Google is expected to roll out its biggest and most advanced Android OS version "L" in the next few months. Before the much-anticipated release, the web giant confirmed that its next version of Android will encrypt data by default without users manipulating with the phone's settings. This will help users of Android smartphones to prevent hackers and law enforcement officials from accessing any stored data.
Data encryption features have long been offered in Android smartphones but buried deep inside phone settings, menus and warnings. Activating the encryption has been restricted to some technically sound users while the rest fail to realize they even exist. But Google is looking to change that by bringing default encryption on all Android phones running Android L.
"For over three years, Android has offered encryption, and keys are not stored off of the device, so they cannot be shared with law enforcement," Google spokesperson Niki Christoff told The Washington Post. "As part of our next Android release, encryption will be enabled by default out of the box, so you won't even have to think about turning it on."
The latest move by Google comes shortly after Apple announced a similar default encryption in its latest iOS8 update. Apples says that its encryption is technically impossible to bypass as there is no key to unlock the device. So even with the government's demands, Apple will have access to only a certain extent beyond which it is rendered helpless.
"Unlike our competitors, Apple cannot bypass your pass code and therefore cannot access this data," Apple's updated privacy policy reads. "So it's not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data from devices in their possession running iOS 8."
These extreme steps to prevent access to user's data were taken by tech giants following a massive leak of the government's confidential documents by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. As a result, several tech companies, including Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have fought to preserve the right to privacy of consumers. Yahoo and Google took a step further by starting a way to add end-to-end encryption to webmail services.
Apple's iOS8 already started rolling out to iPhone users across the world but Google Android L is expected to roll out in the coming months. There is no exact date for the update, but it will likely be done with some product launch soon. Not all Android users will get it at once, as Google's process of updating phones is entirely different from Apple's.
