If you are a privacy-minded person, but love the convenience of being able to unlock your phone without using a possibly-lengthy security measure, SkipLock is an app that may strike your fancy. Formerly branded Unlock With WiFi, this new rewritten app allows users to have their phone automatically unlock when connected to selected WiFi networks or Bluetooth devices.
Featuring an improved “Holo” UI, SkipLock has been entirely redone from its previous iteration; although losing support for all Android versions below 4.0 in the process (the previous version, Unlock With WiFi, is still available for those customers). The service is very similar to Motorola’s “Trusted Devices” feature, and as such, does not work well with devices which have the feature enabled. To use the app, all you have to do is connect to every WiFi or Bluetooth access point you want your device to unlock when connected to, and set it to operate on that specific SSID or Bluetooth address. After doing so, you can disable the ongoing notification (though this may terminate the SkipLock process on lower-end devices) and forget that you’re using the app in the first place.
In my testing, I have found the app to be very secure and only activated when it should be, and I’d recommend grabbing this app for anyone routinely tasked with unlocking their device.
The app does not require root access, though only PIN and Password lock options are available for unrooted customers. It is available on Google Play as a free four-day trial, with a $4.99 in-app purchase to continue using it beyond that point.
This post was last modified on December 30, 2013 1:00 pm