5 ways to unlock an Android phone without a password

• You can unlock your Android phone even if you forgot the password, but you usually need to factory reset your phone.
• You can unlock most Android phones by performing a factory reset or using the Find My Device website.
• Here are the top five ways to unlock your Android phone if you no longer have the password.

The first rule of thumb for your phone’s password is to memorize it, but occasionally the unthinkable happens and you completely forget your phone’s password. Maybe it’s an old phone that you’ve never traded in and has been living in a drawer since the start of the pandemic.

Whatever the reason, in most cases it is still possible to access a phone without the password. Here are the top five ways to unlock an Android phone without the password.

1. Unlock an Android phone with 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’s configured with any kind of biometric security. It’s possible that your phone is configured to recognize your (or another family member’s) face or fingerprints. In that case, you can bypass the passcode and unlock your Android phone without any fuss.

2. Unlock an Android phone using factory reset

If it’s not possible to unlock the phone with biometric security, the next best option may be to perform a standard factory reset, which requires pressing the power and a combination of other buttons. This solution has the advantage of working on any phone: all Android phones support this type of factory reset. Unfortunately, this will send your phone back to factory settings, 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 the phone model you have. To factory reset most Google Pixels, for example, press and hold Volume down button and Power button at the same time for 10-15 seconds (but no longer, otherwise it will start normally). If you have a Samsung phone, tap Volume up, Homeand Power buttons instead. You may need to perform an online search for the factory reset procedure for your phone.

After successfully booting the phone to the recovery screen, use Volume up and Volume down buttons to select the factory reset option and let the phone restore itself to factory settings – unlocked and without a password.

3. Unlock an Android Kitkat or earlier with Google recovery

If you want to try unlocking your Android without the inconvenience of performing a full factory reset (or maybe you don’t have a saved backup of the data on your phone), try this recovery method, which, if it works, unlocks your phone without requiring a factory reset and will not cause you to lose data.

However, the method will vary depending on the version of Android you are running. If you have Android 4.4 or older, enter the wrong password five times in a row. After the fifth error, you will see an option at the bottom of the login screen that says Forgot pattern. Tap on it and you will be prompted to enter your Google account name and password. After unlocking, the phone will ask you to create a new password

4. Unlock an Android 5 or later using Find My Device

Starting with Android 5, Google has improved the security of phone recovery, requiring more than knowledge of your Google account information to access a locked phone. To unlock one of these newer phones, you can use Find My Device.

Use another device—such as a computer or phone—to open the Find My Device website in a browser. Sign in with your Google account information and select the locked phone from the list (you may have multiple devices linked to your Google account, in which case you’ll see them all here). Select the option to delete the device. Your phone will be factory reset and remotely unlocked, after which you can restore your data from a Google backup (provided you have backed up your phone).

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 useful 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 the locked phone from the list on the left. Select in the device window on the right Unlockand then select Unlock in the last pop-up window. The phone is unlocked and your password is reset.