Android Now Watches User Accounts, Tattles With Notifications

Android devices will soon be working with native notifications that'll tell their user that their account has been used on a new device. When a user signs in on a new device, every other device they have (on Android) will see a notification telling them that they've had a sign-in on a new device. This will be helpful for people that are in danger of having their account stolen, as they'll already be aware of every time they themselves sign in, but will be able to protect themselves at first sign of any unusual activity.

Once a user sees a notification about a sign-in with their account on a device they don't recognize, they'll be able to tap a "Review Account Activity" button. This button will bring them to information about which new device was signed into, where that new device is, and "other important information" – that's according to Google.

The user will see a list of "Recently Used Devices" – which is accessible to any user right this minute through Google Security. I, for example, am seeing myself using a MacBook Pro to type this article, and that the most recent device my account used was a Huawei-made Nexus 6P, and that before that device, I used a Samsung Galaxy S7.

This update is not just going to be released to the newest Android devices in the world. Not just devices released over the past year. Google suggests that this feature will be coming to "all end users" – which pretty much means we'll all see it enacted on all devices running Android (so long as they have the Google Play app store, meaning they're an officially Google licensed device.)

"Now users are quickly notified on multiple devices when a new device has been added," said a Google app representative. "This increases transparency to the user of what actions they've performed and allows them to flag any suspicious activity they may be seeing on the device."