Future Android updates bring native app locking and an AI chatbot for Google Discover

Exciting changes are reportedly coming to the Android world, according to code found inside Google’s apps and system files. These early hints suggest Google is working on two major features: a new way to keep your private apps secure and an artificial intelligence tool to help you clean up your news feed.

For years, people have wanted an easy, built-in way to lock specific apps, like banking or messaging programs, behind a password or fingerprint. While other phone makers already offer this, users with pure Android phones, especially Google Pixel devices, have been forced to rely on clumsy third-party apps or Google’s own “Private Space.” The problem with third-party lock apps is that they can often be easily removed, and “Private Space” makes apps too hard to access daily.

The good news is that strong evidence suggests a true, native App Lock feature is on the way, likely arriving with the next major system update, Android 17. This system-level lock will be much safer than current options.

The code shows that the power to lock apps will be given directly to your default home screen app (the launcher), allowing you to secure individual apps without relying on sketchy add-ons. You could soon long-press an app icon and choose to protect it with your fingerprint or device PIN.

Separately, Google also appears to be using artificial intelligence to make its popular news feed, Google Discover, better. Code found deep inside the Google app suggests the company is testing a feature that includes an AI chatbot.

The goal of this rumored chatbot is to let you easily clean up and customize the articles and content you see in your Discover feed. Instead of fumbling through menus and settings, you would be able to talk to the AI, giving it simple commands about what you want to see more or less of. This idea seems to copy a similar tool Google recently experimented with for customizing YouTube recommendations.

For now, the feature is still hidden and not fully working—engineers only managed to find a small pop-up that warned about losing the “conversation” if settings were changed—but it strongly hints that an easier, more conversational way to manage your news feed is on the way.

It is important to remember that all of these discoveries come from digging through early code. While they point to features Google is actively developing, there is no guarantee that either the native App Lock for Android 17 or the AI chatbot for Google Discover will actually be released to the public.