Android just got a long-overdue security upgrade — here's how it works

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Android just got a long-overdue security upgrade — hither'south how it works

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If you've been concerned nigh the security of your private files on your Android device, then Google has your back. Information technology's adding Pin protection to the Files by Google app.

Google is introducing a new "Safe Folder" feature into the file-storage app. You lot'll have to type in a four-digit PIN to access that folder. And as before long every bit you lot switch from the Files app into some other app, the contents of the secure binder will lock.

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Files past Google is a non-native Android app that serves every bit both a identify to shop files on your telephone and to manage storage and transfer files from one device to another via Bluetooth.

Like other Android file managers, including the one that might have come installed on your telephone, Files by Google can also exist used every bit a identify to keep private or sensitive files, potentially making it a tantalising app for prying eyes to sift through.

Some of those other file managers already let you set PINs to protect designated files, then Google is kind of playing catch-up.

But with various biometric and countersign protection already existing on Android phones, y'all might wonder why someone would need an actress level of security in the Files past Google app.

Well, it's been designed for people who share their phones relatively often; for example, handing your smartphone to your kids when they want to play a game or text their friends.

Google notes that it's common in some cultures for phones to exist shared between spouses, siblings and children. That ways a identify for people to safely secure their individual files on a device that'll pass between several pairs of hands a day is likely to be appreciated.

"As part of Google'southward research, we hear the perspectives of people like Shaina — a adult female in People's republic of bangladesh whose children use her telephone afterward schoolhouse, both to acquire and to play," Google said in a blog mail.

"Shaina worries that her of import files could be accidentally shared or deleted. For Rashid, a father in India, the lack of privacy means he can't go along his identity documents on his phone, even if he needs them for job applications."

Even for people who don't share their smartphones, an extra layer of security can be handy if they desire to be sure that, say, sensitive work documents or raunchy photographs are kept thoroughly locked abroad.

The Safe Folder feature in Files by Google is currently available in beta course only will coil out to more than users "over the following weeks," co-ordinate to Google.

Roland Moore-Colyer is U.K. Editor at Tom's Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He often writes about gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he's too got an interest in cars. When non at his desk Roland tin exist found wandering effectually London, often with a look of curiosity on his face.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/android-files-by-google-lock

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