An Android feature now rolling out locks your screen when your phone is swiped

Google is introducing a new set of features aimed at making it easier for thieves to access your data. That’s according to Mishaal Rahman, who wrote on Reddit that the features are coming in the new update after noticing that his Xiaomi 14T Pro phone now has Theft Detection Lock and Offline Device Lock, two of the three features that Google announced in May. Some say they only see the third one, called Remote Lock.

The most prominent of the new features is Theft Detection Lock, which uses AI to lock your screen when it detects “common theft-related movements,” like someone snatching your phone from your hand. Meanwhile, Offline Device Lock locks the device’s screen when it’s temporarily offline, and Remote Lock allows users to lock their phone using only their phone numbers when they can’t sign in to Find My Phone with their password.

So far, I don’t see any features on my Pixel 6. You can see screenshots of the new feature settings in the overnight Threads post from Rahman below.

Key Finder and Device Lock Offline is supported on any Android device running Android 10 and above, while you’ll need at least Android 5 Remote Control Lock. If you don’t have the features yet, you can try updating Google Play Services, although Google usually releases new features over time, rather than rolling them out all at once, so, like me, you may have to wait.