What you need to know.
- The Find My Device app (version 3.1.173-1) lets you log in using biometrics, making access on Android faster and more secure.
- 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 fast and secure access on Android.
Android Authority reports that Find My Device is bringing the much-anticipated biometric login support to version 3.1.173-1 of the app on Android. Now, you can easily access the app using face recognition or fingerprint scanning on top of your regular PIN.
Previously, the only way to sign in was through your Google Account password. There were already reports in May this year that Google was planning biometric login for the Find My Device app, so its arrival is no surprise. More importantly, this update further enhances the security of the app.
Before coming up with biometric authentication, users can 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 go into Find My Device, jeopardizing the privacy and security of the user’s devices.
Thanks to biometric authentication, the ‘don’t ask again’ option has become a thing of the past. Now users have to verify their identity every time they launch the app.
It is interesting to note that biometric login is turned on by default in the Find My Device app. This is a change from when the feature was first seen earlier this year, where it was just an optional setting that users could turn off.
In addition to 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 recent update will change to a side panel layout, giving you more space for the map display.
The side panel will have all the simple options like the bottom menu. But when we can expect this tablet-friendly update, it’s still a mystery.