Google could soon make it easier to manage Trusted places for Extend Unlock (APK teardown)

Alex Walker-Todd / Android Authority

Android phones have many smaller settings and features that make using them easier. One such feature is Trusted places within Extend Unlock, which keeps your phone unlocked and ready to use for up to four hours in safe locations like your home. Users can set up multiple locations as their trusted places, but it’s not very easy to manage when you want the feature active. Google could remedy this with an upcoming release.

An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.

The latest Google Play Services v24.37.31 beta has a new toggle that makes it easy to turn on and off the trusted places feature for extended unlock.

Previously, when you set up Trusted places, it would fetch the Home location you set in Google Maps. You could tap on the home location to toggle the Trusted places feature. Further, you could add other locations as your Trusted places. If you wanted to turn Trusted places off after adding these locations, you’d have to delete all locations, which is quite inconvenient for temporary changes.

With the new update, you don’t have to delete locations to toggle functionality, as the new toggle makes it easy to do so.

Further, here is a preview of the location picker that will be presented to users when they try to set up the Trusted places option in the new UI:

These features are likely to complement the Mandatory Biometric setting we previously spotted. The toggle is not currently being implemented, but given its utility, we hope Google will consider it soon.

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