, but it does apply to most IoT products.

the phone world is fucked. Use a landline phone :)

Asus Zenfone 8 purchased outright in Australia. App does not exist on my phone.

Are we certain it does what we think it does? Could it be something to do with the ability to lock your phone remotely if stolen, or just something to do with Lock Screen functionality?

Not what it says on the google Playstore listing, but yes it's possible. Considering the connection requests are seemingly for other google APIs. It's possible NetGuard is flagging the requests to this app incorrectly. (It can't distinguish being MS office apps either, so it lumps them together, for example)
Doesn't change the fact the app is installed though, on a phone I own outright, and it's purposes as claimed by google are gross (in my opinion).

This is pre-installed on my 6a, also purchased outright, unlocked, directly from Google in the US.

There oughta be a law

My Pixel5a from google store has it, but my other phone where I installed Murena e/OS (which is based on LineageOS) does not have it.

How do you go for banking apps on Murena e/OS? This is basically the only thing holding me back from changing my OS to GrapheneOS.
Dual boot is sadly not a thing according to Graphene (and I have idea about such things
- I will tell you my secret. I have two phones. Two identities. One that has a normal google phone with facebook messenger and instagram, to keep in contact with family, and to have bank apps. And one, where the Murena e/OS is totally de-googled. Where you will only find FOSS apps, from Lemmy to Mastodon and Pixelfed. That second identity is my real one.
  The mistake people make when they write about "moving to Linux" (or similar), is that they try to fit themselves into a box where the modern life doesn't affords them to. The wiser option is to play on both sides. You have an unassuming, clean-cut identity on one computer and phone, and you have your real self on the other, where it's ultra-private and secured, and often IP-spoofed if required. And it's not some kind of closeting thing, or illegal thing or anything, it's just private. How I would like things to be by default in a Utopian system.
  On top of that, I believe that Murena's e/OS has a modified g-services app so full fledged Android apps, including bank apps, get fooled so they run. But I don't personally run them on that phone. That phone is FOSS only.
- I run /e/OS on my Fairphone 3. The only thing that doesn't work is login with fingerprints with my banking app. Everything else works, I did not have a problem and I am now running it for more than 3 years I believe (or 4?).
- With GrapheneOS, there's dual profile, a main without google, and a secondary profile with all the garbage you don't really need...
- My banking App works fine on GrapheneOS. At all i didnt really had any app so far which isnt working on GOS with sandboxed Google Services

I love how no governments completely shut down Google for violating constitutional rights or citizens

That "rated 3 and up" is killing me.

Finally a solution for those jobless deadbeat infants.

Mate we live in a 5 eyes country so whatever shit you see in the USl by default you'll see it here. Its sad but that's how it is and regular 9-5s can't do much about it

Doesn't this go against their own terms of service?

I live in Indonesia, and I have the application installed, but I don't have a banking application, only e-money applications such as DANA, OVO, GOPAY, that's all.

It’s ok. You can just make some calls and settle your arrears.

I own the phone outright, never on any payment plan or have any creditors.

don't even live in the US, so what the actual fuck?

I live in the US and the Google play store says this app isn't available in my region.

A lot of these system apps, while updated via the play store, won't show up if you search the play store for them. They also won't have reviews. An easy example, on my phone at least, is something called "Android System Intelligence".

Love the Chinese phones. None of this crap US stuff is enabled. It's baked into the system ROM so it is there. But on mine it has never transfered any data, not even ever been active. It's just dead code taking up a few megabytes.

I think I've seen you around here before, shilling these lower quality, closed source devices from China.
- Lower quality? Lol.
  I'll give you a chance to look up the Mix Fold 3. And then any other equivalent phone available in the US market.
  Even excluding the folding aspect, the screen sizes and overall thickness means it looks and works exactly like a non foldy. 50W wireless, 120W wired charging. 1TB of storage, 16GB of RAM. Leica lenses.
  On top of that, zero of my data goes to the US government at it does on carrier branded phones. I will give all my data to the ccp if they want it. I have no interest in what they do with it. I have very high interest in what a five eyes nation does with my data and information.
Unlike Japan in the 80s, I wouldn't trust the CCP more than products made in Democratic nations.
That being said, I am now VERY glad I switched to Graphene OS the moment I got this phone. Fuck this kind of shit, I bought this phone.
- It's not about trust. It's about what are they going to do with the data. I have been to China, it's cool. I also don't have any long term plans there. I do have long term plans in 5 eye countries. Therefore I want none of my data in government spy databases where I actually do things.