Use Gemini AI to send messages from someone else’s locked phone

There’s a new Android phone hack that lets anyone with your phone send messages as you from the lock screen — without tapping in your PIN number. Why? Gemini! You grab someone’s phone, press the power button — now the Gemini button — and try to send a message: [Register] Selecting “Continue”…

There’s a new Android phone hack that lets anyone with your phone send messages as you from the lock screen — without tapping in your PIN number. Why? Gemini! You grab someone’s phone, press the power button — now the Gemini button — and try to send a message: [Register] Selecting “Continue” prompts the user to enter the correct PIN to access messages. However, when “Continue” is pressed simultaneously with Gemini’s “Add attachment” button, the device will then allow unauthenticated users to send that SMS via Gemini, without needing to enter a PIN. Google has acknowledged the bug and is at last patching it this week. The hole was first reported in May. [Medium] This bug is the slight return of a previous lock screen Gemini hack from last September. [Payatu, 2025] The lock screen is supposed to protect you against the specific threat model of someone taking your phone. The blame for both these holes is on Google giving Gemini access to everything in the hope you’ll use it. At all. The lock screen should be a block at operating system level  to any application access. But now it isn’t — so we should expect to see more holes like this in the future. If you can turn the Gemini button back into a power button in your settings, go do that straight away. Google backdoored your phone’s lock screen to get you to use Gemini more. And to let phone thieves use Gemini more too. Video — Podcast  

Source: Pivot to AI — Published July 20, 2026 at 19:33 UTC — Category: Business