Snippet: On Google’s Trusted Places ☇

Vlad Savov for The Verge:

I don’t make a habit of counting how many times I unlock my phone, but I’m willing to believe the stats that say the average user does it hundreds of times each day. That can be an unnecessary chore when using a device in a place safe from malfeasant interference, such as your home, which is why Google has now introduced the option to add trusted places to Android 5.0’s Smart Lock. As with the two existing options, trusted faces and trusted devices, the new location-based automatic unlocker bypasses the usual lock screen when it detects the proper circumstances. You can set multiple trusted locations and it works without adding any delays to accessing the phone.

My initial reaction was that this was a cool feature—which it is—and that I’d like to see it on iOS. Then, like a few of the commenters, I realized that iOS’s Touch ID sort of made this feature unnecessary. Since upgrading to my iPhone 6, I’ve found that I use Touch ID without even thinking—it’s almost like not having a lock on my phone at all. That being said, I think a feature like Android’s Smart Lock could be handy for users of older devices.