I guess resetting the password will be difficult after forgetting the password. Also it seems most features are only available with the Play Store.
Custom ROMS without a Play Store will have a hard time.
this post was submitted on 16 May 2024
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None of these feel like essential feature for me, I'll be still more happy using a custom ROM.
This is pretty cool! Wondering about a couple of these features though: locking setup after a forced reset and locking stolen devices which are offline for extended periods. Do these features activate when I determine the phone is stolen? Or do they happen automatically? This might make used phone sales a major PITA if the seller doesn't properly reset it first.
They are automatic.
Awesome! Now do it to keep the cops from being able to force you to unlock your phone under duress.
You intentionally fail the biometrics a few times so it locks the device and requires the pin/password. From there it depends on the country. In the US, they can't force you to give up a password, but they can force biometrics. If your country doesn't legally protect you then there's no software measure that can't protect you at that point.
Rebooting works for this too
Or literally just Android's "lockdown" feature
While that's the strongest security option in that situation, it might cause more problems if they are forcing you to unlock your phone in front of them and you're being observed. Same issue with the lockdown feature. Failing the fingerprint intentionally is invisible to the hostile observer and let's you feign ignorance as to why you phone got locked.
That’s an interesting idea. Pick a weird finger for the biometrics and intentionally use the wrong one if you’re under duress. Fake surprise and astonishment until the device forces you to enter your pin.
What, the cops are going to force you to use the specific correct finger? Great unexpected idea to still use biometrics and have some protection from being compelled to provide your fingerprint.
You'll be able to lock the screen of your phone with just your phone number and a quick security challenge using any device. 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.
Does this mean I can troll my friends by locking their phone while they're using their phone?
😂 that would be so cool
It seems it'll ask some form of password
Not if it’s implemented correctly. How inconvenient is for your friend just unlock the phone as they normally would? All you have to do is rate limit to something like once a week where it’s effectively useless for harassment.
It would be very inconvenient if you time it well, e.g. when they're playing games beside you and you see them about to land a decisive blow.
Factory reset upgrade prevents a reset by a thief
This is such a annoyance I hat this happen on a tablet once. Didn't know the login of it anymore and i hat to do some trickery to get it reset.
really hope that auto screen lock/factory reset when it detects "being stolen" is reversable or cancellable in case of a false positive
My impression was not that factory reset is automatic, rather, your device would lock similar to locking your screen normally. Something easy for the legitimate owner to unlock, but nearly impossible for a thief without knowing the pin or having biometrics.
All good. Hopefully this is not a step towards locking the bootloader preventing custom OS installs on Pixel devices.
I would hope so as I don’t think that’s necessary to be an effective theft deterrent. I imagine a thief has trouble reselling a stolen phone if you have to flash a custom OS to make it usable. A scary boot loader security warning on every boot should deter most buyers, lowering the value of your stolen item and complicating resale.
This is really cool and creative. I like it!