Introduction

Google has finally started rolling out the theft detection feature for Android devices. Now, this may or may not be available for your device. Be wary of that. Currently, I have seen this feature on the Galaxy S24 Series. This is the S24 Ultra I have got here, and I can see that feature available on this device. We will also go ahead and check out the S23 Series and the S22 Series. Let’s see whether this is available on these phones or not.

Overview of the Theft Detection Feature

This feature has already been discussed in YouTube videos. It was announced sometime back by Google for Android devices. We saw that option on the Google Pixel phones, and now the S24 Ultra also has received this feature. Let me just go to the settings here, and I’ll tap on security and privacy. Now, here let me tap on more security settings. Now, you see we have got this option, Theft Protection, right here. Let me tap on this. It says, “Use built-in safeguards to protect your personal data if your device is stolen.”

Enabling the Theft Detection Feature

Now, here we got theft detection. The lock screen will lock if this setting detects that someone took your device and ran away. We also have an offline device lock. If you enable this, the screen will lock shortly after your device goes offline to help protect your data.

Now let me just tap on this here and try to enable it. It says, “If theft detection lock detects that your device was taken from you, your device screen will lock automatically to prevent anyone from accessing your personal data.” This feature uses your device’s motion sensors as well as its Wi-Fi and smart device connections to try and detect if someone takes your phone abruptly and runs away.

How the Theft Detection Feature Works

Now, this is very important information. It clearly says how it detects theft. Google said that it is using AI and machine learning algorithms to detect the theft. Here, it’s clearly mentioned that whenever somebody steals your phone, it will use the motion sensor as well as its Wi-Fi and smart device connections to try and detect if someone takes your phone abruptly. I also read somewhere that it detects the motion immediately after somebody steals your phone.

Let’s say if somebody steals your phone, obviously they’re going to run or they might bike or drive away from you. So, the phone will detect that if there is fast motion after the phone was snatched. Then, it will know that the phone has been snatched. That is how the AI or machine learning algorithm has been used here.

Additional Features of the Theft Detection

Now let me just turn this on. Here we go. If somebody steals the phone when I’m using it, this will lock the phone immediately. If the phone is not locked, the person will obviously have access to your personal data. You might have stored some important information on your phone, and even the gallery will be accessible to that person. So, this is a very important toggle that you have to turn on for your Galaxy phone.

Next, we have got offline device lock. Let me enable this. Here it says, “Your device screen will lock shortly after your device goes offline to help protect your data.” For example, your device will lock if someone steals it and turns off the internet to prevent location tracking. Bear in mind, you must be actively using your device while it’s unlocked. The screen can be locked up to twice a day.

Now, this is something you have to be careful with when you enable this because if you have a habit of turning off your data by yourself and not using your phone actively, then this feature may not be useful for you. Again, this basically locks your device if someone steals it and turns off the internet to prevent location tracking. So, if the phone gets locked, the other person will not be able to turn off the data. You will still be able to track your phone using Find My Device.

Protecting Your Device with Theft Detection

Now, you may think the thief can turn off your device. Even for that, there is protection. You can set the screen lock for turning off your device. Whenever you try to turn off the device by tapping on the power button or pressing and holding down the volume down key or the lock key, the phone will start asking for the password. So, that is a setting you can turn on.

Testing the Theft Detection Feature on Other Devices

Now let’s go ahead and turn this on as well. Now, these are two important features that we have got. We also have the “Find and erase your device” option here. Use Find My Device to locate or erase your device. Let me tap on this. Here it says, “If you lose this device or any connected fast pair accessories, you can use Find My Device to locate them.”

Again, this is quite important. You need to turn on the Find My Device feature just in case you lose your phone. You will be able to log into your account and access the Find My Device feature, and you’ll be able to locate your phone as long as it is connected to the internet and turned on.

Then we got “Find your offline devices.” I will tap on this again. Let me just quickly read this out for you. “To help locate this device and your fast pair accessories when offline, Find My Device can use encrypted location info sent by this Android device and others in the Find My Device network.”

This means even when the phone is offline and not connected to the internet, you will still be able to find your device’s location when your Android device participates in the network. It securely sends location info of devices it detects nearby to help their owners find them.

Final Thoughts on the Theft Detection Feature

Here we got a few options. Without network, your device won’t participate in the network. You can still locate your offline devices using their stored recent locations when they were online. So, you will be able to see the location at which the phone was online if you select this option.

Then we have got “With network in high traffic areas only,” and then we have got “With network in all areas.” So, these are some options that we have got. You can deep dive into this, go through this, and try to understand it and select the option that you want to select.

Now I will select “Without network” here. Let’s see what happens. I will tap on this. It says, “To help you locate this device even when it’s offline, Find My Device will encrypt and store its most recent location. Only you will see its location. It will not be visible to Google, and it will use the screen lock of the device, including this one, to encrypt this device location.”

It says all you need to do is just enter the screen lock here, and you’ll be able to select the device. Then you can enter the pin and follow the prompts to complete this feature. Now, these are some very important options that we have got on the Samsung Galaxy phones or any other Android phones. You need to make sure you enable all these options. The brand-new option is theft detection lock and offline device lock. These are very important features that you need to enable on your Galaxy phone, so go ahead and do that.

Now, let’s see if we have got this feature on the Galaxy S23 Ultra. We have got the S23 Ultra here, and let me go to the settings. Here, I will tap on security and privacy. Now here, I will tap on more security settings. No, we do not have the theft detection option on this. Let me show you this. Here on the S24 Ultra, we got secure folder, enhanced data protection, and Samsung pass. If you scroll down, you see we have got theft protection on the S24 Ultra, and it is not available on this device.

Now, let me just put this phone aside. Let’s check this out on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Let’s go to settings here, tap on security and privacy, and let’s tap on more security settings again. Here, there is no theft detection feature available for the Galaxy S22 Series. So, right now we can see this feature available on the Galaxy S24 Ultra or the Galaxy S24 Series. You may get this update on your device very soon with the next Google security updates or the next security patches.

So, let’s wait and see that. I’m not very sure how I got this particular feature on the phone. I saw the news articles today that this feature has been released. The theft protection is now available on many of the Android phones. I went ahead and checked it on the S24 Ultra, and it was sitting right here under more security settings. That’s about it. That’s all I want to share with you guys. Let me know whether you have got this feature or not.