The recent federal raid on the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson isn’t merely an attack by the Trump administration on the free press. It’s also a warning to anyone with a smartphone.
Included in the search and seizure warrant for the raid on Natanson’s home is a section titled “Biometric Unlock,” which explicitly authorized law enforcement personnel to obtain Natanson’s phone and both hold the device in front of her face and to forcibly use her fingers to unlock it. In other words, a judge gave the FBI permission to attempt to bypass biometrics: the convenient shortcuts that let you unlock your phone by scanning your fingerprint or face.-
It is not clear if Natanson used biometric authentication on her devices, or if the law enforcement personnel attempted to use her face or fingers to unlock her devices. Natanson and the Washington Post did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The FBI declined to comment.
I don’t know what it is on android, but five quick presses of the primary button on iOS will put the phone into a mode where you must enter your password to unlock it.
yeah that puts my phone in SOS mode, so maybe not that on Android
Also pressing the primary and a volume key for a couple of seconds.
Android has a feature you can turn on that adds “lockdown mode” as an option if you hold the power button, which requires a password. I just tried taking a screenshot, but I don’t think I can while in the power menu.
You can also just turn your phone off. Biometrics don’t work on a fresh boot.
You can just set it up so biometrics can’t unlock the phone but can be used to get into banking apps, password managers, etc. I’ve had this set up for a couple years and it is no less convenient than using the biometrics honestly.
It’s in: settings > screen lock and biometrics > unlock type set to PIN and then you can activate biometrics and turn off the slider that indicates unlock device.