Many will associate Samsung’s Knox efuse to whether or not their warranty has been voided or not. While this isn’t always the case, it can negatively affect your experience with the device. So let me walk you through the steps to show you how to check and see if your Galaxy Note 10 Knox counter has been tripped.
If you aren’t familiar with rooting or modifying your Samsung smartphone then you may not even know what Samsung Knox is. To put it simply, Samsung Knox is the company’s mobile enterprise security solution which is pre-installed on the majority of the smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches the company sells.
What is Samsung Knox?
In other words, it’s a way for Samsung to make sure your device is secure.
The thing is, when we start to install modifications to our Android OS (such as gaining root access or installing a custom recovery/ROM/kernel) then Samsung has no way of knowing if it’s secure anymore. Even though we trust the sources, Samsung can’t verify (or should they) it on their end.
This results in the Galaxy Note 10 Knox counter being tripped and, in return, Samsung cutting off some of its security features. Sadly, that means we end up losing out on some features including Samsung Pay, Secure Folder, and more. You can learn more about this here, but it’s safe to say that most people do not want a smartphone with a tripped efuse.
If you’re buying a brand new device in the Galaxy Note 10 series then you don’t have to worry about Knox being tripped or not (it shouldn’t be when it is brand new). However, if you are buying one used then it should be one of the first things you check for when you receive it (or ask the seller to check before buying).
Time needed: 5 minutes
How to Check Samsung Knox on the Galaxy Note 10
- Power off the smartphone
- Then boot the Galaxy Note 10 into Download Mode (using the USB method)
- Be sure to press the Volume Up button to bypass the Download Mode splash screen
- Then look for the
Warranty Void:line of textThe number 0 means Knox has not been tripped while a 1 means it has.
I used to recommend checking with an application called Phone Info from the Play Store. Maybe the application is outdated or something but it just didn’t seem to work for me. So instead, we need to boot the device into Download Mode (and make sure you use the USB method when doing so).
This will show you a whole bunch of text on the screen with one line being dedicated to the Samsung Knox warranty.
If it says Warranty Void: 1 like it does on mine, then that means the Galaxy Note 10 Knox counter has been tripped. However, if it reads Warranty Void: 0 then you are good to go. Technically, you could just try to use an application or service that relies on Knox to work. If it doesn’t load then you know Knox has been tripped.
However, many will likely just think something is wrong with the Android OS rather than the efuse that Samsung uses. Which is fair, to a certain extent, but it’s good to know actually know why something doesn’t work on a used (or possibly new) Galaxy Note 10 smartphone that you just purchased.
