Android 15 is going to copy a key security feature from iPhones

We are still waiting for Android 15 to reach users, but a new security feature has been discovered in the beta version of the software, which prevents third parties from accessing your phone.

Android Authority has delved a bit into the code of the latest Android 15 beta and discovered something called Identity Check. Judging by the instructions, it seems that in certain situations biometric verification will be activated by default.

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The goal is to ensure that if someone looks over your shoulder in a café and sees you typing your PIN, they cannot use it to access the device, but will have to use facial or fingerprint recognition.

No more prying eyes on your phone

According to another hidden code discovered by the well-known informant @AssembleDebug, it seems that this mandatory biometric check could be activated whenever you are outside places you have marked as “trusted,” such as your home or office.

This fits quite well with the theft detection feature of Android that has already started rolling out on devices, and which is not exclusive to Android 15: it automatically locks the device when it detects a movement that might indicate it has been snatched.

Identity verification protection also aligns with something that iPhones already have, in the form of Apple’s Stolen Device Protection, introduced in iOS 17.3. It means that certain key security actions require Face ID or Touch ID to function, not just the iPhone’s passcode.

Android 15 is already complete and ready to function as we mentioned a few days ago, but the engineers at Google, Samsung, and other Android phone manufacturers are putting the final touches on the software and adapting it to their own devices with additional tools and functionalities.

The latest Pixel phones, including the Google Pixel 9, will be the first to receive Android 15 when it arrives.