Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
A few days ago, my colleague Calvin shared an interesting fact about GrapheneOS: The custom ROM allows him to set a duress PIN that completely erases the phone when he enters it, including encryption keys and the eSIM partition. It’s a very drastic privacy measure that lets anyone protect their data if they’re being forced to hand over or unlock their phone when they don’t want to do it.
I love that the feature exists for those who think they might need it, even if it’s through a custom ROM, but as many commenters pointed out on Calvin’s article, this is too drastic for most of us. Instead, what several commenters and I would like is more akin to a decoy PIN that opens a sandboxed version of my profile. And I’m not alone. Several of you want exactly that and would even pay for it.
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Another option would be to make multiple users on Android accessible from the same PIN unlock screen, and we’d be golden. I’m surprised this feature isn’t yet a part of Android, especially when it could benefit everyone, not just privacy freaks, including families that share a tablet at home.
Do you want a duress or decoy PIN on Android? 36 votes Duress. Let me erase my entire phone with 4 digits! 3 % Decoy. Switching to a harmless profile is good enough for me. 44 % Why not both? Let me pick. 53 % I don't see a need for either of these. 0 %
A duress PIN is too much; a decoy PIN is a simpler solution
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Even though I’m fascinated by the idea of setting up a kill switch on my phone, I think it’s an extreme measure that very few, if any, people will ever need or use. It’s an overkill solution that leaves room for potential forgetfulness and misuse. If you choose a strong PIN, you might forget about it the very moment you need it. If you choose a weak PIN, like 0000 or 1234, you’ll risk someone (a kid, most likely) wiping your phone and data by mistake if they pick up your phone and try to guess your code. Someone suggested choosing a decoy PIN that differs by one number from their primary PIN, but I think that’s even worse. One finger slip and my data is poof, gone. Better never use my phone with oily or sweaty fingers!
What also worries me about duress PINs is that they might trigger violence on the side of the person forcing me to unlock my phone. Who knows what they might do when they realize I erased everything?
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