Apologies If I can’t list specific 3rd Android OS here. I know you can’t on some reddit privacy subs due to some beef between devs I guess. I’ll take down if needed :)
Regardless, Ive been running GOS for a while and just found out theres a feature that allows you to use biometrics while still requiring your pin on the initial lock screen. One of my concerns with biometrics is that in some jurisdictions, law enforcement can force someone to open their phone through face ID or thumb print.
I’ve been using this feature that allows you to use biometrics but when you are on the lock screen, it still requires your pin. I thought this was really cool because it allows me to use biometrics only to unlock my apps while still adding an extra layer of protection to the unlocking of the device itself. Obviously slightly Inconvenient depending on your worries/threat level, but I just wanted to share this in case anyone else was interested and didnt know about it! Very cool!
EDIT: I just re-read my screenshot and it looks like fingerprint unlock is not correlated to using fingerprint for app unlocking. If this is the case then I’m not quite sure what the actual benefits are here. Please feel free to clarify!
There’s an old app on FDroid called AdminControl that let’s you set this up on other ROMs. Basically just disables biometrics for lock screen.
Thanks for sharing, this is indeed a great feature and makes GOS even stronger! Just enabled and love it!
For the home screen, I keep the regular PIN, so I have to type instead of using fingertips. But for apps that requires authentication (after you are already logged in), it’s really convenient use fingertips instead of the pin for convenience.
Nice! One commenter did point point some important context though. I recommend reading the “EDIT” at the bottom of my post plus a comment from someone named @ashaman2007 or something like that. Just to make sure you get the full context of how this actually works! I wasn’t fully aware when first posting.
Ha, I found this the other day and thought it was neat… And turned it off after 30 minutes.
Related:
Download Wasted (https://f-droid.org/en/packages/me.lucky.wasted/) - You can set your phone to auto-wipe after X amount of time without being unlocked, and also various other triggers for wipe, like creating a fake “Signal” or “Telegram” icons on your homescreen that would trigger a wipe if tapped, or a fake “Airplane mode” tile that would trigger a wipe. Very useful stuff. (Might wanna learn the laws in your jurisdiction tho, could get you in trouble.
There’s also Duress (https://f-droid.org/en/packages/me.lucky.duress/) which doesn’t work on my Samsung, but it worked on a Motorola that I once has. It sets up either a fake pin (aka: duress pin), and the duress pin can also be to just enter X characters, where X is at least 2 chracters more than your real password (example: if your pin is “2025”, all you have to say is any string of 6 characters or more like “123456” and the wipe will happen, very useful since you probably won’t remember a specific duress pin under stress)
I am wondering why GrapheneOS don’t implement biometric BUT only with 2FA , for example: use finger and then a Android ask for specific password/pin to unlock device, this would let people use biometric with pass and don’t worry about forcing by law enforcment or other
That’s exactly what the Second Factor PIN is. You have to use both a fingerprint plus a pin to unlock the phone. That feature only recently came out, in the past month or two.
Yooo ive been wanting this for years. They should totally bring back pattern unlock for this.
So I’m still on stock android on a pixel and there is no option for just pin? Maybe I have to remove fingerprint from the phone first but there is basically a serious backdoor built in. How many people will be able to turn there phone off under duress?
