Google has kicked off a phased rollout of a suite of new anti-theft features for Android, such as Theft Detection Lock, Offline Device Lock, and easier remote locking.
Similar to Apple’s anti-theft iPhone features, they build on top of Android’s existing built-in loss and theft protection capabilities and are designed to prevent a thief from using the screen of a stolen phone or turning off internet connectivity required for location tracking.
The company previewed the new security features at its annual Google I/O conference in May before testing them with Brazilian Android owners the following month. Brazil was picked as a testing ground for good reason; Google cited statistics revealing that 97 phones are robbed or stolen every hour in the country.
Today, Google officially announced theft detection is coming to Android 10 and above devices, with some features exclusively available on Android 15. Remember to enable the new theft detection capabilities in order to take advantage of them.
To do so, select the All Services tab on the Google services page and choose “Personal & device safety.” Don’t see the option? Try searching for “Theft protection” in your Android settings. No dice? Check back in a few weeks to see if theft protection shows up in settings!
AI-powered Theft Detection Lock proactively locks the display when a machine learning algorithm detects a thief has just snatched the phone abruptly from your hand. It prevents unauthorized access to your personal information, banking apps, and the like in case of theft.
“If a common motion associated with theft is detected, your phone screen quickly locks—which helps keep thieves from easily accessing your data,” Google said in May. The Theft Detection Lock algorithm considers various signals, including data from onboard sensors, Wi-Fi, and smart device connections. Theft Detection Lock is released in stages to ensure compatibility with various devices. If your device is supported, you’ll see a switch in the theft protection settings to toggle the feature.
If a thief successfully circumvents screen lock, they’ll try entering Airplane Mode to kill connectivity, thereby preventing you from tracking the phone’s location. And if they pry an unlocked device from your hands and put it in Airplane Mode, the new Offline Device Lock feature will remotely lock the screen if your phone goes offline “for prolonged periods.”
Like before, you can lock the device if it’s already gone via the Google Find My Device app or website. Soon-ish, you’ll be able to do so even faster by providing just your phone number and solving a quick security challenge using any device or the Android.com/lock website, saving you from remembering your Google account credentials in a stressful situation.
“This buys you time to recover your account details and access additional helpful options in Find My Device, including sending a full factory reset command to completely wipe the device,” Google notes. Enhanced Remote Lock is coming to Android 10 and later through a Google Play services update “later this year.” Theft protection joins Android’s security capabilities everyone should be using.
Later in 2024, Google will release another security enhancement, Identity Check. The opt-in feature will protect your private data should your phone PIN get compromised by requiring biometric authentication before critical actions like disabling theft protection, changing device PIN, or accessing passkeys from untrusted locations.
Google Play Protect on Android 15 brings additional protections, such as one-time password protection and expanded restricted settings. New security policies are in place in Android 15 to prevent misuse, like requiring device PIN, password, or biometric authentication before changing sensitive settings such as Find My Device.
Android 15 also automatically locks your device after multiple failed login attempts. And if a thief tries to factory-reset your phone to resell it, Android 15 will require your Google account credentials (similar to Apple’s Activation Lock anti-theft feature). The new theft detection features and other little improvements in Android 15 make it a worthwhile update.
Source: Google