4 security measures I all the time arrange on each new Android telephone

Every time I arrange a brand new Android telephone, I do the standard stuff first — putting in my favourite apps, signing into my accounts, eradicating bloatware, and customizing the feel and appear of the machine. However that’s not the place I cease. I additionally spend a couple of minutes reviewing key safety settings for additional peace of thoughts.

Android telephones include loads of built-in protections, and a number of the most vital ones come pre-enabled. Nonetheless, there are a number of crucial safety settings that want guide setup or a fast verify to make sure they’re configured correctly.

Actually, I’ve little or no hope of recovering my telephone if I ever lose it in a crowded place. But when I ever neglect it in a cab and even at a good friend’s home, Discover Hub can save me a variety of complications. And that’s precisely why it’s one of many first security measures I arrange on any new telephone. Once I say “arrange,” although, it’s much less about enabling the function and extra about guaranteeing every little thing truly works as anticipated.

Android’s Discover Hub function is robotically enabled when you check in together with your Google account. What makes it so helpful is that it doesn’t rely simply in your telephone’s web connectivity or GPS. In case your telephone ever goes offline, Discover Hub can nonetheless use Google’s crowdsourced community of Android units to find it. And when the worst occurs, you should use Discover Hub to view your telephone’s location on a map, make it ring, lock it remotely, or erase it completely. Once more, you don’t have to allow it manually, however it’s finest to ensure it’s working when you even have your telephone.

My Galaxy S26 additionally contains Samsung’s personal device-tracking service known as Discover My Cellular. Like Discover Hub, it’s enabled by default, however I prefer to activate its elective options — most notably Ship final location, which robotically uploads the telephone’s final recognized location each time the battery is about to die.

Theft safety is one other vital safety function I hope I by no means need to depend on. It kicks in robotically when somebody snatches your telephone out of your hand and tries to run off with it. Sure, your telephone can detect this utilizing a mixture of on-device sensors, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and AI. Like Discover Hub, Theft Detection Lock additionally comes pre-enabled, however I prefer to activate a number of associated options.

The primary one is Id Examine. This makes it more durable for somebody to take over the Google account that’s linked to my telephone. It principally requires biometric authentication for issues like utilizing the “Forgot password” choice or altering account restoration strategies.

I additionally allow Offline System Lock. It robotically locks the telephone if it’s disconnected from the web for an prolonged interval. That’s helpful as a result of one of many first issues a thief is prone to do is activate airplane mode, so you may’t monitor the machine utilizing Discover Hub.

Lastly, there’s the Failed Authentication Lock, which does precisely what the title suggests. It locks the telephone’s display screen and delicate apps when authentication makes an attempt fail repeatedly. This merely buys you some additional time to find or erase your telephone by Discover Hub. All three of those options are elective, however I’d a lot slightly have them enabled than disabled. Yow will discover them in your telephone below Settings > Google > All providers > Theft safety.

Superior Safety is likely one of the newer security measures launched with Android 16. It’s disabled by default, which is sensible as a result of it may be a bit restrictive. Nonetheless, I believe the added safety is well worth the trade-off.

Not like most security measures, Superior Safety doesn’t do one particular factor — it combines a number of protections to make your telephone safer. One in every of its options is Inactivity Reboot, which robotically restarts the telephone if it’s been locked for 3 days straight. This makes it a lot more durable for somebody to entry the telephone by superior attacking strategies. One other factor it does is block 2G networks in your telephone, that are typically much less safe in comparison with 3G, 4G, and 5G networks. To allow Superior Safety in your telephone, head to Settings > Safety and privateness > Superior Safety and activate System Safety.

Superior Safety additionally strengthens safety throughout Google’s apps. For example, it permits secure looking in Chrome, spam safety in Google Telephone, and blocks unsafe hyperlinks in Google Messages. And talking of dangerous hyperlinks, Superior Safety additionally activates stay menace detection, which is a part of the Android Protected Searching function. It could possibly establish and block phishing hyperlinks and net pages in supported third-party apps. So sure, the safety goes past Google’s personal apps and providers.

The one catch, at the very least for me, is that Superior Safety blocks sideloading. Since I depend on a number of apps that aren’t out there on the Play Retailer, I’ve to briefly disable the function every time I need to set up or replace them. It’s undoubtedly an inconvenience, however one I’m blissful to place up with in trade for all of the safety it presents.

A SIM lock isn’t technically an Android function, however I’d say it’s simply as vital as any of the security measures I’ve talked about to date. It provides an additional layer of safety to your telephone quantity by requiring a PIN every time the SIM card is inserted into a brand new telephone or the telephone is restarted. Sure, it’s a bit old school, but when somebody steals my telephone, I don’t need them shifting my SIM to a unique telephone and receiving calls and OTPs meant for me. To arrange a SIM lock, head to Settings > Safety & privateness > Extra safety settings > SIM card lock.

I additionally make certain to make use of two-factor authentication on all my vital accounts, particularly my Google account. In spite of everything, if somebody has entry to that, they may probably monitor and even remotely erase my telephone. I choose utilizing Google Authenticator as a result of it’s typically safer, however actually, any type of 2FA is healthier than none. When you choose authentication prompts or SMS verification, use that to maintain your vital accounts secure.

So there it’s — my safety guidelines for organising a brand new Android telephone. If there’s one other safety setting that you just all the time verify or modify, share it within the feedback beneath.