I'm honestly freaked out—today, two phones in my house factory reset themselves after they connected to our Wi-Fi. There was no prompt or warning; they just rebooted and wiped all data without any input from us. Here's what went down:
- My brother's Samsung Galaxy A16 5G reset suddenly after I was just browsing on it.
- Then, my mother's Huawei P10 connected to our 5GHz Wi-Fi, and it did the exact same thing, restarting and resetting itself about 30 minutes later.
Neither phone appeared to have any malware or issues before this incident, and I'm puzzled by the situation. Both devices were linked to the same Wi-Fi, yet my laptop on that network hasn't faced any problems at all.
I have several questions:
- Could our router be compromised or have malicious firmware?
- Is it even possible for Wi-Fi to trigger a factory reset on devices?
- Has anyone experienced something similar?
- Should I refrain from connecting other devices for now?
I'm looking for any insights or advice to investigate this further and secure our network!
3 Answers
One thing to consider is whether these phones could have been stolen before. It’s possible the original owners initiated a wipe. Just a thought!
Double-check if they actually did a full factory reset or if an automatic Android update was applied when they connected to Wi-Fi. Sometimes, if devices are outdated, they look like they’ve reset to factory settings due to a new version installing. If they’ve been using cellular data or slow Wi-Fi, it's possible the update hit as soon as they connected.
First off, definitely check for any other devices on your network that you don't recognize. While it's a long shot, it’s worth checking out.
Also, see if the Android logs are still accessible even after the reset—they might give some clues. It might help to ask about this on an Android forum where more tech-savvy people hang out.
Thanks for the idea, but I can confirm they aren't stolen. The Huawei P10 has been in my mother's possession for years, and my brother just bought the Samsung A16 last month from a reputable store.