- Factory reset protection is getting several key upgrades in Android 15 to make it harder to bypass.
- Google made it so bypassing the setup wizard no longer deactivates factory reset protection, among other changes.
- These changes will make it harder for thieves to sell stolen phones.
If a thief snatches your phone from your hand and runs off, there isn’t much you can do to recover it. Once your phone is out of your hands, the first thing you should try to do is remotely lock it so the thief can’t get access to any of your data. If you manage to lock it, then the only thing the thief can do with your phone is try to sell it. Thankfully, Google made it difficult for thieves to factory reset Android devices in preparation for selling them, and in the latest Android 15 update, the company may have just made it basically impossible.
Android has a security mechanism called factory reset protection (FRP) that is activated when you first associate a Google account with your device. It kicks in when the device undergoes an untrusted factory reset, such as a factory reset triggered from recovery mode. This is because anyone can trigger a factory reset through recovery mode, even if they can’t unlock your device.