New panic detection feature in Android 7.1 senses when you try to exit malicious apps

Most Android users will know that feeling of terror that occurs when you accidentally open a sketchy app and desperately try to get out even as the app does everything in its power to stop you.

That’s why Google has silently introduced a security feature in Android 7.1 Nougat called ‘panic detection,’ which recognizes when a user presses the back button multiple times in quick, panicked succession.

XDA Developers, which spotted this addition, explains that if a malicious application attempts to hijack the user’s screen and prevent the user from exiting — by intercepting all key events by implementing an Accessibility Service, for example — Android will automatically override the application and bring the user back to the home screen.

The new feature was likely implemented without fanfare so as to give themselves a head start against scammers finding an exploit — which is inevitable — but, at least for now, it brings a new level of security to the 0.9 percent of people using Android Nougat 7.1.

Source: XDA Developers