• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Locked out

Ok so my really good friend passed away and left me some stuff well the phone was one of the things he left but when I turn the phone on it's asking me for his like pin code but I obviously don't have it so I'm wondering can I do a factory reset on the phone and get passed that or I was hoping for something easier so I can keep all the pics and so on so can someone please help me
 
Unless it's quite an old phone a factory reset will just make it worse (unless you know their Google account username and password). The "factory reset protection" system is an anti-theft device intended to deter thieves by preventing them from just resetting a phone to get past a screen lock. On some phones there are ways of getting past it (which the manufacturers patch as they are found, so older, unupdated phones are more likely to have such a bypass), but for obvious reasons posting ways to defeat an anti-theft measure in a public forum is a bad idea.

And of course if there was a way past the PIN without a reset then factory reset protection would be useless. Actually someone posted here recently about how a particular lock-screen app allowed them to bypass the screen (i.e. they entered the app from the lock screen and could then leave that app and enter the phone without being asked for a PIN), but I think this was probably a manufacturer bug rather than a general feature (I've never found such a thing to work on any of my devices).
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones