Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Solving A Common Problem With Chromebook Smart Lock

I have a Toshiba Chromebook 2, and when I saw the new Smart Lock feature I really wanted to try it out.  Basically Smart Lock allows the Chromebook to be automatically unlocked when it is within Bluetooth range of an Android phone.  Android phones themselves have a similar feature that can be activated by proximity to a Bluetooth device, within a particular geographic location, etc.  I was therefore a little bummed to find that I couldn't use Smart Lock because my phone, a Samsung Galxy Note 3 on Verizon, was still on Android version 4.x - Chromebook's Smart Lock only works with phones running Android 5.x (code named Lollipop).

A couple of weeks ago Verizon finally pushed out the Lollipop update for the Note 3, so naturally I immediately tried setting up Smart Lock...and it didn't work.  The procedure goes like this:

You need an Android phone running Lollipop (duh).  The phone and the Chromebook both have to be registered to the same Google account.  They have to be within Bluetooth range of one another.  And they both have to be connected to the Internet.

When you activate the feature (by going into the Chromebook's settings - advanced section and clicking the setup button for Smart Lock) the first thing that happens is the Chromebook locks itself, requiring you to supply your password.  Then a dialog box comes up with some notes about what you're doing and a button to "Find your phone."  And this is where the problem showed up - each time I clicked it, the setup tool reported that it could not find my phone.

Browsing around online I found people suggesting that you need to pair your Chromebook and phone prior to setting up Smart Lock (the Google instructions do not say this).  It didn't work.  Some folks suggested you have to turn on Smart Lock on the phone itself (also not according to Google).  That didn't help either.

I opened a support ticket with Google, and the first thing they suggested was that because I was running on the Chromebook beta channel, they couldn't help, and that I would have to switch to stable (necessitating a powerwash).  When that didn't help, they suggested a "hard reset" on the Chromebook (pressing the refresh and power keys at the same time) and a reboot of the phone - still no joy.  After that the support person didn't have anything new to offer.

As I continued searching for a solution I found a number of people who claimed to have had the problem and to have solved it by wiping their phones - doing a factory reset.  This seemed a little extreme but it began to suggest a solution.  Finally I found some information that it might have something to do with how the phone is registered with Google, specifically with "Google Play."

Basically, when you first set up an Android phone with Google, it reports itself to Google, and the information is used with Google Play services to show you only those apps which will work with your device.  But somehow the process of getting a phone upgraded to Android 5.x doesn't update the information they have stored about it.

The reason this matters is that when you click "Find your phone" during the Chromebook Smart Lock procedure, it isn't looking for your phone via Bluetooth - it is checking with Google Play to see if you have a phone registered running Lollipop.  Those folks wiping and reloading their phones were basically forcing the phones to re-register themselves with Google Play services.

It turns out there is an easier way to do this.  What you need to do is to force Google Play Services on your phone to update itself.  The way to do this is to essentially uninstall Google Play Services on the phone, and reinstall it.  On most phones, the way to do this is to go into the settings for the phone, then the Applications area where you can see all applications running on the phone.  Tapping on Google Play Services will bring you to a screen where you can uninstall it.  Note that on most phones you are not completely uninstalling Google Play Services, but rather uninstalling all the updates it has received.  You can also do a "force stop" on it.  After doing this, Google Play Services should update itself on the phone.  And when it does, it will register with Google Play the fact that you are running Lollipop.

Once this is done the Chromebook should be able to find the phone.  It worked for me, it has worked for others, and I hope it will work for you.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that when I went to "uninstall" Google Play Services, at first I couldn't because the buttons were greyed out.  This was because I had tried to set up Smart Lock on the phone itself, and the phone was now using the services.  To turn it off, I had to go into Settings - Security - Trust Agents and disable Smart Lock on the phone there.  Once I did that I was able to proceed with uninstalling.

14 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Thanks again James!
    I couldn't force stop or uninstall but was able to delete the data in Google Services. And it worked, well as soon as left the phone alone...I kept putting phone into discovery mode and Chromebook wouldn't find it but when I stopped doing that set up Smart Lock right away. :-)

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  4. Thanks a million! Worked great on my T-Mobile Note 4 that just got Lollipop yesterday. I had been using it with my Nexus 5, but I don't always have it with me, so this is a welcome guide!

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  5. After a bunch of messing around, that finally worked for me. Unistalled update Google Play Services, and then updated via the store. Tried a few times to BT connect phone and Chromebook and finally Smart Lock works. Thanks!

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  6. yaaas it finally f*cking worked. Cheers for all the info, got a chromebook just 2 days ago and been tryna get this working since. (in between using all the other good stuff chrome os has to offer)

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  7. James I followed your directions and I still couldn't get Smart Lock to work between my Pixel XL and Chromebook Pixel (2015). Any other insight that you might be able to share on this topic?

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  8. Hi ,
    Thank you very much for this tip. I was really pissed off with this problem and was thinking selling my Chromebook because of this' I have a complex Google password and cannot remember it so I had to open my password manager every time to open my Chromebook!
    I have a question: after doing that, should we turn on again Smart Lock in the cell phone in Security/Trust agents?

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  9. Did not work. Read the update. I can't add as a trusted device even though they are paired.

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  10. Same as Wayno.. Updated Google Play Services but no Smart Lock. Chromebook and phone can find and pair each other, but when tryin to set up Smart Lock, it says "can't find phone"

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  11. It has worked for months but since 4 weeks, i can't. Tryin every solution..

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  12. You make so many great points here that I read your article a couple of times. Your views are in accordance with my own for the most part. This is great content for your readers. August Smart lock vs August Smart lock pro

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