‘Trusted Places’ Feature Allows Location-Based Unlocking for Android Devices

Ryan Whitwam, writing for Android Police:

Smart Lock in Lollipop encompasses both trusted face and trusted devices, but a new option is joining the party — trusted places. The latest Google Play Services for Lollipop devices is adding this option to the menu automagically. Just choose a trusted place, and your phone will remain unlocked when it’s in that geographic area.

Cool feature. I can’t find it, but I recall suggesting something like this as an iOS feature a year or two ago. Touch ID mitigates the need to some extent, but I still think it’d be nice to have my iPad remain unlocked while it’s in my home. (And it’s going to be a few years until most iOS devices in use have Touch ID.)

Update: Here’s a post from June where I wrote about it, vis-à-vis an Apple patent filing for location-based security.

★ Wednesday, 19 November 2014