Android 5.0 "Smart Lock" feature does not bypass fingerprint lock, - Galaxy S6 Edge Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

This is kind of an obnoxious issue with one of the new Android flagships. Android 5.0 has a "smart lock" feature that unlocks the phone based on your GPS location or if a trusted device is paired. The point of course is that you shouldn't have to unlock the phone when you're paired to your car, or to your Android Wear device, or at home or work, for example. But on the Galaxy S6/edge, it doesn't bypass the fingerprint lock, so when both are enabled you have to unlock twice. Tbqh I'm not sure Samsung's actually going to fix it. Their live chat didn't have much to say on this. I thought I should mention it in case anyone was thinking about enjoying the smart lock features AND using the fingerprint scanner.
Chat InformationPlease wait for a Samsung Agent to respond.
Chat InformationYou are now chatting with 'Valyncia'. There will be a brief survey at the end of our chat to share feedback on my performance today.
Chat InformationYour Issue ID for this chat is LTK1125603597159X
Valyncia: Hi, thank you for contacting Samsung Technical Support. How may I help you today?
Visitor: Hello Valyncia
Valyncia: Hello.
Valyncia: Please go ahead with your question.
Visitor: When I have fingerprint lock screen security enabled, it works fine
Visitor: but when I also enable smart lock, smart lock does not bypass the fingerprint lock
Visitor: is there a bug # for this issue?
Valyncia: As of now, we have no reported complaints regarding this issue.
Visitor: Thanks, I'd like to report one
Visitor: It's easy to reproduce
Visitor: 1. Enable fingerprint lock
Visitor: 2. Enable smart lock with a trusted device or location
Visitor: 3. either pair the trusted bluetooth device, or be in the trusted location
Visitor: 4. lock screen still requires you to swipe your fingerprint
Visitor: expectation is smart lock would bypass fingerprint lock
Valyncia: Thank you for your valuable feedback, I will certainly make a note of it.
Valyncia: Is there anything else that I can assist you with?
Visitor: Thanks. Could I take a ticket # or report # so I can follow up on this issue?
Valyncia: Unfortunately, we do not have an option to create tickets for this issue.
Visitor: Is there another department that would be able to open a ticket to get this actually fixed?
Valyncia: We will note the issues and follow up it with our higher deparment.
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It works fine for me with the head unit in my car and the headset in my motorcycle helmet. I do wish it would bypass the lock screen completely. I still have to swipe up to get to the home screen.

cpshoemake said:
It works fine for me with the head unit in my car and the headset in my motorcycle helmet. I do wish it would bypass the lock screen completely. I still have to swipe up to get to the home screen.
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Click to collapse
If you have to swipe, it's not working. What you are describing, is smart unlock not working. Try it on a Nexus 6 and see m8

ThugEsquire said:
If you have to swipe, it's not working. What you are describing, is smart unlock not working. Try it on a Nexus 6 and see m8
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Click to collapse
Well it half works then, because it does bypass the fingerprint lock.

I had this same problem. When connected in my car it has a swipe up, then it asks for a fingerprint (which is super hard to do in the timeout time). Outside my car it is simply fingerprint. Same thing with my headphones. Just happened right now. Fingerprint unlocks. Connect headphones: asks for swipe up... stalls... then goes black before i can use finger. Wake back up fingerprint unlocks. Lame. This would be a completely awesome feature if it worked.

marclais said:
I had this same problem. When connected in my car it has a swipe up, then it asks for a fingerprint (which is super hard to do in the timeout time). Outside my car it is simply fingerprint. Same thing with my headphones. Just happened right now. Fingerprint unlocks. Connect headphones: asks for swipe up... stalls... then goes black before i can use finger. Wake back up fingerprint unlocks. Lame. This would be a completely awesome feature if it worked.
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Click to collapse
Works for me; when connected to my Moto 360 it bypasses the fingerprint unlock. A normal screen swipe unlocks the device.

had the same problem. I had to disable smart lock

Is there a forum that Samsung watches for these issues? Talking on XDA won't do us any good. We need to post it on a samsung board in order for them to take notice.

