Interesting!!! Google did some updates during last week which apparently made my Google Maps to crash randomly.  Something good came out of it though. Now I can get 4 more hours with Smartlock just by turning the location pin on the top slide down Off and then a bit later Off and Smartlock starts to function again!!! Let's see how long this will last now... ... View more

Hi bobpwilson!    I don't use any Samsung account, or use any on body detection or any other means recommended by some other users.    What I do know now is that due to some process that has 4 hour timeout, smartlock doesn't understand that it is at the same secure location. Also earlier I did test setting a multiple places around my home as secure locations when the Google Maps seemed to jump my location back and forth between the places around my home.   After the recent tests, I have noticed that thr best way to get the Smartlock to work operational after 4  hour timeout is:   1) Close Google Maps 2) Turn off the Location Pin 3) Close the lid or turn off the screen and Wait at least one minute before opening the phone screen again. 4) Type in your Pin and open Google Maps and ask it to show your location (target with a question mark button), which makes Google Maps to ask for your permission to turn on the Location Pin again.  5) Zoom in the map until you see for sure that the blue location point with light blue circular area around it settles close to your secure area, it may take a while. 6) Leave Google Maps active and close the lid or turn off the screen and Wait at least one full minute before opening the phone again. When that minute has passed you should gain another 4 hours of use time again.    I must admit that the instructions I describe above are quite complex and Google should definitely fix this issue, instead of sitting there in their ivory tower doing nothing. This is almost as annoying as seeing in Google Mail app in sent folder my own name instead of seeing there recipient's name which in this case is the only relevant information... ... View more

My older Samsung J5 still doesn't understand the phone being in smart lock area after 4 hours.  Earlier I had to resort to Restarting the phone every 4 hours  to make the phone understand that it is still in safe area. Yesterday I did find a solution that doesn't require restarting the phone =): 1) Once the phone starts to ask for Pin again, log in with a pin code 2) Open the list of currently active applications and Close the Google Maps if is active by dragging it away from the screen.  3) Open the top menu and Turn off the Location needle icon.  4) Open the Google Maps and wait until it asks to use Location and Allow Maps to use it, wait until you see the little Pin icon on the top of the screen and see that phone has find your location correctly.  5) Leave the Google Maps active on the screen and close the lid or turn off your screen. When you open the lid or screen a bit later you should find it working for the next 4 hours! Enjoy!!! ... View more

My older Samsung J5 still doesn't understand the phone being in smart lock area after 4 hours.  Earlier I had to resort to Restarting the phone every 4 hours  to make the phone understand that it is still in safe area. Yesterday I did find a solution that doesn't require restarting the phone =): 1) Once the phone starts to ask for Pin again, log in with a pin code 2) Open the list of currently active applications and Close the Google Maps if is active by dragging it away from the screen.  3) Open the top menu and Turn off the Location needle icon.  4) Open the Google Maps and wait until it asks to use Location and Allow Maps to use it, wait until you see the little Pin icon on the top of the screen and see that phone has find your location correctly.  5) Leave the Google Maps active on the screen and close the lid or turn off your screen. When you open the lid or screen a bit later you should find it working for the next 4 hours! Enjoy!!! ... View more

I did notice that there is some process that times out in app. 4 hours, like many others have been complaining in multiple other conversations around the web. Smartlock operates fine, if you get in and out of your trusted place every 3-4 hours. If you stay there it will stop operating after that time and requires Restarting the phone, in order to simulate the situation that the phone has been away. I have not been able to find out which process it is that I could kill and restart, but this is quite annoying. Of course restarting the phone is quite easy: one has to insert pin code twice and then get another max. 4 hours of time that doesn't require continous pin code inserting. Still I hope that Google/Samsung would investigate and fix this issue for good. The procedure that works 100% of time with my phone, when Smartlock stops working because the time limit. 1) Restart the Phone 2) Insert both pin codes to get to see the phone desktop 3) Open Google Maps to check that phone locates you correctly, leave Maps on 4) Close the lid or turn off the display and wait about one minute 5) Turn on the display, and it shoud open without requiring the pin, kill the Maps and enjoy max 4 hours without needing to insert the pin code. (Of course same thing can be achieved by going to Grocery store and back, perhaps this is the hidden agenda to get users to go out and keep fit X'D ) ... View more

Hi, I did try downloading the app but it tells that it is not compatible with my device, which is a bit older than the newest models.    This Trusted locations problem seems to be affecting many other Android phone brands, too.    It has 2 problems to be solved: 1) inaccuracy of the Google Maps location Service time to time 2) time out of the Service that checks whether the device is in the Trusted Places environment.   I have added 3 different locations around my home (10 meters apart, when I did notice that  the phone keeps  finding me in those locations randomly.    If I restart my phone every morning then the Trusted places works usually all day, no matter whether I am at work in between. Very rarely If System doesn't work, then I clear Google Maps cache, restart the phone, log in to see the UI, wait for the carrier signal, open the Google Maps to verify the phone finds in right location. After this procedure it works again (but still requires phone Restart every morning).    My assumption is that some specific Google service process that checks the location for Trusted places times out after four hours of phone inactivity and this Service is only activated again during the phone restart. With good debugging tools it shouldn't be too difficult to find out which Process this is.  ... View more

