The loss of the smartphone – be it due to a theft or to one loss – It is a traumatic experience, not only for the economic damage, but also and above all for the amount of sensitive data that we entrust daily to these devices, for this reason the Google team is thinking of exploiting Secure Lock To ensure that smartphones with Android 16 become potentially impenetrable.
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Google secure lock to put the padlock at Android 16
The problem is obviously very serious and in fact it is the subject of continuous attention by the Mountain View giant: in unsuspected times we have told you about the solution, or rather of the complication that will make Android’s remote block even safer, but also how to find my device has evolved into Find Hub (functions found for us Italians). Well, said of all the efforts already put in the field, Google is planning the next step: Secure Lock.
At present, in case of loss of the Android smartphone, it is possible to use the suite protection from the theft introduced starting from Android 15 and in particular of the function Remote lock To block the device remotely (as long as I have previously activated it as per the indications of the official website) by PIN, Password or other active screen lock. In this way, the smartphone remains on and can be traced through Functions find.
Alternatively, there is a more drastic solution that consists in definitively eliminating all the data of the device with an important caveat: Google herself warns us from the irreversibility of this solution, which together with the data also erases the possibility of tracing the smartphone.
Traveling on the first road, the smartphone – as long as it is online – is blocked and can be traced, however anyone who finds it in your hands can open the notifications curtain and the quick settings panel, as well as interact with the widgets of the lock screen and possibly also with the predefined vocal assistant. Although this does not represent a direct risk for the user’s sensitive data, it certainly configures a potential and Google intends to ward it off starting from Android 16.
As highlighted by Mishaal Rahman, Android 16 offers a new function called Secure Lockwhich in the intentions of the parent company will make all the smartphone safer by limiting access to the functions mentioned above (notifications curtain, quick settings panel, widget of the lock screen and default vocal assistant). Google, in a commission in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), speaks of “A new function that allows users to remotely block their mobile devices through authorized clients in an advanced state of security, which limits access to sensitive data (apps of apps, widgets, quick settings, assistant, etc.) and requires both the authentication of the credentials and the biometric one for access to the device“.
In short, in the presence of Secure Lock, access to the functionality of the smartphone can only pass through credentials And Biometric authentication. However, it must be said that Secure Lock can only be activated for system apps with access to the new permit Mange_secure_lock_device. The first on the list is precisely Google’s Find Hub: at its base there is Google Play Services, which already boasts the permit mentioned. In short, Secure Lock will probably appear among the tools offered by functions finds, complete with a personalized message to make the smartphone locking screen appear in the event of theft or loss.
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