Important points
- Android 15 has finally been released with a focus on security and privacy with features like theft detection and private spaces.
- The phone’s security upgrade, first seen in beta, was expected to be available in stable Android 15, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
- Even with the Pixel 9 series, this is due to a lack of compatible hardware.
Android 15 has finally been released as a stable version. This isn’t the biggest update Google has ever seen, and it doesn’t bring any fundamental changes, but it does offer an overall more polished experience with new features. I saw it in the beta version before.
Theft detection is definitely one of the major topics coming out of Android 15. This is followed by tools and features like Private Space, a new weather app, default predictive back gestures, and detailed widget previews.
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Given that this update focuses on security and privacy, including private spaces, remote locking, and theft detection, we expected the previously leaked cellular security upgrade to make it into the stable release. , it seems not.
Cellular security features were first announced at I/O, and later developer preview builds of Android 15 provided a settings page specifically for mobile network security. According to Mishaal Rahman in a report for Android Authority, the settings at the time were located at: Settings → Security & Privacy → Add Security & Privacy. The page used to offer a toggle, but was later renamed “Mobile Network Security” and added: “These settings can be used on older or unencrypted networks that could expose your data to theft or surveillance. Helps protect your calls, messages, and data from your network.”
The page had a toggle provided network notification and Allow only encrypted networks. Enabling the former will prompt the user when the device connects to an unencrypted network. The latter prevents your device from connecting to unencrypted networks, limiting connectivity but increasing security.
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Unfortunately, despite being part of the Android 15 source code, these cellular security features are not available. Its first appearance in beta prompted speculation about support, especially on the then-unreleased Pixel 9 series, but that’s not actually the case. Rahman suggests that it was a mistake that the mobile network security settings page was published in beta, and that the feature is currently unavailable due to a lack of compatible hardware and OEM integration. .
The network security settings page was then removed in Android 15 Beta 4.2. A comment made by a Googler in an IssueTracker thread about the removal of this setting states: “The problem is that users can search for unreleased features in settings (hardware support for that feature is not yet available). Unfortunately, A lot of people want that feature and are searching for it.” If you don’t hide it completely until hardware support is available, Android will look unstable. ”
In any case, this doesn’t mean OEMs won’t integrate network security features into their smartphones during the lifetime of Android 15. Google says it is “working with the Android ecosystem to bring these features to our users.”