In my case location kept also wandering and changing three different locations, but adding those and Restarting the Phone every morning keeps it going one full day at the time without the need of clearing cache at all now. After phone Restart it takes some minutes to establish the carrier and after that Smart lock starts to operate. If the phone doesn't find you at a fixed point within a certain radius (which only Google or Samsung knows) it won't activate the feature.  I think that you are missing my point here. I totally agree that this feature sucks in your case, but also want other users to know that the feature is semi-usable in cases where some fixed points can be established (semi-usable since the phone must be restarted every morning, and outside the home first time phone is opened system thinks that I am still at home ; ) ... View more

And you claim that Google Maps showed your location inside 10 meter radius of the marked trusted location when it didn't work, even after Restarting the phone and zooming in with Maps to verify your location. If I remember correctly you lived outside of the city, am I right?  ... View more

I have one of the cheapest phone models and I have pinned the problem down to Google Maps and Android OS behaviour. Of course Samsung might have something wrong with their add-ons to the system with various phone models.   As said above, how close to the Trusted place Google Maps locate you is one culprit. The other is the general bug that system loses the knowledge where it is when some time has passed (like over night) and requires phone Restart. After system update or if none of these will not help, then Google Maps cache must be cleared  (like after System update).    Have you checked by zooming in Google maps to so close that you can not zoom no more, where phone finds you. In my case 10 meters was enough to make phone to think that it is not in a Trusted place no more. I know that if you don't live in a city, phone might locate you kilometers away. ... View more

As said before (in the other forum), only clearing Google Maps cache helps, no other cache or trick. Also I have noticed that when I come to my home from work it almost works 100% all the time, opening the phone correctly, not requiring the PIN code .   But in the mornings when I have stayed in home all night it might ask me again the PIN code. In that case I must restart the phone and open it first time with the PIN code and zoom in Google Maps so close that I see for sure that Google Maps really wants me at that Trusted location close to the one of the three pins which I have placed around my home as trusted places. Annoying, but works! This issue is caused by the fact that the phone really doesn't understand It's exact location most of the time. Also another problem is that Trusted place range from the Selected trusted pin can't be defined large enough. After checking closely the locations of the phone finds me when the Smart Lock doesn't work I found three different locations, all of them on my yard. Smart lock feature is so picky that even some ten meters away from the defined location causes it to fail.    So, I agree that  this issue is not solved for good yet. But unless Google really does something about it, it won't be solved. Defining a clear trusted area visible range on on the map would be a good start! ... View more

As said before, only clearing Google Maps cache helps, no other. Also I have noticed that when I come to my home from work it almost works 100% all the time. But in the mornings when I have stayed in home all night it might ask me again the PIN code. In that case I must restart the phone and open it first time with the PIN code and zoom in Google Maps so close that I see for sure that Google Maps really wants me at that Trusted location close to the one of the three pins which I have placed around my home as trusted places. Annoying, but works. This issue is caused by the fact that the phone really doesn't understand It's exact location most of the time. Also another problem is that Trusted place range from the Selected trusted pin can't be defined large enough. After checking closely the locations of the phone finds me when the Smart Lock doesn't work I found three different locations, all of them on my yard. Smart lock feature is so picky that even some ten meters away from the defined location causes it to fail. ... View more

Did you try that clearing the Google Maps cache and then restarting the phone? In one if the cases I have seen, that was the only thing that actually helped.  After clearing the Google Maps cache, deleting the old trusted places and adding them again might also be a good idea. I somehow can't imagine that those who did the update would actually test the functionality of all features. ... View more

For me this happens all the time. If I Stay at home for a long time it seems to fail to understand that I am still at home. Whenever I come to home from work, it understand that I have just come to Trusted environment. Also I have noticed that when I go away from home first time when I open the phone with things that I'm still at home and opens the phone right away and only after that it starts to require PIN code. ... View more

I usually have to restart my phone next morning which is of course over 4 hours from the last use of the phone. Clearing the Google Maps cache helps If phone doesn't recognize the location properly and sometimes after a major system update it might not work at all, then only Google Maps cache must be cleared nothing else helps. I suggest you to start troubleshooting by checking out your phone location by Google Maps and then add a couple of locations most often found to your Trusted locations. ... View more

If you follow my instructions you will get it to work quite well. Read them carefully. Everytime I arrived home from work it works almost 100%. Sometimes I have to restart my phone if it has Lost the connection to the server.  ... View more

