People like their work to be done easily, without a hassle. Android’s Smart Lock is one such thing that has revolutionized how people access and unlock their android device. But sometimes, being a piece of technology, it may go wrong. When it is supposed to unlock because it is in your hands, it fails to do so because of some other technical reasons. Therefore, even though it is a convenient way to unlock your phone, you must be equipped and ready with some troubleshooting steps if it does not work the way it was intended to.
Following are some of the steps people can follow in an escalating manner to achieve their resolution.
Turn on your GPS
Your phone’s inherent GPS sensors are very sensitive to changes in location, and hence, quite precise. Be sure to keep your phone’s GPS is enabled. You can link it with Trusted Places as the accuracy is unmatched.

For enabling the GPS services of your phone, go to the Settings menu of your android phone. Choose the “Locations” tab, and then select the Locating Method. After that, customize it to “High Accuracy” to get the best results for your location.
Disable other devices under Google Location Reporting
if you have been using multiple phones with the same account or have switched phones recently, your Smart lock’s trouble not working might pop up. You can thus, head on to the settings menu of your phone. There, click on “Location” and make progressive changes to it. Ensure you log out well from the other devices and add your current location to the phone you are using now.
Is your location updated?
Sometimes, your Smart Lock malfunctioning is probably because your location may not be rightly updated. Therefore, it is unable to add to the Trusted Places, which is why it does not work. So, what you can do is, go to your Goggle Maps home page and set the right location on the home screen. This re-enables the Smart Lock.
Enable location permissions for Google Play Services
The backbone for all your Smart Lock features in an android device depends on Google Play Services. You need to use a particular account to access it and, additionally, make sure that the location permissions are given for reaping the benefits provided by the Play services.
Go to “All apps” in your settings tab, click on Google Play Services, and toggle the button for Permissions to Enable it.
Remove other Google Accounts on the device
Smart Lock requires you to be very specific about the Google account you use and your location. Therefore, make sure you are not logged in with any other accounts. Settings > Accounts, then select any non-primary Google account. Tap “Remove account” on the next screen, then confirm your choice on the prompt. Repeat this step for any other non-primary Google accounts.
Delete Trusted place and re-add them
Sometimes the system may be malfunctioning, and so do the servers. So, what you can do is, Settings > Security > Smart Lock > Trusted Places and then tap on the “Edit” option present there. Now you can add them again and refresh the whole system so that the Smart Lock works again.
Clear Data For Google Play Services
This is the ultimate choice one should take up if nothing else works because it is quite close to a resetting of the Smart Lock feature of your phone. For doing this, head on to the Settings of your phone and find the Security section. Once you do that, you can find the option for Smart Lock. Make sure your Trusted Places are disabled as well.
After that, go to “All Apps” and choose Google Play Services. Click on “clear data” and “Clear Cache,” which should help you refresh the accounts and services. Back up your data, and you can re-enable the Smart Lock Feature as per your convenience.
Make sure Play services isn’t battery Optimised
Sometimes problems may creep up in the Smart Lock feature’s functioning because the settings of the battery optimization feature. Go to the settings menu of your phone and go on to “Battery Optimisation.” Click on the first option that you get, and select Google Play Services. Then, you can choose not optimized option here. This should help the Smart Lock Feature to work again.
Disable Home Location and add a nearby address
Sometimes, due to some vague reasons, the addresses mentioned as Home and Work may get mixed up, causing the Smart Lock not to behave the way it should. What you can do to ensure this does not happen is go to Settings > Security > Smart Lock > Trusted Places, then tap your default address and choose “Turn off this location.“. Instead, add a more accurate address and edit it to be recognized as a Trusted Place.
Wrapping Up!
As much as people love technology and how easy it makes their lives, there are a couple of things that can always go wrong.
Therefore, with the steps mentioned above, anyone can troubleshoot their way through the problems they might face when enjoying the Smart Lock feature of android Phones.
Whatever be your issue with the Smart Lock feature, any of the above steps can help you with it, and you can choose the options as per your requirement.