/ Pixel's missing privacy feature may finally return.
Mike Alvarez Joined TheTweaks as an emerging tech , startup and launches journalist. He comes up with those things or products which are not there yet and are hardly possible to come close to. He covers the latest technology, startups and new product launches and releases. He worked 4 years in a startup company in Austin and later he joined TheTweaks and he is proving himself here with his commendable writing performance. He is also the publisher of a small consumer robotics newsletter.
Google seems to be bringing back one of the most demanded privacy features of Android. After months of teasers and hints in tear downs of the Android code, the official implementation of the native App Lock function has been spotted inside the most recent Android Canary build and can be now tested by users.
The news came from Android Authority, who had found traces of the feature back in June within the strings of the Android 17 QPR1 Beta 6 release. At that time, it seemed that Google was working on the multi-application locking capability of the function. A big upgrade from the earlier implementations that worked only with single apps in the early Canary builds. Now the implementation of the feature has been discovered and fully completed in the Android Canary 2608.
For those of you, who have installed the Canary build and wish to check it out, the App Lock feature can be found at the following address:
Settings > Security & privacy > App lock
From there the process of configuration becomes pretty straight forward. In case if your Pixel hasn’t got a PIN, pattern or password set, you will need to configure the screen lock first before locking applications. After setting the screen lock, the main App Lock interface pops up where you can see all your applications split between the locked and unlocked entries.
Google has provided some flexibility in organizing this list. It will be possible to put all locked applications on top, to view all recently launched or all applications.
Things get interesting from the privacy point of view. After locking an application, Google takes away several elements that might reveal information about the application’s content:
To launch a locked application it will be necessary to pass the authentication procedure using your device PIN or biometrics the same security layer as the device lock.
As an additional feature, it was discovered that the system provides a little nudge in the form of the pop-up notification telling that the other apps on your device have access to your photos through the locked application. It is a useful hint for those who think that locking the app solves all the privacy concerns and that no data can get out anymore. Data can be accessed via other apps in case of no proper permissions management.
There is one exception though. According to Google, AI agents and services will be able to use the data from the locked app if it was given the access before the app was locked.
The Pixel smartphones have gone without a proper native app-locking feature for a long period of time, thus forcing the users to find either another application that provides this feature or use the already implemented Private Space to hide the application. However, the difference between these two methods is quite significant.
While Private Space hides the existence of the application, the App Lock keeps the app visible and usable, protecting only the information inside. And this is exactly what most people want to do for banking, messaging, photo apps etc.
Thus, Google would be just catching up with what Xiaomi and vivo have provided to their skins for years. In turn, Samsung still does not provide a way to lock the apps directly in the app drawer. Instead, it provides a Secure Folder that creates a copy of the selected app and hides it.
Just like any other APK tear down, it is necessary to mention that the features found in the Canary or beta builds are experimental ones. Thus, Google’s Canary builds are the most unstable ones created just to show the work-in-progress code that will be eventually included in the future versions of the Android operating system.
So, while the App Lock function is now real and working properly, there is no guarantee that it will eventually reach the official version of Android in its current state, within the same time period or even at all. Google has already proved its ability to drop such features.
However, the fact that the function has reached this stage of development — having its own interface, support of bulk locking and even hints on permission sharing — gives a good signal that Google intends to include the feature in the next version of Android. In case it happens, the feature will remain exclusive for the users of the Canary build.
Given the fact that the feature has reached such an advanced state — with sorting, bulk locking and useful hints on permission sharing — it wouldn’t be surprising to see App Lock in the Android 17 QPR1 beta build very soon before reaching all the users of Android. Those of you, who use Pixels and expect a more flexible way of managing the apps that contain sensitive data, should look into the future releases of the beta version of the OS.
App locking feature is one of those features that seem to be long overdue in the stock Android, compared to the rival skins of Xiaomi and Vivo, that offer it for many years. The thing that makes Google’s version really promising is not only its existence, but also the quality of its implementation, removing the notification previews, home screen widgets, recent information and even hints on other apps having access to your photos.
This last one is especially interesting and shows a great understanding of how privacy leaks take place in practice, not in theory. That being said, this is definitely an early feature and is still in the Canary builds. Thus, until it appears in the beta build, you need to consider it a really good “coming soon”, but not yet a definite one. In case if the feature reaches the beta and ships as is, however, it can become a true middle ground for the Pixel users.
Tim Cook’s 15 years as Apple’s chief executive officially ended on September 1 and now the torch has been passed on to John Ternus, who is the company’s long-time hardware. It’s Apple’s first leadership change…
Be respectful and constructive. Have a question or feedback? We’d love to hear from you. Contact us at contact@thetweaks.com