Android 15 may shield your sensitive login codes

Android 15 may shield your sensitive login codes،

Keeping your online accounts secure is a constant battle, which is why using passwords or two-factor authentication (2FA) becomes essential. Two-factor authentication codes add an extra layer of security, helping prevent hackers from accessing your accounts, but some of the methods currently used to send these codes aren't the most secure. This could actually change with Android 15, as new lines found in the source code suggest.

A common form of 2FA sends you a one-time password (OTP) code via text or email. Although easy to use, these methods carry an inherent risk: the text or email containing the code could be intercepted by a malicious party. However, as an Android expert discovered Mishaal Rahman (via Android Authority)A recent in-depth analysis of Android 14 QPR3 Beta 1 code, shows evidence of a new security feature in development that aims to protect your sensitive login codes.

How does Google plan to protect your login codes?

Google appears to be adding a new permission called “RECEIVE_SENSITIVE_NOTIFICATIONS. This would likely be very restricted, making it only available to certain system apps on your phone. The feature would likely work in tandem with Android's “NotificationListenerService” API, the system that lets apps read and interact with your notifications. This API is not automatically active and you usually need to enable it manually in your settings.

Android 15 can protect your sensitive login codes

Current notification access settings enabled Android 14 | Source: Android Authority

Code snippets also indicate that Android 15 might have a feature called “OTP_REDACTION”, which can hide 2FA codes directly on your lock screen. Android's NotificationListenerService can be very powerful, making it a potentially valuable tool for malicious apps to access sensitive data.

This new feature aims to prevent untrusted apps from reading notifications containing sensitive data, such as your OTP codes for logging into social media, banking, etc. Essentially, Android could give you more control over what information different apps can and can't see. These additions, when put together, indicate that Google is working to significantly improve security. One might come to the conclusion, based on these new findings, that the intended functionality is to hide these login codes from prying eyes – or prying apps if you prefer – so that only those who are trusted can access them. .