Same thing is happening to me - when connected my car it has swipe to unlock THEN it asks for a fingerprint... really rather irritating...

This is not a problem on my edge I added my gear to trusted devices and it successfully bypasses the fingerprint security.

Is it carrier dependent? On my T-Mobile Edge with the 5.0.2 update that happened out of the box (end of March), I have both fingerprint unlock and smart unlock and when my Zenwatch is in range I don't have to use fingerprint - I do still have to swipe, though.

On my 2013 moto x, once i have unlocked the phone while connected to a trusted device, I am always brought to home screen or open app rather then having to swipe. I feel this is the way it should be for all phones. (I thought that it was TBH)

flarbear said:
Is it carrier dependent? On my T-Mobile Edge with the 5.0.2 update that happened out of the box (end of March), I have both fingerprint unlock and smart unlock and when my Zenwatch is in range I don't have to use fingerprint - I do still have to swipe, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also have the T-Mobile Edge and I have the problem. You're the second person to say that an Android Wear device bypasses the fingerprint lock. Try unpairing the Zenwatch and use your car or a trusted location and let me know what you find.
In any case, you shouldn't have to swipe when using smart lock. Just use a Nexus 6 and you'll see how it's really supposed to work. With smart lock enabled, simply waking the phone brings you to the launcher, no unlock required.

ThugEsquire said:
In any case, you shouldn't have to swipe when using smart lock. Just use a Nexus 6 and you'll see how it's really supposed to work. With smart lock enabled, simply waking the phone brings you to the launcher, no unlock required.
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Click to collapse
I had a Nexus 6 before I got my S6 Edge. Smart Lock (location) did not bring me directly to the home screen, I still had to slide to unlock. Bypassed the PIN code, though. I was on 5.1.0.
Smart Lock isn't working for me, either. I trued setting it up using Location. Haven't tried trusted devices. T-Mobile S6 Edge with the latest OTA.

For me, the smart unlock works when it's connected to my car's bluetooth but it doesn't work for the location.
It is annoying.

Smart lock is not working for me either. The feature itself is grayed out in the Settings. When I paired my 360, it asked if I wanted to add it as a trusted device. I did that but it still keeps asking for fingerprint as if there are no trusted devices.
Mine is T-Mobile S6.

smart lock not working for me either - the setting is configurable but neither location or bluetooth liberate me from having to use the fingerprint unlock even though they are setup properly and smart lock is a trusted agent... bummer
***EDIT: found solution at this link http://forum.xda-developers.com/verizon-galaxy-s6/help/fingerprint-lockscreen-t3078647 - added a new trusted place called Home1 and when the map came up to set location i moved the pin slight away from my house and then back again and when it used a GPS latitude/longitude location instead of an address, i was able to get it working for location...

I got it working with that method as well.
Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

Not working for me too. Have to swipe and use fingerprint to unlock with trusted JBL Headphones

With ANY phone, the first time you must fingerprint unlock it while connected to the trusted device. After that it should let you in without a problem. My problem is that it requires you to swipe up to actually get into the home screen or app. This is not the way it *should* work.

Related

[Q] Need help with voice dialing so I can legally use my phone driving.

