Android Phones Are Getting More Anti-Theft Features (techcrunch.com) 32
An anonymous reader shares a report: Google on Tuesday announced an expanded set of Android theft-protection features, designed to make its mobile devices less of a target for criminals. Building on existing tools like Theft Detection Lock, Offline Device Lock, and others introduced in 2024, the newly launched updates include stronger authentication safeguards and enhanced recovery tools, the company said.
[...] With the new features, users of Android devices running Android 16 or higher will have more control over the Failed Authentication Lock feature that automatically locks the device after an excessive number of failed login attempts. Now users will have access to a dedicated on/off toggle switch in the device's settings. The devices will also offer stronger protection against a thief trying to guess a device owner's PIN, pattern, or password by increasing the lockout time after failed attempts. Plus, Identity Check, a feature rolled out for Android 15 and higher last year, now covers all features and apps that use biometrics -- like banking apps or the Google Password Manager.
[...] With the new features, users of Android devices running Android 16 or higher will have more control over the Failed Authentication Lock feature that automatically locks the device after an excessive number of failed login attempts. Now users will have access to a dedicated on/off toggle switch in the device's settings. The devices will also offer stronger protection against a thief trying to guess a device owner's PIN, pattern, or password by increasing the lockout time after failed attempts. Plus, Identity Check, a feature rolled out for Android 15 and higher last year, now covers all features and apps that use biometrics -- like banking apps or the Google Password Manager.
What is old, is gone. (Score:3)
Now users will have access to a dedicated on/off toggle switch in the device's settings.
It's a shame the audience taking that a bit too literally, is dying off with the concept of an actual on/off switch.
Give me (Score:2, Funny)
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That sounds painful--for me! I finally turned off fingerprint authentication on my phone because, half the time, it couldn't read *my* fingerprints!
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I have this issue w/ my Pixel 3a. Am trying to avoid any Pixel above 7, since they are now infested w/ AI
Re: Give me (Score:2)
Alternatively, a spike-ejecting mechanisms with a paralysing toxin made out of an exotic fish like the pistol in the Law Abiding Citizen. If your phone detects a different fingerprint or gets too far away, paralyse the thief so that you can leisurely walk up to them and say "I'll have that back, thanks" and kick them up the arse for trying.
I thought everyone upgraded to iphones (Score:1)
Iphones are the future, and the past.
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Re:I thought everyone upgraded to iphones (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not surprising to me that Apple uses might think the whole world uses iPhones. That's exactly how the Apple marketing machine has worked to make it feel. The reality is, just over half of smartphone users in the US, use iPhone. Just under half use Android.
I have *never* been tempted to switch from Android to Apple. IMO it's a worse experience, and way, *way* more expensive. Moto G phones are less than $200 unlocked, and they have plenty of power and features to keep up with the best of them, well, maybe unless you want one of those fancy tri-fold phones.
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For me personally, though, my preferred option would be to not have a cell phone. Unfortunately, everything is either an app or needs a fucking app or needs to send you an SMS message for secuiaraiaity (marketing) reasons.
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Well, I guess for you, it feels like everyone has smartphones! And on that score, you'd pretty much be right.
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Well, forget older bar phones: I had a Lumia 550, and no carrier was capable of supporting it. I didn't need 4G, even 3G or 2G would have worked, since I wasn't planning to use that phone for anything other than calls & texts. If I was at home and connected to WiFi, I could have used the few apps they still had
When that's the story w/ older smartphones, chances are it's even worse w/ older phones that predate 2G. Not talking here about satellite phones, or phones that use other tech
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Agreed, really.
I do make use of the SoC on my costly S-series Samsung; it makes an excellent video recorder and monitor while I primarily shoot photos on my Canon mirrorless camera. But Apple brings nothing but restrictions to the table, even to the point that their devices can't be used for arbitrary file storage and don't allow third party web browsers. There's nothing they're doing that's worth dealing with the lock-in from having one.
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It's not surprising to me that Apple uses might think the whole world uses iPhones. That's exactly how the Apple marketing machine has worked to make it feel. The reality is, just over half of smartphone users in the US, use iPhone. Just under half use Android.
