It happens pretty often: when getting familiar with a new phone, we enable a protection code against intruders and forget it in quite a short period of time. But what can we do? In the modern world, the human brain is so much overloaded with various information that it becomes practically unreal to recall that series of strokes across the screen.
No need to worry. Even if your brain cannot remember, you can try to use your muscle memory and swing your finger across the screen at random. You’ve got five attempts for that. And after all of them fail, you can follow the hints described below.
After the fifth attempt you will be offered to wait 30 seconds. Press OK (if the screen turns off, press the power button). Unlock the screen and use the Forgot the Key button at the bottom.
So you have to try to enter the graphic key till the handset offers you to unlock it with the help of your Google account login and password (the login is what comes before @gmail.com in your account). It also happens that the user forgot his/her Google account too. Then you can connect your phone to a computer and run the manufacturer’s software (Kies for Samsung devices, HTC Sync for HTC handsets, etc.), and in the information window of the app you will be able to restore your Google login.
- If you use Android 2.2 or higher, you have to enter your login and password.
- If your handset runs Android 2.1 or lower (or if it doesn’t accept your password), try entering ‘NULL’ or ‘null’ instead.
Besides, you can also try to make a call to the locked device from another phone and answer the call. Then, minimize it by pressing the Home button and, without hanging up, go to the settings and disable the graphic lock.
If none of the above works, you will have to use a more radical method that will definitely help, but it will leave you with the internal memory of your phone absolutely clean. This is the so-called Hard Reset (forced reset to the default manufacturer settings). To do that, you have to press a certain combination of buttons (normally not more than three of them), and select the required option from the menu that appears. Different handsets have different button combinations to run the procedure. You can find more detailed information in our database.