Solution: 10 failed attempts auto factory reset Android phone. Why and How to turn it off?

A few years ago, I had a Samsung Galaxy S7 edge. One day, the phone had an auto factory reset, with all data erased including my sd card. Later on, I found out the reason was the screen was touched randomly leading to wrong pin attempts when it was sitting in my pocket.

Later on, I got a Note20 Ultra. As soon as I got my phone, I made sure the auto factory reset was turned off. The option can be found here:

Settings -> Lock screen -> Secure lock settings (need to type in the current PIN if already set) -> Auto factory reset.

The description is “After 15 incorrect attempts to unlock your phone, it will be reset to factory default settings, and all data will be erased, including files and downloaded apps.“

One day, similar things happened. When I took the phone out of my pocket, there was a message, “An attempt to unlock the device has been made 6 times. You have 4 attempts left before the device is reset to factory default settings and all data is erased, including files and downloaded apps.“

This means 10 failed attempts with a wrong PIN will cause Auto Factory Reset. To confirm this issue, I tried it again purposely. I put in a wrong PIN 5 times, and it showed “Try again in 30 seconds”. Then 30 seconds later, I typed in the wrong PIN again, and it showed me the message above.

I googled for the solution to turn off (disable) this option. The most relevant discussion may be this one: https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/3537716/how-do-i-turn-off-my-auto-factory-reset-after-10-wrong-passwords?hl=en.

However, the answer from the expert is “There is no such thing as that.” The thread has been closed, although some users claimed they did get the issue like I did. It seems there is no answer to my problem and probably some others’.

…

Finally, I have an answer to this: Office365/Outlook with an institutional account.

I had my institutional Microsoft Office365 email account set up in Samsung’s Email. It adds some additional security to my phone. With my S7 edge, screen lock with PIN would be required and fingerprint was not an option. But with Note20 Ultra, it seems fingerprint is allowed. The Auto Factory Reset option is grey at Off position. But this additional security turned on the Auto Factory Reset in the backend.

To prove this idea, I deleted my email account from Email. The problem seems gone! I typed in the wrong PIN 5 times. I had to wait 30 seconds. After 30 seconds, I was able to type in a PIN again. I used the wrong PIN 5 times again, and had to wait another 30 seconds. 30 seconds later, I typed in one wrong PIN, and had to wait another 30 seconds. I tried it again, and same thing happened. So I assume the Auto Factory Reset is truly turned off.