Android 16 hides the content of certain sensitive notifications from appearing on the lock screen, in particular notifications with OTP codes.
This follows a change in Android 15 that blocks untrusted apps from reading sensitive notifications with OTP codes.
This feature is live in Android 16 DP1 and should arrive in the stable release unless Google removes it.
It might be tempting to have all your notifications show up on the lock screen so you don’t have to unlock your device to see them. However, doing so exposes your sensitive information to potential threats, such as thieves who could easily access your notifications if they steal your device. Even worse, if notifications containing two-factor authentication codes appear on the lock screen, someone could see them and potentially get access to your online accounts. Fortunately, Google is working on a new feature in Android 16 that protects your most sensitive notifications containing two-factor authentication codes.
After Google released the first developer preview of Android 16 earlier this week, we’ve been digging into the update to find out what’s new. We noticed that the lock screen in Android 16 Developer Preview 1 no longer displays the contents of notifications that Android System Intelligence deems to be “sensitive.” So far, we’ve observed this to be the case for notifications with OTP codes in them, but it’s possible that other types of content might trigger this behavior.