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!
If you’re concerned about these kind of things, you might want to know about the GrapheneOS duress password. You set a second PIN, called duress PIN/password. If you’re ever forced to type a PIN, you can type this one instead of the real one. It will lock/wipe out the phone within a few seconds. There’s a few youtube videos showcasing this self-destruct mode.
There is also an aftermarket solution, if you are not on gos, three name is duress on droid.
If you still want the comfort to open your phone via biometrics plus disable biometrics in emergencies there is private lock (fdroid). It will engage when the phone is shaken, e.g. a thief grabs it from your hand while you are typing, or you shake so nobody can force you to open it by fingerprint. The device will be locked and biometrics disabled until you unlock it again. There is also a recently updated app on fdroid with the same features, but it was not as reliable for me so I went back to using private lock.
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 :)
Wut?
Meaning: what kind of privacy community bans discussion on free and open privacy because of a dev? That’s ridiculous. Exchange of money, sure, but discussion?
Well, from what I understood, in the privacy subreddit people were getting into it over Graphene OS and other privacy android OS’s. During this, I guess the Devs (or dev) we’re very petty or something and causing unnecessary in-fighting. Icould be telling this wrong but its something along those lines… To be clear, i think the actual rule is you cant specifically mention ANY 3rd party android OS, not just Graphene.
Nice! That’s pretty cool, and law enforcement is a reason I stopped using my fingerprint to unlock my phone. Having an extra layer of security, even if just a technicality in the case of being forced to use my print, is nice.
Can’t confirm it, but I remember reading that it also has a “duress” PIN that you can use if being forced to unlock, that erases the entire phone.
Can confirm, this exists and it works even if the phone is turned off or runs out of battery midway through the wipe, I’ve tested it. I have no use for it personally, but it’s pretty neat!
Same here. Although I have no real reason with my threat level. But I could see how it could be relevant for some people. I also liked the idea because regular people could potentially use your thumb print when sleeping or something so this stops that Initial unlock.
Most Android versions have this now. Became popular as soon as SCOTUS ruled that police can compel you to unlock your device via biometrics. Enable it. If you think you may be arrested, simply restart your phone and now they need a court order to unlock your phone which means they have to convince a judge with probable cause.
Also put a pin code on your sim card so they can’t clone and use the sim card if you shut your phone off.
By if you have ESIM, the wipe deletes the Sim as well…
The police cannot clone SIM cards or hijack IMEI without a court order, and if they have a court order to do that, then it’s trivial for it to include orders to compel you to unlock your phone/SIM anyways. This doesn’t really protect you.
It is not about police hijacking IMEI, my bank only provides 2FA with phone number, and the password can be reset using the OTP they send to my phone. I know the bank is terrible but where I live all banks do same thing. So if my phone ever gets stolen they can just remove the sim and put it in another phone and get access to the Bank account. Also did I mention you can also get username from OTP to your phone so, yeah I should probably not use any bank and go live in mountains. But SIM lock helps.
It is not about police hijacking IMEI
That’s the entire point of the OPs post that I replied to. So… Yes it is.
I use biometrics for unlock too. If you click “Lockdown” in the power menu or just hold down the power button until your phone restarts (it should vibrate, so you can even do this while it’s still in your pocket), it requires the PIN again in order to be able to unlock it.
Oh nice. Do you know if the lockdown option encrypts the phone?
From what I read, I believe on initial boot up, the phone is encrypted before first unlock but no longer after.
Its always encrypted, just that the keys are in RAM when it runs.
In case of graphene though you can have a distress pin that wipes the encryption keys, making the phones content irrecoverable.
Is that what it does? I thought it deleted any profile other than the primary one.
GrapheneOS provides users with the ability to set a duress PIN/Password that will irreversibly wipe the device (along with any installed eSIMs) once entered anywhere where the device credentials are requested (on the lockscreen, along with any such prompt in the OS).
I was reading somewhere Android is not encrypting the storage whit lockdown, only biometrics are disabled.
Yes, but that requires you to have it. If it’s been snatched out of your hand, it’s too late for that.
