Android Lollipop Trusted Device + NFC Ring = perfect
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For me the swipe, and presumably the onscreen lock/unlock icon on my otherwise pattern lock screen. sometimes plays the read nfc sound an sometimes will also unlock - sometimes not.
That's on a note3, which has the swiper (and signature) setting marked as disabled by administrator/encryption policy/credential storage. If I instead enable the nfc unlock app I get a slightly (much) better detection, having first unlocked by swipe to then really unlock by ring.
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@SwordFire said:
Tried the trusted device on the Samsung S6. For this particular phone, it unlocks immediately after detecting the NFC ring (without swiping).
This is now happening on my Nexus 6 It must be one of the recent updates. but good to know this is now a stock android feature :)
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Nice. Wish they'd allow that through on a few more devices though.
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Great news!
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@Lokki said:
Nice. Wish they'd allow that through on a few more devices though.
That's actually your phone manufacturer that holds the features back for a while until they have tested it with their other apps/device launchers etc.
The feature has also made it to my old Nexus 7 tablet so I'm pretty sure Google is not withholding.
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@jasok2 yeah. It's also the telco holding things back. It's just another reason I prefer to use an iPhone for my day-to-day device. You can always have the updates, the apps in the appstore are all usable on your device and there's no weird, artificial staggering of update releases. I hate those things about Android as much as I hate that Apple won't open up their NFC unit for developers.
Apple opening up NFC is sadly more likely to happen than Android update/compatibility sanity. -
@Lokki Have you considered a nexus phone, you get all the updates immediately as well as NFC being open. seems to me like everything your after !
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@jasok2, yeah I've had a secondhand one on and off for a while and it's not yet graduated beyond 'spare phone'. Trouble is, the telco I'm with doesn't tend to offer the new Nexus phones w/plan. I won't take something less than I already have so it's difficult.
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@Lokki Yeah I did buy my last two phones outright. whilst I could get something new on a plan, i have a very old plan thats really good, and if I "upgrade" to the new plan, it will cost me more over time.
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Dear all,
i received my ring, and it looks good. Still, it doesn't yet work as I expected. Every 20th time I try my Nexus 4 recognizes the ring and opens the link. I downloaded the 2 apps, but also in the registering process with the heatmap-like picture the only thing happening is opening the link (sometimes). What can I do to successfully register the ring in the app?
I also added the ring as trusted NFC device for unlocking (Android Smartlock, and it recognized the ring in that process) but the device does not at all react to the ring when I try to unlock. I know the sweetspot of the Nexus 4 and I tried as described but no success. Any ideas?Best regards,
Wolfgang -
Hi @Wolfgang
I suggest using either the NFC ring lock screen or the stock Android one with trusted device. Since you have a Nexus device use the stock lock screen and the trusted device functionality since it provides a bit more security then the app.
Let us know if this solves your problem.
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Thanks for the reply. I try the Android stock one, but without any success with the ring (Bluetooth devices work).
Therefore I wanted to try the app but not even registering works (just leads to the linkes Website)
Does Stock Android unlock work for anybody here on a Nexus 4? Can you successfully register on a Nexus 4? In case of any "yes", what Rom do you use?
Thanks for any ideas
Wolfgang -
@Wolfgang said:
Thanks for the reply. I try the Android stock one, but without any success with the ring (Bluetooth devices work).
Therefore I wanted to try the app but not even registering works (just leads to the linkes Website)
Does Stock Android unlock work for anybody here on a Nexus 4? Can you successfully register on a Nexus 4? In case of any "yes", what Rom do you use?
Thanks for any ideas
WolfgangI find i have to hold it to the sweet spot for 1-2 seconds, now that I automatically get the exact right spot every time its more like 1 second, but a quick tap and away never works on the old rings, I don't have my new 2016 ring yet so no idea on that one.
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Okay, i now managed to register the ring and to setup the unlock app. Still, having to usw the ring in addition to any other unlock option dorsn't make sense to me. Having it instead oft any other option neither as I might need to unlock without the ring as well.
That means I hav tobgo for the stock Android option. That doesn't work yet no matter how long I press the ring in the sweet spot before, during vor after pressing the Power button. -
@Wolfgang you'll need Android 5.x and to add the NFC Ring as a trusted device before it will work for stock unlock, is that all correct?
I also seem to remember something about some of the older android devices being slow to enable the NFC module from sleep. -
For me on my note3 it works fine for about an hour after I configure it then seems to stop. If I go through the process and re-add the same already trusted device it will work for another hour or so - hopefully new shiny rings will have more luck.
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I've tested the stock unlock with my new 2015 ring on my Nexsus 6P and it works fine. takes a bit for the nfc to be activated after the power button is pressed but then it reads the ring and unlocks the phone perfectly.
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For the record, there seems to be a bug on Android that causes Smart Lock to simply stop reacting to trusted NFC tags after a while: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=79928
I have been using native Smart Lock to unlock my Nexus 5 for a few months now (at first with a tag on the band of my watch, and recently with a 2016 NFC Ring). I've always had this issue since Lollipop. Still happening after factory resets and even after flashing a full stock Marshmallow 6.0.1. image.
Once unlocked by hand, the device can read NFC tags; however, it will refuse to unlock with any NFC tag, until the user navigates to Settings, toggles NFC (and/or the Google Trust Agent) off and back on, or restarts the device.
At that point NFC Smart Lock will start working again, but only for a random amount of time. In my case it happens every day a few times.
Is anyone else having this issue?
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@Nephiel said:
Is anyone else having this issue?
Yes I get this issue too. I find if I click on the lock item on the lock screen to manually lock the phone, then manually unlock it, it works again after that for a few days.
Its an android issue and there is little we can do about it until google come up with a fix.
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Starring https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=79928 will help. @Nephiel thanks for flagging this up