You’re probably tired of me saying this, but if you’re not aware of the battle that’s taking place between the US Government (FBI) and the tech industry (Apple), it’s worth reading this piece before moving on to truly understand what’s at stake. For those already in tune, here is some chilling information. First, the headline that sets the tone:

 The FBI, currently engaged in a privacy battle with Apple over a terrorist’s iPhone, would have an easier time breaking into the average Android smartphone. 

That’s a bit damning but headlines are often click bait right? Absolutely – but not this one.

 The whole reason the FBI is having a hard time entering San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook’s locked iPhone 5C is because Apple’s smartphones are encrypted by default.

But only a fraction of Android devices are encrypted. 

Despite Google introducing encryption in Android all the way back in 2011, very few users have enabled it due to the setting being buried many layers in. Finally in 2014, Android began to ask users if they wanted to encrypt their phones during setup, but seeing how a majority of Android users are running on fairly outdated systems, it’s likely that they’ve never even seen the prompt. But it gets worse.

 Although 97% of Android phones have encryption as an option, less than 35% of them actually got prompted to turn it on when they first activated the phone. Even then, not everybody chooses that extra layer of security. 

And things aren’t improving. More after the jump.

According to Google:

 encryption is now required for all “high-performing devices” — like the Galaxy S7 — running the latest version of Android, Marshmallow. But only 1.2% of Android phones even have that version 

In contrast:

 94% of iPhones run iOS 8 or 9, which encrypt all data. 

This brings us to Xperia phones, which have yet to start receiving Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Even once Sony does begin to roll out the new update, a great part of their fleet isn’t receiving the new OS, leaving it up to users to dig through setting screens in order to get their phone encrypted.

Discuss:

Do you have encryption turned on for your Sony Xperia?

[Via CNN]