There is an app called Private Lock that will put the phone in lockdown if the accelerometer is triggered to a certain degree. It can work even when the screen is off.
Been using it for a while and it’s great.
Next up: auto wipe device after x days of no authentication.
At that point use the duress password with the police
Using the duress password could potentially be charged as destruction of evidence. If you can refuse to enter a password long enough for it to auto wipe before a judge orders you to unlock it you could avoid the danger of legal consequences. No destruction of evidence and no contempt of court.
Thanks for clarifying, I hate the fact even deepseek does not reply with facts like this.
Anyway when do they start breaking your kneecaps for refusing?
In addition to this
- require pin to unlock, but fingerprints for apps
GOS has a nice feature
- require two factors to unlock, pin PLUS biometrics
- duress pin, wipe phone if used
- reboot phone if not unlocked in x hours
Of course it also has the standard AOSP mode
- private spaces, hide apps unless unlocked
Which is different than the
- workspaces, can use different biometrics
And if your very paranoid GOS supports many user profiles, which can all have their own distinct biometrics and pins, this works with their cross profile notification system. So you can keep your banking apps in a totally different profile and if you get mugged they won’t see the apps (or you could use private spaces as well)
All profiles need to be backed up seperately for those who don’t know so have a flash drive for each profile if it’s important or whatever medium you choose to backup to.
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.
Was confused by title but this seems awesome. Wish I could run this
Sorry. Tried to make the title short and concise. Maybe wasn’t very clear. Lol
No apologies! Not complaining :)
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)
GOS has a duress pin feature fyi.
Oh wow, I’m getting more jealous 😅
I’m still hanging on my Samsung A-series phone because of the microsd card slot (and also don’t feel like spending $500 for a phone at the moment)
If you’re worried about paying $500, I got my 6a for $200 from Best Buy (I checked beforehand to make sure it would be unlockable)
6a has like 2 years of support left
$200 / 2 Years = $100 per year
8a is $500, theres more than 6 years of support left
$500 / 6 Years = $83.33 per year
Math doesn’t work out lol. Besides, where do you even get one for $200 lol, unlocked ones are $299
My compromise was 7a for $300 this summer. Still a very painful price for me, but imo worth it.
It was refurbished lol
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.
It doesn’t look like this has been updated for 6 years. Does it still work on Android 14/15, or is there another newer app that does this?
Can confirm it works on Android 15.
Thanks!
Ha, I found this the other day and thought it was neat… And turned it off after 30 minutes.
Even with this, biometrics could be construed as proof that it is your phone, whereas just a password or pin still has some degree of deniability
That’s only if you’re going for true “burner” levels of security
True. I didn’t really consider the connection and more of the security side. I’m sure it differs but do you know if proof of ownership make a difference if they catch you with it in possession in the first place?
IANAL, but if used as a burner phone with nothing identifiable on the device itself, you could probably claim you found it on the ground somewhere. You wont get the phone back most likely but that might be better than the alternative
Makes sense. Also wasn’t aware of “IANAL” and was hesitant to google but got it. Thanks lol
This guy anals.
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.
FYI, for folks currently using a normal PIN and looking to use this, it’s intended that the 2nd factor PIN at least be different than the main unlock PIN. Otherwise you can just swipe up to dismiss the fingerprint prompt and get to the main PIN prompt; if its the same as your 2nd factor, that’s pointless.
I was told on the Graphene matrix channel that the most secure configuration for this is:
Main unlock method: 6 word diceware password
Secondary unlock method: biometric + 6 character 2nd factor PIN
Be aware that if you use this config that you will be prompted for the main unlock method (long password) at reboot, and also every 48 hours.
Thanks for sharing! This also kind of clears up my confusion that I mentioned I’m the EDIT at the end of my post. I was wondering what the real benefit to this is but it seems like a password as the main with the pin and bio as the secondary seems to provide:
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Main unlock: More. Secure with password?
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Secondary unlock: “quicker” but also secure due to the pin with the bio.
Is this more or else the right idea?
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