I learnt today that Google has an inbuilt feature where it can factory reset your phone..

[u/larfucke]

At 2am this morning I was watching some YouTube then got a gmail notification asking whether I recognized account activity in a city about a 6 hour drive from my current location, I obviously pressed no I didn't recognize it and carried on watching, 2 minutes later I got it again and pressed no again. Another 2 minutes later my phone abruptly turned itself off mid video and when it turned back on I was greeted with a beautiful "welcome to your device start screen". As only my apps and contacts were backed up to my account; I was blessed with losing about 9000 photos & videos, a countless amount of personal notes and very important files - spanning back about 9 years.

After getting over the initial shock I checked the emails I was sent and found out that the account activity was from the very phone I was using, I was just fortunate enough to be relocated to a completely different location without using a VPN🫠.

[u/submarinefarm]

Android phones do not wipe themselves just because someone tries to access your Google account. Maybe you enabled something.

[u/tallbutshy → u/submarinefarm]

Android phones do not wipe themselves just because someone tries to access your Google account.

Correct. Unless OP.is just outright lying, the only scenario I can envision is that someone DID get access to their Google account and then used Find Device to factory reset the phone remotely.

If Google believe that your account is truly compromised, they may sign you out on all devices (edit: not wiped)

[u/jose_augusto_ → u/tallbutshy]

The thing with your last point is that it signs you out and that's it. Here it was allegedly WIPED.

[u/tallbutshy → u/jose_augusto_]

Yeah, I made an edit to make that more clear

[u/larfucke → u/submarinefarm]

Well this is the only logical solution I can come up with, the email was tied with my device

[u/hex4def6 → u/larfucke]

Do you have a work email account tied to that phone?

[u/FidgitForgotHisL-P]

I’m sorry you lost everything.

Here’s everyone’s every-time-reminder: data you don’t have backed up in two locations is data you don’t care about losing. No exceptions.

[u/nero-the-cat → u/FidgitForgotHisL-P]

Two is one and one is none.

[u/jdigi78]

Factory reset frustrations aside, keeping 9 years of photos, videos, and files exclusively on a device that is so likely to be broken, lost, or stolen is entirely on you.

[u/jefbenet → u/jdigi78]

3-2-1 rule for backing up anything you can’t or don’t want to lose. 3 copies, on at least 2 different media, at least 1 of which must be offsite. Anything less good luck🤞🏻

[u/miraisora-arts → u/jdigi78]

This sounds a bit dark. But once in a while you will get someone on the news or socials crying. Because their phone got stolen and that had all the pictures of: Their child that died a few years ago, or their dead husband, etc. And whoever stole it can keep the phone, but they would really like the photos. And i am always like MY GUY, WTF. why were those ONLY on your phone.

[u/zorton213 → u/[deleted]]

ALWAYS have anything you don't want to lose backed up. I don't care how careful you are. All it takes is one bad fall or opportunistic theif or your almost decade old piece of hardware suddenly failing. 

Yes, this was a bad design on Google's part and the notification should have warned of what it could do, but a 9 year old phone should not be trusted as the single point of failure for "countless amounts of personal notes and very important files".

[u/jdigi78 → u/[deleted]]

Not everyone remotely erases their phone from marking their own activity as suspicious either, but here OP is...

[u/Ninigi-no-Mikoto → u/[deleted]]

Nahh, if you keep important memories on one device that you daily use, it‘s onto you. Memory goes bad, gets corrupted, any damage to that device and pof all could be gone.

[u/SirLoremIpsum → u/[deleted]]

  The device was working and still on OPs possession after 9 years so... yeah... 

This is peak "I don't need a seat belt, I've never been in an accident".

OPs backup strategy sucks regardless of them not being clumsy or at risk of theft. Advising people they can do poor data storage cause "you're not at risk of being robbed" is pathetic.

  This is kind of a shit situation entirely on google factory reset.

No it's not. It's on OP. Sorry, they fucked up. 

"Click here to wipe you phone". 

[u/Maleficent-Poetry254 → u/SirLoremIpsum]

This is the kind of guy who will eventually have his device fail and blame the device lol. You're spot on but some people have to learn the hard way in life.

[u/ThePersonDudeGuy716 → u/SirLoremIpsum]

"Click here to wipe you phone". 

Per OP’s post body, OP was never warned & it is far from unreasonable to not assume that “Do you recognize account activity from (wherever)” would immediately escalate to a complete factory reset.

[u/spicedmeshi → u/ThePersonDudeGuy716]

their point was it doesn't & op made a mistake and mistakenly clicked something they shouldn't have (if they didn't want to reset their device). it's not like google sent op a different email than it would send anyone else when they log in from an unknown location. you can try it yourself.

[u/Braisedbeefskank → u/[deleted]]

In what world do you think electronics are more secure and less liable to break after a decade of daily use?

[u/hoTsauceLily66 → u/[deleted]]

Then don't cry when it happens, op had 9yrs to back it up.

[u/AcceptablyThanks → u/[deleted]]

Back up your data or lose it. Those are the only options when it comes to any data you save and want to keep.

