There are two types of phones out there: phones with auto-confirming PINs and those without them. There’s really a trivial difference between these security measures, but Google is looking to bring auto-confirming PINs with Android 14.
There doesn’t seem to be much of a difference between auto-confirming PINs and regular ones. Usually, when you’re entering your PIN, you’ll press the Enter button in order to get into your phone.
However, with devices from companies like OnePlus, Samsung, etc., the device will unlock automatically once the pin is inserted. You don’t need to press the enter button. Auto-confirming PINs don’t really save all that much time compared to regular PINs, but they are less secure.
Android 14 could bring auto-confirming PINs
According to XDA Developers, Google could be bringing auto-confirming PINs to Android 14. This was discovered within the second developer preview and it hasn’t been activated yet. So, you’ll want to take this with a grain of salt.
With this enabled, the software will let you toggle auto-confirming PINs on and off. With it on, you’ll be required to use a PIN that’s at least six digits long. Since auto-confirming PINs are less secure, having it for a four-digit PIN is just begging for trouble.
When the feature is enabled, the software looks like it will toggle it on automatically. This will push people to set PINs that are at least six digits long, which won’t really be a bad thing.
Also, there’s going to be a slight change to the settings page for this feature. The text will read “but a 6-digit PIN is recommended for added security.” So, it looks like Google is planning on pushing people to make their PINs at least 6 digits long.
Since this was discovered in the developer preview, there’s no telling that it will make it to the final build of the software. For all we know, Google could take the feature out, so you’ll want to be aware of that.