Android will launch a new security feature that will force devices to reboot in case you haven’t unlocked them for three consecutive days. It will help protect your data.

Last year, Apple rolled out a similar feature for iOS. The rationale behind adding an automatic reboot after a certain period of inactivity is to make life more difficult for bad players who may try to unlock or extract data from a phone.

Restarting a device takes it to a Before First Unlock (BFU) state. At this stage, it is harder to access the phone as you need to enter a passcode, with biometric logins not yet enabled.

9to5Google notes this update should apply to both Android phones and tablets, but will exclude other device categories like TV and WearOS.

There is no clarity on whether users would be notified why an automatic reboot has occurred, though Android phones already display a message on the PIN screen if users need to enter their passcode to fully unlock the device after a reboot.

Google Play Services 25.14 is expected to roll out over the next week or so. However, it might take a few more weeks before Android’s new auto-reboot feature is enabled.