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Stop Using Your Face or Thumb to Unlock Your Phone (gizmodo.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 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.

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  • [–] 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.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    My wife's pixel 3(?) with a flaky power button had us wake up to cops knocking on the door because of that feature.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (5 children)

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

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  • [–] 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.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Try system - gestures - press power button. I have the choice of the power menu or the digital assistant.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    I actually didn't know that was changeable, one of my most hated "features" of my phone that it wants to bring up an AI assistant I'll never use and didn't ask for when doing something that has brought up the power menu on every phone I've ever owned

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    I could do that...but then I lose easy access to the assistant. I could set up the tap on back function, but that doesn't work when it's in a holder in the car. There are no options that I can find that would let me assign the assistant to open on power + vol up. Unfortunately these phones aren't as customizable as as I'd like them to be. Or at least not by default, but I don't want to go through the trouble of flashing a new OS yet.

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  • [–] 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.

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  • [–] 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.

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  • [–] 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

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  • [–] 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.

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