Can't unlock previosuly resetted Wiko Pulp 4g phone (loop in login screen)

Question

I just got a new phone from a friend, a Wiko Pulp 4G. Before giving it to me, she did a factory reset on it without logging out of the phone previously - so now when I turn on the phone, it demands to log in with the account that was used on the phone before the reset before you can do anything else. Problem is: It doesn't unlock. It's stuck in a loop. You first have to insert email and password and then a code is sent to my friend via SMS - but when I enter the code, the first screen demanding my friends email appears again, and the process of logging in starts anew.

Here's what I already tried:

• Hardresetting my phone as described on this website. This doesn't change anything sadly.
• Remove the device from my friends google acount on Googles device manager page - but the phone doesn't have a remove button (because it isn't actually logged in I guess)

Is there any way to solve this? If nothing works I will try to root it and install another ROM, provided I can figure out how to enable USB debugging without unlocking my phone.

Answer 1

This is called Device Protection Lock or Factory Reset Protection. It's an anti-theft feature that is triggered when you hard reset your device without removing the screen lock code and Google accounts. You can check if your account is synced to the device by going to Google.com/dashboard, and check under Android. If you see your device there, it means that it's synced before the reset, if not, then there's gotta be another account that was signed in to it.

If you changed your password before or after the Factory Reset, you need to wait for 24 hours before you can sign back in on the device and complete the setup.

If that still doesn't work, try disabling the 2-step verification from your friend's account, as some devices may have compatibility issues with it.

If that still doesn't work, the best way is to get in touch with the device's manufacturer. You may need to send in your device for repair. I'm not really quite sure for every manufacturer, but usually, they will flash it.