Google Wants to Stop Thieves from Using Stolen Androids

In order to curb smartphone theft, Google has announced a new set of security features that could make stolen Android phones practically useless to thieves. With mobile phone theft on the rise, especially in countries like Nigeria, this update couldn’t come at a better time.

At the heart of this upgrade is an AI-powered theft detection system designed to act fast. If your phone is snatched, the new system can instantly lock it by detecting suspicious motion patterns like quick, forceful grabs. This means a thief won’t even need time to turn it off before it becomes unusable.

But Google isn’t stopping there. The company is also making changes to its Factory Reset Protection (FRP), a feature already built into Android to prevent stolen phones from being reset and reused. While some criminals have learned how to bypass this protection, Google is now strengthening it even further.

Under the upcoming update, if someone tries to reset a stolen phone, they won’t be able to set it up again without the original owner’s credentials such as the previous Google account or the former screen lock. 

Even if they try to factory reset it offline or using recovery tools, the phone will remain locked and blocked from adding new accounts, setting up new passwords, or downloading apps.

In short, unless the rightful owner unlocks it, the phone is just a dead piece of metal and glass.

These new features will roll out with Android 15 and later versions, and they’re meant to make stolen devices impossible to sell or reuse. Google’s message to phone thieves is clear: there’s no easy win here anymore.

This couldn’t be more relevant for countries like Nigeria, where over 25 million phones were reported stolen between March 2023 and April 2024, according to a recent report. Many of these thefts happen in public spaces or even inside homes, and most victims never get their devices back. 

Worse still, some don’t bother reporting the incidents due to a lack of trust in law enforcement.

By making stolen phones harder to wipe, sell, or reuse, Google hopes to reduce the motivation behind phone snatching in the first place. If thieves know they can’t profit from a stolen Android, maybe fewer people will risk it.

While the update won’t recover already stolen phones, it’s a step in the right direction for protecting users in vulnerable regions and making phone theft a lot less rewarding.

So if you own an Android device, you can rest a little easier knowing Google’s working to keep your phone and your data safer than ever.