I need a way to be able to voice dial at any time even with the phone locked or with some other app the Voice Talk open via Bluetooth, I know this is possible on Android since my old Motorola Milestone could do it and would be legal under the new laws.
My province is now getting distracted driving laws which will make using my phone illegal with how many steps it takes currently.
I refuse to give up locking my phone since I have private info on it but I need to be able to make calls by pressing the button on my Bluetooth even with the phone locked since it could even be in my jeans pocket with no way to get at it when sitting.
Currently on my GS2 I have to unlock the phone then double click the home button to bring up voice dialing or even open the voice talk app if I am in a different app.
Compared to my Milestone where I never touched it and at any time even pattern locked or in a different app I could just press the button on my Bluetooth and say "call jane" or something and it always worked.
How can I get this back? Considering the laws are coming into effect next month for me.
I would like to keep the stock Samsung voice for most time but would be willing to have a second one that works even if the phone is locked.
I also have people that want this phone but willn't buy it until I get this fixed.
Use Tasker to disable the lock pattern when connected to a bluetooth device - therefore when you disconnect from your car bluetooth, your lock pattern will re-activate.
Problem solved!
OK I have that and think I am close to setting it up but can't totally figure it out how to disable the lock screen.
All I have figured out is a profile that runs if a mic headset is connected but when I try to figure out the task it does I get stuck.
I have never used Tasker before.
This is suddenly going to be to expensive since I found out the SGS2 requires extra work to disable the pattern lock which is a extra $10 plugin and I am not even sure if I want to pay for Tasker itself after the 7 day trial.
I might try and find out how it was done on my old phone when locked.
For others that may want to kn ow here is the thread for this on a GS2
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1110307
Nope, you don't need the plugin - there's a keyguard action that you would disable, which also disables the lockscreen.
I'm trying to set this up myself, but for some stupid reason, it's not responding when I press my bluetooth button at all...
Fricken Vlingo - you suck!
k1sr said:
Nope, you don't need the plugin - there's a keyguard action that you would disable, which also disables the lockscreen.
I'm trying to set this up myself, but for some stupid reason, it's not responding when I press my bluetooth button at all...
Fricken Vlingo - you suck!
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Click to collapse
Are you sure that would work on our Samsung phones since they modified the locking system to use the /efs partition?
If you do get it working make sure to tell me how.

MM locking with password "randomly"

so with the update to MM I'm finally able to use the fingerprint unlock with a case, but either I missed something or it's still somewhat annoying to use. after booting up I need to enter a password, which I'm okay with, however after using my device for a bit and letting it go to lock there are times where I need to re-enter my password instead of the fingerprint and this is without rebooting. is this normal?
EDIT: so I came across a few places that mention the use of Nova Launcher or 3rd party lockscreen apps... I don't have any of the latter, but I do have Nova Launcher except I'm not using that to lock my screen. am I missing something here?
It will do that I believe as a default. You can set up a smart place, like home, on your person, whatever, and it won't lock with a password. I use it on mine for the house, and certain devices it connects to.
chernabog88008 said:
It will do that I believe as a default. You can set up a smart place, like home, on your person, whatever, and it won't lock with a password. I use it on mine for the house, and certain devices it connects to.
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Click to collapse
I believe there may be an issue now... I just unlocked my device using the fingerprint and I have my device set to lock after 10 minutes. Less than 10 minutes after my screen goes off I wake up my device with a double tap and it's locked, prompting for a password!

smart lock trusted devices keep disappearing & have to be re-loaded

I'm aggravated by smartlock. It seems that my trusted devices constantly drop off or disappear. I set my bluetooth speaker in the car as a trusted device but inevitably I'll get in the car and after the speaker is connected to my phone, I find that my lock screen is still locked. When I go to smart lock and look under trusted devices, nothing is there. What the *#@*(?? I've done this repeatedly and it never works like it is supposed to. Am I mistaken about what smart lock really does? When connected to a trusted device shouldn't it allow me to skip the lock screen? Even if it doesn't, and I am mistaken about what smartlock does, why are my trusted devices always disappearing from the list and need to be re-listed? Very aggravated..please, somebody got a fix?
LG-V10 TMobile, unrooted, fully updated OS.
Same behavior on a brand new (stock) rooted Samsung Galaxy S8 G950F. Trusted devices disappear. (but bluetooth pairings disappear too, which may be the issue)
Did either of you find solutions to this problem? I'm having the same after a fresh install on my Nexus 6P.
I know this is an old thread but curious if you find out the answer.
I am on a Gakaxy S20 Ultra, Android 10. I have the exact same problem.

