Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Earlier this week, many media outlets reported that Google is rolling out an auto-reboot feature to Android that automatically restarts devices that have been locked for 3 consecutive days.
- This auto-reboot feature was mentioned on the Google System Release Notes page, where Google routinely shares information on new and upcoming Android and Google Play features.
- Recently, Google quietly updated the wording on this page to say that the auto-reboot feature is optional and coming in the future.
Earlier this week, Google quietly revealed — via its Google System Release Notes page — that it was rolling out a new auto-reboot feature to Android devices. The feature, as described, works similarly to Inactivity Reboot in iOS 18.1. If an Android device has been locked for 3 consecutive days, then it’ll be automatically rebooted.
Late last month, Android Authority contributor AssembleDebug tore down the Google Play Services app and discovered a reference to this auto-reboot feature, known internally as “inactivity reboot.” He found evidence that the feature is tied to Advanced Protection Mode, a new feature in Android 16 that provides a way for the system and for third-party apps to know when users are enrolled in Google’s Advanced Protection Program. Advanced Protection Mode will serve as a one-click option to enable certain security features in the OS and in compatible third-party apps.
Because Google has yet to actually provide a UI for enabling Advanced Protection Mode in Android 16, we speculated that Google was not, in fact, rolling out this new auto-reboot feature. Today, we discovered that Google has quietly updated the wording on the Google System Release Notes page to confirm that the feature isn’t actually rolling out. Furthermore, the new wording confirms that the feature will be optional once it does roll out.
Before:
[Phone] With this feature, your device automatically restarts if locked for 3 consecutive days.
After:
[Phone] Enables a future optional security feature, which will automatically restart your device if locked for 3 consecutive days.
This is a developing story. Check back for more updates!
