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Phone manufacturers offer a variety of ways to unlock your phone, and each method has its own pros and cons. You probably use biometric authentication to unlock your phone, but did you know you can force your phone to switch back to a PIN or password one time using the built-in lockdown mode?
This is one of those things that you may not have known about and why you would want something like this, and it’s also one of those things that you need to know about before you use it.
What is Lockdown Mode?
When you set up a new phone, you can set up a lock screen. You’ll need to set up a password or PIN (personal identification number), and then you can add a way to unlock your phone using your fingerprint or face recognition.
Most people choose this because it’s convenient: When you unlock your phone, its contents are decrypted. You also use it to spend money on banking apps and digital purchases from Google Play and the App Store. Both Google and Apple have spent a lot of time making sure their biometric authentication is secure and easy to use.
Even if you set up a fingerprint, you still need to enter your password or PIN occasionally to unlock your phone. How often depends on your phone, but you should enter it at least once a day. You can enforce this behavior at any time by enabling Lockdown mode.
Depending on your phone, the way to enable this feature varies. On a Google Pixel, you can enable it in the menu by pressing and holding the power button for at least a second. On Galaxy phones, you can enable it from Settings. Biometrics and Security An icon will then appear in Quick Settings: Although it’s not called Lockdown Mode on iPhone, you can disable FaceID one time by pressing the Side button and a Volume button at the same time.
On Android phones, lockdown mode disables biometric authentication, trusted devices, voice recognition, and lock screen notifications. Every phone manufacturer offers a way to enable it, but you probably didn’t even know it existed.
Why should I use this?
You should use Lockdown mode any time you want to make sure there’s no way to unlock your phone other than knowing and entering your passcode. While many of us have special needs, like bad sleepers or sneaky roommates, there’s one common (and controversial) use case that some call “cop mode.”
In the United States, law enforcement can force you to place your fingertip on a sensor or hold your head still with your eyes open to unlock your phone, but they can’t force you to enter a passcode. Lockdown mode is a simple way to prevent law enforcement from accessing your phone.
We won’t dive into the debate of whether this is a good or bad thing, because only you know whether you want to give authorities access to your device. It’s your phone and it’s full of your information, so you decide who you share it with. That being said, it’s equally important to provide a way to share with people you choose not to share with.
We often see anecdotes on social media and YouTube about police or border patrol agents spying on someone’s phone. I assume the spyers think they have a legitimate reason to do it. Some may not. Either way, it’s happening, and you need to decide how you feel about it before it happens.
I don’t think anyone should have free reign over my phone, including the police, but don’t expect anyone to agree with me. You decide for yourself. If you think like me, just be aware that there could be potential problems.
Digital driver’s licenses are already available in some places, and your state or country will likely have them soon. But there are a few things to keep in mind: You can’t show your digital ID or barcode to a police officer if your phone is in lockdown mode. You can’t show proof of insurance with your digital ID card if your phone is in lockdown mode. Not showing either of these things means you’re breaking the law.
You also won’t be able to make calls to your spouse or anyone else while your phone is in lockdown mode, and any ongoing video recording will also stop when you enter lockdown mode. Your phone is truly unusable until you enter your passcode.
What’s really important here is that phone manufacturers, and the people who develop the software that runs our phones, have given us a choice, and even if you never decide to use it, you should know about it and how it works.
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