Android 16 brings a blind fingerprint unlock perk to Pixel phones

By Nadeem Sarwar Published March 24, 2025

Enabling off screen fingerprint unlock feature in Android 16. — Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends

Google is currently moving full steam ahead with the development of Android 16. Following the release of a third beta update just over a week ago, Android 16 has reached the platform stability milestone. Though the latest test build is light on feature updates, it brings a cool new trick.

On Pixel smartphones, users can now unlock their phone even if the screen is completely dark. First spotted by the folks over at Android Authority, the new “Screen-off Fingerprint Unlock” feature has been integrated within the phone’s Security & Privacy dashboard.

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So far, Pixel smartphone users had to wake up the screen and put their thumb atop the fingerprint sensor icon on the Lock Screen. This had to be done either by waking up the screen with a tap gesture, or by pressing the power button.

Thanks to the new screen-off unlock convenience, users can simply place their thumb atop the in-display fingerprint sensor and get past the Lock Screen. There is no longer an intermittent hassle of lighting up the screen.

Off screen fingerprint unlock feature on a Pixel 8. — Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends

I was able to enable this feature after installing the Android 16 Beta 3.1 build, which runs atop the March 2025 security update, on a Pixel 8 smartphone. The new feature is a thoughtful convenience and works flawlessly.

It does, however, take a bit of muscle memory to land the thumb right above the fingerprint sensor on an otherwise dark screen. Also worth noting here is the fact that Google won’t be the first smartphone maker to offer this convenience.

I tried unlocking my OnePlus 13 and Samsung Galaxy S25 without waking up the screen, and it works just fine. Both devices are currently running Android 15, and notably, offer a faster fingerprint unlock experience compared to the Pixel 8, irrespective of whether the screen is on or off.

I’d like to point out that the screen-off fingerprint unlock system has arrived with a beta build, and Google might remove — or delay it — when the stable Android 16 update starts rolling out widely in the coming months.

For now, your only option to experience it is by enrolling in the Android 16 beta-testing program on a compatible Google Pixel smartphone. I would, however, recommend waiting out a few more weeks for the stable update to land on your Pixel smartphone, and save yourself the buggy mess of test builds.

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Nadeem is a tech and science journalist who started reading about cool smartphone tech out of curiosity and soon started…

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