Android 16 introduces Advanced Protection, a feature that combines several layers of security to better protect sensitive data. An additional feature will be added later this year: USB Protection. This feature aims to defend your smartphone against malicious USB devices that could misuse the port for attacks.
USB protection in Android 16
In the future, when you plug in a USB cable while your phone is locked, Android will switch to charge-only by default. That means no data access until you unlock the device. Once you do, you can use the connected device normally. This prevents physical hardware-level attacks, for example attempts to bypass the lock screen or exploit vulnerabilities in the USB stack.
An interesting consequence of this measure is that fast charging may not work properly in some cases. This is because fast-charging protocols, such as USB Power Delivery (USB-PD), often require data-driven negotiation between charger and phone to determine the correct voltage. Although USB-PD uses special lines that do not normally transfer data signals, Advanced Protection can still disable them as a precaution, Android Authority writes.
Should you find that your phone does not charge quickly under Android 16, there is a simple solution: unlock your device and reconnect the cable. As the feature is already active in the latest Android 16 Canary version, Google expects the official rollout in QPR2 of Android 16, scheduled for December.
