5 different ways to unlock your phone

Android stands for versatility and freedom of choice and that also applies when it comes to unlocking our smartphones. Android has a lot of ways you can do that and each way can be useful for a type of user or in certain scenarios. These are the five ways.

1. Body Detection

you can recognize a phone or when it is carried in your hand or in your pocket. With Smart Lock and the Body Detection, he can then ensure that you only have to unlock once, and as long as you keep moving after that, your smartphone will also remain unlocked. If your phone notices that it is put down, the lock will be put back on.

Body detection is a useful way that allows you to unlock less, but it does come with an obvious risk. If someone suddenly grabs your phone from your hands and walks away with it, then technically they’re still on the move. So you get more ease of use but run a bit more risk. In the step-by-step plan below we explain how to set it up.

Roadmap

• Open your Settings and choose Security
• Tap on Smart Lock
• Enter your PIN and confirm
• Tap on Body Detection
• Turn on the switch
• Choose Get on

2. Biometric Security

You can use your fingerprint to unlock almost all smartphones in every price segment, and that is popular for a reason. Fingerprint scanners are both fast and reliable. There was once a problem with the special ultrasonic scanner with the Samsung Galaxy S10, but that was also solved with an update.

Less good than the fingerprint scanner, is to unlock with facial recognition. If your smartphone also uses other sensors to identify you in addition to the selfie camera, that’s another matter. But most modern phones come without such a dedicated DOT projector and infrared scanner. Various studies have already shown that recognition with only a selfie camera is not reliable enough.

Furthermore, Samsung experimented years ago with a virus scanner, but that technology has never broken through. Below you will discover how to set up biometric security.

Roadmap

• Open your Settings and choose Security
• Look for terms like ‘Fingerprint‘

3. Trusted Places

You can choose trusted places with Smart Lock, and as long as you are there, your phone will remain unlocked. If you leave the spot, you have to unlock every time as normal. This feature is a great idea for someone who, for example, lives alone and selects their home as a trusted place, but obviously you don’t use public places for this feature. A good dose of common sense is therefore important. We explain how to set it up.

Roadmap

• Open your Settings and choose Security
• Tap on Smart Lock
• Enter your PIN and confirm
• Tap on Trusted places
• Select Add trusted place
• Drag the card or enter an address and tap it
• Confirm with OK

4. Pattern, PIN or Password

This is the old-fashioned way of securing your phone, but these methods also still serve as a backup for biometric security and other locking alternatives. However, there are also a few things to watch out for with these somewhat slow but secure unlocking methods.

For example, make sure you use a secure password, a pattern that isn’t predictable – yes, we mean that ‘L’ movement – and an original row of numbers for your PIN. If you choose ‘1,2,3,4’ as the pin code, it is better not to add a locking method at all. This is how you set up this form of locking.

Roadmap

• Open your Settings and choose Security
• Type terms like pattern, screen lock and pin

5. Trusted Devices

We already use a lot of ‘smart devices’ that often connect to our phone; Think of smart watches or bluetooth earphones. If your phone is still connected to one of these Bluetooth devices, you can use Smart Lock to set it to remain unlocked all this time.

Although this feature also comes with a clear disclaimer, because a Bluetooth connection between devices can reach up to 120 meters. In other words, if your phone is in the other room than the one where you are with your smartwatch, anyone in that room can use your device. We explain how to set it up.

Roadmap

• Open your Settings and choose Security
• Tap on Smart Lock
• Enter your PIN and confirm
• Tap on Trusted devices
• Select Add trusted device
• Choose from the list a bluetooth device that is paired with your phone
• Confirm with Yes, add

Which method do you use to unlock your smarthome? Do you use one of the options of Smart Lock or do you consciously not use it? Let us know in the comments at the bottom of this article.