Samsung has a new feature that will hide your pics during a phone repair

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

It can be dicey to give over your phone to a repair person. Some people have had their data leak during the repair process. According to the press release, the company hopes to put an end to that with a new privacy feature called repair mode. It will allow technicians limited access to your phone. They will be able to access enough to make the fix but not so much to leak your pictures.

The feature is coming to the S21 phones. In the future, the company will support other models.

The built-in settings app will allow you to switch on the feature through the battery and device care section. Your accounts, photos, and messages will be hidden after the phone is put back into repair mode. The repair person or anyone else who touches your phone will only be able to see the default apps. When to turn off repair mode is up to you.

It is not known if Repair Mode will be available in other regions or which phones will support it. The company has been reached out to by the website. If you need to fix something, you may be able to do it yourself when iFixit starts stocking official components.