Odd carrier "Skin" on Galaxy A52

Mysk · May 21, 2022

So, I have kind of an odd question. I recently purchased a used A52 5g off ebay for a relative. It was a carrier unlocked (previously cricket) phone. When the phone arrived, everything was fine. The phone was spotless and unlocked. However, as I set it up, I discovered very slightly off things with the settings menus. First, the quick access button for Mobile Data was not present, seemingly removed/hidden by cricket. From online information, it seems like this can be easily rectified with ADB. However, the phone also appeared to be using potentially a custom updater or other custom menus in settings. We do not want the phone to receive updates when cricket sees fit and we'd vastly prefer to simply receive samsung updates. Would changing the CSC fix this issue? and if not, what would? We'd prefer not to root the phone but if it comes to it, we are aware we might need to. We mainly want to still keep using knox, a difficult task when knoxs gets triggered by rooting and other such actions. Thanks for any advice!

Edit: If pictures would help, I can get pictures of the custom icon on the software updater, the custom menu it opens, and the modified wireless screen.

Edited May 21, 2022 by Mysk

kirashi · May 21, 2022

27 minutes ago, Mysk said:

So, I have kind of an odd question. I recently purchased a used A52 5g off ebay for a relative. It was a carrier unlocked (previously cricket) phone. When the phone arrived, everything was fine. The phone was spotless and unlocked. However, as I set it up, I discovered very slightly off things with the settings menus. First, the quick access button for Mobile Data was not present, seemingly removed/hidden by cricket. From online information, it seems like this can be easily rectified with ADB. However, the phone also appeared to be using potentially a custom updater or other custom menus in settings. We do not want the phone to receive updates when cricket sees fit and we'd vastly prefer to simply receive samsung updates. Would changing the CSC fix this issue? and if not, what would? We'd prefer not to root the phone but if it comes to it, we are aware we might need to. We mainly want to still keep using knox, a difficult task when knoxs gets triggered by rooting and other such actions. Thanks for any advice!

Edit: If pictures would help, I can get pictures of the custom icon on the software updater, the custom menu it opens, and the modified wireless screen.

It sounds like the prior carrier indeed has some kind of custom ROM or other software running on the phone. Normally I avoid redirecting traffic away from the LTT forums, however, the XDA-Developers forum is your best bet for things like this. If you're looking for specifics about flashing Android phones with replacement ROM OS's and/or debloating carrier software, XDA-Developers users are the go-to.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/f/samsung-galaxy-a52-5g.12133/