Google has announced it will automatically encrypt users' data, with the news coming almost immediately after Apple's Tim Cook revealed his firm would be doing the same.
Google's latest operating system, Android L, will introduce the security feature, reports the Washington Post. Users have been able to manually enable the encryption feature on Android for many years, but this is the first time Google has consciously made it easy for them to do so.
A spokesperson for the company told the Post: "For over three years Android has offered encryption, and keys are not stored off of the device, so they cannot be shared with law enforcement.
"As part of our next Android release, encryption will be enabled by default out of the box, so you won't even have to think about turning it on."
Having the encryption working automatically will mean that more Android users will be protected from outsiders accessing data and other sensitive information, including hackers and prying government eyes.
Not even Google will have the key they would need to unlock the device, with only those who have the phone's passcode able to get in and see documents, videos and photos etc.
Earlier in the year, it was ruled by the Supreme Court that police would no longer be able to access phone data without an official search warrant, and the move from both Google and Apple is no doubt a reaction to this shift in the law.
Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist for the Centre for Democracy & Technology, said: "Most people aren't going to go out of their way to do these things.
"It's so awesome, as someone who has worked on these issues for a long time, to see these two companies switch their defaults to where these things will be strongly encrypted, and rightly so."
