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Google wants to make stolen Android phones basically unsellable
(www.androidauthority.com)
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this post was submitted on 14 May 2025
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Call your carrier to blacklist the IMEI. Done.
It has always worked this way, well before the smartphone era.
The only way to overcome is to find a country the phone works with and has carriers not part of the blacklisting networks. Doesn't make for a very practical resale market...
So, now that's out of the way, what control is Google actually trying to sneak in then?
Doesn't do much.
Only your carrier would honor it, maybe even all carriers in your country, but they'll ship it off to some other country and the phone would still work (might be missing a few bands, but still fuctional).
The only way for it to actually deter theft is for the entire device to essentially become a brick unless unlocked.
The idea itself is a good thing. The only bad thing about FRP is that it's online-based instead of a local-lock.
That assumes it's attached to a carrier. I had a phone stolen out of the mail.
Same as Apple: total platform control. Like HP and printer ink.
Some carriers/MVNOs won't allow that request (Fi, Orange, US Cellular, etc.)