Google has started rolling out Android theft protection feature Identity Check on Pixel and Samsung One UI 7 devices.
Identity Check is the latest in Android’s suite of security measures, announced last year.
The first round of improvements, which rolled out in October, contained 15 new features that Google said would “deter theft before it happens by making it harder for thieves to access sensitive settings, apps, or reset your device for resale”.
It included changes to sensitive settings, with Find My Device requiring your PIN, password or biometric authentication. Also, after multiple failed login attempts, “which could be a sign that a thief is trying to guess your password”, Android will lock down your device.
And enhanced factory reset protection “makes it even harder for thieves to reset your device without your Google account credentials, significantly reducing its resale value and protecting your data”.
And now comes Identity Check, first on Pixel and Samsung Galaxy devices eligible for One UI 7 to “provide better protection for your critical account and device settings”.
“When you turn on Identity Check, your device will require explicit biometric authentication to access certain sensitive resources when you’re outside of trusted locations,” Google said in a blog post.
“Identity Check also enables enhanced protection for Google Accounts on all supported devices and additional security for Samsung Accounts on One UI 7 eligible Galaxy devices, making it much more difficult for an unauthorised attacker to take over accounts signed in on the device.”
As part of enabling Identity Check, Google said you can designate one or more trusted locations. When you’re outside of these trusted places, biometric authentication will be required to access critical account and device settings, like changing your device PIN or biometrics, disabling theft protection, or accessing Passkeys.”
Identity Check is rolling out now to Pixel devices with Android 15 and will be available on One UI 7 eligible Galaxy devices in the coming weeks.
It will roll out to supported Android devices from other manufacturers later this year.
