“Today, Android 15 begins rolling out to Pixel devices,” Google announced on Tuesday, introducing updates that “include security features to help protect your sensitive health, financial, and personal information from theft and fraud.”
However, this initial release may be more notable for what’s absent rather than what’s included, compounded by a significant Google error that will leave millions of users missing out on key features.
Fortunately, one of the standout features, theft protection, did make it into this release. It utilizes AI to safeguard your data by automatically locking your device if it senses that someone has grabbed your phone and is trying to flee, bike, or drive away.
Despite this, there is no mention of early availability for the much-anticipated live threat detection system, which uses AI to monitor app behavior on the device and flag risks as soon as they arise.
While this feature isn’t yet available, it will likely be widely rolled out as Android 15’s full set of innovations come online.
However, what won’t be arriving anytime soon is the much-hyped Mobile Network Security update—a feature Google had teased during Android 15’s beta phase, particularly on Pixel devices.
This omission is disappointing, as users had expected these cellular defense mechanisms to be available with the Android 15 upgrade on the latest Pixel phones.
According to a report, “Android 15’s new cellular security features are missing on Pixel phones… We’ve confirmed that no current Pixel phones support Android 15’s new cellular security features.”
This is unfortunate, as it represented a real breakthrough for Google, giving Pixel devices a lead over current iPhone capabilities.
“Given that these features appeared to be accessible to Pixel users during the Android 15 beta, it seemed reasonable to assume they would be supported.
However, it turns out that the visibility of the ‘mobile network security’ settings page on Pixel phones was simply a mistake.”
These cellular defense features are particularly useful for users concerned about tracking and interception risks.
They protect against rogue networks that repeatedly ping phones for identifiers and from the danger of being disconnected from a legitimate cellular network and forced onto a local, fraudulent base station with limited or no encryption, making the device vulnerable to attack.
Such rogue networks trick phones into believing they are legitimate public cellular towers by broadcasting a strong signal.
Once a phone connects, the rogue network intercepts its traffic. If the data is fully encrypted, it remains secure, but if the rogue network reduces the encryption threshold, it leaves the phone exposed.
While many Android devices already allow users to disable 2G networks—providing some security against basic forms of these attacks—Samsung notably doesn’t offer a universal 2G toggle across its devices.
This has led to criticism, as Pixel users had hoped this security feature would represent a step up not only over iPhones but also over Samsung devices.
These new mobile network security features require close integration between hardware modems and the operating system software.
The beta release had suggested that the feature would at least be available on the new Pixel 9, but that isn’t the case—at least, not yet.
Once activated, users will be able to receive alerts when their phone connects to an unencrypted network or when a network requests device or SIM identifiers. There will also be an option to block connections to unencrypted networks entirely.
Google has reassured users that these developments are in progress across the Android ecosystem.
At its Google I/O event, the company explained that implementing this feature requires collaboration with device manufacturers and hardware compatibility, stating, “We are working with the Android ecosystem to bring these features to users… we expect OEM adoption to progress over the next couple of years.”
As pointed out, “hopefully, these new cellular security features will actually make their way to some Android devices in the near future.”
