1.6 bug : PIN code required when going out of Offline+

Issues & Requests regarding Mudita Products
21

I asked because OP clearly mentioned on the original post that it was a SIM PIN and showed on the video that it was a SIM PIN.

So the reason the bug doesn’t happen to you must be because you don’t have a SIM PIN. Maybe @kcr can confirm for us if they have a sim pin or not.

To me it happens and I tested with 2 of my sims:

  • one has a pin, and it asks the pin whenever i turn off offline mode.
  • the other without pin works as usual.

When I tested with both, of course it popped up again asking for the pin for the pinned sim card.

4 Likes
22

@urszula
This code has been added to KompaktAuxService in the 1.6.0 update, it didn’t exist in the 1.5.0, I compared them.

setSimCardsState(!isOn);
...
private void setSimCardsState(boolean z) {
    Log.d(TAG, "Setting sim cards state, enable=" + z);
    ITelephony iTelephony = this.mTelephony.get();
    if (iTelephony != null) {
        iTelephony.setSimPowerStateForSlot(0, z ? 1 : 0);
        iTelephony.setSimPowerStateForSlot(1, z ? 1 : 0);

This code powers down the SIM cards during the enabling of the OFFLINE+ switch. When turning off the offline mode, the SIMs that had a PIN number require their PIN to be entered again, because PIN verification lives in the card’s own volatile state and is lost the moment the card loses power.

And when we are at this, please add back SIM pin removing/editing capabilities that were removed from the AOSP settings. This is on par with the lack of bluetooth/device name renaming, too much mindfulness is harmful to security and privacy of the device.

8 Likes
23

Hello, I do not have a PIN code on my SIM card.

1 Like
24

You clearly nailed the bug. :+1:

1 Like
25

SIM PIN here and the same problem with 1.6 (even did a full reset before.

Would that new code actually mean that the SIM is then totally off, different to airplane mode? So like a more secure privacy option? Like turning off your phone completely? So no one can trace you in the background? Actually I would like that, despite the annoying re-entering of two codes. I am all for privacy in general ….

1 Like
26

That’s interesting because when reading the code, my first instinct was that it was an attempt at consuming less battery while in airplane mode. A very minor optimisation (not even sure ito could be measured).

I’m really curious about your hypothesis: does it change anything regarding to tracking? If so, this should be clearly announced in the release note. But I’m not sure that keeping the PIN powered has anything to do with privacy because the antenna is the culprit, not the sim card. The simcard is only holding a cryptographic identity to access the network and, AFAIK, cannot be detected when then antenna is off.

1 Like
27

Exactly. Having the sim cards powered off when modem is not transmitting is kinda useless, unless the modem itself is lying for being off, otherwise adds no additional protection.

Your device can be identified even if you have no sim card at all (you know how emergency calls can work with no sim).

5 Likes
28

This let us with two hypothesis for that code:

  1. A micro-optimisation that was done with the thought it was nearly free (then it is a bug and should be reverted)

  2. A vibe-coded hallucination

In those troubled times, you can never rules out 2) and this makes me really sad.

3 Likes
29

The big question is whether the error will be fixed in the near future or will it stay like this for months?

@urszula

3 Likes
30

Hi everyone…Thank you for this feedback.
I have a question from our team regarding this issue because they are investigating this.

For all of you, who are experiencing this situation, did you happen to RESTART your Mudita Kompakt WHILE the OFFLINE+ mode was enabled & then you noticed this issue?

31

The phone has also been restarted and not in offline mode. It always asks for a pin code.

1 Like
32

Nope. I restarted the Kompakt after the 1.6 upgrade while it was connected (which is obvious because the upgrade could only be done online). The the issue appeared the first time I switched to OFFLINE+.

I’m pretty sure this is not related to that.

I believe @gezimos nailed the issue: there’s a new code in 1.6 that unpower the SIM card while in OFFLINE+. So, obviously, you need to enter the PIN when powered it back on.

The question is why the SIM has to be unpowered during OFFLINE+.

3 Likes
33

This only should be happening if you RESTART your phone while in OFFLINE+ mode & then try to disable OFFLINE+. Otherwise, as I understand it, it should not be happening every time you enable & then disable OFFLINE+

34

That’s the whole idea of OFFLINE+
It’s basically cuts off power on the software & hardware level. It’sa single switch physically disconnects GSM and microphones.

35

It doesn’t, I didn’t even use the offline switch until @ploum made the post and I wanted to replicate to see if it affected me.

Well it’s not on this case, because as I posted above that code didn’t exist in 1.5.0 It’s new. And frankly it doesn’t add much to the existing offline mode. If the modem can’t transmit, the sim card even powered on is useless to identify you. If the modem is on, you’re still identifiable even with no sim card. So all the trust is on the modem telling the truth.

3 Likes
36

If things go the way they have in the past, we’ll have to wait months again for the next update and hope that the bug gets fixed. Or it might not get fixed at all, just like the sound bug related to active Offline+, which I think has been around since the 1.3.0 update. Updates no longer fill me with anticipation; instead, I find myself worrying about what new bugs will be added this time. And instead of fixing old bugs, they’d rather introduce new features.

2 Likes
37

The release notes do show many things were fixed with 1.6.0, and the addition of voicemail was nice to receive. I do agree adding complexity can introduce more bugs. Some solutions are given freely in this forum - it would be super if we had more frequent fix releases.

1 Like
38

As pointed by @gezimos , the whole point is to switch the modem, not the SIM card. And if it really was that useful, you would have a hard time convincing user that, for two years, the offline+ button was not working as expected :wink:

But I believe there’s little discussion to really have. The code was probably introduced by someone who thought “Hey, why not disconnect the SIM card too in offline+?”. It was deemed as not important (it is not even in the changelog). The bug was not caught because, for whatever reason, it was probably tested only with a pinless SIM card. Well, shit happens, nobody was hurt. This code could be trivially reverted and an update pushed as soon as possible..

The only case when there could be a difficult discussion is if this code was included with a very specific goal in mind (I cannot imagine which one but I would be curious to hear about it).

3 Likes
39

Thank you guys for all your feedback. Our team is investigating this specific SIM PIN bug and well an the ghost notifications. We appreciate your patience as they figure it out.
@gezimos Thank you so much for explaining everything to make sure that we are all on the same page. I have passed on your info to the team.

4 Likes
40

@urszula Also confirming that this issue happens for me whenever the switch is toggled off and on again WITHOUT a restart.

3 Likes