Android 17 QPR2 Beta 3: Google Adds Customization and New Scam Defenses

Google has unveiled Android 17 QPR2 Beta 3 for selected Pixel devices, introducing a range of enhancements from customization options to new scam defenses. The most prominent addition is a customizable Quick Settings layout, enabling users to arrange essential controls like brightness, tiles, and media buttons according to their personal preferences.

Furthermore, Google is expanding its theming capabilities, allowing users to adjust the system color, select from four visual styles, and incorporate blur effects on the lock screen, including notifications, shortcuts, and fingerprint interfaces.

A significant security update centers around call forwarding, where Android 17 scrutinizes USSD codes used in call-forwarding attempts through the TelephonyManager.sendUssdRequest() API. Standard applications will no longer execute these codes in the background using the CALL_PHONE permission. Instead, blocked attempts will yield a USSD_ERROR_NOT_ALLOWED callback, and users will receive an OS-level confirmation when manually entering call-forwarding codes via the system dialer.

This update aims to thwart social-engineering scams that coerce users into activating call forwarding. Other USSD functions, such as mobile money transfers and account checks, remain unaffected.

In addition to the call forwarding security improvements, Android 17 bolsters Mobile Network Security with timestamped SIM security logs, which record modem-detected events like cellular network access to device identifiers like IMEI and IMSI. Users with multiple active SIMs can filter these events by SIM. The update also reveals encryption cipher information for cellular connections, hinting at warnings for potential threats, including downgrade, denial-of-service, jamming, and location-tracking attacks, although the actual implementation of these features remains uncertain.