You might have recently changed your Android password and can’t remember it right now or you are trying to unlock your old android phone that was laying in the drawer for years. In such locked-out situations, first and foremost, you need not worry, we often forgot our most recent passwords and end up locking ourselves out, it’s quite natural for humans to forget. There are multiple ways to unlock android phone without a password, in this guide, we have listed some of the most commonly used and free methods that you can use to get into your locked Android phone.

• Try to Recall:

Before you jump onto the different methods to unlock the locked android phone. We would like to request you try recalling your password with a calm mind. Our memory doesn’t work efficiently under stress and that could be a reason why you were unable to recall your password. Take a few minutes, calm down, and then try to recall. If this doesn’t work, you can proceed with the different methods listed below:

Method #1: Unlock Android Phone using Recovery Mode.

If you were using a third-party lock screen application and not the stock android lock screen. You can boot your device in recovery mode or safe mode and disable the application. Follow the below-mentioned steps to boot your android phone in a recovery/safe way:

Step 1: Press and hold the power button, you must ensure that your device is turned on while performing the step.

Step 2: You will probably get three/four options, lock screen, emergency, shutdown, and reboot. Long press on reboot.

Step 3: A new popup will appear, in the popup, you will be asked to Reboot your device in Safe Mode. Click on OK.

Now, your android phone will reboot in the safe/recovery mode and all your third apps including the lock screen app will be disabled you can easily unlock your device and disable the third-party lock screen app. If you don’t get a popup on step 3, it could be because your phone is running on Stock Android OS. Perhaps, you can follow the below-mentioned approach to boot your device in recovery mode:

Step 1: Power off your device.

Step 2: Press and Hold the Power button and volume down button together for a few seconds and let your device boot in the troubleshooting mode. In the troubleshooting mode, a list of options will be visible.

Note: In case the power and volume down keys don’t work for you, you can try with the power and volume up keys. Still no luck? Try hitting up google to get information about your manufacturer’s configuration keys.

Step 3: Use the volume keys to navigate through the options. Go to the recovery mode option and press the power button.

That’s it. Your phone will boot in recovery mode and now you can disable the lock screen application.

Method #2: Unlock Android Phone using Smart Lock

When your phone was unlocked, Have you ever enabled Smart Lock on your device? If you have, you can unlock your android phone using the smart lock. You might have added a trusted device, or location or enabled the on-body detection. If so, then try to unlock your device at your trusted location or connect your trusted device to the phone.

Smart Lock is an android feature that allows users to unlock their smartphones without any password. In the smart lock, you are provided with three options, On-body detection, Trusted places, and Trusted Devices. Going forward, to prevent such a locked-out situation, you must enable the Smart Lock feature of your smartphone as soon as you unlock it.

Method #3: Unlock Android Phone using Find My Device/Mobile

To Unlock Samsung phone, Samsung’s Find My Device is a great tool to unlock your device without erasing its data. Please note that your device must be connected to the internet, otherwise the method won’t for you. Follow the steps below to unlock Samsung smartphone using its find my device feature:

Step 1: Log in to findmymobile.samsung.com with your respective account details. Please ensure that you are using the same account that is linked to your smartphone.

Note: Without account details, you can’t use this feature.

Step 2: Locate your locked smartphone on the map and click on it.

Step 3: A list of options will appear, click on Unlock. You might be asked to enter your linked account details.

Within a few seconds, your device will be unlocked.

For other smartphone users, Google’s Find My Mobile is an option, however, you can’t directly unlock it, instead, you have to wipe your data and set up the device as a brand-new smartphone.

If your backup is enabled, you don’t have to worry as you will get an option to restore everything. Follow the steps mentioned below to unlock your Android Smartphone using Google Find My Mobile:

Step 1: Log on to google.com/android/find

Step 2: Log in with your Google account. You must use the account that is linked to the smartphone.

Step 3: Locate the appropriate device from the list of options and Click on Erase Device.

Your device will be erased and unlocked. Now, you can restore your backup if taken or can start fresh without data.

