Content

• Steps
• Advice

This wikiHow teaches you how to access your Android tablet if you forgot your screen lock PIN or pattern.

Steps

Method 1 of 3: Unlock Android 4.4 or earlier tablets

1. 

   Enter incorrect PIN or pattern 5 times. If the tablet runs on Android 4.4 or earlier, you can use the built-in pass mechanism to open it. This feature is no longer available on Android 5.0 (Lollipop).
   • This method requires the tablet to be connected to Wi-Fi.

2. 

   
   
   Press the button Forgot PIN / pattern / password (Forgot password / pattern / PIN). If this button does not appear after 5 incorrect entries, the device does not support this feature.

3. 

   Enter your Google address and password. This should be the Google account that you are signed in to on your tablet.

4. 

   
   
   Click Sign In (Log in).

5. 

   Open Gmail on another device or computer. You will receive an email to reset your tablet's password information.

6. 

   
   
   Open the email received from Google. This email can be located on the Updates tab.

7. 

   Click the link in the email. You will be taken to the new unlock code generation form.

8. 

   Create a new PIN, password or pattern. This will be the tablet's temporary new unlock process.

9. 

   Unlock your device with a new pattern. It may take a few minutes for the tablet to update the new unlock method.

10. 

    Put a new code. After unlocking your device, you can reset a new code or pattern from the Lock Screen menu in the Settings app. advertisement

Method 2 of 3: Unlock Samsung device

1. 

   Open a web browser on a computer or other device. If the Samsung tablet is logged in with a Samsung account, you can use the Find My Mobile online tool to unlock the screen.

2. 

   Access Find My Mobile website.

3. 

   Sign in with your Samsung account. We need to sign in to the tablet using the Samsung device you were prompted to create when setting up the tablet.
   • If you don't have a Samsung account, you can try one of the other sign-in methods that this article covers.
4. Click Unlock my screen (Unlock my screen). This option is on the left side of the Find My Mobile website.
5. Click Unlock (Unlock).

6. 

   Wait for the screen to unlock. It may take a few minutes for the unlock signal to be sent to the tablet. advertisement

Method 3 of 3: Perform a factory reset

1. 

   Hold down the power button of the tablet. If you can't unlock the device then the only option is a factory reset. This process will delete the password, and also erase all the data on the tablet.You will be able to restore all email, purchased content, downloaded apps and settings by logging in to your account after you reset your device.

2. 

   Click Power off (Power off). The Android device will be powered off.

3. 

   Hold down the volume down button while the tablet is off. The device will be put into Recovery Mode. The key combination to access this mode may differ depending on the device.

4. 

   Hold down the power button while you are holding the volume down button. For many devices this will take you to the Recovery Mode launcher.

5. 

   Continue holding these buttons until the menu Start appear. If the Start menu doesn't appear and the device boots as usual, we need to use another combination of buttons to access Recovery Mode. Search the internet for the keyword "recovery mode" + Android tablet model you are using.

6. 

   Press the volume down key until Recovery mode appear. The volume up and down buttons will cycle through the menu options.

7. 

   Press the power button to select Recovery mode. The power button selects the currently highlighted menu item.

8. 

   Choose wipe data / factory reset (delete all data / reset factory setting). Use the volume down button to highlight and the power button to select.

9. 

   Choose Yes. The reset process will start and erase all data.

10. 

    Wait for the device to be reset. This process takes about 20-30 minutes.

11. 

    Begin setting up your new tablet after resetting it. After resetting your device, you will go through the setup process as you did when you bought it. During this process, you will be able to sign in to your Google account, restore purchased content, and configure settings. advertisement

Advice

• On many Android devices, there's no way to access if you forget your screen lock PIN or pattern other than deleting all of the data. This is a security measure to prevent bad guys from stealing your personal data in case the tablet is lost.