The fact that there is no way to unlock my phone without a factory reset is ridiculous. I understand the security concern, but many people have this issue. I know 100% I am not the only one dealing with this. I've done hours of research only to be led, over and over, to the same articles carelessly suggesting I remove years worth of memories and information just to unlock the **bleep** phone. It seems almost purposeful on Samsung's end as I am close to just getting a new phone. The purpose of this post is not to accuse however. I would just like to express my frustration. People forget things, especially when you're not required to use the pattern on every unlock. I am just suggesting a way be added to remotely unlock my Samsung device, especially because I have countless ways to prove I own the device.
This is extremely unfortunate and frustrating. I have the same issue but, a harder issue. The PIN screen is there I never changed my PIN CODE but after a Samsung update the phone A12 shut off and re-started, now the phone is locked and I enter in my PIN and I get, " try again in **** minutes" the phone also went into Airplane mode and shut off WiFi connection and I can't turn it off ( Powerdown ) because it won't accept my PIN number. I have also been told that the only way to keep the phone active is to do a full factory reset and lose all data. The PIN is needed after a Power shutdown, and to get into settings. The fact that we can't recover our log-in from the SmartThings Find or Google FindMyDevice is completely ridiculous.
You can force a reset of your phone without knowing the password by holding down the power and volume down keys simultaneously to force a reboot (or let the battery die and start from there). Once the phone reboots and you see the Samsung logo on the screen, let go of both buttons and press the volume up button multiple times until it boots into recovery mode (if starting from a phone that's off, boot holding the power and volume up buttons). Use the vol up/down buttons to navigate to factory reset and push the power button to select. This will wipe your phone, and you can then reboot, sign into your Samsung and Google accounts, restore your backup, set your new password/pin and be on your way. Passwords are stored entirely on the phone and not stored with the backup. No data *should* be lost during the backup, but I have heard of it happening; but I suspect that those people either never turned on or have turned off the backup/sync for those particular items. It's been so long since I've set up the backup parameters, I don't remember which items were on/off by default, but I just checked, and I have some turned off because I don't need them backed up.
