Samsung's pushing some users to turn on their phone's anti-theft features — what you need to know

Your phone is probably the most important thing you have with you right now. Think about how much data and personal information you have in your phone, let alone the value of the device itself. It's no wonder they're a popular target of thieves.
Phone makers have been doing a lot to better secure users' phones in recent years, and just last year, Android added a bunch of anti-theft features to help lock down your phone. But it relies on you turning those features on, which is the goal of Samsung's latest campaign.
The phone maker has teamed up with the U.K.'s Home Office to educate Galaxy phone owners about these new anti-theft features — and to encourage them to switch them on.
As part of this, Samsung will be sending push notifications to Samsung account holders in the U.K. Apparently, the message started rolling out yesterday (June 2) and will be reaching all 40 million U.K. Samsung account holders by the end of the week — through both the Samsung Members platform and social media.
Which is a suspiciously high figure, considering the U.K. has a population of 68 million, and means some of the people getting that message may not be Galaxy phone owners. But considering these kinds of features are also available on iPhones and other Androids, the wider reach certainly isn't a bad thing.
It sucks to have your phone stolen, but anything you can do to make it even less valuable to thieves is a good thing. Not just for the safety of your own data, but also because it means the thief is going to have a much harder time profiting from your misfortune. Which offers a bittersweet satisfaction.
Features on offer include Theft Detection Lock, which locks your phone if it detects motion associated with snatching. Offline Device Lock will also lock down your phone if it's disconnected from a data connection (or Wi-Fi) for an extended period. There's also the classic Remote Lock that lets you initiate a lockdown process using your phone number and a single verification step.
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One UI 7 also adds Identify Check, which locks certain sensitive features behind an extra layer of biometric security if your phone isn't in a pre-set "Safe Place". That way, it's a little harder for thieves to do things like switch off Find My support or reset your account passwords.
Attempts to reset biometric data also come with a one-hour delay, giving users time to remotely lock or wipe their devices before thieves can access sensitive areas of the phone.
One UI 7 is available on Galaxy S25, S24, S23, S22, Galaxy Z Fold 6, Z Flip 6, Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 right now. So be sure to turn on all these extra features.

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