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Earlier this week, many media outlets reported that Google is rolling out an auto-reboot feature to Android that automatically restarts devices that have been locked for 3 consecutive days. This auto-reboot feature was mentioned on the Google System Release Notes page, where Google routinely shares information on new and upcoming Android and Google Play features. Recently, Google quietly updated the wording on this page to say that the auto-reboot feature is optional and coming in the future. Earlier this week, Google quietly revealed — via its Google System Release Notes page — that it was rolling out a new auto-reboot feature to Android devices. The feature, as described, works similarly to Inactivity Reboot in iOS 18.1. If an Android device has been locked for 3 consecutive days, then it’ll be automatically rebooted. Late last month, Android Authority contributor AssembleDebug tore down the Google Play Services app and discovered a reference to this auto-reboot feature, known internally as “inactivity reboot.” He found evidence that the feature is tied to Advanced Protection Mode, a new feature in Android 16 that provides a way for the system and for third-party apps to know when users are enrolled in Google’s Advanced Protection Program. Advanced Protection Mode will serve as a one-click option to enable certain security features in the OS and in compatible third-party apps.

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority The US government has stopped funding the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database, a standardized global system for identifying and tracking software vulnerabilities across platforms and devices, including Android. Without CVEs, Google’s monthly Android security bulletins may face delays, confusion, or reduced transparency. It’s unclear who, if anyone, will step in to maintain or replace the CVE system. Update, April 16, 2025 (11:01 AM ET): For a moment there it looked like malware authors were about to have a field day, but it now seems that the CVE program has found a last-minute reprieve — on multiple fronts, as well.

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority The US government has stopped funding the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database, a standardized global system for identifying and tracking software vulnerabilities across platforms and devices, including Android. Without CVEs, Google’s monthly Android security bulletins may face delays, confusion, or reduced transparency. It’s unclear who, if anyone, will step in to maintain or replace the CVE system. Update, April 16, 2025 (11:01 AM ET): For a moment there it looked like malware authors were about to have a field day, but it now seems that the CVE program has found a last-minute reprieve — on multiple fronts, as well.

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority The US government has stopped funding the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database, a standardized global system for identifying and tracking software vulnerabilities across platforms and devices, including Android. Without CVEs, Google’s monthly Android security bulletins may face delays, confusion, or reduced transparency. It’s unclear who, if anyone, will step in to maintain or replace the CVE system. Update, April 16, 2025 (11:01 AM ET): For a moment there it looked like malware authors were about to have a field day, but it now seems that the CVE program has found a last-minute reprieve — on multiple fronts, as well.

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority The US government has stopped funding the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database, a standardized global system for identifying and tracking software vulnerabilities across platforms and devices, including Android. Without CVEs, Google’s monthly Android security bulletins may face delays, confusion, or reduced transparency. It’s unclear who, if anyone, will step in to maintain or replace the CVE system. Update, April 16, 2025 (11:01 AM ET): For a moment there it looked like malware authors were about to have a field day, but it now seems that the CVE program has found a last-minute reprieve — on multiple fronts, as well.

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority T-Mobile disabled self-service SIM card changes in 2022 to implement new security measures against SIM swap attacks. Although the carrier initially said this was a temporary change, T-Mobile subscribers are still required to contact support to change SIM cards. A new report suggests that T-Mobile may finally enable self-service SIM swaps via the T-Life app later this month. T-Mobile currently requires subscribers to contact support or visit a nearby retail store for SIM card changes. Unlike Verizon and AT&T, the carrier does not offer a self-service option for SIM swaps. However, this hasn’t always been the case. T-Mobile removed the self-service option for SIM card changes in 2022 to implement new security features to combat SIM swap attacks. At the time, the company did not share a timeline for when the feature could return, but it reportedly told employees that it was only a temporary change. Over two and a half years later, the self-service option still isn’t available for users, but that could change soon.

Credit: C. Scott Brown / Android Authority Google is shutting down Assistant on Fitbit smartwatches “over the next few weeks.” Users will no longer be able to use Assistant for voice control. Amazon Alexa will still be available in certain languages and countries. Google has made it clear that the Assistant era is over. The company has been hard a work replacing Assistant with Gemini on phones, but the change is also expected to come to headphones, smartwatches, tablets, and cars. We found evidence of the tech giant preparing for the swap on Wear OS devices back in January. However, Google Assistant won’t just disappear from Wear OS smartwatches; Fitbit smartwatches are also losing the virtual assistant, and that change will start soon. On the Fitbit community forum, an overlooked post from late March announces that Google Assistant on Fitbit is coming to an end in the next few weeks. As the moderator explains:

Spotify is currently down for many users. Issues started earlier this morning, and the company has since acknowledged them. Spotify appears to have server problems, and even its status page is returning errors. Having trouble concentrating this morning but can’t quite put your finger on what’s wrong? Does the world just seem a little quieter than it used to? You’re not imagining things, as a widespread Spotify outage appears to be seriously impacting availability of the music streaming service. You know that the situation is bad when a company’s own status page is itself generating an error message, as is the case with Spotify’s right now. Over on Reddit, threads going back about an hour now describe users being unable to access Spotify streams, and on X Spotify confirmed at 8:45a ET that it was “aware of some issues right now and … checking them out.”

Spotify is currently down for many users. Issues started earlier this morning, and the company has since acknowledged them. Spotify appears to have server problems, and even its status page is returning errors. Having trouble concentrating this morning but can’t quite put your finger on what’s wrong? Does the world just seem a little quieter than it used to? You’re not imagining things, as a widespread Spotify outage appears to be seriously impacting availability of the music streaming service. You know that the situation is bad when a company’s own status page is itself generating an error message, as is the case with Spotify’s right now. Over on Reddit, threads going back about an hour now describe users being unable to access Spotify streams, and on X Spotify confirmed at 8:45a ET that it was “aware of some issues right now and … checking them out.”

Spotify is currently down for many users. Issues started earlier this morning, and the company has since acknowledged them. Spotify appears to have server problems, and even its status page is returning errors. Having trouble concentrating this morning but can’t quite put your finger on what’s wrong? Does the world just seem a little quieter than it used to? You’re not imagining things, as a widespread Spotify outage appears to be seriously impacting availability of the music streaming service. You know that the situation is bad when a company’s own status page is itself generating an error message, as is the case with Spotify’s right now. Over on Reddit, threads going back about an hour now describe users being unable to access Spotify streams, and on X Spotify confirmed at 8:45a ET that it was “aware of some issues right now and … checking them out.”