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I have just uninstalled Gboard from my device, using adb shell. However, unfortunately it seems my device cannot use OpenBoard, the virtual keyboard which I installed from F-Droid, from the lockscreen, and thus I cannot enter my passhphrase in order to unlock my device.

I already have USB debugging enabled and I can see my device connected. However, it seems that in its current state, being locked, it has either 'insufficient permissions' or if I run adb start-server as root then it's 'unauthorized' and thus I am unable to enter adb shell and interact with the device.

Is there anyway to get around this issue, i.e, by getting access to the device via adb, or by somehow bypassing the lockscreen temporarily; or perhaps by somehow sideloading another virtual keyboard, such as AOSP keyboard, in order to use the virtual keyboard from the lockscreen and enter the passphrase as normal?

Any help is much appreciated.

P.S I am trying to avoid having to wipe/format my device clean!

Edit: If anyone knows how to unlock the bootloader, without having to manually enable it through the developer options, then I could install TWRP custom recovery and, in theory, delete the .key files pertaining to passwords, pins, etc.

se7enge
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  • Use an USB keyboard and connect it to the phone. – Robert Apr 26 '21 at 17:06
  • I don't have a USB to micro USB adapter to try this on the device in question but I just tried it on a Samsung Galaxy s9 using a USB to USB type-C adapter and no keystrokes were recognised :/ – se7enge Apr 26 '21 at 17:37
  • I also just tried sideloading an open-gapps zip file (containing gboard) by booting into recovery (stock) and choosing 'apply update from adb' but the signature verification keeps failing and the installation is aborted. – se7enge Apr 26 '21 at 17:57
  • On some devices USB otg does not work but a lot of devices support it. May be your keyboard needs too much power. Best is a plain simple USB keyboard. On some devices you need an additional self powered USB hub. And the USB OTG adapter is pretty cheap and really useful assuming USB OTG really works on your device. And it is a better option than a factory reset. – Robert Apr 26 '21 at 18:54
  • Which Android device and Android version are you using? On my OnePlus 6 with Android 10, I can use adb in direct boot mode (the screen where one needs to supply credentials to decrypt and unlock the device). – Firelord Apr 26 '21 at 20:04
  • The device is an Alcatel 5033D running Android 9 (I believe). Have not come across any sort of direct boot mode, do you access that via the recovery on your device? Also, thanks Robert, I will look into a cheap adapter. I did try a few different boards but maybe my test unit, a galaxy s9 running lineage-os 17.1, just doesn't support a physical keyboard; it absolutely supports OTG though as it works with a flash drive... – se7enge Apr 26 '21 at 20:58
  • Unfortunately, I do not have a google play account set up on the phone, otherwise that would probably work. I thought so too about sideloading, perhaps the install couldn't verify the signature because it didn't recognise Open GApps? Is there anyway to get the official gboard apk via PC? I already tried sideloading the apk from apkpure and it too didn't pass signature verification. – se7enge Apr 28 '21 at 13:43
  • other method: disable adb authorization in boot.img and flash with SP Flash Tool. read default.prop instructions – alecxs Apr 29 '21 at 21:03
  • once adb is "authorized" you can unlock with 'adb shell input text ' or input keyevent. scrcpy can do this straight from pc keyboard. be aware scrcpy comes with it's own adb which one should delete to avoid trouble with different RSA-keys (in case you already have working adb connection) – alecxs Apr 30 '21 at 08:07
  • I ended up just going with an OTG adapter and unlocking with a physical keyboard; worked fine. That's an interesting suggestion though alecxc, I will definitely keep that in mind for any future use case :) – se7enge May 07 '21 at 21:23

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