Welcome • User Guide
ToS • Privacy • Canary
Donate • Bugs • License

©2025 Poal.co

1.5K

Fuckin' great. Now I've got to move them.

Fuckin' great. Now I've got to move them.

(post is archived)

[–] • 3 pts

What? Androids have had this feature for years. And it's not hidden. WTF. People should pay more attention to the devices they use. Maybe try to understand how it works instead of being shocked when told about a feature thats been present since at least 2015. First search result. Vet your sources. Or better yet do your own research.

[–] • 2 pts

This is not a new or hidden feature. It has been in Android for at least the past three major versions. The feature is clearly available in the lock screen options so to call it a "hidden feature" is completely wrong.

The feature uses the accelerometer that's built in to the phone to detect movement so it can keep the lock screen open while you are moving. Your phones have been tracking your movement and types of movement for generations now so if this scares you, you are late to the game.

[–] • 0 pt

I remember seeing this feature on my old Android 5 phone years ago. It likely uses the accelerometer. I know Google uses that for logging location history to save battery so it doesn't have to check GPS as often when the phone is sitting still.

[–] • 0 pt

Accelerometer and gyro aren't great for any sort of tracking by themselves either, unless you have geo-location with GPS or wifi signals to get an absolute location first.

[–] • 1 pt

They are used to track activity levels moreso than location. But you're right it's greatly enhanced with location. For example, for advertisers, if you're at school and physically active, this implies you are athletic.

[–] • 0 pt

Um, I didn't mean "location tracking". The purpose of the feature is movement tracking which can tell if you are sitting/standing still, walking, running or travelling by vehicle. That's already plenty of intrusion into your personal information. GPS only makes it way worse for actual location tracking, but it's not needed by this feature.

[–] • 0 pt

I know what you meant, I was just posting that normies probably think that this feature is what tracks their location.

[–] • 0 pt

touching the back of the phone with any number of fingers you have set to unlock the phone is too much to unlock the phone

This isn't a feature, it's a (((feature))). Set this up and your phone is unlocked when police think of a way to arrest you. Now they have full access to your life and don't even need your password.

[–] • 0 pt

In theory, this sounds cool, but it's another quantitative metric that can be used to invade your privacy.

I already shut off as many sensors as I can. For example: GPS, biometric scanners, face detection, voice control and so on. I don't want my phone to measure anything. I want to make phone calls.

[–] • 1 pt

It's not like turning off these features in settings actually turns off the sensors. Smart Lock just allows you to get some benefit from this monitoring rather than just then.