I've had this phone for 2 years now and have had the same phone pattern throughout which suddenly refuses to work. There were no changes by me. I can prove the phone is mine. What are my options besides factory resetting and wiping my phone? If there is a bug or software glitch why should I be paying the price of wiping my own phone? Can someone from Samsung get in contact with me regarding unlocking this because it's been 2 weeks now and this is frankly bullsh*t.
Again any help from a Samsung employee that can help with this issue is truly truly appreciated. This is a joke but we should be allowed into our own phones if we have proof their ours especially in a scenario where we have nothing to do with a Samsung error. I have full access to my Samsung account where my device is registered by me and have proof (invoices in my name) that I bought my phone. What more logical security reason could possibly be needed to withhold someone's phone from them???
This is a user to user help forum, not Samsung customer service. That being said, if you didn't set a backup method of getting into your phone, there may be a couple of options.
Resets are not as big of a deal as they used to be, as restoring your backup puts everything back the way it was, except that passwords, pins and fingerprints are wiped out.
If you have an alternate device, you could try find and then set a password on the device, and then see if that will override the pattern lock. Otherwise the reset is the way to go.
To force a reset without a password/pin/pattern, press and hold the volume up and power buttons until the phone restarts and you see the Samsung logo on screen then let go of the buttons and wait for the phone to enter recovery mode. Use the volume buttons to navigate to the reset option and the power key to select. Allow the reset to complete, log into your accounts and restore your backup.
There's a possibility that wiping the cache may restore your pattern function. You can try that first by following the same reboot procedure and selecting wipe cache instead of reset. Good luck.
Thanks for your response. My biggest issue with this is that I have very old pictures in my security folder and from what I've read those are not backed up. I cannot lose those and especially to a mistake that has nothing to do with me. Like I said I've used the same pattern for 2 years now. I know Samsung has a way to get into our phones and if we provide proof we own the phone I don't see the logical reason for withholding it from us.
"If you have an alternate device, you could try find and then set a password on the device, and then see if that will override the pattern lock. Otherwise the reset is the way to go."
Could you explain how to go about this? Airplane mode is on but I am still able to find it via Samsung find my phone. I can make it ring etc. I tried putting it in lost mode and setting a pin but when I unlock it with the pin I have to enter the screen pattern still.
