How To Setup Smart Lock Trusted Places On Android

Google introduced a new way to unlock your Android device with Android 5.0 Lollipop, called Smart Lock. This feature allows you to set security bypasses when you are in a specified location, connected to certain devices, or even using your voice or face, allowing you to skip the lock screen. This provides quicker access to your device. When you set your Android Lollipop (and above) device to automatically unlock under certain circumstances, there is no need to manually unlock it with your PIN, pattern, or password during those times.

This location of this feature varies between devices and may not be available on some. Also, note that your trusted location is just an estimate. Thus, your trusted location may extend to a radius of 80m from your set location. This guide will focus on how to set your Trusted Places to enable you to unlock your device in specific locations. We’ll focus solely on stock Android and Samsung’s TouchWiz UI.

Method 1: Setting Up Trusted Places On Stock Android

1. Open your device’s Settings app.
2. Under the Personal section, tap Security
3. Under Advanced, tap Trust Agents and make sure that Smart Lock is enabled.
4. Go back and tap Smart Lock under Device Security.
5. Enter your credentials when prompted. If you don’t have any, follow the on-screen prompts to set one up. Remember, you’ll need to enter it any time you want to change your Smart Lock settings.
   
6. In the Smart Lock options, tap ‘Trusted Places‘. Tap ‘Home‘ and then ‘Turn on this location‘. If you want to set any other location apart from your Home or Work, you can set a custom location by tapping ‘Add trusted place‘ under ‘Custom places.’

To delete a trusted place, tap on the location and tap Turn off this location or Edit > Trash > Clear.

Method 2: Setting Up Trusted Places On Samsung Touchwiz UI

This method covers Samsung devices running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

1. Open the app drawer and launch the Settings app.
2. In the Settings, tap Lock Screen and Security.
3. Select Secure lock settings and then Smart Lock. A list will appear with the Smart Lock options. Tap Trusted Places.
4. Tap Add trusted place, choose your location from the map and then tap Select this location.

To remove a trusted place, select the location and then tap Turn off this location.

The steps are slightly different on Samsung devices running Android 5.0 Lollipop. Follow these steps if you’re running Lollipop.

1. From the settings go to Security > Trust Agents and toggle on Smart Lock.
2. A new option for Smart Lock will now appear under the advanced section of the security settings. Tap Smart Lock.
3. Enter your PIN or password when prompted. If you don’t have one, you’ll need to create it.
   
4. Tap Trusted places > Add trusted place, choose your location from the map and then tap Select this location.
5. To remove a trusted place, select the location and then tap Turn off this location or Edit > Trash > Clear.