NFC Ring Unlock app troubleshooting and important information
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Information
Please note that you can not use the tag for anything else than the unlock. If you overwrite your tag you will not be able to unlock your device with your ring.
We recommend to add one of the spare tags as a secondary key / backup key.Troubleshooting
If you cant unlock your device with your ring you probably have overwritten the tag.- To unlock the device swipe the lock icon to the left side over the now appearing keyboard icon.
- Now enter your Google account information to login and unlock the device. Note: two factor authentication will require you to generate app specific passcodes for third party app authentication - please check here if you have two factor authentication enabled.
- If your Google login was successful the device gets unlocked.
- Open the app and go to 'Device Security' then 'Manage Keys' and remove your ring and add it again. Make sure your key is activated (listed under active keys) if not klick on the lock icon on the right side of the name you gave your ring then switch the enable option and press save.
- you should now be able to unlock your device with your ring.
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Still having problems? Please open a new thread in this forum section so we can help you.
If you have additions, corrections or other feedback to this troubleshooting page please let me know.
--Lokki has edited the reference two 2 factor authentication.
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Despite following all of the guide you provide here I still cannot get this ring to unlock my phone a HTC One on KitKat, this is now starting to get very frustrating as it does not give the option to remove the ring only to disable it or to make it read only.
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you can delete the ring by swiping it to the left side (in the list of all unlock keys)
also it's not possible to have the inlay do anything other than unlocking your device due to restrictions of android so please do not write anything on the tag. -
It's cute that it's a known issue, but "disable 2FA" should not be considered an acceptable approach. It is a workaround for bug in the NFC Ring app, and needs to be addressed promptly. Aside from the brief and minor security interruption, it requires re-authenticating with all applications that use your Google sign-in, which is a tremendous usability failure.
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@Corv Did you see this post? https://forum.nfcring.com/topic/259/google-2-step-authentication-is-not-scary#1884
I don't use 2FA myself so haven't had to worry about it, but maybe the info in that post will help you. -
@Corv The post Shama is directing you to points out that 2 step auth failure was and always will be user error. It's due to a misunderstanding of the nature of google's 2 step authentication process and the changes that it makes to third party app authentication.
If you use 2 step authentication then you need an app specific password generated from you security page in your google account. You use this password if you are authenticating via google servers.
You can bypass this entirely if you simply enable the PIN as a secondary method.
I've been using the pin for the last week as I was travelling through parts of australia that had completely inadequate network coverage and can say most definitely that it works. -
I had been aware that Google's 2FA offered alternative one-time codes for legacy apps. However, it has been more than a year since I'd encountered an app incompatible with 2FA, so I'd completely forgotten about it.
The suggestion to "simply enable the PIN" is appreciated, and not entirely incorrect, but the setup for the ring was not well-directed, and I found myself locked out of my phone and needing my Google login prior to setting up said PIN.
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@Corv they're not actually just one time codes, you can reuse them as often as you like assuming you're able to remember such a long unwieldy password. The enhanced security of 2 step authentication enables you to cancel those app specific passwords at any time if you're worried that you may for instance have fed them to a rogue app. But they don't grant unlimited access to your account, merely allow authentication for a third party app.
Don't take this as being too harsh but I would really expect that anyone who enables enhanced security features would be fully aware of all the changes that is making to the way they access their account, the onus is on you as the user to look after your own self in these things.
It also highlights the potential problems involved when app developers actually listen to persistent user gripes about issues which aren't really issues - that's how the whole 'turn off 2 step' advisement came about in the first place. -
@Lafunamor When will I be able to login while having two-factor authentication enabled. I refuse to disable my security feature.
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@DiGrifter, I'd suggest reading a little more. You can log in with 2 factor authentication enabled.
If you're using 2 factor authentication then you should be aware of the ability you have to generate app specific passwords as I've mentioned in the above posts. You use your login and the app specific password you have generated in order to validate with the google servers if your ring has failed to unlock.This will not work if you are in flight mode, because google's authentication servers are not on your phone. This is regardless of 2 step authentication being active or not.
As a backup method, perform the pin entry setup to give you a proper failsafe unlock method for those times when you cannot authenticate.
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Yeah I just did the app specific password setup successfully. That long random password is nigh-impossible to remember however.
What is this pin entry method that you suggest?
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I was just about to give you the location of PIN setup, then realised I don't have the unlock app installed anymore.
It's in the unlock app's setup pages, just have a look through and you should see it easily enough. -
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Ahhh, now this is what I needed! Thanks for the assistance!
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No worries at all, happy to help out.
