The first rule of your phone’s passcode is to memorise it, yet occasionally the unthinkable occurs: you forget it entirely. Maybe it’s an old phone that you never traded in and has been residing in a drawer since the outbreak.
Regardless of the cause, it is typically feasible to recover access to a phone without its passcode. Here are the five most effective methods for unlocking an Android phone without the passcode.
1. Unlock an Android phone using your face or fingerprint
This may sound obvious to some, but the first thing you should do after charging your locked phone is to see if biometric security has been enabled. It’s possible that the phone has been programmed to detect your face or fingerprints (or those of a family member). If so, you can bypass the passcode and easily unlock your Android device.
2. Unlock an Android Phone Using Factory Recovery
If it’s not possible to unlock your phone using biometric security, the next best alternative may be to execute a conventional factory reset, which entails hitting the power button plus a combination of other buttons. This method has the benefit of being compatible with all phones: This factory reset feature is available on every Android device. Unfortunately, this will return your phone to factory settings, wiping all of your personal apps and data. However, if your phone is enabled to generate regular backups, you may recover everything from a Google backup after the reset.
The precise pressing sequence varies based on the phone model. For instance, to factory reset the majority of Google Pixels, press and hold the Volume Down and Power buttons simultaneously for 10 to 15 seconds (but no longer, or it will start normally). If you have a Samsung phone, instead hit Volume Up, Home, then Power. You may need to conduct an online search for your phone’s factory reset procedure.
After successfully booting your phone to the recovery screen, use the Volume Up and Volume Down buttons to pick the factory reset option, and allow your phone to restore itself to factory settings – unlocked and without a passcode — using the Volume Up and Volume Down keys.
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3. Unlock an Android Kitkat or Older Using Google Recovery
If you want to attempt to unlock your Android without the hassle of doing a factory reset (or if you don’t have a backup of the phone’s data), you can try this recovery procedure, which, if successful, unlocks your phone without requiring a factory reset and without causing you to lose any data.
However, the approach will differ based on the Android version you’re using. If your Android version is older than 4.4, simply input the incorrect passcode five times in a row. After five incorrect attempts, the Forgot pattern option will show at the bottom of the login screen. Tap it to be requested for your Google account’s username and password. Your phone will prompt you to generate a new passcode after unlocking.
4. Unlock an Android 5 or Newer Using Find My Device
Beginning with Android 5, Google increased the security of phone recovery, requiring more than your Google account credentials to unlock a locked device. Using Find My Device, you can unlock one of these more recent phones.
Use a different device, like as a computer or second phone, to access the Find My Device website. Sign in with your Google account credentials and select your locked phone from the list (if you have many devices associated with your Google account, you will see them all here). Select the option to delete the device’s data. After your phone is remotely reset to factory settings and unlocked, you can recover your data from a Google backup (assuming you have backed up the phone).
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5. Unlock a Samsung Phone Using Samsung’s Find My Mobile
If you have a Samsung phone, you should utilise Samsung’s version of Google’s Find My Device. It is extremely useful because you can unlock your phone remotely without doing a factory reset.
Open the Samsung Find My Mobile website from another computer or mobile device and select your locked phone from the list on the left. Select Unlock in the device window on the right, followed by Unlock in the final pop-up window. Your phone will be unlocked, and the passcode will be cleared.