IIRC, you have to enable it on some versions of Android. I don’t see the option to disable it on my Android 15 phone but I do recall having to enable it before on older versions. A quick Google search for your version should help.
Comment on Is it safe to travel with your phone right now?
iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago“on Android” is a mostly useless statement. There are many flavours of it and they do not all behave the same. My phone does not have this.
treadful@lemmy.zip 5 weeks ago
iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Negative, it is not available on my OS.
beejjorgensen@lemmy.sdf.org 5 weeks ago
I should have been more specific that this was a Pixel. Does your phone have a way to accomplish the same thing?
Player2@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Restarting should also disable biometrics until you but a pin in once
Bazoogle@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I have a motorola running LineageOS and it’s available on mine. Seems like a relatively standard option, though it may need to be enabled under Settings -> System -> Buttons (or whatever it looks like on your flavor of android).
bubblewrap@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Just a note - most LineageOS installs aren’t secure unless you re-lock the bootloader, as data can be extracted with some fairly standard mobile phone forensics kits. Unfortunately, not many devices support bootloader re-lock. The Google Pixel series is a notable exception.
Ideally, you would want a security hardened Android OS like GrapheneOS. Graphene only runs on Pixels as the development team specifically disallows it running on hardware with an unlocked bootloader for security reasons.
Bazoogle@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I appreciate the info, I think that’s good information that I hadn’t fully thought through (but probably could have figured out had I thought about it). I’m not too interested in a Pixel, and the unlocked bootloader is really only useful if someone has my physical phone. My hard drive is encrypted, of course, so my thought as to a way they could gain information if they modify the bootloader and let me decrypt the phone for them. I wonder if the only next best thing is to basically have an alert, or refuse to boot, if there is a change in the bootloader detected, so I can do a clean install.
Most manufacturers don’t allow re-locking of the bootloader unless it’s official Android, so it sucks the only other option would be buy from Google.
I’m interested in what you say about the forensics kit. What could I look for to find more info?
Lv_InSaNe_vL@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Your biometrics work the first time you log in after a restart? That seems insecure to me.
iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
That’s not what was suggested.
Lv_InSaNe_vL@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Oh yeah my bad, I read “lockdown” and “shutdown” lol