Samsung issues urgent alert to UK Galaxy phone | Tech News

Anyone with a Galaxy smartphone squeezed into their pocket can be smart to make some easy adjustments as quickly as potential. Phone theft is a growing concern throughout the UK with current stats from the Met Police, confirming that 70,137 Londoners alone had a system snatched from them in 2024. That equates to about 192 victims each single day.

With most units value lots of of kilos it is a very profitable business with telephones typically despatched overseas within hours of being taken.

With a lot knowledge – resembling images, videos and banking particulars – held on these moveable devices, it may be massively regarding in the event that they get stolen however Samsung is making an attempt to help by offering a swathe of important security options.

“Samsung is today encouraging smartphone users across the UK to enable and update the latest anti-theft features available on Samsung Galaxy devices,” the company mentioned in a current replace.

This consists of one essential replace now obtainable on Galaxy phone known as Theft Protection.

Samsung says this operate provides a multi-layered suite of options developed to safeguard personal knowledge, even in high-risk conditions resembling theft.

Once activated, Theft Protection provides extras resembling “Theft Detection Lock” which makes use of machine studying to detect motions related to theft resembling snatching. Once noticed it routinely locks the screen so knowledge cannot be accessed.

There’s additionally “Offline Device Lock” which routinely locks the screen if the system is disconnected from the community for an prolonged period, making certain safety even when the system is offline.

Then there’s “Remote Lock” which does precisely what it says on the tin and lets customers lock the system remotely.

Along with these current options, Samsung has additionally confirmed the release of two new security updates.

These embrace…

Identity Check: In unfamiliar places, the ‘Safe Places’ characteristic requires biometric authentication for any adjustments to delicate security settings, including an further layer of safety when a PIN could have been compromised.

Security Delay: If a robber makes an attempt to reset biometric knowledge, a one-hour delay instantly will get activated earlier than any adjustments take impact. This essential buffer provides Samsung clients time to lock the stolen phone from a related system, resembling a PC or pill, earlier than unauthorised entry can happen.

“Our recent One UI 7 update built further on existing protections with new anti-theft features such as identity check, biometric authentication and security delay, all featured in our latest Galaxy S25 series,” said Annika Bizon, Mobile Experience (MX) VP of Product and Marketing, UK&I at Samsung

“These features have now also been rolled out into a range of models across our devices and further updates will follow. We must do everything we can to ensure the safety and security of our customers when they are using their mobile devices and we will continue to work hard to ensure our customers are aware of the wide range of security features available to them.”

These up to date theft options at the moment are turning into obtainable on earlier flagship units, beginning with the Galaxy S24 collection, Galaxy Z Fold6, Z Flip6, Z Fold5, Z Flip 5, S23 and S22 collection presently, with future updates deliberate for even more Galaxy smartphones.