Wednesday, 23 September 2015

How to unlock an Android phone when its password has been forgotten

Did you just create a new password for your Android and forgot what you set it as? Do you want to reactivate one of your older phones and can’t remember what its password is? Did you just get a used phone and don’t have its password to actually use it? If you need to get past the password screen on an android phone here is how you can do it.

Passwords exist for a reason

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending upon how you look at it, passwords exist to keep people out. If you don’t have the password to use a phone then you cannot get into it and view its content. If you could then there would be no purpose in having a password.
So in order to get into a password protected Android phone what you need to do is force the phone to forget its password. When you force an android phone to forget its password it regrettably forces it to forget everything along with it. This includes passwords, pictures, messages, unlock patterns, applications, email addresses etc. Don’t worry about your inbox though this process does not delete your emails, you simply have to log into your email accounts again once the process is over and your emails will re-sync to the phone.

Google first

Speaking of emails, before we get into resetting your Android and its current password or unlock pattern I would like to point out that after trying to enter the phones pass code incorrectly a number of times most Android smartphones will display a “Too many pattern attempts! To unlock, sign in with your Google account” message which should allow you to try logging into your phone using your Google account information.
If you can use your Google account to access your phone instead of performing a reset then it will be a huge convenience as you won’t lose any important data currently stored to your cell phone and it should allow you to once again access your smartphone and update your cell phones unlock pattern.
So if you remember your primary Google accounts username (your Gmail address) and its password then just input it into these fields tap the “Sign in” button, update your phones unlock pattern and enjoy. If you have forgotten this information then there are some options available which may allow you to recover it and access your Google account once again.
It is actually very common for an Android user not to remember their Google account information. You setup a Gmail account when you first get your cell phone and never have the need to reenter that information again so it can be easily forgotten. Try not to panic just yet though as there is still hope.
In order to recover your information I recommend using a PC to go online and visit mail.google.com. There should be a “Can't access your account?” or “Need help?” link under the Sign in area. Tap on that link and you should see a “Having trouble signing in” message with a few options. “I don’t know my password”, “I don’t know my username” and “I’m having other problems signing in”. These option should aid you in recovering your Google account information and once your account has been recovered you should verify that you can log into your Gmail through a computer first. If you can log into your Google account through a computer then you will be able to log into it on your phone.
Note: If you confirm your Google account on a computer and you are positive that you are entering it correctly on your cell phone but it will not seem to accept it then turn off your phone wait 5 minutes and then reboot the phone and try again. The Google account information might not have updated and may be trying to verify using your original Google account information as opposed to what you just updated. Just a minor thing I thought I would mention as it can save you a lot of frustration.
If you can use your Google account to access your phone then enjoy and don’t forget to press the Facebook Like or Google + options at the bottom of this guide and if you cannot use your Google account for whatever reason then you are going to need to perform a factory reset.

Factory Data Reset

What you need to do to reset your password is to reset your phone. Now typically to reset an Android phone you would have to go into your settings and select the option to perform a factory data reset. But one of the problems you run into without a password is that when performing a reset it will ask you for your password to confirm the reset, which we don’t have because that’s our main problem in the first place. And the second problem is that you cannot get into your settings because you cannot unlock the phone without a password.
There is hope though.

Hard Resetting is the answer

If you cannot unlock or access the content of an Android phone then the best thing to do is a hard reset. A hard reset will perform the factory data reset on the device without having to navigate or access the phones settings. A hard reset also sets the phone back to its factory settings and the phone will be like it was when it was brand new.
A hard reset will solve this problem and remove the phones password (and all other information) reverting the phone back to its default settings allowing you to setup and have access to your phone again.
How to actually perform a hard reset is going to depend a lot on what make and model your phone is and what version of software is currently running on it. I suggest that you read How to hard reset an android phone for more specific information which will guide you through the reset process.
The only downside to a hard reset is that the information currently on the phone is lost. Android has many automatic backups though. Make sure that once the reset is performed that you log back into your primary Gmail account. Gmail accounts often backup your contacts, calendar, and sometimes even applications and custom settings.

Enjoy using your phone

This hard reset will fix this issue and allow you to use the phone again, so enjoy. Oh and don’t forget to write down your new password or unlock pattern if you set one up that way if it gets forgotten you won’t have to hard reset your phone again. I also recommend you keep a copy of your Gmail account as well for backup and restore purposes, if you want to check to make sure that your Android phone is backing up to Google properly than I suggest reading Using Gmail to backup an Android Smartphone.
Thanks again for reading the article, if you have any suggestions, tips, or advice on how to improve it then don’t hesitate to leave a comment below. If this article has helped you in any way then one of the best ways to show your appreciation is to share it with others by clicking on the Tweet, Like, or Google +1 buttons below. Thanks once again for reading and have a fantastically wonderful day

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