Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. Guides

What to keep your phone secure? Here’s how to use Android 9.0 Pie’s Lockdown Mode

By

Google’s Android 9.0 Pie is finally here, bringing a host of great new features to Android phones, along with a few sleek design updates and more. One of the most overlooked new features, however, has nothing to do with design. Lockdown Mode is more security focused — and while it may not be a feature that you use on a daily basis, it’s probably still important to know how to activate it.

Before we dive into how to use Lockdown Mode, we should go over what it actually is. The feature is aimed at people who want to protect their private data from the prying eyes of phone thieves, law enforcement officials, and anyone else who might try and break into your phone without your permission. It blocks things like the fingerprint sensor, facial-recognition, and voice-recognition features from being used. That can be pretty important — it’s already illegal for law enforcement to make you enter your PIN code or a phone pattern, and with Lockdown Mode, they can’t force you to use your fingerprint sensor or facial-recognition tech either.

Recommended Videos

Thankfully, enabling Lockdown Mode is actually very easy. Here’s how to do it.

  • Open the Settings app.
  • Select the Security & Location option.
  • Scroll down and select Lock screen preferences.
  • Toggle on Show lockdown option.

Now, the option to turn on lockdown mode will show up when you need it to. To turn on Lockdown Mode, hold down the power button. You’ll now see a Lockdown option under the power and restart options. Once Lockdown mode is activated and you try to use the fingerprint sensor, you’ll be prompted to use your PIN code, password, or pattern. After entering the code, Lockdown mode will be automatically deactivated — so you’ll need to manually activate it again if you want it to stay on.

Related

To be clear, you will need Android 9.0 Pie to make use of this feature — so if you don’t have the new operating system just yet, check for a software update on your device. Many phones don’t yet support Android 9.0 Pie — though hopefully your phone will get the operating system at some point in the near future.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper
Contributor
Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…
How to turn on Now Playing and see music history on your Google Pixel
google-pixel-3a-xl-now-playing

If you own a Pixel phone, discovering what music is playing near you is now easier than ever. Google includes an exclusive feature called Now Playing in its Pixel 2 and newer phones, so you're not scouring the internet trying to figure out what that song was you just heard playing.

In short, the Now Playing feature automatically recognizes and shows you the title and artist of that mystery song on the lock screen. It also keeps track of those songs so you can access them later. However, you must manually enable this feature first. In this guide, we show you how to enable Now Playing, how to access the history, and tweak the notifications you get.
How to turn on Now Playing
Now Playing shows songs that are playing in your vicinity right on your lock screen. Again, this feature is only supported on the Google Pixel 2 or later -- you won't be able to follow these instructions on other phones or the original Pixel. Here's how to turn it on:

Read more
How to unlock your Android phone automatically with Smart Lock
Android Smart Lock

We open our smartphones innumerable times each day without even thinking twice about it. Punching in a PIN or passcode, touching a fingerprint sensor, or waiting for facial recognition has quickly become our regular routines. Nevertheless, there are methods to make the usual habits much less tedious if you own a phone with Android 5.0 Lollipop or later.

Google launched a feature named Smart Lock in 2015 along with Android Lollipop. This feature allows you to define circumstances when it’s okay to circumvent the PIN, pattern, or any other security hoops you have in place to access your phone. These conditions consist of establishing a trusted location and connecting with a trusted device.

Read more
From Android 1.0 to Android 10, here’s how Google’s OS evolved over a decade
Android

The smartphone has come a long way since the first iPhone launched in 2007. While Apple's iOS is arguably the world's first smartphone operating system, Google's Android is by far the most popular. Android has evolved significantly since first being released on an HTC-made T-Mobile device in 2008. Android was created in 2003 by Andy Rubin, who first started developing an OS for digital cameras. Soon, he realized that the market for digital camera operating systems perhaps wasn't all that big, and Android, Inc. diverted its attention toward smartphones.

It wasn't until 2005 that Google purchased Android, Inc., and while there wasn't much info about Android at the time, many took it as a signal that Google would use the platform to enter the phone business. Eventually, Google did enter the smartphone business -- but not as a hardware manufacturer. Instead, it marketed Android to other manufacturers, first catching the eye of HTC, which used the platform for the first Android phone, the HTC Dream, in 2008.

Read more