Android's strictest protection can be turned off for three hours. Then it will return automatically

The strictest security mode of Android has one practical disadvantage that anyone who has enabled it knows. Sometimes it simply gets in your way – and the only thing you can do about it is to turn it off completely. And then forget to turn it back on. Google has apparently found an elegant solution for this.

Pause instead of a switch

An unreleased interface variant has been activated in the Google Play Services code, which, when attempting to disable Advanced Protection, offers to pause it instead of completely deactivating it. The dialog states that during the pause, protective features will be off and will automatically turn back on after three hours.

Three hours is a rather clever choice. Google Play Protect can currently be paused until the next day, which is long enough to completely forget about it. A three-hour window is sufficient for a one-time task and short enough to prevent the phone from remaining exposed overnight.

Why someone would need it

Advanced Protection is not a security setting for everyone. Google targets it at people with a higher risk of targeted attacks – journalists, activists, public figures, and executives. Instead of selecting individual options, it groups a whole set of protections under a single switch and prevents them from being turned off one by one.

It is precisely in this uncompromising nature that both its strength and its problem lie. Among other things, the mode completely blocks the installation of applications from unknown sources, prevents data transfer via USB on a locked phone, and restarts the device after 72 hours of inactivity. So, if you legitimately want to install an application outside the Play Store, you currently have to turn off all protection – and rely on your own memory to turn it back on.

Installing outside the store is far from the only reason. Advanced Protection can also block calls identified as spam or connections to unsecured Wi-Fi networks, which sometimes affects legitimate customer service lines or hotel networks.

When will it be available?

It is unknown. The feature is found in Google Play Services version 26.30.31, but it is not displayed to regular users, and Google has not announced it. For hidden options in system components, it is true that some of them will never be released or will be released in an altered form.

However, if it arrives as it looks now, it would be one of those small details that no one appreciates in a review but everyone appreciates in everyday use.

Do you have advanced protection enabled on your phone, or do you find it unnecessarily strict?

Source: Android Authority