I have *never* been tempted to switch from Android to Apple. IMO it's a worse experience, and way, *way* more expensive. Moto G phones are less than $200 unlocked, and they have plenty of power and features to keep up with the best of them, well, maybe unless you want one of those fancy tri-fold phones.
That's just in the US and ironically, the US thinks it's the entire world.
Globally it's closer to 2/3 Android smartphones.
I've been Android since the start, I still have my original HTC Dream (somewhere), I've had to carry other phones for work and the Iphone was the worst, worse than the Windows phone. It didn't behave like you'd expect it to, nothing could be changed or modified to be more user friendly and it didn't have any awareness of the ambient brightness (something Android had in 2012 when I
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The problem is that as Android has gotten better, iPhone, or more specifically iOS, has gotten considerably worse. And I say that as an iPhone owner.
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It worked fine for me, until I found myself in a situation where I couldn't pay the monthly iCloud bill. Then I had to start offloading app data from my iPhone, despite it having 256GB of storage, and now, my mac, my iPhone and my iPad no longer know what each other has. If only Apple gave users an option to use - by entering the URL of any cloud storage provider, including one's own - cloud storages different from Apple's, it would have been just perfect.
Oh, and there's also Apple's delightful habit of
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Airplane mode behind device lock (Score:4, Insightful)
How about putting the airplane mode switch behind the device lock so a thief can't grab your phone and immediately put it in airplane mode to stop it being tracked?
Standard on Samsung phones, inexplicably not on Google Pixel (I have both).
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How about putting the airplane mode switch behind the device lock so a thief can't grab your phone and immediately put it in airplane mode to stop it being tracked?
Standard on Samsung phones, inexplicably not on Google Pixel (I have both).
Three reasons:
1. It doesn't work. A thief can drop your phone in a Faraday bag faster than turning on airplane mode. And, yes, phone thieves carry Faraday bags just for this reason.
2. Pixel has "Offline Device Lock". You have to enable it (Settings -> Security & privacy -> Device unlock -> Theft protection), but if your device goes offline for any reason -- airplane mode, Faraday bag, whatever, your device will lock after a couple of minutes. It's a little annoying to have to unlock yo
I don't want forced biometry and tracking on my ph (Score:3)
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FaceID is a non starter for me. Which is why I never upgraded my iPhone SE3. I do wish that in the newer iPhones - from 10 to 17, they provided the option of a pattern lock, similar to what Android devices have. Then they wouldn't have had to worry about the home key, and people like you who don't want biometric information on their phones can use that instead
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Except that banks now, starved as they are of employees, actively encourage customers to use the banking app of that bank. Including for things like check deposits
On my iPhone, I have all my financial apps in the hidden folder that can only be unlocked w/ the fingerprint
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It's terrible enough that every time i want to use revolut app i have to temporarily enable pin "5555" so i can even open the app because apps can now information about whether phone lock protection is enabled or not
I prefer it this way because most phone locks are easily circumvented by simply watching people unlock their phone.
Hence security minded (banks are forced to be by law in the UK) do not rely on the on device security as the on device security can't be trusted or may not even be present. Intro to Basic InfoSec right there, never ever ever ever ever ever trust the client.
I don't have a lock on my phone... But anything important requires some kind of password or code to get into. I'm also not an idiot wh
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Given the number of security features on phones these days, including ones that enable law enforcement or the carrier to track where the phone is, the idiots would be the phone thieves, rather than those who let their phone get stolen. I also have a phone wallet, so that typically, I don't forget my phone just like I don't forget my wallet
My Android phone already has theft protection (Score:3)
How about a master unlock method...? (Score:2)
What I'd like would be a master unlock/recovery methods. This way, a code can be put in which not just unlocks the phone, but resets it, sends a message to the locking database that it is unlocked and needs to be relocked explicitly, perhaps by typing in a six digit code on the device before it can be rebound to an account.
The method could be a YubiKey + PIN, a passphrase, a challenge/response system, a BIP-39 recovery code (12 characters or even 24). Some manual process that is not cloud related.
The reas
Israeli technology (Score:2)
They just need to license the Israeli technology developed for pagers.