Did you check time to time your exact location. If the dot jumps around even a little (in my case 20m around the court yard), I know for sure that it will not help what ever one registeres as home. As said, I did register my home address and it did not help at all, because phone thinks that I am outside ; ) Check three days in a row at different times closely in Google Maps (zoom in as much as you are able) where phone locates you, and if the dot jumps around tens of meters and this registering your home address to Samsung eliminates the fact that position changes radically, then I believe you. =) ... View more

Yes, I have it on high accuracy all the time, but I live in an old building with castle thick walls and in ground floor. There is no way satellite positioning works here. Google Map services uses wifi signal and net node points to "guess" the phone location, and depending on the star positions in the universe, decides that my phone jumps by itself back and forth in the courtyard, usually in some corners opposite the corner where my home is ; ) ... View more

Still doesn't work with me, since phone sees me in different location where I actually am.  Can you check closely time to time where your phone is located in  Google Maps. If the location dot stays in the same place all the time then it works, otherwise not.  Whether the address is called home or work is irrelevant.  Today my phone thinks persistently that I am not in those two locations what I have marked around my home to be recognised as my home, and the lock is not working again. The saddest thing here is that there is no option to define the actual range around that located position that would always be considered safe. That would solve all these issues... ... View more

Both Samsung and Google are really good at hiding those settings, every system update tries to bury that setting to even deeper and under a newly named category. It is usually in "Settings" (cogwheel icon) and under some subcategory of category "Lock Screen and Security", in subcategory which name can also slighty change depending system version and Samsung's latest idea of usability =) ... View more

Hi Johnny, when you added your address to yout galaxy account service, that service gives that location to Google Map services. Trusted places means trusted places, not just home.    I had my home address also registered but it did not help at all, because where I live the Google Map service sometimes locates me outside my house  when I am inside my home.    I actually had to add two most common locations where Google Maps finds me most often when I am at home and now the system works most of the time. ; ) ... View more

Well, I did test adding multiple trusted  locations around my house using the placed using the Placed Pin option. When I walked away from my home Trusted Locations System went bananas and ended up thinking that I'm home all the time even half a kilometer from my home. I had to remove all those extra places and use the one and only location which Maps always finds first when I'm at home. In your case I would use only a couple of most commonly found places where the system locates you at home. Otherwise  the system may end up practically disabling the pin code protection.  ... View more

I did post earlier that clearing Google Maps - Storage Cache solves this problem. Sometimes phone may still require a  restart after the smart lock has been operating flawlessly for days.   After this restart you may have to clear that Google Maps - Storage Cache again.    Here is a handy way to do this: 1) Open Google Maps and let it locate your position you have marked as a Trusted location  2) Open Multitasking Menu (usually the left side of the Home button) 3) Hold your finger on little Google Maps Icon on left side of the Maps window until it opens Google Maps app Information icon on the right and, when you touch that it opens panel where you can Open Storage and clear its cache. In older Androids it opens this panel directly when holding finger on Maps icon, in newer via little info ( i ) icon.    ... View more

I have now investigated this issue further. In my phone I must sometimes restart the phone in order get trusted locations work again. In another newer edition of same phone model this is not needed. I did check which position Google Maps most often finds when I am at home and defined that as a safe location (that is in the yard outside of the house). There might still be some operating system bugs that may require occasional phone restarting. ... View more

It also seems that the Google Maps light blue circle or the dotted line which is shown when one defines the trusted location has nothing to do with the actual "what is considered as a trusted area" concept. This morning my phone refused to understand that it was home again and I did test adding 10 close by spots (moving the found pin and picking points outside around the house) around my house an suddenly phone started understand that it, indeed is in a trusted environment. ; ) ... View more

I am pretty sure that just deleting only Google Maps Cache should solve the problem, since that is the service that tells your phone is. I assume you do not have a land line and wifi on that available. That would lock your location tightly. ... View more

Well, in that case there is not much to be done, of course this drifting may depend on where your mobile phone picks the signal that it uses to calculate your location. In my case these spots near by were quite regular. In your case placing your location far away tells that there are only limited amount of available signal towers and probably too many users online at the same time, pushing you to the next available signal tower further away. If you have better GPS signal, using that might help. You can also check are these random spots far away regular and add all of them. In my case activating wifi drifted my location accurately back to home, since I have allowed Google to use wifi for locating my phone. Without wifi, I was located to the opposite building regularily. ... View more

Check where Google Maps locates you when Smart lock isn't working. In my case it sometimes locates me just outside the range to the opposite building. Adding these a-bit-off locations nearby helped me. It's a pity that one can't define the range what is considered safe distance.  ... View more

Hi, try my solution which I just posted. I think that might help... ... View more

Found an easy solution: 1) Open Settings - Apps  2) Find Maps and select Storage and in there press CLEAR CACHE No need to clearn Samsung cache or reset anything else. It seems that Maps app cache gets corrupted time to time when phone updates its apps constantly. Sometimes Maps can fix it when I just open Google Maps and zoom into my current location. After the latest major system update this didn't help at all, but clearing just Google Maps cache did help immediately. This fix may work with some other brand phones, too.  ... View more