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Android Security

Google Starts Adding Anti-Theft Locking Features to Android Phones (engadget.com) 32

Posted by EditorDavid from the locked-screens dept.
An anonymous reader shared this report from Engadget: Three new theft protection features that Google announced earlier this year have reportedly started rolling out on Android. The tools — Theft Detection Lock, Offline Device Lock and Remote Lock — are aimed at giving users a way to quickly lock down their devices if they've been swiped, so thieves can't access any sensitive information. Android reporter Mishaal Rahman shared on social media that the first two tools had popped up on a Xiaomi 14T Pro, and said some Pixel users have started seeing Remote Lock.

Theft Detection Lock is triggered by the literal act of snatching. The company said in May that the feature "uses Google AI to sense if someone snatches your phone from your hand and tries to run, bike or drive away." In such a scenario, it'll lock the phone's screen.
The Android reporter summarized the other two locking features in a post on Reddit:
  • Remote Lock "lets you remotely lock your phone using just your phone number in case you can't sign into Find My Device using your Google account password."
  • Offline Device Lock "automatically locks your screen if a thief tries to keep your phone disconnected from the Internet for an extended period of time."

"All three features entered beta in August, starting in Brazil. Google told me the final versions of these features would more widely roll out this year, and it seems the features have begun expanding."


Google Starts Adding Anti-Theft Locking Features to Android Phones More | Reply

Google Starts Adding Anti-Theft Locking Features to Android Phones

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  • ... someone else could remotely lock my phone just by knowing my phone number?

    Remote Lock "lets you remotely lock your phone using just your phone number in case you can't sign into Find My Device using your Google account password."

    • Yes, that's exactly what they did. I have locked every phone from 000-000-0000 to 999-999-9999.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ls671 ( 1122017 )

        I am glad that I have an EU number on one of my phones, this is the only one still working! I was wondering why the other ones failed, now I know who the culprit is.

      • Sadly it also means we cannot call Jenny..... /s

      • Mod parent funny though I hope the joke is based on a bad summary somewhere along the line. The FP is hitting quite an important point of possible abuse of that new feature. Think of the viral version if a bad app somehow, heaven forbid, gets into the so-called secure Google Play system. With access to your contacts it could first disable all of your contacts' phones before taking out yours. For maximum impact the bad actor would want to delay the trigger to a fixed date, though there's also the threat of a

    • FTA: (Score:2)

      by Viol8 ( 599362 )

      "Remote Lock, you can (you guessed it) remotely lock the phoneâ(TM)s screen from any device with only your phone number and the completion of a âoequick security challenge.â"

      The "quick security challenge" probably being the password and/or recovery phrases you set up 3 years ago and have zero idea what they are. And thats assuming you can access "any device". I doubt a stranger in the street is just going to give you their phone for you to do it on and cybercafes are a thing of the past so un

      • so unless you have someone with you who's got a phone you're screwed anyway.

        Thank you. I was thinking the same thing. "My phone's been stolen! Someone give me your phone so I can lock my phone."

        Or are they subtly implying you should have TWO phones? One you use for everything and one as emergency in case the first one gets stolen.

        • Thank you. I was thinking the same thing. "My phone's been stolen! Someone give me your phone so I can lock my phone."

          I don't understand what you're talking about. This is literally how my last week was. We got out of the subway and I asked someone for their phone so I could lock mine, and did so straight away. What's the problem here?

      • The "quick security challenge" probably being the password and/or recovery phrases you set up 3 years ago and have zero idea what they are. And thats assuming you can access "any device". I doubt a stranger in the street is just going to give you their phone for you to do it on and cybercafes are a thing of the past so unless you have someone with you who's got a phone you're screwed anyway.

        So just give up then.

    • Re:So ... (Score:4, Informative)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Sunday October 06, 2024 @12:33PM (#64843967) Homepage Journal

      You also have to complete a security challenge. Curious to know what that is, if it works in a way that doesn't require you to access your Google account, which would give you access to Find My Device.

      On a semi-related note, Google has completely botched the roll-out of the Fine My Device network. It should be even better than Apple's, given there are more Android devices out there. Unfortunately it barely works at all, mostly failing to locate your stuff.

      Probably as a reaction to the privacy issues with Apple's AirTags, they made it so that Android devices only report the location of other people's stuff in busy areas. If someone steals your stuff, or you lose it in a suburban/rural area, or really anywhere except the busiest places with hundreds of devices detecting it, you have no chance of finding it. There is a setting that fixes this, but the on-boarding process doesn't even mention it.

      Manufacturers like Pebble and Chipolo who support Google's network are getting shafted by large numbers of returns for non-functional devices.

  • Who doesn't set their phone to lock after 30 seconds of inactivity, and who doesn't just reflexively hit the lock button when they're done using their phone anyway?

  • This isn't such a bad idea. (Score:3)

    by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Sunday October 06, 2024 @12:07PM (#64843937)

    I lost my phone in Munich last week and I realised something quite silly: Google's Find My Phone function relies on me logging into my Google account which is protected by 2FA. Take a guess where the second factor was configured.

    Fortunately back at the hotel I had a laptop that had previously logged into Google so I could use that. Using the phone number would have been quite useful.

    • Right up until some asshole starts randomly locking your phone because he's bored.

      Then there's the "Offline lock".... Really? If the damn thing's offline for an extended period of time then they've probably gotten all of the data that's useful from it. That or they'll just run some payload to either wipe the phone (resell as is) or not care. (sell for parts.)

      The last one is the snatching lock and that could be tripped by a sudden jolt. Can't wait for everyone to want to disable it because their driver h

      • Right up until some asshole starts randomly locking your phone because he's bored.

        No one can randomly do anything. You set a PIN code to enable remote lock. Unless you have the pin code to lock your device published on your business card next to your phone number, no one will be locking your device.

        Then there's the "Offline lock".... Really? If the damn thing's offline for an extended period of time then they've probably gotten all of the data that's useful from it.

        False. Snatch and grabs and crimes of opportunity are not often executed in the field. Thieves will snatch unlocked phones, and then disable data on them straight away (to prevent the find my phone feature working). Then they disable the lockscreen timeout and keep the phone awake until they c

  • Is there an indicator on the phone that it was remote locked?

    • If you lock the phone after the cops take it I'm pretty sure you will get charged with evidence tampering or obstructing an investigation. Don't know about Android but every locked iPhone I have seen says it's remotely locked.

  • This shit will probably be poorly implemented like usual.

    Just like the "pin required for additional security" horse shit where your phone, which can do biometrics, will DEMAND you unlock it with a fucking pin / password. Randomly, or every few days. Because you know... I'm SURE that when that crap pops up is when you are being interrogated / forced to unlock your phone against your will. And you can't even seem to turn that shit off, it's fucking baked in.

    Also, that shit won't cause any issues ever right? O

  • Well as soon as they buy not their next phone--but the one after it, and throw away the others into a landfill--err trash mountain.
  • Looks like it's opt-in... but is it really? And will it be on by default at some point?
  • Meanwhile, in Lebanon, the feature has been dubbed "remote detonate."

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