Android 17 wants to solve the biggest headache with using SIM PIN locks

TL;DR

• SIM PINs help protect you from attackers intercepting 2FA codes.
• Manually entering the PIN on boot can get annoying, though.
• With Android 17, Google is building a new system for letting the phone automatically handle SIM PIN unlocks.

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If you’re a responsible smartphone user, chances are that your phone is already secured with a screen lock — and hopefully that involves a sufficiently long password or PIN. But there’s another PIN you could (and arguably, should) be using to keep your accounts and communication safe: a SIM PIN. And now with Android 17 Beta 2 available to Pixel testers, we’ve spotted a new change Google appears to be working on to make SIM PINs much, much more convenient.

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Let’s start by clearing up what we’re talking about here, as there’s a fair chance that you’ve never even heard of a SIM PIN before now, and have no idea what’s going on. Just like a PIN code can keep your phone safe by requiring its entry when your device starts up, a SIM PIN does the same for securing access to your cellular account. When you a power on a phone with a PIN-locked SIM, it won’t be able to make calls, work with texts, or use data until the PIN is entered.

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