The Android 14 developer preview is out. It brings tons of new features and has done a lot of optimizations. And while some of us were busy digging out the big new features, one crucial feature seemed to have escaped our eyes.
It is called Advanced Memory Protection, and as it states, the feature will provide advanced security to your phone. However, there’s a high chance that the feature might be exclusive to the Pixel 8 series.
What Does the New Security Feature of Android 14 Do
Found by Mishaal Rahman, the feature is designed to protect compatible phones from all the memory safety buds. And according to Google, these memory bugs accounted for more than 60% of high-severity security vulnerabilities, making millions of users experience visible crashes in 2022.
If you are currently on the Android 14 developer preview, you can check it out by yourself. Head over to Settings, navigate to Security & privacy, and click More security settings.
There, you will find Advanced Memory Protection, which will only work on supported devices. In other words, if you are using a Pixel 7, you can see how the feature actually works.
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As Mishaal explains, Memory Tagging Extension is mandatory for ArmV9 CPUs. It offers protection against memory violations. And it can eventually improve the security of your device.
So, how is the new Android 14 feature exclusive to Pixel 8? Well, the Tensor G2 chip found in the Pixel 7 devices is ArmV8.2. And from what we know, the Pixel 7A will also come with the same SoC. As this new Android 14 feature is a mandatory hardware feature for the ArmV9 CPUs, Google might not include it in the older hardware.
Still, nothing is set to the stones. As the feature is already available in the preview, older devices might eventually get it. We will have to wait for the final release to see.
