Android ships with a ton of features already enabled by default that you didn’t ask for, like an adaptive battery that can throttle your background apps, pre-installed Google apps that sync in the background, and default usage and diagnostics sharing, which you’ll only notice if you go looking in the Privacy Dashboard.
But what about the opposite issue, like features that are genuinely useful and ready for use that just aren’t enabled from the start? I went looking for some of those and found three that made me wonder why they weren’t already an active part of my Android system.
Theft Detection Lock
It’s on any device with Android 10 or newer
Theft Detection Lock uses on-device AI systems along with your phone’s motion sensors, Wi-Fi connection status, and Bluetooth to detect when someone has grabbed your phone and run off with it. If the system’s algorithm senses this snatch-and-run pattern, it locks the screen immediately so the thief has no time to start rifling through your banking apps or Google account.
The feature rolled out in late 2024 for any device running Android 10 or newer, and it’s delivered via a Google Play Services update rather than a full OS upgrade. That’s great for folks with older phones; you don’t need the latest and greatest OS to take advantage of the lock.
Theft Detection Lock comes with two companion features that are worth enabling, too. Offline Device Lock automatically locks the screen if your phone goes offline for an extended period of time, like if a thief switches it to Airplane Mode to block Find My Device. Failed Authentication Lock kicks in after too many wrong PIN attempts, too, and the three of these features work together to keep your data safe, even if someone grabs the phone itself.
To turn these features on, search for Theft Protection in your Settings app and open it. You’ll find toggles for each of the three features there.
I’m of the opinion that these security features should be on by default, and someone agrees with me, since in Brazil, Google made it the default state as of January 2026. Here’s hoping more places get it enabled soon.
Private Space’s sandboxed profile
A hidden phone inside your phone
This Android 15 feature creates an isolated environment inside your phone that’s completely separate from your main profile. Any apps you install there don’t share data with your main profile, don’t appear in recent app or search results, and don’t send any notifications while the space is locked. If you hide it, there’s no visual clue that it exists.
Private Space runs as its own user identity on the device, according to developer Jason Bayton, and it’s built on the same underlying stack as Android’s work profile. It’s not an app vault or a PIN-protected folder. If you install, say, a banking app in Private Space, it can’t reach data from the exact same app installed in your main profile, and vice versa.
This can be useful for things like separate messaging accounts, banking or health apps you’d rather not have anyone else accessing if they’re using your phone, or work apps tied to a different Google account. You could then run two instances of the same app at the same time, one using your main profile and one from Private Space, each logged into a different account.
On my Pixel 9, I went into Settings > Security & Privacy > Private Space and walked through the setup. I logged in with my current Google account (though I could have used a different one) and then set the lock screen pass code, which could be the same or different as my current one. Once that’s taken care of, I swiped to the bottom of the app drawer and found the Private area. I unlocked it at first, then there’s an option to re-lock it with a tap to the Lock button.
Private Space requires Android 15 and more than 6GB of RAM, and setup takes a couple of minutes to authenticate and (optionally) add a separate Google account for true isolation, and to set a lock code, which can be totally different or the same as your current one.
Samsung apparently has a similar feature, Secure Folder, that is limited to those specific devices. OnePlus Open has its own “Hidden Space” in OxygenOS, too. Android’s Private Space opens up the feature for any qualifying Android 15 device instead of being OEM-specific and in fact can run right alongside these other platforms.
Why is Private Space off by default? It could be that setup would cause more friction for the standard user during initial setup, but I’d argue that Android could offer a “remind me later” type of system to at least put this in front of people who might not even know it exists.
Now Playing works entirely on your device
This lock screen feature names the songs playing in the room.
Now Playing is a Pixel-exclusive feature that passively identifies music that’s playing nearby and displays the song and artist on your lock screen. This is in contrast to an app like Shazam, which needs you to activate the listening to identify songs. Now Playing works completely independently and now even includes a running history you can scroll back through later. It also works offline, comparing the audio it hears against a locally stored database of audio “fingerprints” instead of sending the data off to an online server. No raw audio leaves your device during the auto recognition.
While Now Playing had a rough couple of years during 2024 and 2025, identifying only one song out of ten, according to Gadget Hacks, Google fixed it in the March 2026 Pixel Drop, which moved Now Playing out of System Intelligence and into a standalone Play Store app. Now Google can push updates outside the regular OS releases.
Now Playing is, in fact, presented as an opt-in during Pixel setup, though people can totally skip installing it. If you want to see if it’s enabled on your own phone, check out Settings > Sound & Vibration > Now Playing, toggle it on and then add the lock screen shortcut to manually identify songs when you want to.
Of course, the battery cost is legitimate. There is a drain from keeping Now Playing active, because it samples ambient audio once in a while and uses the phone’s low-power audio processor to do so. It’s a small drain, and having it as opt-in instead of on by default makes sense in that case. Still, it would be nice to have it opt-out, perhaps, since it’s a pretty great feature, one that’s above and beyond the other services like Shazam (which has been integrated into iOS).
Built in but easy to miss
All three features above share a similar problem: They’re on your phone already as fully realized functions of your Android phone, but Google left them (mostly) in the Settings for you to stumble upon. While you can make the case that each feature is left off by default for a good reason (setup friction, battery drain), there’s got to be another way for Android to remind you that these are great features and could benefit you in the long run.
