Issues w/ Smart Lock after latest Verizon update, how can I fix them?

[vmmatty]

Issues w/ Smart Lock after latest Verizon update

I got the notification for the latest update from Verizon yesterday and usually wait as long as I can to install updates. But I wanted to try using fingerprint scanning with Exchange so I said "how bad can it be" and installed it. I knew I shouldn't have and instantly regretted it.

It appears this new update somehow broke the Smart Lock feature on my Verizon Note 4. It was working flawlessly since the Lollipop upgrade a few months back and worked with my bluetooth headset, my location, and my Moto 360 watch. After the update, nothing I do makes the Smart Lock feature work.

I've tried disabling and re-enabling Smart Lock, removing all devices and locations from Smart Lock and adding them back, unpairing and repairing the devices, etc. Nothing works - it prompts me to add new bluetooth devices to Smart Lock and shows them as Connected but I'm always prompted to enter my PIN no matter what.

Anyone else seeing this? I really do not want to try a hard reset to fix this. I just can't buy into the need to do a hard reset after every single update large or small. I tried clear the cache partition and that did nothing.

Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[dpham00]

Re: Issues w/ Smart Lock after latest Verizon update

Smart lock works with my LG G Watch after the update

 

[vmmatty]

Re: Issues w/ Smart Lock after latest Verizon update

Thanks for the fast reply. Out of curiosity, do you also have an Exchange account on that device? I am wondering if that has something to do with it.

I'm so frustrated because this feature worked great prior to the update. I'm guessing I need to hard reset which sucks.

 

[dpham00]

Re: Issues w/ Smart Lock after latest Verizon update

Thanks for the fast reply. Out of curiosity, do you also have an Exchange account on that device? I am wondering if that has something to do with it.

I'm so frustrated because this feature worked great prior to the update. I'm guessing I need to hard reset which sucks.

I don't have an exchange account.

 

[vmmatty]

Re: Issues w/ Smart Lock after latest Verizon update

Seems like if I remove my Exchange account the feature eventually starts working again. I add it back and the Smart Lock breaks again. The update must have done something to cause this since I seriously doubt my employer decided to change security policies at the exact moment I installed the update.

Why oh why do I ever install Android updates? It never ends well for me.

If anyone else has a Note 4 on Verizon and also uses an Exchange account, can you confirm if Smart Lock is still working for you?

 

[skatergirl]

Re: Issues w/ Smart Lock after latest Verizon update

I am afraid to do this update because I have an exchange account and Smart Lock. I might totally freak out if my Smart Lock stopped working.

 

[vmmatty]

Re: Issues w/ Smart Lock after latest Verizon update

Skatergirl - my advice would be to hold off as long as you can. I just went through a hard reset just to be sure and it still doesn't work. It doesn't matter if I use a bluetooth device or a location, it simply doesn't work anymore.

Does anyone know if I can download the Lollipop image from before this update and install it? I know some folks went back to Kitkat using this method in the past.

 

[vmmatty]

Re: Issues w/ Smart Lock after latest Verizon update

According to a thread on XDA, if you take this latest update then you'll be unable to rollback to either the previous Lollipop build or the original KitKat build.

Now I'm stuck with this new update and a Smart Lock that doesn't work if I have an Exchange account installed. Very disappointing. I think every Android phone I've ever owned back to the HTC Evo from 2010 has been made progressively worse with updates and the Note 4 is no exception.

Has anyone else tried this update along with an Exchange account to see if they have the same issue?

 

[skatergirl]

Re: Issues w/ Smart Lock after latest Verizon update

I decided to decline this update for now. I cannot not imagine not having Smart Lock at this point in time. That said, I have a Gear S and there is a setting in the watch to keep the phone unlocked while on Bluetooth. I do not use it because of Smart Lock. But what if the watch gave me problems, which is always a possibility with these Gear devices, then I would not have Smart Lock.

 

[skatergirl]

Also, have you called Verizon and Samsung, because this is a pretty major issue. Smart Lock is a significant feature of Lollipop.

 

[vmmatty]

I'm calling them now. If I can convince them to send me a refurb Note 4 then I'll take it and block the update.

Are we really the only people who have Exchange accounts and use Smart Lock?

 

[beh]

Have you considered talking to your IT folks and see if they can fix it from the Exchange end?

 

[aguyingreeme]

I updated my Note 4 yesterday. Smart-lock works fine with my Fit-bit, Sonata and Jarv headset...

 

[vmmatty]

Do you use an Exchange account on the phone? I can get Smart Lock to work fine without an Exchange account installed but once I put my work email on there it stops working. It's not that the options go away, they just stop working.

Beh - I could reach out to my corporate IT but I'm not sure what good that will do (I did send them an email just in case). It was supported and worked fine on Lollipop prior to the update earlier this week so I don't think it's anything my corporate IT team actively changed.

I'm surprised so few people have responded saying they use both Exchange and Smart Lock on the same device.

 

[beh]

Do you use an Exchange account on the phone? I can get Smart Lock to work fine without an Exchange account installed but once I put my work email on there it stops working. It's not that the options go away, they just stop working.

Beh - I could reach out to my corporate IT but I'm not sure what good that will do (I did send them an email just in case). It was supported and worked fine on Lollipop prior to the update earlier this week so I don't think it's anything my corporate IT team actively changed.

I'm surprised so few people have responded saying they use both Exchange and Smart Lock on the same device.

I didn't mean to imply your IT folks did anything but possibly they may able to correct the problem by resetting your account or the like.

 

[Larry_F]

Re: Issues w/ Smart Lock after latest Verizon update

First I need to say that I don't use Smart Lock, nor do I have an Exchange account.

But I have used at least one financial app which required that I use a pin or a password to unlock the phone. Does the Exchange client have a requirement like that?

If so, then it could be considered a security issue to allow Smart Lock to bypass that, and the change with the last update could be the result of a security fix either to the Exchange client or to Smart Lock to prevent that happening.

Larry

 

[Barnaldo99]

I'm in the same boat. I use an Exchange account and my Smart Lock broke as soon as I installed the update. Since the update enables fingerprint unlock with Exchange accounts, I wonder if in the course of adding it they jacked up Smart Lock?

 

[vmmatty]

Re: Issues w/ Smart Lock after latest Verizon update

Is it the same behavior? Meaning you can still configure Smart Lock but it just doesn't work?

I tried the fingerprint scanner and it does work to unlock the device. But it's just such a bad fingerprint scanner that it, at least for me, it's unusable. It takes at least 7 or 8 tries for me to unlock it that way.

I tried other apps like SkipLock but none of them work. Sucks but I'm guessing we are now going to have to live with this new "feature."

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Barnaldo99]

Re: Issues w/ Smart Lock after latest Verizon update

It appears to be the same. I can access the Smart Lock settings, and the choices I'd made prior to the update are still there, but don't do anything. What with all the testing that Verizon does, delaying updates for weeks or months, I'm pretty disappointed this was missed.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[skatergirl]

Re: Issues w/ Smart Lock after latest Verizon update

I have yet to download the update, though it keeps bugging me to do so. But I have a question. Do you think that a simple, non-corporate Hotmail exchange account will be affected the same way?