News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Saudi Arabia tracks runaway women by cellphone IMEI. Parent comment

Re:Saudi Arabia tracks runaway women by cellphone IMEI by boredishBoi on Thursday June 13, 2019 @04:56AM (#20172894)
Can you please expand on your phone? What model is it? It sounds very unusual for the user to be able to change the imei.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Saudi Arabia tracks runaway women by cellphone IMEI by londons_explore on Thursday June 13, 2019 @05:26AM (#20173025)
A knock-off Umidigi A3 Pro.

It's an awesome Chinese $50 android phone.

Because it hasn't passed all the network tests, most mobile networks would block an entirely random IMEI, so they suggest you type in the IMEI from your old phone (as long as it's 4g - if it isn't, they have a support email address you can contact and they'll give you an IMEI that works in your country)

Even the legit Umidigi A3 Pro's (which cost $80, and have proper certifications) have an 'imei change' tool.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Saudi Arabia tracks runaway women by cellphone IMEI by salawat on Thursday June 13, 2019 @10:27AM (#20175166)
Not for long I'll wager...
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Saudi Arabia tracks runaway women by cellphone IMEI by solarkraft on Thursday June 13, 2019 @11:50AM (#20176016)
I'll wager the opposite. Of course it's not legal anywhere, but I don't expect any customs people to be able to tell that a phone comes with an changeable/unapproved IMEI.
[ Parent | on HN ]