In the information era, setting a screen lock on an Android phone protects your personal, work and financial information from unauthorized access. But there may be some moments when you forget the lock screen password. In that case, you may need to reset the locked Android phone. If you are suffering this disaster and eager to know how to reset Android phone when locked, this post may help.
Part 1: How to Reset Android Phone when Locked without Password Using Android Unlock (Recommended)
Part 2: How to Factory Reset Phone with Lock Manually
Part 3: How to Wipe a Locked Android Phone with Android Device Manager/Find My Device
Part 4: How to Restart a Locked Phone via Forgot Pattern (Android 4.4 and Lower Versions)
Part 5: How to Reset a Locked Android Phone by Crashing the Lock Screen UI (Android 5.0 to 5.1.1)
Part 6: How to Reset A Locked Samsung Phone Using Samsung’s Find My Mobile
Android operating system is one of the most powerful OSes in the smartphone market and there are many ways to reset a locked Android phone, for example, you can factory reset phone with lock. But factory reset is not the only way. Read the following section and you will learn more powerful and unexpected ways to reset your locked Android phone very quickly.
Android Unlock is a surprisingly powerful software to unlock the Android phone lock screen pattern, PIN, password and fingerprints whenever you forgot the password on your Android lock screen or get a second-hand Android handset but do not know the lock screen passcode. It is easy to operate and even people with no tech knowledge can breezily reset the locked Android phone in 5 minutes.
Besides, it supports all mainstream Android brands and device models running Android 4.0 and later versions, like Samsung, Huawei, LG, Xiaomi, Motorola, and Galaxy S23/S22/S21/S20/S20+/S20 Ultra/Z Flip/Z Flip Thom Browne/S10+/S10/S10e/S/S9+/S9/S8+/S8, etc.
How to reset Android phone when locked?
1. Launch Android Unlock on your computer after installation, choose Unlock module from the toolbox and connect your locked Android phone to computer with a USB cable. Then click Unlock Android Screen on this program.
2. Select your device mode from the list, click Next to move on and follow the on-screen instructions to enter the Download mode. After that, the program will automatically install recovery package to your locked Android phone.
3. When the recover package downloading process is complete, tap Remove Now on this program to reset locked Android phone.
Factory reset can restore the locked Android phone to the factory status, but it will also erase all device settings, data and user apps on your phone. The steps to factory reset or hard reset Android phone differ with different Android brands. Here we will explain how to factory reset some mainstream Android brands.
How can I factory reset my Android phone without unlocking it?
Factory reset a locked Samsung phone:
Press and hold the Power + Home + Volume up keys at the same time until you see the Samsung logo on the screen. Then press the Volume down key to locate to Wipe data/factory reset, select Yes with the Volume keys and press the Volume down key to delete the phone data. Once done, the phone will start to reboot.
Factory reset a locked LG phone:
Press and hold the Power + Volume down keys at the same time. When the LG logo appears on the screen, release the Power key and then press and hold the Power key again. After that, release all keys when the factory reset option displays on the screen. Next, use the Volume keys to select Factory Data Reset and press the Power key to confirm your choice before you highlight Yes with the Volume keys. At last, press the Power key to confirm.
Hard reset a locked HTC phone:
To factory reset an HTC phone when locked, you can press and hold the Power + Volume down buttons at the same time. After the Android logo shows on the screen, release and then hold the Volume down + Power buttons. Next, use the Volume down button to select factory reset and tap the Power button to confirm.
Hard reset a locked Sony phone:
Power off your Sony phone, then press and hold the Power + Volume down buttons until you see the Sony logo on the screen. Release all buttons and the Recovery mode will display. Next, select wipe data/factory reset with the Volume buttons and confirm your choice with the Power button. After that, choose Yes with either of the Volume buttons.
Further reading: Losing data from your phone after factory reset? Then you may want to know how to recover contacts from Android phone after factory reset.
Android Device Manager or Find My Device, is a built-in Google function originally designed to ring your lost phone, lock it and wipe all information on it to protect your privacy. By signing into the Android Device Manager on your other devices and set your phone, you can wipe a locked Android phone. However, you can only use this way when you have enabled Find My Device feature on your Android phone before locked.
Let's see how to wipe a locked Android phone using Android Device Manager.
1. Visit the Android Device Manager official website on your computer and sign in with the Google account you used on the locked Android device.
2. Select the Android phone you need to wipe > Click SET UP SECURE & ERASE.
3. Click Erase device and the data on your phone will be permanently deleted.
If you need to use this Android phone again, you will need your Google Account password to access the phone.
If your Android device runs Android 4.4 or lower versions, you can bypass the locked Android phone by entering the wrong password for more than five times and using the Forget pattern afterward.
The steps are as below:
1. Input the wrong password from the lock screen for more than five times until you see the Forgot pattern at the bottom of the lock screen.
2. Click Forgot pattern, enter a backup PIN and your Google account in relevant blanks. Then tap Sign in.
3. Go to the Screen Unlock Settings to set a new lock screen passcode.
Notes: This way requires internet connection. If your Android phone has not connected to Wi-Fi or mobile data before it gets locked, you cannot sign in with your Google account.
This method utilizes the system bugs on Android 5.0 to 5.1.1 to reset the locked Android phone and it only works for the Android versions between that. For this reason, you cannot use this way if your Android device runs other Android versions.
How do I reset my Android phone if I'm locked out?
1. Tap the Emergency call option at the bottom of the lock screen and input 10 asterisks in the dialer interface.
2. Double-click the field to highlight the entered text, choose Copy and paste the copied text into the same field. Then repeat double-clicking and pasting until double-tapping does not highlight the characters.
3. Return to the lock screen, open the camera shortcut and pull down the notification bar. Then press the Settings icon, long-press the input field and hit Paste. Keep copying and pasting the same characters to this field until the lock screen crashes. After that, you will be able to access your phone.
Finally, for Samsung users, if you have created and signed in the Samsung account on your phone beforehand, you can follow these tips to unlock your phone:
1. Go to Samsung Find My Mobile website page on your computer and sign in with the same Samsung account.
2. Click Confirm and tick Agree if the Terms & Conditions page appears, then select Unlock my screen from the left sidebar.
3. Enter the Samsung account and password and click Unlock.
Tip: For more information about unlocking Samsung, you can refer to this article How to Unlock Samsung Phone [6 Solutions]
Well, if you want to factory reset your Android phone when it's unlocked, you can do this by going to the Settings app. For more information on how to reset Android phone with password, you can refer to how to hard reset Huawei phones.
And please note that as factory reset will erase all data and settings on your device, you had better back up your Android phone before factory reset.
Forgetting the password of Android screen lock is troublesome. If you have locked out of your Android phone, you can select one suitable way to reset your locked Android phone. Here, I highly recommend you to try Android Unlock. Compared with other five methods, Android Unlock is easy to use, totally secure, and fast to bypass Android lock screen without data loss, while other ways may erase your phone data, fail or have limits or preconditions before use.
Anyway, whichever way you choose, if you encounter any problem during use, feel free to leave a comment below.
Related Articles:
How to Get into A Locked Phone with or without A Password? (Full Guide)
Android Unlockers: Top 8 Android Phone Unlocking Software in 2023
How to Bypass Android Lock Screen without Google Account in Top 6 Ways? (Proven)
[Fixed] How to Unlock Locked Android Phone without Losing Data
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