Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR Android 16’s upcoming USB Protection feature enhances security by defaulting new USB connections to charging-only when the device is locked.
This security measure may interfere with fast charging, as many protocols require data negotiation between the phone and the charger to work.
If your phone isn’t fast charging, a simple workaround is to unlock the device and then reconnect the USB cable.
Of all the new features in Android 16, Advanced Protection is one of the most important. It’s a powerful toggle that activates numerous security features across the operating system and in compatible apps, shielding high-risk users from intrusions and sensitive data leaks. With a single tap, it enables over a dozen features, with more planned for future updates.
Later this year, Advanced Protection will add a feature called USB Protection, designed to guard against malicious USB devices. There’s one caveat, though: It may not work correctly with your phone’s fast charging capabilities. Fortunately, there’s a simple workaround.
According to Google, the USB Protection feature “prevent[s] physical attacks attempting to exploit the USB port by defaulting to charging only for any new USB connection while the device is locked.” By disabling data access at a hardware level, this feature stops USB-based attacks that exploit vulnerabilities in the device’s USB stack or attempt to brute-force the lock screen. Once the user unlocks their device, USB data access is restored, allowing them to use any peripheral.
If you plug in a USB device while your phone is locked, however, you’ll have to unlock it and then reconnect the peripheral to get it working. We already knew this would be the case when we reported on the feature earlier this year. What we didn’t know at the time, though, was that this behavior would also affect fast charging, at least in some cases.
In the latest Android Canary release, we noticed that Google has enabled the USB Protection feature and also tweaked its implementation. For instance, the notification that appears when you plug in a USB device while your phone is locked has been reworded and now includes a “silence” button to snooze it until you restart.
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
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