{"id":303171,"date":"2025-05-15T05:33:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T12:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/?p=303171"},"modified":"2025-07-01T14:38:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T21:38:29","slug":"google-wants-to-make-it-impossible-to-sell-a-stolen-android-heres-the-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/google-wants-to-make-it-impossible-to-sell-a-stolen-android-heres-the-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Google wants to make it impossible to sell a stolen Android: Here\u2019s the plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Google is taking a bold step to fight smartphone theft by reinforcing Android\u2019s Factory Reset Protection (FRP)<\/strong>. This update, announced after the Android Show: I\/O Edition, is designed to make it&nbsp;<em>nearly impossible<\/em>&nbsp;to repurpose or sell a stolen device\u2014even if the thief attempts a factory reset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Google\u2019s new anti-theft system will do<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The current Factory Reset Protection feature&nbsp;<strong>generates a secure key when a Google Account is added<\/strong>, storing it separately from user data. This prevents unauthorized reactivation after a factory reset. However, past versions had loopholes that allowed bypassing the setup wizard or reconfiguring devices without ownership verification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Google now wants to close those gaps entirely<\/strong>. The new version of FRP introduces a system-wide soft lock that disables all device functions if the setup wizard is avoided or authentication fails.&nbsp;<strong>Thieves will face a persistent lock screen message requiring the previous screen lock or account credentials<\/strong>, preventing any meaningful use or resale of the device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why this matters for Android security<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>This change represents one of the most aggressive anti-theft efforts yet by Google<\/strong>, mirroring Apple\u2019s long-standing Activation Lock. With the updated FRP, users will gain stronger assurance that&nbsp;<em>their stolen phone is unusable<\/em>&nbsp;in criminal hands. The change is especially impactful given Android\u2019s vast global market and higher theft vulnerability due to its open ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Google has confirmed the new FRP system will roll out&nbsp;<strong>later this year<\/strong>, likely as part of an upcoming Android 16 quarterly platform update. With this,&nbsp;<strong>selling stolen Android devices will no longer be profitable<\/strong>, helping deter theft at the source.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google is taking a bold step to fight smartphone theft by reinforcing Android\u2019s Factory Reset Protection (FRP). This update, announced after the Android Show: I\/O Edition, is designed to make it&nbsp;nearly impossible&nbsp;to repurpose or sell a stolen device\u2014even if the thief attempts a factory reset. What Google\u2019s new anti-theft system will do The current Factory &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/google-wants-to-make-it-impossible-to-sell-a-stolen-android-heres-the-plan\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Google wants to make it impossible to sell a stolen Android: Here\u2019s the plan&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9317,"featured_media":303175,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-303171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303171"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":303176,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303171\/revisions\/303176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303171"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=303171"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=303171"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=303171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}