Google added a new feature to Android 16 DP2 allowing the fingerprint reader installed under the Pixel 9 screen to work… even when the screen is off. Logically, this novelty will however be exclusive to them.
If your smartphone has a fingerprint reader integrated under the screen, you will not have escaped the fact that the latter must often be turned on beforehand so that the reader can scan your thumb and proceed to unlock the device. device.
This constraint could soon no longer apply to Pixel 9 users. We learn that Google has started to deploy on Android 16 DP2 (second version of the Developer Preview) an option allowing the fingerprint reader to operate even when the screen is off.
A practical function, but reserved for Pixel 9?
In any case, this is what we discovered Android Authority. The specialized site delved into the options unlocked by installing Android 16 DP2 until spotting what Google describes as the possibility “ use fingerprint unlock even when the screen is off ».
This new option is in this case buried in the Settings, under: Security and confidentiality > Device unlocking > Unlocking by facial identification and fingerprints > Unlocking by fingerprints.
Suffice to say that it is currently difficult to come across it by chance.
Continuing his research, this time in the Android 16 DP2 code, Android Authority made another important discovery. The site actually tells us that this fingerprint unlocking function, when the screen is off, requires an ultrasonic fingerprint reader to work. It will therefore only appear a priori on devices that are equipped with it.
This automatically excludes all Google smartphones, with the exception of the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, and Pixel 9 Pro XL. Logically, the latter should therefore be the only ones able to benefit from this new feature in the future. However, this functionality may eventually arrive on smartphones from other brands, equipped with ultrasonic readers.
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