What you need to know
- The Find My Device app (version 3.1.173-1) is letting you log in using biometrics, making access faster and more secure on Android.
- Previously, users could only log in with their Google account password, so this is a big improvement for quick access.
- With the new biometric login, the 'Don't ask again' option is gone, requiring users to verify their identity every time they open the app.
- The app is also getting a tablet-friendly update, moving from a bottom sheet menu to a side panel layout for better map visibility.
The Find My Device app is finally letting you log in with biometrics for faster and safer access on Android.
Android Authority reports that Find My Device is rolling out the much-anticipated biometric login support in version 3.1.173-1 of the app on Android. Now, you can easily access the app using facial recognition or fingerprint scanning on top of your regular PIN.
Before this, the only way in was through your Google account password. There were already reports in May of this year that Google was planning a biometric login for the Find My Device app, so its arrival now isn’t shocking. More importantly, this update beefs up the app’s security even more.
Before biometric authentication came along, users could skip the password prompt for future logins by checking the 'Don't ask again' box. While this made things easier, it also raised security concerns. If someone had access to an unlocked device, they could easily get into Find My Device, risking the privacy and security of the user's devices.
Thanks to biometric authentication, the 'Don't ask again' option becomes a thing of the past. Now, users will have to confirm their identity each time they launch the app.
It’s interesting to note that biometric login seems to be turned on by default in the Find My Device app. This is a shift from when the feature was first spotted earlier this year, where it was just an optional setting that users could turn off.
Besides the new biometric login, Find My Device is also getting a tablet-friendly makeover. The current version has a bottom sheet menu that you can expand or collapse, but a fresh update will switch to a side panel layout, giving you more space for the map display.
The side panel will have all the same handy options as the bottom menu. But as for when we can expect this tablet-friendly update, that's still a bit of a mystery.
