With the latest Google Play services update, Android is rolling out a new security feature that automatically restarts (or auto-reboots) devices that have been “locked for 3 consecutive days.”
Under Security & Privacy, the release notes for version 25.14 of Google Play services includes:
- [Phone] With this feature, your device automatically restarts if locked for 3 consecutive days.
By “Phone,” that should also extend to tablets, with the other device categories — Auto, PC (Play Games Windows app), TV, and Wear — excluded. An auto-reboot occurs if you haven’t used your phone or tablet for over 72 hours.
Restarting a device, returns it to a Before First Unlock (BFU) state where data is encrypted and harder to access as you’ve yet to enter your passcode, with biometric logins not yet enabled. On Pixel devices, the bottom of the lockscreen notes how you have to “Unlock for all features and data.” In comparison, data might be easier to access After First Unlock (AFU) when you are “signed in.”
GrapheneOS offers such an auto-reboot feature (18 hours by default, but the users can set it between 10 minutes and 72 hours), while the iPhone picked up something similar with iOS 18.1 (Inactivity Reboot) last year.
Google Play services 25.14 will be rolling out over the next week or so. However, it might take a few more weeks before Android’s new auto-reboot feature is enabled. Given the nature of Play services, most Android devices out in the market today should get auto-restarts without the need for an OS update.
Google has yet to share any other details, including what specific Android versions are supported and if there’s a user-facing setting. It would also be nice if there was a message when such a reboot has occurred.
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