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I am owning an Android smartphone. I learnt that factory reset may not remove spyware as it might have corrupted the image being installed by factory reset. Is there a foolproof method which ensures there is no spyware left on the device?

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  • if the concept of spyware also covers the closed baseband firmwares, the best way to make sure there is no spyware is replacing that android phone with an OpenMoko - Neo Freerunner (GTA02) phone
    – pwnd
    Commented Nov 20, 2013 at 13:10

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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This can be done in two easy steps:

  1. Wipe your Android phone.

  2. Download an official factory image and flash it.

This way you make sure you have a clean firmware from the official source.

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  • does ROM refers to internal memory ?
    – user2917687
    Commented Nov 20, 2013 at 13:17
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    @user2917687 I meant a clean firmware image. Commonly referred to as ROMs.
    – Adi
    Commented Nov 20, 2013 at 13:18
  • so is gapps not a spyware anymore? :o
    – pwnd
    Commented Nov 20, 2013 at 13:28
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    @user2917687 I Googled Samsung Galaxy S5360 stock and found at least 5 working links in the first two result pages.
    – Adi
    Commented Nov 20, 2013 at 13:41
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    Note that it's important to make sure it is a stock image that will wipe the entire phone though. Some stock ROMs are configured to leave certain partitions (such as the emulated User SD card) intact. Additionally, they often won't wipe an actual memory card. If the APK remains in the data folder on one of these, then it will still be around after the wipe.
    – AJ Henderson
    Commented Nov 20, 2013 at 15:28

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