Android Q may let carriers lock out your SIM to work with only their network

Android Q launch may be far away right now but some new information trickling down the rumour mills would certainly be a disappointment for some people. A report about the next upgrade of the operating system suggests that with Android Q, network carriers may have more ability to lock down phones to their specific network via your SIM card.[caption id="attachment_4855131" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

Android, the most popular mobile OS in India[/caption]As per 9to5Google, four commits were posted to various parts of Android’s Gerrit source code management, all titled “Carrier restriction enhancements for Android Q." Reportedly this could mean that mobile carriers may have more control over which network the devices will or will not be working on.Your device is likely to get a list of allowed and excluded carriers to operate on and this also could be carried on to individual SIM slots in dual-SIM smartphones. As a matter of fact, carriers will also have the power to lock out the second SIM slot if the approved SIM is not entered in the first slot.In more details about the upcoming Android update, XDA Developers received the early Android Q build on Google’s current Pixel model, the Pixel 3 XL.The foremost visual change is a system-wide dark mode that the report cites to be fully functional. The report says that the mode which can be set by tapping on ‘Set Dark mode’ in Display settings turns Settings, Launcher, Launcher settings and Files app, notifications black. Notably, Android 9.0 Pie has a dark theme option as well, however, it only applies to the notification shade and app launcher.The report also suggests that the Android Q might have a setting to force dark mode even in apps that don’t have a built-in dark mode option.