Don’t want to enter your password every time you sign in to your Chromebook? If you have an Android smartphone, you can unlock your computer almost instantly. Here’s how to set it up.
Before you can unlock your Chromebook with your Android phone, you must first pair the two devices. Note, however, that this feature is only available for phones running Android 5.1 or higher and for Chromebooks with at least the Chrome OS 71 update.
For this to work, you also need to make sure your Chromebook and Android phone are signed in with the same primary Google account.
Next, on your Chromebook, click on the status area in the lower right corner of your screen, where it displays the Wi-Fi and battery status. In the next panel, select the gear icon to access the Settings menu.
Scroll down to the “Connected Devices” section and click on the “Configure” button next to the “Android Phone” option.
In the pop-up window, choose your Android phone from the “Select a device” drop-down list. Then select the blue “Agree and Continue” button at the bottom.
On the next page, sign in with your Google credentials. You should soon see an “All Set” confirmation window. Click on “Done” to close the window.
Go back to your Chromebook’s Settings menu and this time you will find a “Check” option under “Connected devices”. Select this, then unlock your Android phone if it isn’t already unlocked. You should receive an alert that your Chromebook and Android phone are paired on both devices.
Go back to Settings> Connected devices on your Chromebook and select your Android phone. Activate the “Smart Lock” option and enter your Chromebook password.
Lock your Chromebook to check if Smart Lock is active by long pressing the dedicated button on the keyboard.
As soon as you unlock your Bluetooth enabled Android phone, the lock icon next to the password field changes from orange to green. It means you are authenticated. All you have to do is click on your account image to unlock the Chromebook.
Likewise, you can access and answer your Android phone SMS messages on your Chromebook.