How to Get Back Into Your Android Phone After Losing Password

By Hongkiat.com. in Mobile. Updated on August 7, 2023.

To keep your Android phone safe, a screen lock is the utmost essential. Setting up a passcode is the first thing you should do when setting up your phone.

But we are mere humans, and humans being humans do, we sometimes tend to be forgetful. And if you, unfortunately, forgot the passcode to your Android phone, you will be locked out, leaving your phone inaccessible.

This post will discuss the workarounds to regain access to your phone if you forget your passcode.

Why Would I Need This?

But first, let’s talk about why you need to guard yourself with the know-how to force-unlock your Android phone.

1 – Forgot the passcode

Like I said earlier in the intro, we tend to be forgetful. Contrary to popular belief, getting locked out of one’s phone because we forget our passcode happens more often than we think.

2 – Acquired a locked pre-owned phone

You might also end up in the same situation if you bought a pre-owned phone but failed to check if it has been unlocked and clean-wiped.

3 – Fingerprint and face unlock fail to work

If, for some reason, the fingerprint and face unlock are not working, then you will also need an alternative workaround to bypass the lock screen.

Use Smart Lock

Smart Lock is a feature that ships with most android phones. It allows you to bypass your lock screen if you have, unfortunately, forgotten your passcode.

However, for Smart lock to work, it MUST BE set up beforehand. If you have already forgotten your passcode but have yet to setup up Smart Lock, then this method will not help.

If you still have access to your phone, then it’s essential to get this set up ASAP as a precautionary measure.

Note: The Smart Lock feature is located in Settings > Security > Smart Lock on your Android phone.

You will require your current passcode to set it up, and you can choose among these options to regain access to your phone.

On-body detection – The phone remains unlocked if it senses that it’s with you, whether you are carrying it in your pocket or your hand.
Trusted places – Add a trusted location, and the phone will stay unlocked if it detects that it’s at a particular location.
Trusted devices – Add trusted devices that the phone can connect via Bluetooth. It can be another smartphone, a wireless headphone, your car play, or even a smart tv. As long as the phone is connected to any of them, it stays unlocked.
Voice match – Lastly, you can set up a voice unlock. If the voice matches, the phone can be unlocked too.

Use Find My Device

You can also go to the Find My Device website. Created by Google, this web tool is pretty simple to use. And be able to use it to unlock your phone, you must first meet the following criteria:

You need to sign in to your Google account.
Your device needs to be connected to the Internet.
Your device needs to have the Google Find My Device app, and it’s turned on.

With all these criteria met, here’s how to unlock your android device.

Go to the Find My Device page, sign in with the Google account that you used to sign in to your Android device.
You will see all of your Android devices registered on the same Google account. Select the one that you would like to unlock.
Once you select the required Android device, it will receive a notification that ‘Find My Device’ has located this device. You will also see a map highlighting the current location of your device.
There are different options for what kind of action you’d like to take – like play sound or secure device etc. However, to unlock your device, you can opt for the Erase Device option. By doing this, you erase all data and settings from your device, including the screen lock. So once the erasing is done, you can access your device and set a new screen lock if required.

Using a 3rd-party App

Unlocking with Smart Lock requires it to be set up beforehand; unlocking with Find My Device requires the app to be turned on beforehand too. You’ll probably have no luck unlocking your phone if you’ve done neither.

A 3rd-party app serves as the last resort if all else fails.

Enter DroidKit. DroidKit is a desktop app that allows you to unlock an Android phone locked with PINs, passwords, fingerprints, or face recognition.

This app works on both Windows and Mac. You only require a USB cable, the locked phone, and a PC or laptop to start the unlocking process.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to unlocking your phone with DroidKit.

Download and install DroidKit app on your Windows or Mac.
Launch the app, click the Unlock Screen option.
Connect the Android phone with your computer using a USB cable. Upon connection established, click Start.
You will see a Preparing Device Configuration File screen with a progress bar that shows you the status of the configuring process. When this is complete, click the Remove Now button.
Select your device from the options that appear on the screen, then click Next.
You will be required to put your device into Recovery Mode and remove the cache partition on your device. For this, follow the instructions for your particular phone manufacturer and do the procedure on your device.
Once this process is completed, you will see the Removing Screen Lock screen with the progress bar. The process is going to take a few minutes and once done, you will be able to regain access your Android device again.

Preventing This From Happening Again

Take note of the following ways to prevent history from repeating itself.

Set up the Smart Lock feature.
Install and turn on Google’s Find My Device app.
Keep a copy of your passcode/password somewhere secure. (I.e., password manager)
Use a strong and easy-to-remember passcode/password.
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