With safety and privacy becoming increasingly more important Google has taken this on board with an important move for Google Files. The company is preparing a “Safe Folder” designed to keep your most important files secure as found by 9to5. This will be protected by a pin and may also possibly be encrypted in order to ensure privacy for its users.
The source found this new feature by decompiling the latest version of an application uploaded to the Play Store.
This allowed a look at various lines of code the hint at new features as well as ones that could disappear. This time we saw the likely emergence of a Google Files Safe Folder.
Google Preparing Pin-Protected Safe Folder
As mentioned, safety and privacy are becoming more and more central to our technological lives. Almost everything requires some sort of password, fingerprint or pin code. However, this base layer of protection is not always enough for everyone so Google has taken it one step further.
A dedicated “Safe Folder” will launch sometime in the future. However, we have no indication as to when this will be.
This folder will aim to keep your files safe by stopping other apps accessing your files. Alternatively, it will stop someone with access to your phone from seeing your most important files.
Users will set a pin code for this folder, which ideally should be something different from the one of your home screen. It appears as if there is no in-built method to recover your passcode if you forget it. This is particularly interesting because it hints that your files may be encrypted.
We are somewhat used to end-to-end encryption with apps such as Whatsapp using it for messaging.
However, for files, it would be an interesting step forwards. Once you have set up the “Safe Folder” Google will offer you the ability to move individual files into said folder. On each occasion, you must enter your pin code to ensure safety.
Google has recently launched a “Save Status” in indicator for Docs as part of regular updates. However, this is a much more safety-conscious approach from the app that has now surpassed over 500 million installs.
Samsung has a similar feature on offer so this move is not surprising. The “Secure Folder” is its official offering for phones to encrypt files and apps.
Google following suit, albeit some time after the fact, demonstrates the importance of privacy and safety to users currently.