Google to bring new anti-theft features to Android phones

The new theft protection feature will be rolled to devices with Android 10 or newer versions. And, with Android 15 update, Google will be bringing new factory reset security feature with biometric authentication.

Google and Apple, earlier this week jointly announced the launch of the anti-stalking feature on their respective mobile OS platforms. With this feature turned on, it can alert phone owners if they are being followed by any Bluetooth-based trackers. It has the potential to save people from abuse, and abduction and even thwart threats to life.

Google announced bringing another value-added anti-theft feature to Android phones at the on-going I/O 2024 event at Shoreline Amphitheatre, California.

Getting mugged is very stressful and the sudden shock leaves many shaken and slow to react to what just happened to them. And, the thief's first intuition is to reset the device before the owner comes back to his senses and lock the device through computer or from another device of a friend or a fellow citizen nearby.

So, Google has developed a new anti-theft feature that can enable the phone to autolock and make it worthless for the mugger.

Here's how new anti-theft feature will work on Android phone:

Google has fed critical information such as sudden speed associated during theft to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm of the new Theft Detection Lock.

Thieves usually snatch the device and run or driveaway in a vehicle. Theft Detection uses the on-device AI tech and sensors to automatically detect the phone has been snatched and initiate screen lock process.

Theft protection feature will be rolled to devices with Android 10 or newer versions.

Google is also bringing new Remote Lock feature. As noted earlier, getting mugged is a very traumasing experience for most people. It takes some time to recover from the shock and during this stressful time, people often find it hard to remember the password to open the Find My device application on the computer or friend's phone. This gives more time for the theif to reset device.

The new Remote Lock feature offers an additional option to open Find My Device app with the registered phone number and a quick security challenge on any device. For the security challenge, users can set a question like What is name of your pet or child/spouse's name.

Remote Lock will be made available to devices with Android 10 or newer versions.

Once you open the Find My Device, you can instantly send a full factory reset command to completely wipe the device.

The new Theft Detection Lock and Remote Lock will be made available to devices with Android 10 or newer versions through a Google Play services update later this year.

There's more...

Google is also bringing added protection to cover other scenarios where thief manages to know the PIN/passcode of the device and reset the device, so that he can resell it in a flea market.

Google's new factory reset feature will bring an end to it for good.

Even with PIN number, theives won't be able to tweak any critical device settings and Google account details, such as changing the PIN, disabling theft protection, Find My Device or accessing Passkeys or reset the device, in an untrusted location.

After upgrading to new update, Android phone will ask for biometric security (fingerprint or facia ID) authentication if it senses the request to reset is happening in an unfamiliar location, far away from owner's house or from any trusted locations such as the office.

Private Space

The Google has announced to bring a dedicated private space with additional security for personal apps such as banking, e-commerce, Photos album, dating apps, WhatsApp, Instagram, and other social and messenger apps that need to be protected from the prying eyes of friends, colleagues, spouse, children or other members of the family.

Users can even hide the private space in the app drawer and it can be accessed only through biometric security authentication.

Private Space and the new Factory Reset features will be made available to devices via Android 15 update later this year.

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