lost screen lock password

August 31, 2023 5:12 PM

My mom has accidentally enabled screen lock on her LG phone, and we have no idea what the password is. I've tried Find My Device, to no avail. Is there any other way to unlock the phone without doing a factory reset?

She is able to receive calls, but that's it. When she turns on her phone it says "unlock the screen to use all features on your phone" then when swiping up the lock appears and it says "enter password to unlock" Unfortunately, we don't have the password - it's my dad's old phone, and sadly, he's not with us anymore. We've tried every password he left behind, but nothing works. I tried Find My Device, but it couldn't find her phone, and also wanted to do 2-factor authentication by sending a code to her phone. which we can't access. arrggg. extra difficulty level is she's at her cottage in the woods near Parry Sound, and I'm in Toronto.
her phone is :
LGK31 Android version 10
Software version K300WM10d
Model number LM-K300WM
She did take it to The Source in Parry Sound today, but they couldn't help. We can do a factory reset, and luckily did a full backup of her phone about a month ago. We should be able to restore that and only lose her last month of data, but I just wanted to see if anyone had any other ideas of how to get past this darned locked screen. Thanks!!!!

posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 to Technology (5 answers total)

Best answer: IME the default pin/password for Androids is the last 4 digits of the phone number. Worth taking a shot, in case your dad didn't change it.
posted by soundguy99 at 5:47 PM on August 31, 2023

Best answer: Unfortunately, what you are asking for is if there is a security flaw in a product designed not to have them. If you don't know the PIN or password, a factory reset is your only option. That said, if it is a PIN, you might try some 4 digit combinations and see if you get lucky. It may or may not prevent you from making a lot of wrong guesses, but the worst case scenario is that it forces you to factory reset anyway.
posted by Aleyn at 6:00 PM on August 31, 2023

Best answer: If your mom is anything like me: I tend to re-use passwords so I don’t have so many to remember. So my 4 digit pins are from an old employee id; I’ve also reused my bank pin, the 4 digit portion of my license plate, and work address street number. For 6 digit pins I use my stepdaughters birthdate. Maybe this would help jog a memory?
posted by coldhotel at 6:12 AM on September 1, 2023

Response by poster: yea, we tried all kinds of combinations of the sort of passwords that dad used to use, no dice! We also tried the last-4-of-the phone number thing, still nope. Thanks for the suggestions, though, we'll just have to bite the bullet and factory reset - at least we have the backup and she'll only lose that last month's worth of data.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 7:50 PM on September 1, 2023

Maybe some pattern on the keypad? All the same number, or all 4 corners, or a zig-zag shape?
posted by mekily at 9:40 PM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]