Method #4: Unlock Android Phone using Gmail

If your smartphone is running on Android Version 4.4 or lower, you can leverage the Forgot Password option and use your Gmail account to reset your android device. Please note that you would need an active internet connection. Follow the steps below to unlock your android phone using your Gmail account:

Step 1: Input the wrong password 5 times or until you get a popup of incorrect password.

Step 2: Below the password/pattern option, you will see a new option “Forgot Password/Pattern”. Click on it.

Step 3: You will be asked to enter your Gmail account details, after entering, you will get an E-mail containing the new unlock code for your device.

That’s it, you have successfully unlocked your old smartphone and can change the password as per your requirements.

Method #5: Unlock Android Phone using Factory Reset

If none of the above-mentioned methods work for you, we are afraid, you have to take a tough call now. At last, a factory reset is the only option to unlock your android phone. Most android smartphone users have Gmail accounts linked to their devices and their data backup option is enabled by default. However, if you have explicitly disabled it then all your data will be erased and you have to start fresh. Follow the steps below to wipe off your data and perform a factory reset:

Step 1: Power off your device.

Step 2: Press and Hold the Power button and Volume down button together for a few seconds and let your device boot in the troubleshooting mode.

Note: In case the power and volume down keys don’t work for you, you can try with the power and volume up keys. Still no luck? Try hitting up google to get information about your manufacturer’s configuration keys.

Step 3: Use the power volume keys to navigate through the option visible on the screen. Go to Wipe data and press the power button.

Step 4: You might be asked for confirmation to factory reset your device, provide all the necessary confirmations and follow the onscreen instructions.

In just a few couples of minutes, you will be able to factory reset your device. Let your smartphone reboot and then you can set it up as a brand-new smartphone. For future, safety, please take note of your password somewhere or enable the biometrics and data backup option.

FAQs

Ques #1: What can I do if I forgot my Android lock screen password?

Ans: Don’t worry, you can unlock your smartphone without a password. You can use the following methods:

1. Smartphone’s Smart Lock feature
2. Google’s Find My Device or Samsung’s Find My Mobile Portal
3. Google account that is linked with your device to reset the password
4. Perform a factory reset to erase all data on the device and restore the data back if you have taken its backup in google drive or some other cloud.

Ques #2: Is it possible to unlock Android phone without a password?

Ans: Yes, you can easily unlock an Android phone without a password by using your phone’s Smart Lock option, Google’s Find My Device portal, or performing a factory reset.

Ques #3: Can I use my Google account to unlock my phone if I forgot the password?

Ans: Yes, if your device is running on Android Version 4.4 or lower, you can use the forgot password option and can reset your device’s password and unlock it. If you have a modern-day smartphone then you can use Google’s Find My Device portal to reset your device and unlock it.

Ques #4: How can I perform a factory reset to unlock my phone?

Ans: A factory reset can be performed by going to the device’s troubleshooting mode and selecting the “Factory Reset” option. This will erase all data on the device along with the password. To boot your device in troubleshooting mode, you can press and hold the power button along with the volume-down key.

Ques #5: Is there any way to unlock the phone using the USB debugging option?

Ans: It is possible to unlock an Android phone using the USB debugging option, but we would not recommend it as it requires technical skills, instead you can try other unlocking methods such as using a Google account or performing a factory reset first. USB debugging option is recommended for smartphone technicians.

Ques #6: Can I use third-party software to unlock Android phone without a password?

Ans: Yes, there are several third-party software available on the internet that could unlock your Android phone without a password, but we would not recommend using them as your data might get compromised.

Ques #7: Is it possible to unlock Android phone without losing data?

Ans: It is possible to unlock an Android phone without losing data if you use the “Forgot Password” feature of the older devices, or if you perform a factory reset using the device’s recovery mode and restore your data from the Google cloud backup.

Conclusion

We hope now you have successfully unlocked your android device. We have observed that most of these methods work perfectly well with older android smartphones, and for the new generation smartphones, only a few limited options work like the Smart Lock method, and Factory reset.

Smartphone manufacturers and Android have reduced the options to unlock a smartphone without a password to ensure that your data is never compromised. However, these security features create troubles when you get yourself locked out like you did today. In case you are stuck or couldn’t unlock your device yet, do let us know in the comments section below.

Last update on 2025-01-15 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API