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Samsung One UI 9 Beta Auto-Engages Lockdown When Power Menu Closes

This change may prevent forced biometric unlocks, increasing the risk of accidental lockouts by removing an explicit power-menu Lockdown button.

Overview

  • In the One UI 9 beta 2 build, dismissing the power menu immediately locks the phone and turns off biometric unlocks so only a PIN, pattern, or password will work.
  • The visible Lockdown button has been removed from the power-menu options and replaced with a Medical info button in the beta user interface.
  • Community reports and coverage by 9to5Google and Lifehacker confirm the behavior in the beta but Samsung has not said whether the automatic Lockdown will ship in the stable One UI 9 release.
  • The change mirrors how iPhones require a passcode after invoking the power menu and aims to guard against forced face or fingerprint unlocking, but it also raises the chance users will be unexpectedly locked out.
  • Lockdown has historically been a last-resort security tool and can also be activated through Google’s Find My Device network, so users have alternate ways to disable biometrics if the beta behavior is not adopted broadly.