How to unlock Android if you forgot your PIN or password?

If you lock the phone screen to prevent unauthorized access to its contents with, for example, a PIN, password, or Pattern, you may forget that PIN, password, etc., and then what? Don't worry, there is a solution.

Having some sort of protection of your phone from unauthorized access is definitely a good habit. Spend a few milliseconds off your time unlocking the screen to prevent possible consequences if you lose your phone. When you use screen protection, if you lose your phone, the thief cannot access the contents of the device and thus you have more or less saved private information.

However, it is not impossible to "lock-up", ie. you can't access your own phone because of that protection (for who knows what reasons). The same thing happens when you lose your house keys or you have your car keys left in it.

How to solve the problem?

For Android 5.0 and newer

For this method to work, you must already have the Google Find My Device app installed. If you have a Samsung then this is not necessary. Read THIS guide instead.

1. Visit google.com/android/devicemanager
2. Sign in with the Google Account you signed in with on your locked phone
3. You will see a list of your devices, including the locked one
4. Select it and you will see the "Ring", "Lock" and "Erase" options
   
   
5. Click on the "Lock" option and enter a new password as desired
6. Remember to re-enter the same password in the next field
7. Save by clicking on "Lock"
   
   
8. A new password will now be set and you can unlock the phone with it

For Android 4.4 and older

Here the process is even simpler. You know that when you try to enter the wrong password, PIN, or pattern several times, the Android system will prevent you from re-entering for about 30 seconds.

1. Deliberately make a mistake for the system to disable the new entry and wait for about 30 seconds
2. Repeat this process five times (I know, it's boring)
3. After that you will get the options "Forgot pattern", "Forgot PIN" or "Forgot password", depending on which method of protection you use, so choose
4. You will now be able to verify your identity by logging in to your Google Account
5. After logging in, the screen will be unlocked in most cases, if not, follow the next step
6. Google may want to further verify that it is really you by sending you an activation email (which you use on that locked phone)
7. Access that email address from another device and send the activation they send

If you failed to unlock the screen, post the details of the problem in the comment so I will try to help.