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rglullis @communick.news

1d ago

Android phones will soon reboot themselves after sitting unused for 3 days

arstechnica.com

Android phones will soon reboot themselves after sitting unused for 3 days

Hacker News @lemmy.bestiver.se

RSS Bot @lemmy.bestiver.se

2d ago

Android phones will soon reboot themselves after sitting unused for three days

arstechnica.com /gadgets/2025/04/android-phones-will-soon-reboot-themselves-after-sitting-unused-for-3-days/

54 comments

"This actually caused some annoyance among law enforcement officials who believed they had suspects' phones stored in a readable state, only to find they were rebooting and becoming harder to access due to this feature."
I love it.
- I would not be surprised if google is complicit in this
  
  Yes, this was the whole goal. Apple is also doing this already because of this

That's good, if I don't unlock my phone for 3 days, either the phone is lost or I'm dead.

I like it but, why so long? If I haven't unlocked my phone in 24 hours I'm either dead or hospitalized, 3 days seems super extreme.
- Especially since so many phones won't make it 72 hours without a charge, even if sitting unused.
  
  If the screen is off, idk wtd background apps you're running that would drain so much..
- 3 days seems like a good "default" but I agree I'd definitely like the option to make it shorter.
  
  3 days in my opinion is too long imo for a default, if the entire point of it is to increase the security, the default gives 3 days worth of time for an entity to obtain a way to access it via some form of exploit or other means. That's far long enough for most shipping options to send the device elsewhere that may have the appropriate tech to do so.
  A 24h limit would significantly decrease the margin for exploitation. I agree the setting should have multiple time intervals though, I just think 3 days is way too long for the purpose of the setting. It seems like a "we wanna do something that sounds good, but won't rock the boat for the powers that be"
- Because I want my alarm clock to actually work.
- or maybe, I have replaced it with a newer phone, and repurposed it as some sort of lightweight server or something. So it doesn't get unlocked anymore, ever
  
  If that's the case hopefully there will be a setting to disable the feature as a whole as every 3 days would be annoying for a server,

Good security feature but only for the phone in your pocket. The old one used as a camera, homeassistant screen, sms to email forwarder, ssh server, will stop being useful.
- I hope there will be a way to turn that off, but I'm afraid there won't.
  
  On the 9to5Google article it says
  Update 4/16: Google has updated the changelog entry to add that auto-reboot is “optional” when it comes in the “future.” This addresses some concern from people who run continuous Android devices, with tablets somewhat fitting into that.
- People were using old hardware instead of buying new.
  Can't have that.
- The old one isn't getting any updates and won't see this change.
  
  You dont install updates on your servers?
  
  The shiny one you have will be old in a few years
- I had this problem when Apple introduced this feature a year or so ago. I wish Apple had a way to disable it, but such is apple. Now I unlock a phone that lives on my dresser every few days.

- You want to do this even with custom roms.
  Having your phone automatically go into the BFU state ensures that there's only a small window for a thief to extract data from your phone.
  If you ever think your phone is about to be stolen or seized you want to power it off for this exact reason.
- Stock LineageOS doesn't seem to have that feature
  
  @bobs_monkey@lemm.ee says it does

The latest Google update will make your phone more secure if you don’t touch it…
Fuck entirely off. The last time my phone surprised me with an update, it was ads on my goddamn lock screen.
- Google itself as of this moment never did put adds on a lock screen, it is the manufacturer or third party apps who can do it. Some Realme and Xiaomi phones do it afaik and probably some other brands.
  
  Oh sure, Google only fucks with how texting works, whether my car GPS cooperates, what the entire UI looks like...
  I know this specific abuse was not Google's fault specifically. But it's the same god damn thing. Nobody asked me if I wanted that. They just shoved it onto the machine I paid to own and pay to use, like it's not mine enough to deserve respect, let alone control.
- What brand is your phone?
  
  Shouldn't matter. Reinstall the OS of every device you buy before you provision it..
  
  It's Metro's fault.
  I fucking hate that three separate skeezebag companies have free reign to insert software on my extremely personal wireless pocket computer.

If only my phone battery lasts that long. LOL

i think samsungs already do this. as long as i can turn it off if i ever need to.
a charging limit would also be nice.
- Pixels can be configured to limit charging to 80% these days.
  I've started using it and the difference between using 80% and 100% on a daily basis is negligible, I rarely if ever let my device go below about 35% anyway. So this change is basically free battery life for the device
- Samsung have a setting to set the charger to only charge to a certain amount over night
  So if you plug it in at 1800 at 0230 or whatever it won't be charging until just it calculates that it will be full charged when you wake up

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54 comments