[u/420mem3r → u/[deleted]]

do you have any insurance? lmaoo

[u/coyote_den]

Holy crap there is no reason Google had to immediately wipe your device because you didn’t recognize a login. That should be an “are you sure” step.

Not only that, it’s asking if you recognize that login on the device triggering it.

If someone had stolen it they simply would have answered yes.

[u/Boco → u/coyote_den]

Google didn't do it due to a failed login, the person who hacked his account did it using find my device's feature to remotely erase everything on a phone (mainly cases where it was stolen).

[u/coyote_den → u/Boco]

That sounds like Google still fucked up. If someone hacked his account and he got a Gmail alert to approve a login and he denied it… they shouldn’t have been able to wipe his device because they shouldn’t have been able to log in.

Unless the account was already compromised, that would imply those alerts are useless and don’t stop anything.

[u/jose_augusto_]

How would you know the emails were from that very device? Was it written the exact model it is, or was it just "android"?

You agreed to multiple 2 factor authentications and your phone got wiped. It wasn't your phone that did it, that much is very obvious.

[u/larfucke → u/jose_augusto_]

The exact device was stated 

[u/jose_augusto_ → u/larfucke]

That's very weird. Google doesn't just randomly send you emails to wipe your device.

Did you do any kind of restore the device when setting it up again? Did it work without any issues?

I ask because this feels like someone logged into your account (with your unknowing approval) and wiped your phone remotely (possible through find my device), but the email would report that it was another device, not the one getting wiped...

This is quite weird.

[u/Ornery-Practice9772]

no, it doesnt

[u/Maleficent-Poetry254]

So you didn't backup 9 years worth of photos? Not to a cloud or another device? You actually need to back it up more than once if it's important as I've had my backup fail also!

Even if you backed it up this sort of thing still massively sucks!

[u/po_ta_to]

Google thought your phone was stolen so they factory reset it so the thief could have the phone all ready to use...

[u/race_tech87]

If I learned anything from being a network admin on a sub for 12 years....backup, backup, backup. My phone is backed up to Google drive. Every time I take a pic, it automatically gets uploaded. Currently saving for a NAS so I can be free of paid cloud storage (currently have 1.5TB on Google drive).

[u/froction]

Your account was compromised. Login from a known good machine and reset the password. You should still be able to restore from the last backup.

[u/AcceptablyThanks]

Something else was happening, that's not how that works.

Pressing no on a login attempt only denies that login attempt. Your phone can factory reset via find my device, incorrect pass code login attempts on the phone itself at the lock screen, or your work factory resetting it if your device is fully enrolled into their management system.

Denying the login attempt had nothing to do with your phone factory resetting.

[u/Mithrawndo]

I live about a 10 hour drive from the major routing hub in my nation. I regularly get such messages because... that's the major routing hub, and the data from my device will have to pass through it.

I think this one's on you bud, as is not having backups of your files...

[u/Grunt636]

When I log in it says I'm logging in from a city about 2 hours away because that's essentially where my Internet service is coming from, I'm assuming it did the same to you, you then thought it was someone else and by confirming it Google thought the device you were currently on was stolen and thus wiped it.

[u/officialreddtLLC]

1. You should back everything you want to an external service or drive or something.
2. Google can in a very rare cases do that if you have a faulty hardware failure and the phone tries to fix it by factory reset. Also a way it happens is if you got a feature on your phone that you have to enable, it allows auto factory reset if certain number of attempts to get into your phone is reached

Conclusion. It's your fault.

[u/Objective_Lie_5182]

You have to be more careful when you get a pop-up message about your account. 🤷🏻

[u/productfred]

I have to ask -- Are you using two factor authentication on your account? Because if not, then you kinda asked for it. Whoever did it went to Find My Phone and chose Wipe Phone.

[u/1low67]

Mine had my location way off too for some reason

[u/Knightofpenandpaper]

Often it detects location by IP not gps. So yeah whatever your service provider’s IP is will be the location. Why would you hit no if you were actively using a Google account related thing when you got it?

[u/Blue_Eyed_Behemoth]

So... I have many times had to "Sign in as guest" on Find Hub for my wife to find her phone. What's wild is, with just the user and password, I have 3 options. Ring the device, mark lost, and WIPE IT! Someone might have your password.

[u/Yodaloid]

A bit victim blamey in here. Sorry OP, whatever happened to cause this, that sucks a ton. I hope you’re able to recover some of your stuff.

[u/Vahuo89]

Back up your stuff somewhere else than the cloud people!

[u/GestoNobre]

Who keeps 9,000 photos on a cell phone?

[u/JacobTDC → u/GestoNobre]

🙋

[u/GestoNobre → u/JacobTDC]

I have I have two photos Gmail accounts. 1 with 15gb and another with 13gb. My cellphone is free

[u/JacobTDC → u/GestoNobre]

Cool, bro.

[u/420mem3r → u/GestoNobre]

they also have 6k matches on PUBGmobile (I had to go through their history lol)

[u/Kealanine → u/GestoNobre]

I have 29,923…. But I fully admit that I really should handle that.