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Android security: How to set a PIN, password, and biometric login

Thinking about how many passwords, logins, and sensitive bits of data sit on your phone can be a little frightening. So how do you protect all of that information? This guide will take you through setting a safer PIN and password, as well as having face and fingerprint unlock set in your Android device for extra security.

Unfortunately, malicious actors are everywhere. In light of recent discoveries of a breakdown in security, securing your Android device with a strong PIN or password is even more so vital. While setting an easy four-digit PIN is convenient – I, too, am guilty of doing so – it doesn’t offer the most security. Any person who is able to access a device via PIN also has access to your Google Account using that same combination of numbers. Knowing that, we more than recommend creating a stronger unlock method. 2d Face Recognition

Android security: How to set a PIN, password, and biometric login

Any person who happens to be walking past can easily catch a glimpse of those four numbers, and remembering that combination doesn’t take much effort. However, expand that PIN to 8 or even 12 digits, and you have a much better chance of avoiding prying eyes. Beyond that, adding a password or even fingerprint and face ID increases the security even more.

Every Android device is a little different, with Samsung taking a different approach from Google and so on. With that, you might need to find similar settings to the ones listed below, but the general idea is the same throughout the ecosystem.

Setting up a simple PIN is convenient since it provides fast phone access while also providing some security. Of course, going a step further to set up a password or face unlock on your Android device could prevent someone from completely taking your Google Account over and doing something much more malicious. Either way, adding more security measures and expanding your PIN by two characters could go a long way with security.

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