Google announces global rollout of Android Theft protection features, teases Identity Check

Google today announced the global rollout of three security features it unveiled at its I/O developer conference earlier this year. These three features are aimed at preventing thieves from stealing your data after they snatch your phone, and they're called Theft Detection Lock, Offline Device Lock, and Remote Device Lock.

• Theft Detection Lock uses a machine learning model to detect when someone snatches your phone from your hand and tries to run away with it on foot, by bike, or by car. If detected, your phone will automatically lock itself, blocking unwanted access to your apps and data.
• Offline Device Lock automatically locks your screen if a thief tries to keep your phone disconnected from the Internet for an extended period of time.

• Remote Lock lets you remotely lock your phone using just your phone number in case you forgot or don't know your Google account password. Just visit Android.com/lock to lock your phone using a verified phone number.

All three of these Android theft protection features entered beta in August, starting in Brazil, but they started rolling out to users around the world earlier this month, as we reported on episode 65 of the podcast.

Theft Detection Lock, Offline Device Lock, and Remote Lock are available on phones running Android 10 or later with Google Play Services installed, excluding Android Go devices and devices without the requisite hardware.

In order to use any or all of these features, you need to manually enable them. Go to Settings > Google > All services and scroll down to find "Theft protection" under the "Personal & device safety" category. You can also try clicking here on a supported Android device to enable the new Android theft protection features, though YMMV.

Later this year, Google says it'll launch a new feature called Identity Check. Identity Check helps prevent unauthorized access to your data even if your device's lock screen PIN, password, or pattern is compromised; it adds an extra layer of protection by requiring biometric authentication when "accessing critical Google account and device settings, like changing your PIN, disabling theft protection, or accessing Passkeys from an untrusted location."

Identity Check is similar to Apple's Stolen Device Protection and could require an update to Android 15 QPR1 in order to work, but Google didn't confirm the feature's delivery mechanics today.