Problems with Smart Lock

[Cowboy8467]

I'm not sure if this was an issue on previous Samsung phones, but I'm encountering some big problems with Smart Lock and I'm wondering if I'm the only one of if it's more widespread. After I got my S8+ I set up my fingerprints and irisis to unlock the phone and everything was fine, but I also chose to make my home a trusted location so that I wouldn't have any screen lock while I was there.

This morning I went into my office for the first time since I got my phone, and it's over 20 miles and an hour long train ride away, and I discovered that the phone was not applying any security settings, and unlocking as though I were at home. I tried setting the phone so that it would lock instantly upon the screen turning off, but as soon as I hit the home button it would take me right back into the phone. When I went in and turned off my house as a trusted location it immediately started working normally again. Somehow the phone still thought I was at home despite the time and distance that had passed.

Has anyone else had this happen to them?

 

[SpookDroid]

Did you open Maps or some location app to make sure that your location was actually being reported? If your location settings were off or for some reason the location data was unavailable, the phone might default to the last known location.

 

[theelite1x87]

I started another thread with this issue. I'm basically having same problems. Opening maps temporarily fixed it but then it came back. Here recently I am having the opposite issue. I'm currently 70miles (!) Away from home and the device STILL isn't locking. I also have body detection on but I left phone sitting on table for a few hours. It should have locked. Came back into hotel room and phone was still unlocked. The smart lock features are clearly broken. For now I guess we have to have it locked all the time for all circumstances (annoying) or always unlocked (not safe). They need to fix this...

 

[Cowboy8467]

I didn't open Maps, but I have location on at all times, and set to high accuracy. I would hope that it wouldn't be a requirement for me to "check-in" on Google Maps to ensure that it's working correctly.

 

[SpookDroid]

I've had no issues so far on mine Not sure why yours aren't locking to other locations :S

 

[Zendroid1]

My smart lock never detects that I'm in a location I entered previously. It is constantly asking for my irises. Not sure if I have a setting messed up or what? I shouldn't have to open the maps app to get it to recognize my location.

 

[Gary02468]

If your location settings were off or for some reason the location data was unavailable, the phone might default to the last known location.

That would be an inexcusably insecure design choice. If the phone can't verify it's in a trusted location right now, it should assume that it is not.

 

[Cowboy8467]

Yes, it's unfortunate at this point but it seems as though I can't use Smart Lock. I've already gone ahead and disabled it on my phone.

 

[N4Newbie]

I'm pretty certain I am having the same issue with my Pixel XL running Android 7.1.2 Build N2G470.

Haven't had time to really test it yet, but I noticed this morning when I was at least 5 miles from home that hitting the power button opened my phone in unlocked state. SmartLock "Home" is the only setting I have configured, so it would not be anything else (like a "Trusted Device" for example).

 

[N4Newbie]

Okay folks, here is a perfect example:

I have been in Brazil on business for the past week, having arrived last Sunday morning. I am approximately 4,900 miles from home.

Yesterday, having been here for nearly 5 full days, I thought to check and see if Smart Lock was actually working.

My Smart Lock configuration is simple with just one option selected: Trusted places, specifically, "Home", with lock 5 seconds after sleep or immediately with the power off​ button.

Imagine my surprise when I tried simply swiping the lock screen and the phone went immediately to the home screen! I tested every manner I could think of and always the same result.

Finally, I was able to make work by applying an old trick I once resorted to under a much earlier version of the OS - I disabled the "Home" location and manually entered my next door neighbor's address in its place.

As I said, I recall having to do this in the past but I'm sure it was fixed at some point along the way.

 

[kyleresq]

Mine was great until the ATT update. Then the one I have set to my home won't work anymore.

 

[erasat]

Mine was great until the ATT update. Then the one I have set to my home won't work anymore.

Believe me, it has nothing to do with the AT&T Update, it's Google's fault. All the carriers variants are affected the same, most of phones, not just the S8, are vulnerable to the issue or are having the issue, some people have managed to work around the issue by removing all or most other forms of Smart lock options and just leaving the trusted places on and it still works at random.

For at least the past 3 weeks, the Trusted Places (Locations) has been a mess, I can tell you that at first every other day I needed to turn off the Home location and just used a Dropped Pin for it to work at home, then even the dropped pin stopped working, and then it comes and goes again since then, of all this past weeks, yesterday, it worked great at home again, but for how long? is anybody's guess.

Google has acknowledged the issue and said that they were working on it, but I haven't heard anything else about it.

