I was going to try out Haven, an Android “burglar alarm” app by Freedom of the Press Foundation and Guardian Project. This mini-project spun right out of control.
First, I had forgotten my PIN code (or rather, unlocking pattern) for my old Galaxy Nexus. I guess you could reboot the phone to bootloader and wipe/reinstall it, but I decided to do a remote wipe using my Google Account, since I haven’t tried that before. That was actually quite simple and uneventful, which is good to know in case I really need to use it some day.
Since I ended up reinstalling the phone, why not go all the way and update the ROM? So, after the remote wipe I reinstalled the phone and activated the USB debugging mode. I downloaded the latest versions of TWRP, Android-Unlegacy and Open GApps Pico Variant. A full phone wipe and a couple of sideloads later I’m running Android 7.1.2 with a minimal amount Google stuff on a six-year old phone. Nice!
I did actually install Haven in the end, but testing it will have to wait for a while…