Long story brief: One of the options launched with Android 13 final 12 months is beneficial in lots of conditions, however it will possibly additionally leak delicate info relying on when sure apps are up to date. Enabling the autofill permission mitigates the hazard of passwords showing as clear textual content on the Android machine’s clipboard.
Android 13 permits customers to view and edit something within the clipboard, however the characteristic may additionally reveal delicate knowledge, comparable to passwords, to others who is likely to be viewing the machine’s display screen. If the app does not mark the data as non-public, activating autofill within the settings can keep away from the issue.
Starting with Android 13, every time an Android person copies textual content, photos, or different info, a bubble will seem on the backside of the display screen exhibiting what the person simply copied. From there, customers have a number of choices for the contents of the clipboard: they will edit, share, and carry out actions in numerous functions utilizing textual content or photos.
The new clipboard characteristic can save customers time on a variety of completely different duties, however cellular apps for password managers typically work by the clipboard as nicely. Copying credentials from a password supervisor to a different app may trigger Android 13’s clipboard to disclose that info to anybody trying on the display screen, particularly if the app in query hasn’t obtained the Android 13 replace.
Developers utilizing Android 13 should outline whether or not copied textual content is delicate so the clipboard is aware of to not show it publicly. Android 13 may also mechanically delete the clipboard historical past regularly when customers copy delicate info to the clipboard.
Since the discharge of Android 13 final summer season, many password managers have obtained updates, however not all, so some customers might not be adequately protected. For instance, these nonetheless utilizing 1Password 7 should manually improve to 1Password 8, which has the newest replace for Android 13.
Activating the autofill permission for managers and different apps that do not flag delicate textual content ought to allow them to mechanically enter copied textual content into fields, bypassing the clipboard. Users can do that by discovering the autofill service within the settings display screen and choosing the app of their alternative. The location of the settings will differ relying in your Android machine. Also, not all units use the usual model of Android 13.
Users must also take care to vary their password supervisor’s clipboard settings on all units and working techniques in order that copied textual content is mechanically cleared after a set period of time. Some of them, like Bitwarden and Keeper, maintain textual content within the clipboard indefinitely by default.
