Updated October 17th with additional responses to the new security features missing from the Android 15 version of the Pixel 9 and the bug ahead of this release.

“Today begins the rollout of Android 15 on Pixel devices,” Google announced Tuesday, touting updates including “security features that help protect your sensitive health, financial and personal information from theft and fraud.” Android’s new private section hides sensitive apps in plain sight, while those unplugged may be able to add satellite messaging to their devices. There’s also new anti-theft protection in this version, “which uses AI to protect your data – if your phone detects that someone has stolen it and tries to run, bike or drive away, your device will automatically lock.”

But one of Android 15’s most exciting new security features is MIA – one that we expected, at least given that the new Pixel 9s was released long after Android 15’s new features were released. “I don’t know why they don’t support this feature,” wrote a typical Redditor. “They knew it was coming, you think the (Pixel) 9 would at least support it.” But it doesn’t. And it turns out that the only reason we were expecting the release was due to a nasty beta update bug from Google.

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We’re talking about Google’s unique new Mobile Network Security, which was announced at I/O and then teased on a settings page spotted in the Android 15 beta versions made available to Pixel. “We’re adding new advanced cellular protection features in Android 15m,” Google said at I/O, “to protect against abuse by criminals who use cellular simulators to spy on users or send them SMS-based scam messages.”

This includes two functions: Cellular Cipher Transparency and Identifier Disclosure Transparency. The first warns when a cellular network is unencrypted, “potentially exposing voice and SMS traffic to radio interception and potentially visible to others,” helping to protect against the new wave of SMS blaster attacks. The second alert warns when phone IDs are being requested by potentially fraudulent networks to track users, which Google says will “help vulnerable users such as journalists or dissidents.”

Providing this new security is complex. It requires improved modem technology that works with the device firmware to allow the operating system to interact with the network side of the modem and provide alerts that were not previously widely available. Users with the right settings may Disable 2G network connectivity, which resolves basic encryption issues. However, network scanning and advanced encryption protections are not yet available.

Google said in announcing Mobile Network Security that “these features require device OEM integration and compatible hardware” and stated, “We are working with the Android ecosystem to make these features available to users.” We “We expect OEM adoption to progress over the next few years.” But then the settings page appeared in the beta version of Android 15 and it was assumed that the stable version would follow. Apparently, this was just a settings page, not the actual functionality, which is why it was assumed that the Pixel 9 was the first device to break the mold with this feature. But that’s not it. It appears to be confirmed that this was a bug in the beta update – a settings page was exposed that should have remained hidden. However, it could just as easily have been because the hardware integration was not completed as planned and the new feature was no longer available. Either way it’s not there.

As first reported by Android Authority“Android 15’s new cellular security features are missing from Pixel phones… We have confirmed that no current Pixel phones support Android 15’s new cellular security features.” That’s a real shame, as it’s a true Google innovation was a step ahead of current iPhone features. “Given that these features were available to Pixel users during the Android 15 beta, it is reasonable to assume that Pixel phones will support them. As it turns out, that’s not actually the case, as the visibility of the Cellular Security settings page on Pixel phones was simply a bug.”

Android Headlines agrees, reporting that “apparently the visibility of the ‘Mobile Network Security’ settings page on Pixel phones was just a bug from the start.” Since even the just-released Pixel 9 doesn’t yet have the hardware to perform this feature, that’s a question Question why it was publicly announced as an Android 15 feature, leading to several media reports before the Pixel 9 launch. The current narrative suggests that Android 16 could emerge before the device hardware is capable of running this Android 15 update – all a bit pointless.

“Considering the update’s focus on security and privacy with private space, remote lock and theft detection.” Android Police has since commented: “We would have expected the previously leaked cellular security upgrades to make their way into the stable release, although that doesn’t appear to be the case… Unfortunately, even though it is part of Android 15’s source code, this one is Cellular security features cannot be used. Their initial appearance in beta sparked speculation about support, particularly in the then-unreleased Pixel 9 series, although that is not the case.”

What is unknown is whether the Pixel 9 hardware supports such integration with firmware updates or whether the platform itself cannot be updated. In this case, users will have to buy new phones to get the feature. Like a comment below Android Police The article warns: “The optimist in me hopes that when he says “hardware support” he really means “driver support.” The pragmatist knows that this is probably not the case.”

Likewise, I confirmed that there is still no news on the timing of the potentially excellent Live Threat Detection, which uses AI to monitor app behavior on the device to detect risks as early as possible and give users the opportunity to Disabling or deleting apps may threaten your devices and data. Google has announced that this will happen later this year, with “Private Compute Core detecting suspicious behavior on device in a privacy-preserving way, allowing us to protect users without collecting data.” That can’t happen soon enough to come – so watch this space.

This new mobile network protection will be particularly useful for users concerned about the risk of tracking and interception. They guard against rogue networks repeatedly pinging their phones for identifiers, and the risk of a phone being smuggled from a real cellular network to a local, rogue base station with limited encryption (if any), leaving the phone vulnerable to attack .

Such rogue networks use hardware to trick phones into thinking they are connecting to legitimate, public cellular base stations. They work locally by sending a strong signal to devices that scan for nearby cell towers. Once the phone switches, the fraudulent network receives its traffic. When this traffic is fully encrypted, it remains secure. However, if the fraudulent network can lower the encryption threshold, that changes and the traffic is also vulnerable to interception.

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If you can disable 2G networks on your phone, you will be protected from the most widespread versions of this threat. But Samsung notably doesn’t offer universal 2G switching for all of its devices – it has been criticized in the past for not enabling this kind of network-level security, and so it appeared for Pixel users not just on iPhones but on Samsung’s to be a step forward as well. Ironically, the Pixel 9’s modem, which needs to be updated to provide this new functionality, comes from Samsung, which has raised some questions online about whether that OEM supply chain caused the delay.

To be fair to Google, the company hasn’t missed a release date or confirmed that mobile security will be available with the first version of Android 15 or with Pixel 9s. However, the company gave its I/O announcement caveats, saying that the new security “requires integration from device OEMs and compatible hardware… We are working with the Android ecosystem to bring these features to users (and expect OEM adoption to progress over the next few years.” But we meant other Android OEMs, not Pixel. We don’t know if any work is currently underway to update the current hardware. As Android Authority says: “Hopefully these new mobile security features will actually make their way to some Android devices in the near future.”