Is the phone locked? Here’s how to unlock your smartphone if you can’t open it

With more than one billion smartphone users in India and over five billion smartphone users globally, almost every household now owns a smartphone, if not everyone in the house. Most of these users are using Android or iPhones, to keep their data like photos, videos, files, etc. secure, it has become a good choice for users to keep their phones secure by using a fingerprint scanner or face lock. As a backup, all smartphones ask for a pattern, PIN or password.

Because most users tend to use the fingerprint scanner or face unlock more often, some users may forget the pattern/pin/password they registered a while back. Or you can take out an old phone to use after a few months or years and have forgotten the password or pattern. In such cases, unfortunately, there is no way to recover your data (unless you remember the password or PIN) without resetting the device to factory defaults.

In this article, we’ll take a look at how to unlock a smartphone using the hard reset method, using Find My Device, and we’ll also cover how to unlock using third-party apps. We will cover both Android and iOS users.

Note: As said earlier, all these methods will completely DELETE all your data including your photos, Google account, contacts, SMS, call history and everything else. You can unlock your device without losing data only on Android 4.4 or lower (check the last part)

Also read: How to format or factory reset an Android phone?

How to unlock your smartphone by doing a hard reset

The first and easy way to unlock your smartphone is to do a hard reset. If this method, you can follow the other method mentioned below. This requires no internet connection or PC or USB cable, all the steps can be done using your smartphone alone.

1. Long press the power key
2. Press “turn off”
3. Hold down the power and volume down buttons when the phone is completely off
4. Hold these buttons until you feel the vibration and keep holding until you see the logo, the phone will enter recovery mode.
5. You can release the buttons when the screen is on
6. On the next screen you will be asked to enter the pattern
7. Tap the “Forgot Password” option below the pattern
8. You will get a message saying “You will LOSE everything” (music, photos, etc.)
9. Click “Ok” to start the factory reset process
10. Your phone will delete all data and restart once all data is removed

Set up your device from the start, including adding your Google account, apps, photos, songs, etc.

Note: On some phones, you need to press the Volume Up button to enter recovery mode.

Also read: Contact recovery: How to recover deleted contact numbers on Android and iPhone

How to unlock your smartphone using Find My Device

This is a popular service from Google to remotely locate, lock and even wipe your phone’s data. Using this method, we can find and delete your device’s data using the website. Alternatively, you can perform the same set of operations using the Google Find My Device app from another phone.

1. Visit Google Find the My Device webpage
2. Select the device from the list
3. Once you have selected the device from the list, click “Delete Device”
4. Confirm by clicking “Delete device”

Again, all data will be permanently deleted from this device. After your device has been erased, you can’t find it and you have to set up your device from scratch and sign in to your Google account again.

Also read: IMEI number check: How to find the IMEI number of Android Mobile and Apple iPhone?

How to unlock iPhone using iTunes

In case you want to unlock and reset your iPhone, you must have a Mac or PC to do so. Once you have it, you can unlock your iPhone using the iTunes app.

1. Turn off your iPhone
2. Put your iPhone into recovery mode by holding down the side button on the iPhone while immediately connecting the iPhone to the computer (Do not release the button)

(Use the Side button on iPhone 8 and up, use Volume Down on iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and use the Home button on iPhone models)

1. Keep holding the button until you see the recovery mode screen on your iPhone, then release (If you see the passcode screen, turn off your iPhone and start the repeat process again)
2. Find your iPhone in the Finder or in iTunes on the computer it’s connected to
3. Select “Restore” when you see the option to restore or update
4. The computer downloads software for iPhone and starts the recovery process
5. Wait for the process to finish
6. Disconnect iPhone from computer, set up and use iPhone

Also Read: Call Recording: How to Record Phone Calls on OnePlus, Samsung, Vivo, OPPO, Realme and Xiaomi Android Mobile Phones

How to unlock your smartphone using third-party apps

In case you are unable to unlock and reset your phone using the above steps, you can follow the steps below and do it using the following apps.

Using the WonderShare Drfone app

1. Download the PC app available for Windows/Mac
2. Install and open the app
3. Select the “Screen Lock” option (it will download the module)
4. Click on “Unlock Android Screen/FRP” option.
5. Select “Unlock Android Screen”
6. Connect your Android phone to the PC
7. The app will match your phone’s model number, establish the environment, download the configuration and verify the file automatically
8. Once these steps are done, click “Unlock Now” on the next screen, which will remove all data from your phone and reset your device to factory defaults

This app also allows you to unlock the iOS screen, but the steps are the same as we mentioned for iTunes earlier.

Also Read: How Old Is My Phone: How To Find Out The Age Of Any Smartphone

Using PassFab Android Unlocker

1. download PassFab Android Unlocker PC Application for Mac/Windows
2. Install and open the app
3. Select the “Remove Screen Lock” option.
4. Click on “Remove Screen Lock”
   
5. Connect your Android phone to the PC
6. Once recognized, click “Start”
7. You will get a warning “Removing the lock screen password will erase all data on the device. Are you sure you want to continue?”
8. Click “Yes” to continue
9. Wait a few minutes and your Android lock screen will be removed
10. Click “Done” to complete the process
11. Once these steps are done, click “Unlock Now” on the next screen, which will remove all data from your phone and reset your device to factory defaults

Reset phone pattern (Android 4.4 or older only)

As of November 2021, less than 2% of billions of Androids are running only Android 4.4 or lower. But if you still own an ancient device and need to unlock the pattern, you can follow these steps.

1. After you have tried to unlock your phone several times, you will see “Forgot pattern”.
2. Tap Forgot pattern
3. Enter the username and password for the Google account you previously added to your phone
4. Reset the screen lock

Also Read: WiFi Password Check: How to Know WiFi Password on Android Mobile, iPhone, Windows and macOS

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