At The Android Show, Google today announced the latest security and privacy features for the mobile operating system.
Find Hub’s Mark as lost feature will add biometric authentication so you have to enter both a passcode/PIN and fingerprint or face unlock. Marking a device as lost will also hide Quick Settings and disable new Wi-Fi/Bluetooth connections.
On Android 17, supported devices have “significantly reduced the number of times someone can guess the PIN or password.” Wait times between failed attempts have also been increased.
Remote Lock and Theft Detection Lock are now enabled by default on new, reset, or upgraded Android 17 devices around the world.
…in markets with high demand, including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and the UK, we are extending these protections to all devices running Android 10 or higher.
To aid device recovery, a “device’s IMEI can now be accessed via the lock screen on devices running Android 12 or higher.”
Law enforcement, device manufacturers, or mobile network operators can use this unique device identifier to quickly verify device ownership and return it to you. This feature can be disabled at any time in your device settings.
Advanced Protection on Android 17 is getting a set of new features:
- removing access to the accessibility service from all apps that are not labeled as accessibility tools
- disabling device-to-device unlocking
- disabling Chrome WebGPU support
- integrating scam detection for chat notifications
- Android Enterprise support for Advanced Protection
Chrome for Android users who have Safe Browsing enabled will see Google evaluate APK downloads “for known malware and stop you before you download it.”
Live Threat Detection today analyzes the behavior of apps and alerts you if they start acting suspiciously. New alerts cover SMS forwarding accessibility. Then there’s dynamic signal monitoring that analyzes “application system interaction for known suspicious patterns in realtime.” It will be enabled on Android 17 with the protections available in the second half of 2026.
That allows us to warn you about apps that start doing things like changing or hiding their icon and then launching from the background or abusing accessibility permissions. We’re also able to push down rules dynamically to better protect against new and emerging threat behaviors.
Android OS verification in Android 17 helps “verify that your device is running an official, widely distributed build of the Android OS.”
Android 17 allows carriers to disable 2G by default, thus “proactively shielding customers from legacy technology vulnerabilities in areas where 2G infrastructure is no longer maintained.”
Google is working with select banks and financial institutions on verified financial calls that automatically end “phone calls from spoofed numbers impersonating participating financial apps.” This is how it works:
- When you receive a call that appears to be from your bank or financial institution, Android asks the app for confirmation to see if they are actually calling you.
- If the app confirms that no phone call is being made, the system ends the call.
- Your bank or financial institution may also designate numbers as inbound-only, meaning they never use them to call customers. Incoming calls from these numbers will be ended directly.
In the coming weeks, it will be available for customers of Revolut, Itaú, and Nubank on Android 11+ phones. Verified financial calls will see wider availability later this year.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.