388
Stop Using Your Face or Thumb to Unlock Your Phone (gizmodo.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
233 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 201 points 2 years ago (68 children)

Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California released a ruling that concluded state highway police were acting lawfully when they forcibly unlocked a suspect’s phone using their fingerprint.

You can turn that and Face ID off on iOS by mashing the power button 5 times- it locks everything down.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 68 child comments
    •
  • [–] 94 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    I've always wanted a setting to create a lockdown key and an unlock key. So something like middle-finger to unlock but index-finger to force it into PIN/password only mode. So you can have some convenience of a quick unlock but if an authority figure asks or forces you to unlock it you can one-tap lock it down.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    That would be awesome.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    In GrapheneOS, a single wrong fingerprint disables fingerprint unlock until the password is entered.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 79 points 2 years ago (18 children)

    ⚠️ WARNING: On android, mashing the power button 5 times calls emergency services.....

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 18 child comments
    •
  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago

    There are two ways you can do this on Android currently, but they're not as quick. You can try to unlock with the wrong finger 5 times and it will stop allowing fingerprint unlocks. Or, you can hold down the power button for 10 seconds and the phone will reboot and also disable fingerprint unlocking.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • load more comments (14 replies)
  • [–] 57 points 2 years ago (17 children)

    Android has a similar feature. It's called "Lockdown mode" on the shutdown menu. Locks the phone and turns off any biometric unlocks.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 17 child comments
    •
  • [–] 34 points 2 years ago (16 children)

    Except it doesn't activate by mashing the power button 5 times. On my Pixel 8, that activates the emergency dialer that will automatically call 911 if you don't cancel the prompt in 5 seconds. I did not know that before. Probably a better use for that feature. It also points out the different ideologies of Apple vs Android.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 16 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    Push and hold to get the power menu on my 7.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago* (4 children)

    On my 8, that just activates the Google assistant. To get to the power menu, you have to press power (oddly named button, to be honest) and vol up at the same time. But these are active acts that you have to think about and verify to make sure they did what they are supposed to. Mashing the power button 5 times is succinct. I don't have to guess how many seconds I've waited. I don't have to feel to make sure I'm hitting the vol up instead of vol down accidentally. I count 5 times, 6 to make sure, and I can drop it while being certain that it's going to call 911. That's what I want in an emergency. A quick distinct action that requires no guessing to make sure it works. It makes sense once you stop and think. Nothing else about the power button makes sense, but at least that part does.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    On my Pixel 7 Pro, I press the power and volume up buttons simultaneously, then I can click Lockdown. Now my passcode is required to unlock the phone.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    On my ditto (running GrapheneOS), the Lockdown option is accessible through the regular power button menu. When I press power+volumeUp it switches to silent mode. I don't know if/where I changed this, since I can't find the options when searching in settings.

    EDIT: I just found it - in Settings > System > Gestures > Prevent ringing. I can either set power+volumeUp to mute the phone, or vibrate only. Nothing about the Lockdown option, but having it in the regular power button menu is good enough for me.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    If by "regular power button menu" you mean holding the power button for a couple seconds, that was changed at least on pixel devices to bring up some bullshit called "Gemini", some AI from googie that I never got a chance to say no to. Power + volume up is now how we get to the power menu, because of course they would change the function everyone uses occasionally to a more obscure combination without notice

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    I was mowing my lawn and learned about that feature. A nice ladies voice came through my bluetooth headphones asking if I needed help lol. You can change what the button spam does and I changed it to call my mom instead.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 32 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    In a getting pulled over situation, this works. But do it before you go protest anything. Or better yet, leave your phone at home. You don’t want to be reaching for something while a cop is pointing a gun at you and saying “Hands up!”

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 22 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (9 children)

    That's terrifying. So once we have tech to forcibly see inside the brain, that will be legal too?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 9 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    Probably. Wouldn't it be good to have the truth during investigations?

    However I think that we really need refine when warrantless searches can occur. Right now many searches seem to be done with very little evidence to justify them. I think this protection should apply to your mind and phone just like it applies to your house. This probably also needs to be considered at border crossings. Right now they have basically unlimited rights for searching what you have on you with little to no evidence.

    We should probably also rethink about how the information is shared when there is a warrant. Right now during a trial a huge amount of personal information can be made available. Maybe if it was easier to get precise information less would be needed.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Wouldn’t it be good to have the truth during investigations?

    Well, yeah, but the mind is fallible. That's why eye witness testimony usually only gets a case so far, people tend to forget specifics and fill in the gaps without realizing they did.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    That is important to remember but it is sort of orthogonal to the point being made. Assuming that mind-reading worked perfectly you can find the truth about what the person believes. In most cases if they think they murdered the person and the gun is hidden behind the oak in their backyard it is beyond a reasonable doubt. I think it is still useful to have the truth about what that person believes, even if we have to remember that their beliefs are fallible.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • load more comments (4 replies)
    • load more comments (2 replies)