One UI 7 brings enhanced security features through Knox, adds passkeys to Samsung account

Andrew Romero | Dec 5 2024 - 7:29 am PT

One UI 7 beta has officially arrived after a long and arduous wait. With that, Samsung is releasing details on how Knox has been improved to handle bigger security threats and take on more for users.

Samsung knows that there is a bigger threat to security in a world where AI is more accessible. It notes in a blog post that the One UI 7 beta brings an “advance look at fortified, Samsung Galaxy-exclusive security measures.” Essentially, that means Samsung has some large improvements planned that come with One UI 7.

The first big change in One UI 7 is something called the “Knox Matrix.” It acts as a hub that connects all of your devices in a chain and protects them together. There’s a dashboard that looks similar to the Find My Device app in that it lists all of your phones, tablets, watches, and more with a status indicator based on the perceived security level. If the status is green, everything is fine and dandy. That access also allows users to transfer data straight from one device to another in case that device is lost. This gives the user a little more peace of mind in an otherwise stressful situation.

Samsung also mentions that it will start utilizing passkeys via Knox Matrix in One UI 7 so users can log into their Samsung accounts across devices. It looks like this change will be available through One UI 7, as well. This addition is part of the Knox Matrix Credential Sync system.

The company is updating the Maximum Restrictions page in settings. New features for blocking certain networks have been added, like a 2G blocking capability that can prevent data from being intercepted when connected to unsafe networks. Unintended automatic Wi-Fi connections can also be disabled via these settings.

One of the last details that Samsung mentions is actually rather interesting. In addition to the existing theft detection settings, users can set their phones to automatically require biometric authentication if the phone is in an unrecognized area. With that, a 1-hour delay can be set to prevent unauthorized users from making changes to the device.

Samsung notes that the One UI 7 update will roll out in its beta phase to Germany, India, Korea, Poland, the UK, and the US starting today. These security changes should be reflected in that update.