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Suspects can refuse to provide phone passcodes to police, court rules
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2023
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this is still up in the air, but it seems to be generally breaking such that police can force you to use fingerprints or faceID to unlock your phone because fingerprints and face scans are evidence, but you can refuse to give them a passcode because a passcode is testimony. so use passcodes, not biometrics.
That's what the 'Lockdown' feature on Pixel phones does.
https://9to5google.com/2022/03/08/how-to-enable-lockdown-mode-on-pixel/
Impossible to force a fingerprint or face scan because it asks the phone to only accept passcodes.
I think all Android phones have this feature, but it has to be turned on.
You can also turn your phone off if they ask for it. Phones need the password to unlock if they've been turned off.
But I like lockdown more, since it can still record audio.
Wow thanks had no idea this was an option on my Samsung. . it was just hiding disabled in my settings as "lockdown mode"
Also nice to know, on an iPhone you can press power and volume up for a few second and then cancel the upcoming dialog. It will only be then require your pin to enable any other authentication method.
On recent almost all Androids from the last decade+ you can reboot them to force a PIN requirement, and lockdown mode is available on most recent Android phones, not just Pixel