Google’s efforts towards improving Android’s security and privacy measures over the past few years have been impressive – we’ve seen useful functionality such as Theft Protection and Find My Device implemented to more and more devices, and it’s clear that Google has continued work on expanding such features. More recently, it also announced the roll-out of its Identity Check feature, which will initially arrive for select devices.
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More specifically, Identity Check will be first available for Google Pixel 9 series devices running Android 15, as well as Samsung Galaxy flagship phones such as the new S25 series on One UI 7. If you don’t own either of these devices though, Google says that it will make the feature available for more brands and models throughout the year. But how does the feature work, exactly? Here’s how Google describes it:
“We’re officially launching Identity Check, first on Pixel and Samsung Galaxy devices eligible for One UI 7 to provide better protection for your critical account and device settings. When you turn on Identity Check, your device will require explicit biometric authentication to access certain sensitive resources when you’re outside of trusted locations. Identity Check also enables enhanced protection for Google Accounts on all supported devices and additional security for Samsung Accounts on One UI 7 eligible Galaxy devices, making it much more difficult for an unauthorized attacker to take over accounts signed in on the device.“
According to Google, Identity Check will add another layer of protection for user data within Google Accounts. When activated, the feature will be able to use location checks to determine if a user is within their “trusted location.” So for example if you’re far away from home and need to change security settings on your device such as PIN code numbers and such, or maybe you need to access sensitive data on your device, your phone will first require you to confirm additional biometric authentication in order to be able to access setting changes or data.
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One a user enables Identity Check, they can also opt to add more trusted locations within the feature, which is a handy addition to have as it doesn’t necessarily limit your access to data or security settings to just one location within your Google Account.
As mentioned earlier, Identity Check is only one of Google’s newly-introduced security and privacy features. Earlier on, Google unveiled that it was in talks with other hardware and software partners for the implementation of its “Find My” feature, which was a revamp of sorts of its Find my Device for Android and added support for accessories such as Bluetooth trackers, for example. Another one is “Theft Protection” which locks down a user’s device if it was snatched from their hands by someone else.