Adding Huawei Watch as trusted device interferes w/ direct unlock on Face recognition

I have run into the following problem:
- Mate 20 Pro is connected to Huawei Watch GT via Bluetooth
- Huawei Watch is added as trusted device under Smart Lock (ie. to keep phone unlocked while connected to the watch)
- Under Face recognition, "Direct unlock" option is selected
Face is being recognised, but have to slide to unlock
After a lot of trial & error, I realised that the problem is caused by having added the watch as trusted device
To restore the expected behaviour (i.e. direct unlock after face is recognised) one has to
- either disable the bluetooth (ie effectively disconnect the watch)
- or remove the watch from trusted devices
I thought I should share this, as it has been driving me crazy.
Firmware version:
Mate 20 Pro: 9.0.0.146
Watch GT: 1.0.3.72
christos299 said:
- Huawei Watch is added as trusted device under Smart Lock (ie. to keep phone unlocked while connected to the watch)
- Under Face recognition, "Direct unlock" option is selected
Face is being recognised, but have to slide to unlock
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Click to collapse
I'm getting the smartwatch in few days.
Could you please clarify why you still need face recognition to unlock the phone even if the smartwatch is connected?
Because I don't understand what you mean: "to keep phone unlocked while connected to the watch".
Or do you have the slide to unlock problem only when your smartwatch isn't connected?
Thanks.
themissionimpossible said:
Could you please clarify why you still need face recognition to unlock the phone even if the smartwatch is connected?
Because I don't understand what you mean: "to keep phone unlocked while connected to the watch".
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That "smartwatch keeping the phone unlocked" thing never really worked.
Thanks... so that setting is actually useless...
Thanks for the info, that'll be very useful to know once I get my GT.
On a sidenote: I'm interested in the expected additional battery drain per hour from having the GT connected to the phone. Would you be able to share your experience?
Thanks, Axel
Gesendet von meinem LYA-L29 mit Tapatalk
s3axel said:
Thanks for the info, that'll be very useful to know once I get my GT.
On a sidenote: I'm interested in the expected additional battery drain per hour from having the GT connected to the phone. Would you be able to share your experience?
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Click to collapse
Have not really noticed a significant difference.
christos299 said:
That "smartwatch keeping the phone unlocked" thing never really worked.
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Click to collapse
I tested this functionality with my old Huawei Classic smartwatch.
Actually it works, but it's not so useful.
In fact, when activated, to wake your phone you have to push the power button, then swipe on the screen to unlock: this means 2 operations, while using the fingerprint sensor to unlock is only 1.
I tried also with the auto wake function by lifting the phone, but also in this case the screen turns on but you still have to swipe on the screen to actually unlock.
So, as it was implemented, IMHO this functionality is not very interesting.
Ah, ok, so maybe this is what has been happening in my case. If the intended behaviour is to swipe to unlock, I was mis-interpreting this as my "direct unlock" selected choice (under "face recognition") being ignored.
In either case, I agree this is not terribly useful, and have now resorted back to removing my watch from the trusted devices.
I've found that if I have ANY trusted devices, it disables the Direct Unlock.

