Samsung has made the process of taking your phone in for repair a lot less stressful with a nifty new feature. A new “repair mode” from the company will protect your phone’s data from prying eyes and prying technicians by limiting access to certain phone features and apps when it’s sent in for repair. Handing in a phone for repair is an experience that can leave private data exposed in the hands of repair technicians. In most cases, if it is a software-related repair, the technician asks you to leave the phone unlocked, which makes it really vulnerable to having your data stolen. Samsung’s new mode will give you peace of mind. Samsung will apply it to the Galaxy S21 series in an update and it will come to other devices as well. Samsung hasn’t mentioned when exactly it will roll out the update.
How does Samsung repair mode work?
Repair mode will allow users to lock social media accounts, access to photo galleries, and any other apps of their choice from being accessible to strangers. Once the repair mode is activated, the phone will restart and, according to Samsung, “you will not be able to access your personal data, such as photos, messages and accounts, and you will only be able to use the apps installed by default.” To activate the repair mode, you will have to enter the Settings> Battery and device care menu. To get out of repair mode, you’ll need to restart your phone and then unlock it via fingerprint or pattern recognition.
