Hey, howdy, hallo,
GrapheneOS recently added a new feature, Duress Pin/Password. It’s been in the works for a while, so it’s exciting that it’s finally here. When I’m back to making videos (which should be soon™), a demonstration of the functionality will be one of my first videos. Unless you have two phones, you likely don’t want to test it yourself.
You can set the duress PIN/Password by going to Settings > Security > Duress Password in the owner profile. The reason you need to set both a PIN and Password, is that different profiles may have different unlock methods.
Once set, you can enter the duress PIN/Password anywhere the device credentials are requested. This could be on the lock screen, or a prompt for an app that requests your device unlock pin to access it. Once you enter the configured duress PIN/Password, the device is irreversibly wiped along with any installed eSIMs.
It’s also worth noting that the actual unlock method takes precedence. So if you set your duress PIN to the same thing as your unlock PIN, the device will not be wiped, it will be unlocked.
I think this is a very personal question, and completely depends on your threat model. Thankfully, I’m not expecting to find myself in duress, where I need to quickly erase my device so the information on it isn’t exposed. But, for some people, this is valid.
I think a great use, that I saw someone suggest, is to put a piece of paper with your duress PIN/Password inside your phone case. Let’s say your phone is stolen, the thief might think that you are forgetful, so you keep the paper in your case to check your PIN/Password if you forget it. They’ll check the paper, try the PIN/Password, and the device is erased. I’m hoping in the future a feature is added that after X incorrect PIN/Passwords attempts, the device is erased.
You can read more here about the feature and how wipe-without-reboot was added to AOSP. If you’re looking for a summary of someone who did some QA testing on the feature, this post details that.
I hope you had a great June, and I’ll see you in July,
-Josh
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