How Do I Log Into My Phone If I Have Forgotten My PIN or Password?
People forget things. It happens. While I can’t say I’ve ever forgotten the password or PIN for my phone, I totally understand how this is possible. You might have set your phone up and laid it down to handle whatever updates it needs to go through, or charge to full capacity, and then go back to locked screen and vaguely remembering the super secure PIN you used for protection. This.
At least it sounds like the predicament of Ditta ‘s Lifehacker reader . In a letter to 911 tech support this week, she writes:
I tried to set up an AT&T Android smartphone but was distracted (I already mentioned that I was at McDonald’s before COVID with a 6 year old and this will be my first non-rugby flip-smarter than -me-phone). I seem to have lost all traces of the passcodes for both the phone and the new Google account I set up to manage it. Where and how can I recover? Will I ever be able to use this phone?
Hope you have a Samsung
One of the best things about most smartphones today is that they are quite difficult to hack if you take the time to truly lock them. In fact, if someone tries to guess your password or PIN, it usually gets blocked with a forced delay after a series of unsuccessful attempts. And once they hit a magical number of misguided guesses, usually 10, multiple phones can automatically blow themselves up. In other words, the phone will wipe-and-reset provided that you, the owner, cannot forget your password, which is difficult.
In this case, your phone is under your control; you just can’t get into it. To borrow a phrase from The Great British Baking Show, I have the annoying task of informing you that there is no way to reset your PIN from the lock screen. You cannot enter additional information about yourself to authenticate yourself as you do. In fact, the best you get in situations like this is a request for an additional authentication method (PIN or password) if, for example, your device’s biometrics cannot recognize you.
Again, this is a good thing, because if someone was able to get their hands on your device, all they might need is a little information about you, like your birthday and your primary email address to slip past the lock screen, roughly just like someone with a little know-how can easily reset your password to an online service by nailing your first pet’s name and the street you grew up on. The same concept.
However, this means that you are probably stuck. However: if you have a Samsung that you have already paired with a Samsung ID, you can use the company’s Find My Mobile feature to unlock your phone over the Internet:
Check if your Android device manufacturer has this option. (If it’s Google, for example, then you’re out of luck; you can find your phone through its online portal , but you can’t unlock it from afar.) If so, you’re done. If this is not the case, the only alternative is to factory reset the devices and set them up again from scratch. Since you just set it up and created a brand new Google account for it, this shouldn’t be a problem unless you want to really like that Gmail address.
How to Factory Reset Android
Generally speaking, you need to boot into your phone’s recovery menu, for which you need to hold down the volume and power buttons combination. I can’t tell you exactly what they are, as they can vary depending on the device and manufacturer. Do a quick Internet search for your phone model and “recovery mode” and you will find the answers. At the end of the day, you’ll reset your phone and turn it into a scary screen – something very, very different from the Android operating system you’re used to.
You will use the volume buttons to navigate to the wipe data / factory reset command, or whatever it is called on your device, and confirm with the power button. A few queries later and your device will be reset to factory settings. While it is running, you can use your free time to try andrecover your Google account . If this tool doesn’t help you, you have no other options. That’s all Google has to offer.
What if you’re a forgetful Apple fan?
For those of you with an iPhone , the process is basically the same: you’ll have to restart your iPhone and start over, or restore it from a backup if you forget your PIN. Apple does not provide the ability to remotely unlock your iPhone via Find My .