Google Just Made Your Android Phone More Like An iPhone
Android suddenly gets new update
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April is proving an interesting month for Android. Google has warned new attacks are underway, releasing a critical update that was immediately included in monthly updates for Pixels, Samsungs and others. Meanwhile, Samsung has hit another major issue with its surprising pause in the One UI 7 upgrade. With all this news, what users will likely miss is Google's quiet update that makes your Android more like iPhone.
While there's plenty of focus on Android OS upgrades and the monthly and quarterly security and feature updates, in the background Google's Play Services is also regularly updated and brings new features and critical security updates. In many ways, these updates are just as important as those generating more headlines and attention.
The latest Play Services update brings a new security enhancement we had assumed would only turn up with Android 16. But it has now been included in April's Google Play services v25.14 (2025-04-14). And this update makes your phone much safer against the kind of attacks Google has been flagging for the last year.
We're talking an 'inactivity reboot,' which is when your phone automatically restarts when it hasn't been used for three days. This returns your phone to its 'Before First Unlock (BFU)' state, which requires you to physically enter a code to start the device. Until you do so, many of the phone's functions — including wired and wireless data access are disabled, and data itself remains encrypted.
This level of protection came to prominence when Apple added it to iPhones last year, reportedly frustrating law enforcement agencies which could not tap into phones retrieved from evidence lockers even with USB forensic toolkits. Many of the zero-day exploits flagged for iPhone and Android devices in the last year have emanated from the forensic exploit world, and so this update is deemed critical. That's the same reason Samsung has shored up such defenses in its One UI 7 wrap around Android 15.
Google's release notes do not share any detail on the new feature. Under Security & Privacy, it simply says that 'with this feature, your device automatically restarts if locked for 3 consecutive days,' and that it applies to phones only. It's not clear if it's linked to any specific Android OS versions or requires any user settings changes.
Google Play Services updates quietly in the background and can take some time to reach all devices. It will roll out over the next few weeks, and you can check your Play Services version to see what it has hit your device. Per Google's support documentation:
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