No more leaked secrets.
getty
Well done Google. A major new privacy feature is coming to Pixel, Samsung and other phones courtesy of the new Android 17 upgrade. This will let users lock apps behind device security, and also hide message content from anyone but you.
We already knew about “App Lock.” As I reported last month, this is a more user-friendly alternative to Android’s relatively new Private Space, and updates the default launcher to add a native option to lock apps, without reverting to 3rd party options.
Now Android Authority has delved deeper into pre-release code to find that the “latest Android Canary reveals Google plans to mask notifications by replacing their content with generic placeholder text.” This means “locked app notifications will show generic ‘New message’ or ‘New notification’ text instead of the usual notification content.”
The App Lock feature should become a much-used function on your Android phone, as it should now be for iPhone users, who have had this option since iOS 18. You should lock any app which you don’t want casual users on your phone to access.
As Android Authority points out, this “might stop your notifications from spilling secrets,” and it certainly gives you a privacy option that’s missing today.
That should include messaging apps, which is why over-the-tops such as WhatsApp offer their own App Lock option which secures content behind device security.
Google’s proposed integration of App Lock with notification privacy is a great move.
Per GizChina, “the system will use different ways to hide content based on the app type. For messaging apps like Google Messages, when a user locks the app, any new private message will show only the words ‘New message’ in the notification bar. The sender and the message itself will remain hidden. For other apps that are not used for chat, the notification will simply read ‘New notification,’ giving no clue about the content.”
