The first rule of your phone's passcode is to commit it to memory, but every once in a while the unthinkable happens, and you completely forget the passcode to your phone. Perhaps it's an old phone you never traded in and has been living in a drawer since the start of the pandemic.
Whatever the reason, in most cases it's still possible to regain access to a phone without its passcode. Here are the top five ways to unlock an Android phone without the passcode.
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1. Unlock an Android phone using your face or fingerprint
This may seem obvious to some, but the first thing you should try after charging your locked phone is to see if it has been configured with any sort of biometric security. It's possible the phone has been set up to recognize your (or another family member's) face or fingerprints. If so, you can bypass the passcode and unlock your Android phone without any fuss.
2. Unlock an Android phone using factory recovery
If unlocking your phone with biometric security isn't viable, then your next best option may be to perform a standard factory reset, which requires pressing the power and some combination of other buttons. This solution has the virtue of working on any phone: All Android phones support this sort of factory reset. Unfortunately, this will send your phone back to factory conditions, erasing all your personal apps and data, but as long as you've configured your phone to perform regular backups, you can restore everything from a Google backup after the reset.
The exact button sequence will vary depending on what phone model you have. To factory reset most Google Pixels, for example, press and hold the Volume Down button and Power button at the same time for 10-15 seconds (but no longer, or it will start normally). If you have a Samsung phone, press the Volume Up, Home, and Power buttons instead. You may need to perform an online search for the factory reset procedure for your phone.
After successfully booting your phone to the recovery screen, use the Volume Up and Volume Down buttons to select the factory reset option, and let your phone restore itself to factory conditions — unlocked and without the passcode.
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3. Unlock an Android Kitkat or older using Google recovery
If you want to try to unlock your Android without the inconvenience of performing a full factory reset (or perhaps you don't have a saved backup of the data on the phone) then you can try this recovery method, which, if it works, unlocks your phone without requiring a factory reset and won't make you lose any data.
The method will vary, though, depending on which version of Android you're running. If you have Android 4.4 older, simply enter the wrong passcode five times in a row. After the fifth mistake, you'll see an option appear at the bottom of the login screen that says Forgot pattern. Tap it and you'll be prompted to enter your Google account name and password. After unlocking, your phone will prompt you to create a new passcode
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4. Unlock an Android 5 or newer using Find My Device
Starting with Android 5, Google enhanced the security of phone recovery, requiring more than knowledge of your Google account information to gain access to a locked phone. To unlock one of these newer phones, you can use Find My Device.
Use another device — like a computer or second phone — to open the Find My Device website in a browser. Log in with your Google account information and choose your locked phone from the list (you may have several devices associated with your Google account, in which case you'll see them all here). Select the option to erase your device. Your phone will be reset to factory conditions and unlocked remotely, after which you can restore 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
Samsung maintains its own version of Google's Find My Device, and if you have a Samsung phone, you should use this option. It's especially handy because you can use it to remotely unlock your phone without performing a factory reset.
Use another computer or mobile device to open the Samsung Find My Mobile website and select your locked phone from the list on the left. In the device window on the right, choose Unlock, and then choose Unlock in the final pop-up window. Your phone will unlock, and your passcode will be reset.
Freelance Writer
Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.