 

[N4Newbie]

Believe, it has nothing to do with the AT&T Update, it's Google's fault. All the carriers variants are affected the same, most of phones, not just the S8, are vulnerable to the issue or are having the issue, some people have managed to work around the issue by removing all or most other forms of Smart lock options and just leaving the trusted places on and it still works at random.

For at least the past 3 weeks, the Trusted Places (Locations) has been a mess, I can tell you that at first every other day I needed to turn off the Home location and just used a Dropped Pin for it to work at home, then even the dropped pin stopped working, and then it comes and goes again since then, of all this past weeks, yesterday, it worked great at home again, but for how long? is anybody's guess.

Google has acknowledged the issue and said that they were working on it, but I haven't heard anything else about it.

I am less concerned with it not unlocking my phone when I am at home than I am with it not locking my phone when I am nearly 5,000 miles from home for several days straight.

My device is a Google Pixel XL on Google's Project Fi network, by the way.

 

[LineKill]

Believe me, it has nothing to do with the AT&T Update, it's Google's fault. All the carriers variants are affected the same, most of phones, not just the S8, are vulnerable to the issue or are having the issue, some people have managed to work around the issue by removing all or most other forms of Smart lock options and just leaving the trusted places on and it still works at random.

For at least the past 3 weeks, the Trusted Places (Locations) has been a mess, I can tell you that at first every other day I needed to turn off the Home location and just used a Dropped Pin for it to work at home, then even the dropped pin stopped working, and then it comes and goes again since then, of all this past weeks, yesterday, it worked great at home again, but for how long? is anybody's guess.

Google has acknowledged the issue and said that they were working on it, but I haven't heard anything else about it.

Trusted Places was very sporadic on my S7 edge, but I have not had one problem with it yet in the 5 days I have owned my S8+ (knock on my head)ツ

 

[Choccy]

If you do not log in after like 4 hours the phone will lock up. Also first time you reach safe place it will be locked. Someone's at home it will keep locked because it keeps showing me in a slightly different location at home even though I'm in same place.

I would say overall it's about 95% accurate. Also maybe power saving mode will affect this too. So keep in mind.

 

[brianhmd]

I just got my S8 two weeks ago, and have also had trouble with the Smart Lock feature. It always worked on the S6 (I skipped the S7), but on that phone it was tied to WiFi at my safe locations (home and work). I have not found a way to tie it to WiFi on the S8, only location, which is spotty at best. But even when my location shows that I am physically home, the feature does not always work. The only device that it consistently works with is the Hands Free Link in my car.

 

[N4Newbie]

I just got my S8 two weeks ago, and have also had trouble with the Smart Lock feature. It always worked on the S6 (I skipped the S7), but on that phone it was tied to WiFi at my safe locations (home and work). I have not found a way to tie it to WiFi on the S8, only location, which is spotty at best. But even when my location shows that I am physically home, the feature does not always work. The only device that it consistently works with is the Hands Free Link in my car.

IMO, there is, and has been for at least a few years, something seriously wrong with the way Trusted Locations handles the "Home" location.

 

[kirksucks]

It's never worked for me on note5, I noticed that my girlfriend's s8 now isn't unlocked at home after setting it up.

Could it be that less urban areas (where I live) don't have good enough GPS access?

 

[N4Newbie]

It's never worked for me on note5, I noticed that my girlfriend's s8 now isn't unlocked at home after setting it up.

Could it be that less urban areas (where I live) don't have good enough GPS access?

No, I'm sure that is not it. My home, for example, has excellent GPS, even inside the house, as evidenced by this app https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ils?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2&token=pE6sNZRs

Also, as I noted upthread, I have been miles from home (5,000 miles for a full week!) and my phone was still unlocked when it clearly should not have been. On the other hand, a simple fix seems to be to ignore the "Home" location and instead enter the address of my next door neighbor.

I really think it is a bug in the "Home" default location handling.

 

[erasat]

Trusted Places has been a messed for some time now and Google knows it, last thing I heard from them was that they were working on a fix, but that was almost a month ago. Look at this article. Google is looking into longstanding issues with Smart Lock's Trusted Places feature

A lot of threads about the same here and other forums, and not exclusively a Galaxy S8 (or Samsung issue) it affects most phones right now.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/android-5-0-lollipop/499950-smart-lock-trusted-places-not-working-anymore.html

https://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s7-edge/790300-smart-lock-based-location-does-not-work-my-phone.html

https://forums.androidcentral.com/google-pixel-pixel-xl/738290-smart-lock-trusted-places-doesnt-seem-work.html