Quality-of-life feature from Samsung One UI is coming to Android 14

Android 14 will borrow at least one quality-of-life feature from Samsung’s proprietary One UI launcher. And according to new findings, Google’s next OS version will allow lock screen PIN users to enable an “auto-confirm unlock” option.

The way it works currently in Android 13 is that lock screen PIN users need to enter the PIN and tap “OK” before they can unlock their devices. However, Android 14 includes a new feature that, once toggled ON, can auto-confirm the PIN if entered correctly and unlock the device automatically, saving users an extra tap of the “OK” button. (via XDA-Developers)

This Android 14 feature seems to function similarly to the existing lock screen PIN feature in Samsung’s One UI. But there is one key difference.

Google will try to make PIN auto-confirm more secure

There seems to be one important distinction between how PIN auto-confirm works in One UI and Google’s upcoming Android 14 update. Namely, the auto-confirm feature can be enabled for four-digit PINs in One UI, whereas Android 14 requires at least a six-digit PIN to allow users to turn on auto-confirm.

In theory, Google’s implementation is more secure because it makes brute-forcing a PIN more difficult or slightly more time-consuming. Furthermore, it encourages users to set longer than four-digit lock screen PINs, which are inherently not as secure as six-digit PINs.

Nevertheless, Samsung did it first, and the company already has the system up and running on Galaxy phones and tablets running One UI. It probably wouldn’t take much work for Samsung to limit the auto-confirm option to PINs that have six-or-more digits, and the OEM may very well implement this change with the release of Android 14.

Google is now testing Android 14 on its Pixel phones, and Samsung may release the Android 14-based One UI 6.0 update later this year, possibly for the Galaxy S23 series first, before bringing the update to more phones and tablets.