dhj49er
Well-known member
On the latest versions of Android you can select a trusted device to unlock the phone.
I thought I would share how I use this feature to automate unlocking the phone, as it might be of interest to other users.
Google has named this feature Extend Unlock.
You will need to go to Settings, search for extend unlock and follow the instructions to add a trusted device. I would not use either a location or on body options for trusted device as they are less secure.
I recommend using a smartwatch.
I use my smartwatch as the trusted device for 2 reasons.
1. I'm almost always wearing my smartwatch when I want to use my phone.
2. I can quickly turn off the smartwatch Bluetooth in the event I lose my phone or think I've lost my phone.
When extend unlock is enabled and my smartwatch is connected, the phone is unlocked and on the lockscreen, needing a swipe up to clear the lockscreen.
The attached screenshot is a macro that performs the swipe up Gesture, automating unlocking the phone.
From pressing power on, the phone is ready to use in less than 250ms. So it's very quick and so convienient, especially if your phone supports raise to wake or double tap to wake.
If the smartwatch loses connection, extend unlock is tempoary disabled until the phone is manually unlocked. When this happens the macro doesn't run because extend unlock is not displayed.
The constraint ensures that the macro only runs when the phone is locked. Likewise the while/do loop ends when the device is unlocked.
The gesture ui action will almost certainly need to be adjusted for your phones screen size.
I thought I would share how I use this feature to automate unlocking the phone, as it might be of interest to other users.
Google has named this feature Extend Unlock.
You will need to go to Settings, search for extend unlock and follow the instructions to add a trusted device. I would not use either a location or on body options for trusted device as they are less secure.
I recommend using a smartwatch.
I use my smartwatch as the trusted device for 2 reasons.
1. I'm almost always wearing my smartwatch when I want to use my phone.
2. I can quickly turn off the smartwatch Bluetooth in the event I lose my phone or think I've lost my phone.
When extend unlock is enabled and my smartwatch is connected, the phone is unlocked and on the lockscreen, needing a swipe up to clear the lockscreen.
The attached screenshot is a macro that performs the swipe up Gesture, automating unlocking the phone.
From pressing power on, the phone is ready to use in less than 250ms. So it's very quick and so convienient, especially if your phone supports raise to wake or double tap to wake.
If the smartwatch loses connection, extend unlock is tempoary disabled until the phone is manually unlocked. When this happens the macro doesn't run because extend unlock is not displayed.
The constraint ensures that the macro only runs when the phone is locked. Likewise the while/do loop ends when the device is unlocked.
The gesture ui action will almost certainly need to be adjusted for your phones screen size.
