Losing your phone is stressful. Having it stolen is worse, because whoever has it may also be holding your banking apps, your photos and your text messages.
At its I/O conference in May 2024, Google announced a set of theft protection tools built right into Android. You do not have to buy anything or download a separate app to use them.
This guide explains what each new feature does in plain language, then walks you through turning each one on, one step at a time.
What are Android’s new theft protection features?
Google built three new tools into Android phones in 2024 to help protect your phone and the data on it if someone steals it: Theft Detection Lock, Offline Device Lock and Remote Lock. Each one guards against a different way a thief might try to get into your phone.
| Feature | What it guards against | How it turns on |
|---|---|---|
| Theft Detection Lock | Someone grabbing your phone and running or riding off with it | Automatically, once you switch it on |
| Offline Device Lock | A thief turning off your data and Wi-Fi so it cannot be locked from afar | Automatically, once you switch it on |
| Remote Lock | You need to lock your own phone after it goes missing | You trigger it yourself, from a browser |
Plain talk: on-device AI
This means your phone works out what is happening using the sensors already inside it, such as its motion sensor. It does not send your movements to Google to be analyzed.
Theft Detection Lock
Theft Detection Lock watches for the kind of sudden movement that happens when someone snatches a phone out of your hand and runs, bikes or drives away with it. In its I/O 2024 announcement, Google describes the feature as one that “uses powerful Google AI to sense if your device has been snatched and quickly lock down your information on your phone.”
It works using your phone’s motion sensors along with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, checking for the pattern of movement, speed and connection loss that goes along with a theft, rather than everyday activity like walking or a bumpy bus ride. When it senses that pattern, it locks your screen right away.
Locking the screen does not erase or delete anything. It simply means whoever is holding the phone needs your PIN, pattern, password or fingerprint to get in, exactly as they would if you had locked it yourself.
To turn on Theft Detection Lock:
- Open Settings on your phone.
- Tap Google.
- Tap All services.
- Under Personal and device safety, tap Theft protection.
- Turn on Theft Detection Lock.
Theft Detection Lock needs Android 10 or higher and a screen lock (PIN, pattern, password or fingerprint) already set up. According to Google’s official Android Help page for theft protection, the feature is not available on Android Go phones, tablets or watches, and support can vary a little by phone model.
Try this
Turn on all three theft protection features in one sitting. They all live on the same Theft protection screen in Settings, so once you are there, it takes only a minute or two to switch on each one.
Offline Device Lock
A common trick thieves use is switching a stolen phone to airplane mode or removing the SIM card right away, so it cannot connect to the internet and cannot be locked or tracked remotely.
Offline Device Lock closes that gap. If your phone is open (not locked) and loses its internet connection and stays offline, the screen locks on its own after a short time. That way, cutting the connection does not buy a thief extra access to your phone.
To turn on Offline Device Lock:
- Open Settings, then tap Google.
- Tap All services.
- Under Personal and device safety, tap Theft protection.
- Turn on Offline Device Lock.
This feature also needs Android 10 or higher and a screen lock already set up. To avoid locking your phone every time you lose signal in a parking garage or on a flight, Google limits how often it can trigger this way.
Remote Lock
Remote Lock is different from the other two: instead of your phone deciding on its own that something is wrong, you tell it to lock, from any computer, tablet or phone with a web browser.
Plain talk: SIM card
A SIM card is the small chip inside your phone that connects it to your mobile network and phone number. Remote Lock needs an active SIM card in the phone so it can be reached.
Here is what makes Remote Lock useful: you do not need your Google password or the phone itself in hand to use it. You only need your phone number.
To set up Remote Lock ahead of time (do this now, before you ever need it):
- Open Settings, then tap Google.
- Tap All services.
- Under Personal and device safety, tap Theft protection, then Remote Lock.
- Turn on Remote Lock.
- Confirm your phone number if you are asked to.
- Optional: add a security question, so only you can lock the phone this way.
If your phone ever goes missing, here is how to use it:
- On any other device, go to android.com/lock.
- Enter your phone number.
- Complete the short verification.
- Choose Lock device.
Your phone’s screen locks right away if it is online, or as soon as it reconnects if it was offline. After a remote lock, only your own PIN, pattern, password or fingerprint on the device will open it again.
Remote Lock needs a screen lock, an active SIM card, and Find My Device turned on ahead of time on your phone. It is worth checking that Find My Device is already on before you need any of this, since our guide on finding a parent’s lost Android phone walks through that setup in detail.
Which Android phones can use these features?
| Requirement | Theft Detection Lock | Offline Device Lock | Remote Lock |
|---|---|---|---|
| Android version | 10 or higher | 10 or higher | Works with Find My Device turned on |
| Screen lock needed | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Not available on | Android Go phones, tablets, watches | (no listed exceptions) | (no listed exceptions) |
Not every phone maker had rolled the features out to every model by early September 2024. If you open the Theft protection screen and do not see all three yet, check again after your next system update. Google has said it is bringing the features to more Android 10 and higher phones over time.
Safety tip
These features help after a theft happens, but a strong screen lock is still your first line of defense. Use a PIN or pattern that is not your birth year or address, and avoid sharing it with anyone outside your household.
What to do if your phone is actually stolen
Turning on these three features takes a few minutes and is worth doing today, but it helps to know the fuller list of steps if the worst happens.
- Use another device to go to android.com/lock or the Find My Device app and lock or locate the phone right away.
- Call your mobile carrier to suspend service on the stolen SIM card, so it cannot be used for calls or texts.
- Change the passwords on your important accounts, starting with email and banking.
- If you are worried someone could use your information to open accounts in your name, our guide on freezing your credit after a scam walks through the steps.
If you are setting up a phone for a parent or another family member, this is a good moment to turn these features on together. Our guide on setting up a phone for an elderly parent covers the rest of the basics worth checking at the same time, and our guide to stopping spam calls on Android is a natural next step once theft protection is switched on.
Where to go from here
Theft Detection Lock, Offline Device Lock and Remote Lock work together quietly in the background, so once you turn them on, there is nothing more to do until you need them. For more step-by-step Android help like this, see our Your Android Phone book page.
