How to Reset Android Phone when Locked? Top 5 Reliable Ways in 2025

"I trapped myself out of my phone and can't do a factory reset without the password. What do I do?"

- From Quora

Have you ever found yourself locked out of your Android phone, desperately needing to reset it but unsure how to proceed? Whether you've forgotten your password, pattern, or even your fingerprint, being locked out can be incredibly frustrating. In this comprehensive guide, we'll walk you through the top 5 reliable ways of how to reset your Android phone when locked in 2025, ensuring you regain access quickly and efficiently. Discover the best solutions to unlock your device, whether you're a tech novice or an experienced user. Let's dive in and get your phone back up and running.

Part 1. How to Reset Android Phone Without Password by Android Unlock (Recommended)

Android Unlock is a surprisingly powerful Android unlock software to unlock the Android phone lock screen whenever you forget 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.

Highlights of Android Unlock

• It quickly factory resets and unlocks your Android device in just 5 minutes.
• It efficiently removes all types of screen locks, including PIN, pattern, password, fingerprint, and face recognition.
• It provides a quick and reliable solution to regain access to your device in just a few minutes.
• It can unlock the Samsung screen lock without losing data.
• It supports 20+ brands and 6000+ Android phones and tablets, like Samsung, Huawei, LG, Xiaomi, Motorola, etc.

Free Download for PC

How to factory reset a phone with the lock?

Part 2. How to Factory Reset Android Without Password Manually

A 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 phones 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 "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.

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.

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.

Part 3. How to Wipe a Locked Android Phone with Google's Find My Device

Find My Device or Android Device Manager, 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 Find My Device on your other devices and setting up your phone, you can wipe a locked Android phone. However, you can only use this way when you have enabled the Find My Device feature on your Android phone before locked.

Let's see how to wipe a locked Android phone using Find My Device.

Step 1. Visit the Find My Device official website on your computer and sign in with the Google account you used on the locked Android device.

Step 2. Select the Android phone you need to wipe > Click "SET UP SECURE & ERASE".

Step 3. Click "Erase device" and the data on your phone will be permanently deleted.

Part 4. How to Reset a Locked Phone via Forgot Pattern (Android 4.4 and Lower Versions)

If your Android device runs Android 4.4 or lower versions, you can bypass the locked Android phone by entering the wrong password more than five times and using the Forget pattern afterward.

The steps are as below:

Step 1. Input the wrong password from the lock screen more than five times until you see the Forgot pattern at the bottom of the lock screen.

Step 2. Click "Forgot pattern", and enter a backup PIN and your Google account in the relevant blanks. Then, tap "Sign in".

Step 3. Go to the Screen Unlock Settings to set a new lock screen passcode.

Part 5. How to Reset Phone Without Password by Emergency Call (Android 5.0 to 5.1.1)

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 to reset an Android phone without a password?

Step 1. Tap the "Emergency call" option at the bottom of the lock screen and input 10 asterisks in the dialer interface.

Step 2. Double-click the field to highlight the entered text, choose "Copy" and paste the copied text into the same field.

Step 3. Then, repeat double-clicking and pasting until double-tapping does not highlight the characters.

Step 4. Return to the lock screen, open the camera shortcut, and pull down the notification bar.

Step 5. 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.

Wrapping Up

Forgetting the password of the 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, we highly recommend you try Android Unlock. Compared with the other 4 methods, Android Unlock is easy to use, totally secure, and fast to bypass the 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.

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