Today’s finally the day. After the most frustrating of delays, Samsung has started rolling out Android 15 / One UI 7 to recent flagships. Samsung’s new Galaxy S25 was released with Android 15 out of the box. Now Galaxy S24 and S23 devices should be upgraded this month, alongside the last two generations of Z Folds and Z Flips.
Android 15 via One UI 7 brings a raft of security and privacy updates, including better protection against dangerous wired and wireless connections and better threat detection and permission abuse prevention for apps installed on your phone. Google’s stock Android 15 OS is much better than its predecessor, and Samsung makes it better still.
But the danger of installing the wrong apps from the wrong places remains a thorn in Android’s side, and here Samsung is going further than Google to stop users from being lured into direct or third-party store installs instead of Google’s or Samsung’s stores.
Samsung has now defaulted to Maximum Restrictions for new phones, which restricts this “sideloading” of apps onto devices without some painful tapping to acknowledge the risks and bypass the protections. This is a good move and is highly recommended for all but more hardened users, those who might be lured into a dangerous download.
Sideloading has become a key differentiator between iPhone and Android, notwithstanding the (ironic) pressure on Apple in Europe and elsewhere to adopt the same practices. Google remains in two minds on how difficult to make this, with a mix of warnings and updates to make it easier. Samsung seems less conflicted.
These restrictions, Samsung says, are “a powerful line of defense against today’s cyber threats.” And it’s an impressive list:
- “Turns on App protection: Checks apps installed for malicious activity.
- Blocks device admin apps: Prevents activation of device admin apps and work profiles to protect against potential malicious attacks.
- Blocks auto downloading attachments: Prevents automatic downloads of message attachments to protect against malicious software, while still allowing manual downloads from trusted sources.
- Blocks hyperlinks and previews: Protects you from accidentally clicking on hyperlinks or viewing preview images, keeping you safe from malicious websites.
- Removes location data when sharing pictures: Prevents the recipient from being able to determine where the picture was taken when you attach a picture to a message in Samsung Messages or share a picture from Samsung Gallery.
- Blocks shared albums: Protects you from sharing sensitive information and accepting invites from unknown senders.”
The restrictions are shored up further in One UI 7, with universal 2G blocking for the first time across Samsung’s portfolio to protect against non-encrypted network connections favored by attackers. There are also some helpful restrictions against automatically connecting to networks, with the auto-reboot feature made famous by Apple by frustrating law enforcement due to come to Android as well.
If Maximum Restrictions are not enabled on your phone, Samsung has decided to maintain that selection when you upgrade. This means the new security features will not carry across. Don’t wait until you upgrade. Change this setting now — that’s my advice — and then this setting will also be enabled when Android 15 starts up.
