According to Android Authority while you can reset an Android phone in plenty of ways, a proper reset through the Android recovery menu or Google's Find My Device tool flips the FRP switch. This means that during setup, you either cough up the previous Google account details or the last-known screen lock PIN, password, or pattern. Fail to do that, and the phone becomes an expensive paperweight.

FRP was supposed to make nicked phones worthless, but as always, thieves got clever, cooking up ways to dodge the setup wizard and walk off with fully functioning kit.

During The Android Show: I/O Edition, Google admitted FRP was not quite the Fort Knox it hoped for and announced plans to “further harden Factory Reset protections, which will restrict all functionalities on devices that are reset without the owner's authorisation.”

If someone skips the setup wizard, Android will catch the cheat, slap the phone into another reset, and leave it locked up tighter than a drum until proper ownership is proven.

Google kept mum on the gritty details but flashed a screenshot showing this new setup snitch in action. The upgrade is set to land “later this year”, suggesting it will miss the initial Android 16 release but could sneak in during one of the Quarterly Platform Releases (QPRs).