Android’s New Safety Lock: Keeping your private info safe

Everyone has a lot of private details on their phones these days, which makes them easy targets for thieves. If someone steals your phone when it’s unlocked, you can lock it from afar to keep your apps safe. But, if a thief watches you type in your lock screen code before taking your phone, just locking it remotely won’t stop them from getting in again. Google is working on a fix for this problem, and they might add a new feature called Safety Lock in the Android 16 update to make it tougher for thieves to get to your private info.

If a thief sees you put in your phone’s lock code before they steal it, you can’t stop them from unlocking your phone, even if you use fingerprint or face recognition. Android doesn’t mainly use biometrics for unlocking because they aren’t as secure as entering a code, PIN, or pattern. Biometrics can be tricked, even though it’s not very likely, so they are just a backup. But if someone knows your main lock code, this security setup doesn’t work well.

Google tried to solve this with a feature named Identity Check in the first Android 15 update. With Identity Check on, your phone needs biometric confirmation before you can change important settings when you’re not in a safe place. This means a thief with your lock code can’t change account settings or see saved passwords. But this doesn’t completely block access to all your private data, as things like app alerts, widgets, or voice assistants might still give away info.

This is where the new Safety Lock feature steps in. It’s being developed by Google to boost security by adding a mode you can turn on from anywhere. To unlock your phone in this mode, you’ll need both your lock code and biometric verification. It also limits things like app notifications, widgets, quick settings, and the voice assistant to keep your data secure.

Since Google hasn’t told us much about Safety Lock yet, I’ve done some digging. I found a new permission in Android 16 named MANAGE_SAFETY_LOCK_DEVICE, probably meant for Google Play Services, which runs Find My Device. It seems you might be able to activate Safety Lock remotely via the Find My Device site. While I haven’t proven this yet, it’s a good guess I’ll keep checking into.