3 the reason why I nonetheless use Android sample unlock in 2025

Within the late 2000s and into the 2010s, one of many extra distinctive components of the Android working system was its inclusion of a sample unlock characteristic. Serving as an alternative choice to the usual 4-digit PIN discovered on the

iPhone
, sample unlock was seen as a handy and distinctive technique of securing your telephone’s delicate information.

The place a PIN depends on the consumer inputting a string of 4 numerical digits to succeed in the house display, sample unlock makes use of a 3 x 3 grid of dots, and duties the consumer with connecting these dots in a predetermined path by way of a swiping gesture.

Anecdotally, I do not see very many

Android
customers counting on or enabling sample unlock nowadays. The ubiquity of biometric authentication (fingerprint and face unlock) on our cell units has lowered the necessity to depend on PINs, patterns, passwords, and different conventional strategies of safety.

Many opt to set up a simple PIN as a fallback choice for when their fingerprint or face is not acknowledged, however not me: I am on crew sample unlock. Listed below are 3 the reason why, even in 2025, I all the time allow a sample on each new Android machine I personally arrange.

1

It makes unlocking fluid and handy

Swiping is less complicated than tapping

Whereas tapping on-screen to enter a PIN is not a very time-consuming course of, the mechanical motion of poking and prodding is not precisely easy, both. Against this, I discover I can unlock my telephone a lot faster utilizing a sample setup: my finger by no means has to raise off the show, and I can carry out the motion in a single fluid movement.

Nowadays, most telephones urge you to make use of a 6-digit PIN versus a 4-digit one out of the field. This can be a boon for safety, but it surely additionally slows down the unlock course of even additional. If Google have been to supply an enhanced sample safety choice, maybe by rising the grid of dots to 4 x 4 (which they actually must do), I do not suppose it’d gradual me down within the slightest.

Associated

Step up your security game with these top-tier password managers

Do not belief your browser to retailer your passwords both.

2

It is (comparatively) safe

Maintaining your telephone information away from the mistaken arms

Pocket-lint / Google / USPTO

Even in its default 3 x 3 grid state, sample unlock remains to be a comparatively safe answer. Admittedly, it is not fairly on the stage of a PIN setup, and there is a body of literature to again this actuality up. However, a 3 x 3 grid yields a complete of 389,112 doable patterns, which is nothing to sneeze at. Personally, I would advocate stirring away from fundamental and extremely predictable patterns, like L or U shapes; these fundamental patterns are akin to setting your PIN

to something like 1234 or 2580
.

One of many massive points with older variations of sample unlock, was that it was straightforward for a foul actor to look over your shoulder and to look at your sample in the course of the enter course of. Fortunately, Google has tweaked the characteristic to mitigate this concern in newer versions of Android — at the moment, your swipe path is obscured all through the method, and there is an choice to disable visible suggestions cues altogether.

Associated

Android 16 has a handy new fingerprint unlock feature

A brand new characteristic in Android 16’s Developer Preview 2 helps you to unlock your Pixel 9 along with your fingerprint even when the display is off.

3

It fuels my nostalgia bug

I have been utilizing sample unlock for the higher a part of 15 years

Reality be informed, the principle cause why I allow sample unlock versus a PIN on

my Google Pixel 9 Pro
, comes all the way down to nostalgia. My first telephone

was an HTC Wildfire S
, and I rocked a sample setup from day one. Nowadays, unlocking a telephone with a sample is not significantly groundbreaking or thrilling, however again in 2008, it felt futuristic to me.

Regardless of my Pixel 9 Professional having a superb ultrasonic fingerprint sensor beneath its show, I nonetheless work together with the oh-so-familiar grid of dots frequently. As an extra safety measure, the telephone robotically disables biometric authentication every 72 hours. In different phrases, I obtain a dose of nostalgic delight as soon as each 3 days, and I would not need it every other method.

Associated

Android’s new auto-reboot feature could add fuel to the privacy battle fire

The tech might put increasingly more telephones past the attain of investigators.