I forgot my cell phone password: how to unlock?

I forgot my cell phone password. And now, how do I unlock the phone? The first precaution is not to panic, as this is common, especially in the face of so much code we have to hold onto right now.

There are several ways to recover your lock screen password. They are available on Android and iOS, but depending on the situation a more drastic measure may be necessary: ​​restoring the device to factory settings.

Learn what to do if you forgot your cell phone password.

Forgotten Password on Android

Do you have an Android phone? Try any of the suggestions below.

Phones with Android 4.4 or earlier

On smartphones running Android version 4.4 or earlier, this is the easiest method to unlock the screen. These older devices have the “Forgot password” option displayed after five unsuccessful access attempts.

Just press it and enter the desired data (login and password of the Google account) when it appears at the bottom of the screen. If the entered information is correct, unlocking takes place.

Samsung mobile phones

If you have a South Korean brand phone and you have registered your Samsung account on that phone, you can unlock the device online from the Find My Mobile website, where you can also track it.

Follow these steps to unlock your Samsung phone:

1. Go to the Find My Mobile website, log in and select your phone;
2. Make sure the cellular network status is “Online”. If so, click on the “Unlock” option in the menu and re-enter the Samsung account password to confirm;
3. Wait for the screen unlock remotely. When this happens, the message “Your phone is unlocked” will appear.

According to the manufacturer, using the function deletes all screen lock information (password, PIN, pattern and biometrics). At the end of the procedure, you need to register the new credentials to protect the phone.

Factory Reset

None of the previous methods worked or did not fit your situation? Then the alternative would be to factory reset the phone.

Before continuing, it is worth mentioning that all smartphone data will be deleted, a big problem for those who do not have a backup of information. However, if your data is saved in the cloud, memory card or other device, you can recover it immediately after restarting your device.

To reset your phone when the screen is locked, follow these steps:

1. Turn off the phone;
2. press the power and volume down buttons for a few seconds;
3. use the volume button and the power to select it to move the cursor to the “Recovery mode” option;
4. on the next screen, select “Wipe Data/Factory Reset” and select using force;
5. now, go to “Yes-Delete All User Data” and tap the power button to confirm;
6. wait for the restore to finish and press “Restart” to turn the phone back on.

forgot password on iphone

Forgot your iPhone passcode? The bad news is that the available methods will delete your phone data but if you have backed it up and you can restore it later that shouldn’t be a problem.

Try one of these alternatives:

Unlock with iTunes

1. Connect iPhone to computer where iTunes is installed.
2. Open iTunes and wait for syncing between devices, or back up in order.
3. After the previous process is complete, click “Restore iPhone”.
4. While restoring, click “Restore from iTunes backup” on the setup screen.
5. Select your device in iTunes, check the newly created backup and wait for the procedure to finish.
6. In the end, the mobile will be the same as before, but without the password, which can be saved again.

Recovery Mode

The previous method didn’t work? You will need to enter iPhone recovery mode. To do this, press and hold the side button and one of the volume buttons until the power off slider appears.

Drag the phone to power off and then connect the device to a computer with iTunes by holding the side button until the recovery mode screen appears. These steps apply to iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone X and later (for other models, see instructions on Apple’s website).

Then click “Restore” and wait for the software to install on the device. After the process is complete, set up your iPhone again and restore the backup data.