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Hands-on lab

Troubleshoot an unwanted mobile app

Review BrightBeam's permissions, revoke the four specified permissions, deactivate its device-administrator role, and then uninstall it without changing legitimate apps or resetting the phone.

Steps

  1. 1

    This canned phone was reported for battery drain, high data use, and pop-ups. BrightBeam, a flashlight utility, shows 2,458 MB of data use and 31% battery use. It has Camera, Contacts, Microphone, and SMS allowed while using, Location allowed all the time, and an active device-administrator role. Review BrightBeam's permissions. Set Microphone, Contacts, SMS, and Location to Don't allow. Then open Device admin apps, deactivate BrightBeam, return to Apps, and uninstall BrightBeam. Weather Today legitimately uses Location while the app is in use, so leave that final setting in place. Sources: Android Developers "Device administration overview"; Google Account Help "Remove malware or unsafe software"; Android Help "Change app permissions"; the RTJ knowledge-base A+ Core 2 mobile security guide. Derived from the cited public sources and RTJ knowledge-base guide; not derived from certification items. The device-admin menu labels are [verify]. The sourced content is the order: deactivate the active device administrator before uninstalling the app. Last verified: 2026-10-17.

What you should see

The action record shows BrightBeam's Microphone, Contacts, SMS, and Location permissions denied, its device-administrator role deactivated, and BrightBeam uninstalled. Weather Today remains set to Location while the app is in use.

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