Use the recovery menu to wipe the device. On the Nexus 5, you have to press and hold the Volume Down, Volume Up, and Power buttons at the same time. For example, on the Nexus 4, you have to press and hold the Volume Down and Power buttons at the same time. To do this, you’ll need to turn the device off and turn it on while holding the correct buttons. You’ll need to boot into your device’s system recovery menu and wipe it from there. The exact way you’ll do this is different on different phones and tablets.
RELATED: How to Factory Reset Your Android Phone or Tablet When It Won't Boot You can factory-reset your phone or tablet even if you can’t unlock it. If you haven’t enabled Google’s Android Device Manager on your phone or tablet, that’s fine. If you’ve enabled another remote phone or tablet-tracking service, you can probably use its website to remotely wipe your device, too.
Note that the “Lock” option in Android Device Manager will only allow you to set a new lock code if your phone or tablet doesn’t already have an unlock code, so it can’t be used to remove an existing lock code. You’ll be able to set it up from scratch afterwards - the lock code will be removed, but the device will also be wiped. Select the device you’re locked out of and select “Erase” to remotely erase it. If your device has Google’s Android Device Manager enabled, you can visit the Android Device Manager website and log in with the same Google account you use on that Android device. RELATED: How to Find Your Lost or Stolen Android Phone It’s probably best to shut down your Android device, remove the SD card, and then continue. If your device has a removable SD card, you’ll probably want to remove the SD card before performing the factory reset, just to ensure any files stored on there won’t be overwritten. You’ll then be able to set up a new unlock code. Sign in with the same Google account and you’ll have access to your emails, contacts, apps, and practically everything else. This isn’t as bad as it sounds, as most data on a modern Android device should just sync online. You can get your device into a usable state again, but that will involve performing a factory reset, wiping the device’s storage, and setting it up again from scratch. When All Else Fails: Factory Reset Your DeviceĪssuming you don’t have the easy option to reset the device using one of the tricks above, you should probably give up on the data stored on your device.
You’ll be prompted to enter the username and password of the Google account associated with your Android device. You’ll see a “Forgot pattern,” “forgot PIN,” or “forgot password” button appear.
To find this feature, first enter an incorrect pattern or PIN five times at the lock screen. Older versions of Android- Android 4.4 KitKat and older-have an integrated way to bypass your pattern, PIN, or other password if you forget it. RELATED: How to Bypass and Reset the Password on Every Operating System
However, it probably won’t be possible to install a custom recovery without factory-resetting your device if you haven’t already done so. If you’ve already unlocked your bootloader and installed a custom recovery, you may be able to use that environment to remove the code. Other manufacturers might potentially offer similar features if they have a device-tracking website if you’ve signed up for. For example, on Samsung devices, if you’ve logged into the device with a Samsung account, you can go to the Samsung Find My Mobile website, log in with the same Samsung account, and use the “Unlock my screen” option to remotely remove your device’s lock screen. You’re left using a few other tricks that might work.