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Considering how much personal information we store on our smartphones, I wouldn’t be surprised if demand for it grows privacy screen protector is at an all-time high. From bank statements to email credentials to photos and videos, the need to keep our digital footprint safe, especially from the prying eyes of strangers, has never been more essential.
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Earlier this year, I tried to install the privacy-enhanced accessory A variant from ESR On my Galaxy S25 Ultra. The installation process was similar to any other modern screen protector, with a guide tray in which you set your Samsung phone for approximately perfect placement. The sheet of tempered glass lay in the middle of my phone, and the few air bubbles trapped underneath were easily cleaned out. Things started off great.
how it started
The ESR screen protector worked exactly as intended: When viewing the S25 Ultra from the center, the display still looked bright, sharp, and vibrant. When I turned my head slightly left or right, the image quickly went black, as if the phone screen had not turned on.
The two-way privacy filter worked like a charm, and for the first time in a long time, I felt comfortable responding to work emails and exchanging personal messages on the New York City subway. Even if a stranger wants to peek, he cannot see.
where circumstances took a turn
Things changed when I was watching Lakers highlights – and the display suddenly went dim. Sure, my brightness setting is usually set to auto, but unless I’m moving between two completely different lighting environments, which I wasn’t at the time, the change in brightness should never be as dramatic as it was.
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My first assumption was that perhaps my shadow fell on the phone’s light sensor, causing the screen to dim. But it was not so. Instead, the tint of the screen protector caused the Android phone to appear darker than it actually was.
This happened during my first day of testing, so I finally surrendered to the physics of light and turned off the adaptive brightness setting.
The S25 Ultra, with a privacy screen protector installed, adaptively sets the brightness to less than 50% when placed in front of a window.
Kerry Wan/ZDNET
The second issue with the privacy screen protector was that its thickness made it difficult for fingerprints to register. When paired with the S25 Ultra’s ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, which uses 3D depth mapping to scan your finger, the phone often requests a more vigorous press or second attempt.
I make more use of the S25 Ultra’s ultrasonic fingerprint sensor than the average person, as it’s required for signing in to most of my personal services, Okta Verification for work apps, and of course, unlocking the device.
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Sure, re-registering my fingerprints improved the accuracy and reliability to some extent, but not enough to make the experience of unlocking things burdensome. It got to the point where I relied more on the phone’s facial recognition to access things, which isn’t always efficient.
That said, I’ve since started ditching the privacy screen protector in favor of a more standard, thin plastic film. Although I can’t be so secretive about my phone usage in public, I’ll take the scratch-resistant, viewer-friendly experience over that privilege every day of the week.
