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Help Disable Pattern Lock with Home Wifi need root?

A

Advait

Well-Known Member
Hi All,

I'm loving my Nexus 5, my first Android phone.

I use Pattern Lock. I want to disable Pattern Lock when I'm at my home wifi. I did some research and it looks like apps can only turn off Pattern Lock when the phone is rooted. Is this true? I don't want to root my phone and I'd rather not have to enter Pattern Lock a hundred times a day. Any options? Thanks!

Advait
 
MartinS said:
I don't know the answer to this, but if any app could do it, it would probably be Tasker.
Click to expand...

I did some research on Tasker and Pattern Lock and it seems that root is usually required. It also looks like trying to get it to work on an unrooteed phone would require a lot of research and playing around and lots of posting of questions to forums. Unfortunately I don't have time for all that. Since I'm using Patter Lock I can unlock my phone in about 300 milliseconds, so I can live with that for the time being.

I'll pray that a future version of Android allows apps to securely mod Pattern Lock without root required.

Thanks again for your suggestion! Cheers,

Advait
 
Selectively disabling your screen lock will require root. Because it is a security risk, I don't expect Google to build it in as a secure feature.

What's stopping somebody from setting up a fake SSID (same as yours) and leaving it unencrypted, and hoping that your device is set up to scan for new networks? (other issues could exist too)
 
You are correct that changing the Pattern Lock requires root. Setting/changing a PIN or Password does not though - an application that is granted Device Administrator permission can alter those lock methods without requiring root.

If you can make do with a PIN/password in place of a pattern, I highly recommend the SkipLock app.
 
jj14x said:
What's stopping somebody from setting up a fake SSID (same as yours) and leaving it unencrypted, and hoping that your device is set up to scan for new networks? (other issues could exist too)
Click to expand...

Ahhh... You think like a paranoid person. I like that. I try to do the same when I'm setting up security for my gadgets. I keep auto scan and notify turned off. Thanks for the heads up. When I have time I can research more. They'll have same SSID but a different MAC or IP address or something like that? I'm not a geek so I would need to research. Perhaps there's some way to automatically prevent it. The GRC forums could provide solutions.

And the attacker in this case would have to be close to my home and targeting me personally. Possible, but very unlikely.

Thanks, Cheers,

Advait
 
Advait said:
They'll have same SSID but a different MAC or IP address or something like that?
Click to expand...

Well, your phone isn't typically going to check the Wifi access point's MAC ID or IP address. The Access point will get your MAC (and will assign the IP if DHCP setting is used)
 
Darn. Was searching for the same thing and came across this thread (also have a Nexus 5 with pattern lock). I use Tasker pretty extensively, so I figured maybe there was a chance, but guess rooting is the only answer. Oh well!
 
jennyfur said:
Darn. Was searching for the same thing and came across this thread (also have a Nexus 5 with pattern lock). I use Tasker pretty extensively, so I figured maybe there was a chance, but guess rooting is the only answer. Oh well!
Click to expand...

I have been doing this for about a year based on home wifi and also proximity of my pebble. I do it using a combination of Tasker and the "Secure settings" app. Works flawlessly but alas does require root. Because, lets face it, who generally wants apps to have the ability to disable your security at will. Even Google is not THAT open.

Root is of course ridiculously easy on an N5. I use Wugs Nexus toolkit which is almost idiot proof. I appreciate you may have legitimate reasons for not wanting to root beyond actually getting it done.
 
Jason71 said:
Because, lets face it, who generally wants apps to have the ability to disable your security at will. Even Google is not THAT open.
Click to expand...

Um, you don't need root to disable pin or password lock. Only pattern or face unlock. There are plenty of apps that will disable pins or passwords (including the aforementioned Tasker). I just didn't want to have to switch from using my pattern lock.
 
jennyfur said:
Um, you don't need root to disable pin or password lock. Only pattern or face unlock. There are plenty of apps that will disable pins or passwords (including the aforementioned Tasker). I just didn't want to have to switch from using my pattern lock.
Click to expand...

Unless something changed very very recently, you need root to allow an app to disable your password lock. Tasker requires securesettings plugin (which requires root) to do this.
If you know differently, please share a tasker profile that can do this?
 
jj14x said:
Unless something changed very very recently, you need root to allow an app to disable your password lock. Tasker requires securesettings plugin (which requires root) to do this.
If you know differently, please share a tasker profile that can do this?
Click to expand...

Secure Settings does not require root. I have it installed, and I'm not rooted. Root just enables you to do more things. They list the things that do and don't require root right on their play store page description for the app.

There's probably countless different ways to do what you're asking, but if you want an actual link to a guide for it here's one.
 
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