Question Lock screen asks for pin

Hi,
I am using fingerprint sensor and smart unlock but several times a day and every morning the phone is manually locked and I have to enter my pin again. Is there a setting I am missing here?
same here. also it keeps asking pin through the day!
also I'd appreciate if I won't need to confirm pin once is entered correctly (just numbers then unlock instantly)
stephanstricker said:
Hi,
I am using fingerprint sensor and smart unlock but several times a day and every morning the phone is manually locked and I have to enter my pin again. Is there a setting I am missing here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it that your phone is rebooting? There have been people reporting random reboots with their devices ..
originali said:
also I'd appreciate if I won't need to confirm pin once is entered correctly (just numbers then unlock instantly)
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Click to collapse
Thats true, the extra confirming is annoying as hell...I think smart lock introduced this issue, so I will try to turn it off for now...
mang0 said:
Is it that your phone is rebooting? There have been people reporting random reboots with their devices ..
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Click to collapse
I have not noticed any reboots yet but I dont think that the problem. I still see notifications on the lock screen. I believe that would not be the case if the phone rebooted.
stephanstricker said:
Hi,
I am using fingerprint sensor and smart unlock but several times a day and every morning the phone is manually locked and I have to enter my pin again. Is there a setting I am missing here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Smart lock relocks after 4 hours of inactivity and apparently defaults to PIN or Pattern, not FP.
Tool Belt said:
Smart lock relocks after 4 hours of inactivity and apparently defaults to PIN or Pattern, not FP.
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Click to collapse
That explains it, but it is not smart at all :-/
Tool Belt said:
Smart lock relocks after 4 hours of inactivity and apparently defaults to PIN or Pattern, not FP.
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Click to collapse
Doesn't seem to matter whether it's active or inactive. It seems to re-lock and require a PIN every 4 hours.
Extremely annoying. SmartLock on my Samsung phone didn't behave like that.
Disabling smart lock fixed it for me, make sure are smart lock triggers are gone
stephanstricker said:
Disabling smart lock fixed it for me, make sure are smart lock triggers are gone
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Click to collapse
So now it is always locked and the FP is the default? I like having it unlocked at Trusted Places for 4 hours better.
stephanstricker said:
Disabling smart lock fixed it for me, make sure are smart lock triggers are gone
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Click to collapse
I might just try this. I used smartlock on my Galaxy s20 FE because the fingerprint sensor was way down at the bottom and was difficult to reach, so I would just press the power button and swipe up on the screen.
However, I discovered with the Pixel 6, that when it's smart locked, if you just touch the fingerprint sensor icon, it turns on the screen and opens the phone. (without it actually triggering the fingerprint sensor) No pressing the power button or swiping required.
So I've started getting into the habit of just pressing the fingerprint icon anyway, even when it's unlocked with smartlock. So, as long as the fingerprint sensor is reliable enough, I don't really need the smart lock. I would be doing the same motion to unlock it with the fingerprint. (Although it will be a little slower and possibly a bit more unreliable)
Well, I don't think it's smartlock related. I turned off smartlock a half hour ago and used the fingerprint sensor to unlock it several times since then, and then a couple of minutes ago, it forced me to enter the PIN. Almost exactly 4 hours after the last time I had to enter a PIN.
I was wondering exactly the same... it's a weird behavior.
I think it may be a 'feature'. A fingerprint is considered somewhat less secure by Google. Ironic, given on a P6 it seems to lock folk out a lot of the time!
Understand fingerprint security - Pixel Phone Help
Your fingerprint data is stored securely and never leaves your Pixel device or Nexus phone. Your fingerprint data isn't shared with Google or any apps on your device. Apps are notified only wheth
support.google.com
As you say, annoying though.
RichPA said:
Well, I don't think it's smartlock related. I turned off smartlock a half hour ago and used the fingerprint sensor to unlock it several times since then, and then a couple of minutes ago, it forced me to enter the PIN. Almost exactly 4 hours after the last time I had to enter a PIN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you reboot the phone after changing the smartlock setting? Perhaps the phone has held onto that setting in memory.
i am having the same nightmare here. Considering i am wearing gloves most of the time, i need to usesmart unlock. but then every few hours i need to type pin, plus i need to press entre. it really breaks flow here
tiantianisfox said:
i am having the same nightmare here. Considering i am wearing gloves most of the time, i need to usesmart unlock. but then every few hours i need to type pin, plus i need to press entre. it really breaks flow here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Smart lock resets every four hours, which requires you to enter your PIN to unlock for another four hours.
Confirming a pin makes it more secure, as now the number of digits in your pin is also hidden. In theory, this would make a 4 digit as secure a as 10 digit one as a potential thief would not know which to try.

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