- Identity Check was spotted on a OnePlus 13 running the Android 16 beta.
- The feature is expected to arrive on more Android phones with the Android 16 update coming later this year.
- It requires a change to Android’s biometric prompt code, which can’t be completed without a full update.
When enabled, Identity Check requires biometric authentication to view or modify certain sensitive parts on your Android smartphone. A fingerprint or face unlock is required for the following actions when your device is outside of a trusted location:
- Accessing saved passkeys and app passwords
- Changing PIN, pattern, or password, and turning off Find My
For these actions, biometric authentication is mandatory outside of trusted locations with Identity Check enabled — a password, PIN, or pattern won’t work as an alternative. This is intended to prevent people from hijacking your Google account or other online accounts in the event your phone is lost or stolen, even if the bad actor knows your password.
All this is creating is a false sense of security AND forcing people to use biometrics that arent changeable.
This is a god send for every fashist nation whomst police wana try to get in your phone.
For this feature to work location needs to be on all the time wich will mean more battery usage and more movement data for google too.
And if the police nabs your phone at a protest…they dont even need to hack it…just bring you “home” and then hold the smartphone im your face for unlock.
This is trash and google knows it, but google is now working for a fashist regime so dont expect them to “protect” you in any shape or form.
YEET YOUR PHONE
YEET YOUR PHONE
Don’t yeet it, just turn that feature off if you don’t like it
oh unmean i have to spend weeks trying to figure out how to root the device only so i can throw festures out i dont like? yay
As long as the technology gatekeepers are subject to an untrustworthy government, they cannot be trusted either and will always act to subjugate you. Unfortunately, knowledge and education is the only effective measure, therefore becoming technologically literate is the only way to protect yourself.
Much like parents teaching a child “not to speak to the bad people” one must learn how to avoid speaking to bad people, regardless of having learned to speak well in general.
But weeks are exaggerated.
Oh ye, sorry. I’ve been on custom android for so long I forget some people are stuck with what they buy. If you like I’d gladly see if I can help
see i have been using [removed] custom rom for years, geting it on there was hard, and it is only getting harder with modern phones. Once this phone dies, its gona get replaced by a linux phone with hardware switches
I’ve actually been thinking the same. Are you eyeing any particular model for your next build?
Probably a Pinephone and hope
Fingers crossed my phone lasts long enough to see linux on phones become standard
